No big news this morning, but we got all sorts of random Duck notes. Here's your quack:

• There has been rumbling of a college football playoff in the last couple weeks, and George Schroeder's piece today is how the Pac-12 and Larry Scott is quietly in favor of expanding college football's postseason. This is a huge step, because the Pac-12, Big 10, and Rose Bowl have been key in killing any playoff hopes. But it seems that these groups may finally be changing, and if it does, it would likely be for the 2014 season.
• In more Pac-12 news, Jon Wilner has the latest on the coming Pac-12 network. The Pac-12 studios have broken ground in San Francisco, and should be up and running by August 15th. Get on the phone with your cable provider, and make sure you have it before kickoff on September 1st.
• Bob Clark rounds up some basketball notes. Some Pac-12 teams are looking at expanding midseason non-league games. Carlos Emory is drawing praise from Altman. Also, be prepared for Matt to keep complaining about EJ's hairband, because it looks like he's not cutting his hair anytime soon.
• Dion Jordan comes in at No. 20 in Ted Miller's Top 25 countdown. Jordan improved immensely over the season, and I can't wait to see what he can do next year. For more on Jordan, Joe Soriano from Autzen Zoo had a piece on him this morning.
• Phil Steele has the latest BCS Championship odds, and Oregon comes in as a 12/1 favorite, tied for 5th with Florida State. LSU is first with 19/4 odds, and USC is just behind with 5/1 odds. Looks like Oregon was dinged a bit with Darron Thomas' decision to leave for the NFL.
• With Baseball starting this weekend, Oregon is picked to finish 7th in the conference, though only 11 teams play in the Pac-12, as Colorado doesn't have a baseball team.
• Oregon softball dropped from 11th to 19th in the latest rankings after going 3-2 in their opening weekend. While being ranked is nice, there are 6 Pac-12 teams ranked ahead of the Ducks. As always, the Ducks will face a ton of high quality teams.
• Lastly, an interesting piece from Ivan Maisel on the rise of junior days. If you follow recruiting, you know that Texas and USC have held their recently, and these camps typically produce a high number of commitments for these traditional powerhouses. These have been going on for a while, but the NCAA has very few regulations on them, and the trip must be paid for by the PSA. Right now, junior day isn't as big for Oregon as other schools, in large part because of the expense of getting to Eugene. Hopefully NCAA regulations could make things a bit more favorable.

GO DUCKS!

It was a pretty quiet weekend around here, but the Ducks got the sweep of the Washington schools, and have a chance to take a big step forward this week.

• At 9-4, Oregon is tied for 3rd in the Pac-12 with Arizona and Colorado. If they want to stay in contention for the Pac-12 title and a bye in the Pac-12 tournament, the Ducks must win on Thursday night at 2nd place Cal. Oregon suffered their biggest defeat of the year to the Bears earlier this season. The Ducks have the ability to play much better than they did last time around, but we've seen this team be uneven for most of the season, so it's hard to know what to expect.
• George Schroeder had an article yesterday on Oregon's three clutch players. Devoe Joseph, E.J. Singler, and Garrett Sim have all excelled this season with the game on the line. The three scored 20 of the final 24 points in the game against the Cougars on Saturday, and have been key to Oregon's performance in tight games.
• Kurt at FishDuck has a great article this morning on the history of black student-athletes at Oregon. Robert "Bobby" Robinson and Charles Williams played for Oregon in the 1920s, though they were banned from living in campus dorms their freshman year, before protestations from their teammates got the ban reversed, though with some despicable restrictions. There's much more to the story, so make sure to check it out.
• Oregon softball is underway, and the Ducks had a busy weekend. They played 5 games at the Kajikawa Classic, winning three and dropping two. But they got a win in their final game Sunday over San Diego State.
• Former Duck Galen Rupp had a huge performance at the USA Track & Field Classic on Saturday. He set the US record in the indoor two-mile with a mark of 8 minutes 9.72 seconds, surpassing Bernard Lagat's record of 8 minutes 10.07 seconds. Rupp dedicated the race to former Duck and Nike's first employee, Geoff Hollister, who passed away last week.
• In Oregon track English Garder had a great weekend, and set a school-record in the 60m with a time of 7.17 seconds. This time automatically qualifiers her for the indoor track championships next month in Boise. A couple hours after that performance, she PR'd the 200m to win that event at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque.

