Last year I did a preview of the NFL Draft in relation to the Ducks that participated in the Oregon Pro Day. Let it be known that I would make a terrible NFL Scout (I know, contain your excitement). I predicted between 3 and 5 Ducks would be drafted. After three days of NFL draft extravaganza exactly 1 former Oregon player was drafted to the pro ranks.

However, the combined effects of the lockout, new salary cap, and larger practice squads meant the rookie free agency period was kind to some former Ducks. 9 signed some form of free agent contract. In total 4 of last year’s Oregon draft class ended their first NFL season on an active NFL (roster Mathews, Paysinger, Maehl, Bair). 2 more finished the season on Practice Squads (Davis, TJIII), and two were on CFL rosters (Rowe and Lewis).
No one went out and proved me wrong like Spencer Paysinger, though. I predicted he would be playing in the UFL. Instead, he was an active player on the Super Bowl Champion Giants.

Desspite of my lack of successful prognostication, I’ve decided to give it a shot once more with this year’s class. Oregon held its pro day on March 15 this year. In total 12 players participated. As with last year I’ll offer predictions for everyone, but focus my efforts on those most likely to make an NFL roster next year.

LaMichael James, RB
Perhaps you've heard of him? Since the confetti fell on the Rose Bowl, folks have been wondering what kind of NFL career LMJ will have. In that time, depending on who you ask, James has run the 40 in something between 4.21 and 5.63 seconds. But outside of the headline number, he's been very good in workouts. James brings speed, instincts, elusiveness, and fearlessness. Unfortunately, like so many of his Oregon teammates during the past 3 years he lacks "prototypical NFL size."
A solid combine and good pro day have cemented James’ athletic prowess. Since 3 running backs were selected in the top 5 picks in 2005, the number of teams selecting RBs high in the draft has declined significantly. But some team out there is going to want to add James to its running back by committee. And I think his talent gets him drafted in the mid 2nd to early 3rd rounds.
Possible drafting teams: Tampa Bay, Oakland, Cleveland

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It sort of seems like that kind of week where we could use a fun distraction doesn't it?

Yesterday in the Quack Fix, on the heels of my comment regarding the Ducks' record when I watch the game in a bar/pub (1-4, yikes), there was some discussion regarding the superstitions we have as Duck fans.

As a sports fan, it's pretty easy to convince yourself that your actions have a direct impact on the outcome of the current play/game/season. There are some things you vow you'll never do again, and some things you obsessively repeat, just to get the fates on your side.

Over the years I've laid witness to some of the claims of the weird and wonderful things we do to help our Ducks win. Whether it be, articles of clothing you wear, mirroring the Duck's pushups, refusing to consume nachos on game day, beverage choices, or a pregame routine, I know there are some entertaining superstitions out there. So as we gear up for the biggest game of the year, I figured it would be amusing to see what people have planned to generate some good Karma.

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For anyone who's been following the Rugby World Cup over the past couple weeks, you may have noticed that there is a "bonus point" system for match points during pool play. Scoring is as follows:

• 4 Points for a win
• 2 Points for a draw
• 1 Bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries in a match
• 1 Bonus point for losing by 7 points (a converted try) or less

The Bonus Point system was first adopted at the 2003 World Cup in order to encourage a more attacking style of play. Basically Rugby Union clubs through the 90s had realized that by playing a more conservative style and kicking field goals and penalties your risked turning the ball over less and could score points more consistently over a set period of time. But who wants to see a game of only field goals? The new scoring system encourages teams to pursue tries and play for full time whether winning or losing, and ideally reduce the need to rely on tie-breaks in determining pool standings.

From what I've seen, this mostly works. There are times when it doesn't seem necessary - such as when the umpire awards penalty time following a French score at full time, despite the game now being out of reach, and so the favoured team, with 3 additional days rest because they're the money favourite score an unnecessary try against an exhausted Canadian side with the match result already determined...but I digress.

At any rate, I decided to see how this scoring system would impact the Pac-12 standings.

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The final standings were released last Friday for the 2010-2011 NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup.

A bit of background for the uninitiated. The cup is awarded each year to the Athletic Departments that produce the most points (by the NACDA's own metrics) for the athletic success of their programs in each Division. Points awarded based on how your program finished in a particular sport. 100 points for finishing first, 90 for finishing second, then a declining balance from there depending on how many teams finish in the final rankings.

This year Oregon finished 30th out of 284 ranked Division I teams (FBS and FCS are combined) with 640.75 points from 10 sports. By contrast over the previous 3 years Oregon finished  26, 22, and 14. Last year was Oregon's highest ever ranking with 878.50. That drop off seems pretty steep until you look at how the school finished from 2004 to 2006 (60, 54, 63).

Stanford has been the dominating force (pdf link) in the Directors Cup, being awarded the last 16 titles. That's every year, except the first year it was handed out in 1994. The reason is not only that Stanford has a lot of athletic teams (34 to Oregon's 18) but they also do pretty damn well, as I'll discuss below.

I think it's worth taking a look into this years rankings. Last year, only weeks into his new job Rob Mullens gave an interview to Ron Bellamy of the Register Guard where he repeatedly mentioned the Directors' Cup and gave this quote,

Q: Being high in the Director’s Cup means something to you?

A: Absolutely. Because it measures overall competitive excellence against your peers.

Now obviously there are many more metrics than the success of your teams to evaluate an Athletic Department, but Mullens has identified this as a metric he has concerned himself with. And like me, he's an accountant, so I'm sure he's broken down the numbers himself.

If you're tired of talking Willie Lyles this may be just the break you need.

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[Bumping to the front page, great read - dvieira]

The NFL draft is one of my favourite events of the year. It brings the promise of new potential to my favourite NFL teams and is the final send off for the great Oregon players we've watched develop. Every year I hope to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers draft a former Oregon standout, but instead wallow as Jonathan Stewart now carries the ball for the evil Panthers.

With the first round now less than 20 days away, I've decided to take a look at the draft prospects of the Ducks' departing players. In order to limit the numbers, I've only examined the Ducks that participated in the Oregon Pro Day in March (and only the players that were on this year's active roster). In total that's 15 players. Suffice to say, not all of those guys are going to be drafted, so I've focused on those with a legitimate shot of having their name called (in my opinion).

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