Got anything else? Leave it below. GO DUCKS!

Football may be over, but basketball is entering the final stretch and baseball is on its way, so we have plenty of quack this morning.

• Oregon basketball hosts Washington tonight in what will be the start of a very difficult last few games for the Ducks. With four home games remaining, the Ducks need to get them all. Earlier this season, Dana Altman had "Own The Knight" shirts made, that have been abandoned after inconsistent home play. Enough with the gimmicks, the Ducks simply need to get it done against a very tough Washignton team.
• Bob Clark takes a look at the Huskies, and their future NBA players, sophomore Terrence Ross and freshman Tony Wroten. The Ducks are going to have quite the task in containing both.
• Oregon baseball at Hawaii next week, and KVAL has a preview of the team. The Ducks exceeded all expectations in 2010, but disappointed a bit last year. Despite the winning record, they finished 8th in the conference. They didn't handle the pressure well, and it showed. With Horton as coach, I'm hopeful they'll improve.
• Unfortunately, the Ducks already have a big obstacle in that road to improvement. Christian Jones, along with 2 other freshmen pitchers, are out for the season requiring Tommy John surgery. Tomorrow's probable pitcher, Alex Keudell, is getting over an arm injury of his own. Last year, the Ducks could rely and Tyler Anderson and Madison Boer. That luxury is now gone, and pitching depth is a real concern.
• Softball season is about to start as well, and the Ducks are looking to make it three straight Super Regional appearances, and they will be relying on ace Jessica Moore.
• Some alum track news. Galen Rupp is going for the US indoor two-mile record on Saturday. Also, Matthew Centrowitz is headlining the Wanamaker mile in New York City.
• Lastly, some 2013 recruiting news. Rivals has released their top 100, and Oregon's lone commit is the 9th ranked prospect and top RB in the 2013 class, Aloha's Thomas Tyner.

We're all hard up for all the quack we can get, so share anything else in the comments. GO DUCKS!

If you missed Tuesday Night Talks last night make sure to download it here. CougCenter's Jeff Nusser (who also hosts the Pac-12 podcast 18 and life), in the words of Dave, "knocked it out of the park."

• Adam Jude takes a look back at the 2010 recruiting class, working on the belief that it will take a couple years to really be able to evaluate a class. 2010 was a great year for Oregon recruiting, picking up a lot of highly touted recruits. And this article just shows how much of a numbers game recruiting is. Touted prep stars Lache Seastrunk, Dontae Williams, and Nick Rowland never saw the field for a variety of reasons. But the class also has some stars. Josh Huff, Hronnis Grassu, and Terrance Mitchell all started this year for the Ducks, and we'll hopefully see Bryan Bennett's full potential this year.
• Speaking of Bennett, he and freshman Marcus Mariotta are gearing up to compete for the starting QB spot. But they aren't expecting any controversy, just constant striving to get better. Both have an immense amount of talent, and I'm really excited to see who gets the nod.
• David Paulson comes in 25th in Ted Miller's Pac-12 2011 countdown. Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.
• On to basketball, Dana Altman can't talk about the call that ended the game against Colorado, though he was asked about it in his weekly conference call. His comment: "Altman did note that in his 32 years of coaching he had never had a game decided in the final second by a free throw."
• As we near the end of the season, Oregon's main goal is to end up in the top four of the conference, as that will give them a bye in the Pac-12 tournament. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. With five games left, three of those against the top teams in the conference.

Leave anything else in the comments. GO DUCKS!

Congrats to Spencer Paysinger! One year in the league, one Super Bowl ring (If you missed it, here's a piece from yesterday on him playing in the game). And with that, the football season is officially over, at least until the Spring Game on April 28th.

• Oregon dropped a tough one against Colorado on Saturday night. Oregon held a lead at halftime, but couldn't hang on at the end, as Colorado got a foul call as time expired during a tie game, and hit the first free throw for the victory. If you looked through our game thread, there were a lot of people, uhhh, questioning the refs.
• With the loss, Oregon drops to 7-4 in conference tied for fourth place with Arizona. The Ducks are still in competition for the top spot in the conference, but do not have easy games coming up. They host league-leading Washington on Thursday, and then go on the road to the bay area schools next week. There is little room for error for the Ducks if they want to make any kind of postseason tournament.
• Bill Connelly has an interesting article over at Football Study Hall today, on covariance rankings, which attempt to quantify how teams play against good and bad teams. You'll never guess which conference is awesome against the worst competition.
• Oregon did a great job recruiting on the defensive line this year, and according to Rivals brought in the 3rd ranked defensive end group in the country.
• Steve Maher at FishDuck has a piece on one of the unheralded recruits from that defensive end class, Cody Carriger. According to Chip Kelly, he might have been one of the top players in the country if he were from California, but he didn't get much attention living in Butte, Montana. And being from Butte, he's got so much grit, I'm surprised OSU didn't pursue him.
• Also on FishDuck, Brian Libby wonders about future Autzen expansion.
• Lastly, here's a report of LaMichael James at Gatorade's Sports Science Institute during Super Bowl Week.

Anyway, enough with the quack. What was your favorite commercial? Leave yours, or more quack, in the comments. GO DUCKS!

Another signing day come and gone, with all the promise in the world. I'm excited to see how it all shakes out on the field. Here's your quack:

• It what was a closer game than many expected, the Ducks got a 79-68 victory at Utah last night. Despite the 11-point victory, the Ducks had trouble with the Utes, and were down 49-41 at one point. Oregon started running a defensive press, and that helped the Ducks control the game down the stretch. Carlos Emory and Tony Woods had a big impact in the second half, after missing the first half due to disciplinary reasons. Woods' defensive presence helped the Oregon defense hold Utah to 32% shooting in the second half, after they shot 52% in the first half.
• One of my favorite posts from yesterday, Bob Clark had to ask people to stop sending home remedies to the athletic department to deal with Garrett Sims occasional cramping problems.
• The women's basketball team got a win last night, though they almost blew a big lead against Utah and had to hold on at the end to secure the 72-67 win.
• While this article was from yesterday, I didn't see a link to it, so here's Adam Jude's piece on the honesty of Chip Kelly's recruiting overcoming the rumors.
• Aaron Fentress has a piece on the realities of signing day, and how a lot of the players in any class will not pan out. Part of this is why I don't get too up or down on any single recruit. Recruiting is about getting as much potential as possible into your program. With every player that doesn't live up to the hype, there will be one that exceeds the hype, and I'm excited to see which players do that.
• Canzano has an article on Oshay Dunmore. It's a pretty bad article. But it's also on Dunmore, so I'm torn on this one.
• A couple good articles were out yesterday on Bralon Addison. First, he suffered a lot of grief for his last minute switch from Texas A&M. Also, here's a piece on how he and close friend Chance Allen have always wanted to play together.

Got anything else? Leave it below. And for the latest from ATQ, Like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. GO DUCKS!

The moment has arrived Duck fans. After searching for clues as to who has sent in their letters of intent, Chip Kelly is announcing the 2012 recruiting class at 11:30AM PST.

Oregon has announced that 21 high school players have signed with the Ducks, which is exactly what we expected (check our earlier post this morning for some quick analysis). The quality of the class means that it should end up ranked in the 10-20 range from the various recruiting services. Yet, despite the strong class, there wasn't a lot of excitement today. After the early commitments of Bralon Addison and Chance Allen, it was mostly a day for "watching" the fax machine. And while other schools deal with last minute switches, I kind of like how Oregon's classes have been shaping up in recent years, mostly free of drama, with most commits sticking true to their verbal commitments.

Stick around and discuss the recruiting class and Chip's press conference. It will be premium content for GoDucks.tv subscribers, and there are rumors that it will be on ESPNU. If you can't access either, we'll post the important parts in the comments.

Welcome to all the new Ducks! Win The Day!

Make sure to check out all of ATQ's national signing day coverage here.

Well, signing day is off to a quick start. Per Tony DiFransciso and other sources, Texas wide receivers Bralon Addison and Chance Allen have committed to Oregon, and though it hasn't been confirmed by the University, Rivals lists both as having signed their letters of intent.

With only one wide receiver previously committed to Oregon, this helps solidify a position of weakness from the last season. Addison is a 5'10 180 pound speedster that should fit well in Oregon system. The Army All-American was previously committed to Texas A&M, and had drawn high praise around Texas for his athleticism.

Chance Allen is 6'3, 190 pounds, and was previously committed to Oklahoma State. He'll add some more size that has been lacking in recent years at the receiver position.

After the jump, video of both recruits. GO DUCKS!

Continue reading this post »

[UPDATE] Bralon Addison and Chance Allen have flipped their commitments to Oregon. Oregon's class is now expected to have 21 players. Full story here.

[UPDATE] Oregon has officially announced a class of 21 players.

National Day 2012 is here! It's like Christmas in February, and it should be a great day for the Ducks.

Oregon currently has 19 verbal commits. If this is anything like last year, we won't know for sure that their letters of intent are in until Chip Kelly has his press conference this afternoon.

If Oregon's class commits as we think (and there's little reason to think anything will change) this will be another great class for Oregon. The Ducks have currently have 7 commits on offense, 11 on defense, and one specialist. It is a class that covers many of Oregon's needs, though there really weren't any pressing needs this recruiting cycle.

With Jake Rodrigues and Bryon Marshall, the Ducks will be adding even more skill in the backfield. Evan Baylis and Pharaoh Brown will add much needed depth to the TE position, and Dwayne Stanford adds height to the receiving corp. The offensive line only has Kyle Long, a JC transfer, but with the class from last season, that is not a pressing need.

On defense, the Ducks look to continue to add to their athleticism and versatility. Headlining the class is one of the top recruits in the west, Arik Armstead, who committed to Oregon on Sunday. With commitments from DeForrest Buckner, Alex Balducci, Terrence Daniel, Cody Carriger, and Stezon Bair, Oregon is adding a lot of talent and depth along the defensive line.

Brett Barfao, the Amoako brothers, Reggie Daniels, and Oshay Dunmore round out the back 7, and with Oregon's rotation, will compete for playing time quickly.

We'll have all the news for another great signing day for Oregon. There are still a few names out there that Oregon is chasing, and may add to the class. We'll have all the latest here at ATQ, so stick around and discuss all signing day news here. Welcome to all the new Ducks!

Continue reading this post »

It wasn't quite a perfect day yesterday as the basketball team couldn't get it done against the Beavs. But the Armstead commitment sure made things better. Here's some quack for your Monday

• I wasn't feeling all that good about the basketball game yesterday, and my fears were realized. The Beavs won an ugly Civil War 76-71. The Ducks led 28-23 at halftime, but OSU shot 57 percent from the field in the second half. They also had 31 points off 23 Oregon turnovers to get their first conference road win in 2 years. Oregon hasn't been playing all that well for a few games, and it finally caught up with them.
• The big news of the weekend was the commitment of Arik Armstead, one of the top recruits on the west coast. Rob Moseley has a piece on how Oregon has gotten their top commit in the last week in the past two seasons. Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee, who has been all over the stories of Arik Armstead and Shaq Thompson, has more on the recruiting process.
• Oregon fans have been clamoring for a five-star defensive lineman for a while. Now that the coaching staff got that, it might be time to switch gears to the offensive line. Aaron Fentress has a piece on just how tough that may be. The main problem, there just isn't the amount of high-level talent at the offensive line like there is at the skill positions. The Ducks have made huge strides in recent years (especially last year), but getting a five-star offensive lineman sure would be nice.
• Fentress also has a profile on Oregon TE commit Evan Baylis, another very talented TE that has the athleticism to play on either side of the ball. Fentress also takes a look at Jake Rodrigues.
• Here's a short recap of Oregon's recruiting class that I wrote for the SBNation mothership.
• Lastly, Kurt has a good piece over at FishDuck, looking at how Oregon has been a hotbed of coaching talent in it's history, and suggest that the moniker "Nike U" be replaced by "X's and O's University."

Got anything else? Leave it below. GO DUCKS!

Not a lot of quack out there this morning, but we'll have a recruiting round-up posted later this morning, so keep your eye out for that.

• With Chip Kelly going on the record yesterday on his near-departure to the NFL, George Schroeder has a piece on who (according to sources) would have been the new head coach of the Ducks: Offensive Coordinator Mark Helfrich. While it would not have been a splashy hire, it might have been a great one. Unfortunately, we don't just don't know much about Helfrich. He is in Chip Kelly's shadow and doesn't get the credit in the run game that Steve Greatwood does. But Helfrich is highly praised, and it's clear the the athletic department has confidence in him. At the very least, it would have been an interesting hire, and I'm glad the Athletic Department is confident in their evaluations to make that decision, and not feel like they need to make a splash.
• In a bit more Chip Kelly news, after speaking yesterday, the point of contention seems to be whether or not Kelly flip-flopped on taking the Tampa Bay job. Ted Miller says it doesn't matter either way, says that Kelly's opportunity with Tampa will help Oregon, and responds to George Schroeder's column from the other day.
• The Civil War is this weekend, and GoDucks.com has their weekly press release. There are still reasonable tickets left.
• One of the big challenges the Ducks will face is limiting OSU's Jared Cunningham, who is leading the conference in both scoring and steals. He's playing 37.5 minutes per game, and is second in the nation in free throws attempted. As good as Cunningham is at drawing contact, I'm excited to see Oregon's defensive plan, especially with Tony Woods defending the rim.
• Matt Prehm has his conference picks for the basketball games this weekend. He picks Oregon to win by one over OSU, and the Ducks second in his power rankings.
• Lastly, great news for Darron Thomas. He's been invited to the NFL combine, where he'll get a chance to display his skills for NFL scouts.

That's all for now. Drop your other quack below. GO DUCKS!

With a week left until signing day, and our crazy Sunday night, there is a lot of recruiting news. If you missed it last night, make sure to check out last night's Tuesday Night Talk with Dave, Matt Daddy, and special guest Matt Prehm of Duck Territory, who shared some great info with us.

• Adam Jude's piece this morning is on Kelly's efforts on the recruiting trail. Kelly is visiting 3-star athlete Bryan Harper, Shaq Thompson (who was recently asking LMJ about Oregon), and Arik Armstead. He also visited Bralon Addison and Hawaii's Shane Brostek.
• A.J. Jacobson of DuckSportsAuthority has a recruiting update at the Oregonian. Among other things, he notes that recent visitor and Utah commit G Cedrick Poutasi had a good trip, and now "has to think."
• Lindsay Schnell has a piece on the minimal impact that Chip's near-departure will have on recruiting, which Matt talked about on the podcast last night also.
• Rivals has a list of the top uncommitted recruits, and predicts where they'll go. Oregon gets but one tiny prediction on Arik Armstead (here's some more on his in-home visits). Of note, Thomas Johnson is predicted to go to Texas A&M after decommitting from Texas.
• Kenjon Barner was on ESPN's college football live yesterday (full video after the jump), and in the interview he said that he was "extremely close" to leaving for the NFL, but came back due to a promise to his mom to finish out his degress.
• Last but not least, Josh from FishDuck has part 2 of his Rose Bowl play calling breakdown. With all that's gone on the last few days, it's always good to go back and look at that game.

Continue reading this post »

Everyone's hearts recovered from the weekend? Here's some quack to calm those nerves.

• Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens had a press conference yesterday, to talk about what really happened in the Chip Kelly situation (full video is after the jump). Aaron Fentress has an article summing up the drama from Mullens' perspective. While this came as a shock to fans, Mullens has known about Tampa Bay for more than a week, and has been in talks with Kelly during that time. While Kelly's departure was in question, it seems like Mullens and the Athletic Department were on top of things from the start. Mullens also dismissed the rumors that Kelly had made demands about his coaching staff.
• Adam Jude has another article rounding up the Kelly story. The more I read about this whole story, the more annoyed I get. With the rush to be first, and get something out there, a lot of opinion got conflated into fact. Beyond that, in this article Jude notes that (per sources) Kelly's contract will be extended, and his assistants will get raises, which Mullens seemed to deny in his press.
• Will there be any repercussions from from Kelly's NFL flirtation? George Schroeder takes a look at how Oregon's "power brokers" will react. There is definitely a history of things allegedly souring after almost leaving. Schroeder claims that Bill Moos and Mike Bellotti both saw their relationship with Phil Knight change after flirting with Washington and UCLA, respectively. Will that happen with Kelly? We'll have to wait and see.
• Lastly, some Civil War Basketball news. Curtis Anderson takes a look at the OSU coach Craig Robinson and his attempt to connect with OSU's basketball tradition. Last week, he got Gary Payton to return to OSU and sit courtside for the Beaver's win over USC.

Mullens' press conference is after the jump. Leave your comments and other quack in the comments. GO DUCKS!

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So, did everyone learn their lesson? It's never over until the press conference. As I'm sure we're all aware, reports started breaking that Chip Kelly was in negotiations with the Tampa Bay Bucs to become their head coach. In a couple hours, negotiations had become "the ink is all but dry." This reminds me quite a bit of when Bellotti almost went to Ohio State. Except, now we have twitter, so every rumor gets magnified 100x and taken as gospel truth.

Even with the recent news that Chip is staying, this isn't over until we get more official word, and Kelly signs a contract extension and gets another pay raise.

• I'm a bit fuzzy on the timeline, but I believe that Adam Jude was the first to break the "Chip is staying" story, based on sources inside the department. Here's his published story on Kelly's negotiations with Tampa Bay.
• George Schroeder's column today is on what Oregon will do when Chip leaves, which he almost definitely will at some point in the future. And he says that with the resources and (recent) tradition that Oregon has, Oregon isn't going anywhere.
• Here's an interesting quote from Tampa's general manager. On Kelly, "It's become clear his heart just wasn't in it. He is happy in college. These things can happen with college coaches.''
• Now that Chip Kelly is staying, Matt Prehm writes that he must be acting quickly on the trail. There is nine days until national signing day, and he'll need to calm any recruits that got a bit worried. I don't think that'll be very tough. He just turned down the NFL.
• In some non-Chip Kelly news, the guys at FishDuck have been cranking out some great stuff. Of note, they have a Q&A with former Oregon RB Dino Philyaw, and former Oregon WR Patrick Johnson.
• Lastly, lost in the Chip Kelly news, Oregon's basketball team is tied with Cal for first place in the conference. The Ducks get a bit of rest before they host OSU next Sunday. OSU had been struggling, but they swept the LA schools last week, and will provide the Ducks with another test.

It's been a crazy 12 hours, so leave any more thoughts, quack, or anything else in the comments. GO DUCKS!

UCLA Bruins (10-8, 3-3 Pac-12) vs Oregon Ducks (14-5, 5-2 Pac-12)

1pm PST :: Matthew Knight Arena

TV: Root/FSN (if you're lucky)

Oregon sits at 5-2, with a chance to get their 4th straight victory in conference play. The Ducks didn't play the best against USC, but they got the job done. UCLA is reeling, but they will provide another tough test for the Ducks.

This is one of the biggest Oregon basketball games in recent memory. A win keeps the Ducks in contention for the conference title, something few imagined at the start of the season.

Stick around and discuss the game. GO DUCKS!

Were you so excited by the basketball win that you missed Thursday Night Talks? Download it here.

• Oregon has to lose a close game one of these days, right? After beating USC 65-62, the Ducks are now 9-0 in games decided by 10 points or less. Devoe Joseph and Garrett Sim helped hold off USC late, hitting some big shots, and six combined free throws in the last couple minutes, continuing the trend of being excellent in the closing minutes. This was a close game than many expected, as the Ducks turned the ball over 19 times, but they got the W, and that's all that matters.
• George Schroeder's column today is on Matthew Knight Arena, and he notes that we're still waiting for a great crowd. There are a number of reasons for that, that Schroeder goes over, but I hope that as the team improves so do the fans, and the atmosphere.
• Adam Jude concludes The RG's three-part series on the three QBs that will be competing this spring, with a profile on Bryan Bennett. He's ready to compete, and is taking responsibility as the oldest QB on the team. He learned from one of the best, and he's ready to meet the high expectations set by those that came before him. And he's learned how to talk like an Oregon football player.
• Moseley has his 2011 review of the secondary. Despite losing Cliff Harris, the Ducks showed just how much talent they've been building, and that should continue next season. I'm very glad that John Boyett decided to stick around.
• Oregon gets some mention in early draft exit articles. Doc Saturday mentions Darron Thomas. Also, Mel Kiper shares his thoughts on LaMichael Lames, DT, and Cliff Harris.
• Some recruiting news, the Ducks will be getting a few visits this weekend, including visits from 3 current commits.
• Bob Rickert has the latest on Shaq Thompson and Arik Armstead. Sounds like Oregon might make out pretty well from the fallout of Tosh Lupoi's decision to leave Cal.

Leave anything else in the comments, and if you're not already , follow us on twitter. GO DUCKS!

Happy 3000 everyone! What a beautiful day! Make sure to tweet your favorite stories regarding Oregon's dominance to Chesterfield over at the ATQ twitter, where he'll be reliving your stories and photos throughout the day. On to the quack!

• While fans have focused on Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota, incoming freshman Jake Rodrigues has been kind of forgotten, only because of his leg injury this fall. But he gets his walking boot off next week, and he is ready to compete for playing time immediately. Rodrigues comes with high praise, and has the talent to compete immediately. While I still don't expect him to play, it is simply astounding the talent the Oregon has at the QB position. The most successful QB in school history left unexpectedly, and Oregon fans don't expect much drop in production. This is a testament to Chip Kelly's ability to produce QBs, and the job the coaching staff has done getting talented QBs to come to Oregon. Keep your eye on the Register Guard (and quack fix) in the next couple days for articles on Mariota and Bennett.
• It's a huge week for Oregon basketball. Sitting at 4-2 (and through the toughest stretch of the schedule), the Ducks are sitting at 4th in the conference. The Ducks may be contenders in the Pac-12, but they need to win their next 3 games, all of which are winnable.
• If you're in Eugene, get to Matt Court on Saturday. Not only will it be a huge game for the basketball team, but the Rose Bowl champion football team will be honored.
• With signing day fast approaching, there are a few updates floating around. Rickert notes that Thomas Johnson has gone silent after his visit this weekend. He also notes a few visits that are coming up.
• Also, FishDuck's latest writer has a recruiting update as well, taking a look at the many receivers Oregon is still pursuing, and he has a note about basketball.

Speaking of recruiting, we don't cover it a lot here at Addicted To Quack, but we'd like to. If you, or someone you know, loves to talk and write about recruiting, shoot one of us an e-mail. We're looking for someone to write regular posts and share your knowledge with other Duck fans.

That's all I got for the quack. Leave anything else in the comments. GO DUCKS!

Major Pac-12 news today. Cal's Tosh Lupoi, 2010's recruiter of the year, is leaving his post as defensive line coach at his alma mater, for similar position at Uw, though he will be run game coordinator.

If you head over to Cal Golden Blogs and check out the comments, it's easy to see just how big this hire is. Tosh Lupoi was one of the top recruiters in the nation. His defensive lines were regularly some of the best in the conference, and last season his line was one of the few that had the talent to shut down the Oregon offense (nevermind the eventually suspension for his shenanigans).

In the past weeks, Uw has gone from giving up 777 yards in their bowl game, to building the best young defensive coaching staff in the country. Justin Wilcox is a rising star, and he will be helped out by recruiting starts Tosh Lupoi and Peter Sirmon. They also recently stole Keith Heyward as defensive backs coach from Oregon State, and he was one of the Beavers' top recruiters. While this won't make a huge impact next season, we will see the repercussions in the near future. Recruiting is the foundation for any program, and washington is on the rise.

Continue reading this post »

Sorry for the late quack. But, hey, it's a three-day weekend. As expected, Darron Thomas is dominating the discussion.

• Fan's weren't the only ones shocked by Darron Thomas' announcement to leave for the NFL draft. In the latest from Rob Moseley, Chip Kelly and the Oregon staff made a number of efforts over the past few days to keep DT at Oregon. According to Rob's sources, his teamates were "shocked" at the news.
• From the Register-Guard yesterday, Darron projects to be a project in the NFL. According to Darron Thomas' mentor, former high school coach Bob Jones, Darron got a good evaluation from the NFL, but was ready to "take this next step regardless of what the evaluation might be."
  
• After being overly critical when the news came out, Ted Miller has reevaluated, and looks at the other QBs in Darron's draft class. While this still isn't necessarily a good decision, this makes it look marginally better.
• Ken Goe rounds up some NFL analysis for Darron, and talks a bit more about his mechanics.
• Aaron Fentress takes a look at the draft as a whole, and how Oregon and Oregon State players will fare. The Ducks have a decent chance to see 6 players drafted, but most of those will be mid to late round pickups. Oregon State, uhhh, well, look at their record over the last two years.
• Finally, let's talk about the basketball. Lost in the DT news this weekend was an excellent performance by the men's team, who swept the Arizona schools on the road. Oregon is only a game out of first place in the conference, largely due to being 3-1 on the road. But now the Ducks have three games at home. They face USC, UCLA, and Oregon state over the next two weeks.

That's all I got. If you have anything else to share, leave it below. GO DUCKS!

Shocking news coming out this afternoon. Darron Thomas, set to enter his senior year already one of the most successful quarterbacks in Oregon history, will forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft.

From the University of Oregon, here is Darron's statement:

"I came to this decision on behalf of myself and my family," Thomas said. "I have a dream of playing in the NFL and I'm going to pursue those dreams.

"I would like to thank everyone in Oregon for all their support and I would thank the coaches for all their help, especially Coach (Chip) Kelly." Thomas added. "I love my teammates and wish them the best of luck, and am confident they will continue the winning tradition that has been established. Last but not least, I thank all the Oregon fans for their help and support."

As those of you around here know, I was one of the biggest defenders of Thomas. I think there are few QBs in the country that can run Oregon's offense as effectively as Thomas. Yeah, he has some work to do mechanically, but Thomas is great under pressure, is a spectacular decision-maker, and led Oregon to the best two-year stretch in school history. He also leaves Oregon as the all-time leader in touchdown passes, despite only starting for two season.

With Thomas at the helm, Oregon was a top 5 team heading into next season. Without him, we get to see what Bryan Bennett or Marcus Mariotta will do. Both are supremely talented athletes, and it will be exciting to see what they can do. But losing both LaMichael James and Darron Thomas to the draft is a big blow for the team. These two were the leaders of the Oregon offense, and took the team to levels we have never seen.

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If there is one difference between Oregon teams under Dana Altman, and Oregon teams under Ernie Kent, they don't fall apart. Today in Tucson, the Ducks saw a 17-point lead slowly evaporate, as they struggled to score, and Arizona hit a number of big 3-pointers. Arizona even took a 2-point lead in the closing minutes.

We have seen this happen too many times in the past few years, and rarely did the Ducks pull out the victory. But against Arizona, the Ducks never gave up. They didn't get out of their gameplan, and they continued to play excellent defense. After Arizona took the lead, E.J. Singler hit a huge shot to tie it up. After a stop, Singler got the ball to Garrett Sim, who hit a tough 3-pointer to make it 59-56.

Sim had a chance to really put the game away, but missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Arizona got a final chance, down only 2. They got three shots on their final possession, but none hit the mark, and the Ducks pulled out the victory.

The Ducks kept us in panic-mode for most of the second half, but they made the big plays when they needed to be made. They now move to 4-2 in conference play. Oregon has done an excellent job this season beating teams they should beat, but Oregon showed that they can compete for an entire game with the best teams in the conference.

After the jump, some individual observations. Leave your comments below, and celebrate a big win for Dana Altman and the Oregon basketball team. GO DUCKS!

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Friday morning sure are a lot more fun with a basketball team that can get wins. Here's your quack:

• The Ducks knocked off ASU on the road to get their 3rd conference victory. The Ducks held an early 11-point lead, only to blow it, but they battled back and got the 67-58 victory over the Sun Devils. The Ducks, per usual, had their struggles scoring, but they stayed in the game with good defense. The Ducks forced 16 turnovers, and scored 21 points off those turnovers, and held the Sun Devils to only 3 points in the final 5 minutes.
• The Oregon women also pulled out a good victory, beating Arizona 87-73 despite dealing with injuries to stars Amanda Johnson and Nia Jackson. The Ducks pulled out to an early 24-5 lead when they were on fire from behind the arc, and cruised to a 21 point halftime lead. Freshmen Lexi Petersen stepped up at point with Jackson battling injury, to lead the Ducks with 17.
• Ted Miller gives Oregon its season grade. He gives the Ducks an A overall, but the defense only a B, which I think is highly unfair, especially since he mentions total yards to back up that grade. But in conference games, Oregon had the best defensive yards per play in the conference at 5.00. In both S&P+ and FEI the Ducks had the best defenses in the country by a pretty decent margin. Giving the best defense in the conference a B is a joke.
• Matt Prehm has a list of the top 10 "skill guys" returning next season in the Pac-12, and includes QBs on the list. The main thing taht sticks out is that there are a lot of great players in the conference, which will make things fun.
• There have been a lot of recent decommits that are considering Oregon in the last week. The Oregonian has a rundown of the latest.
• With their Oregon careers over, many Ducks are going to try to get a shot at the NFL. That starts with the various post-postseason bowls. David Paulson, Josh Kaddu, and Lavasier Tuinei have accepted invites.
• Lastly, Rob Moseley has his review of the most disappointing unit of 2011, the wide receivers. The first thing we should remember is that this was a unit just killed by injury, with two starters missing multiple games. What happens in 2012 will be much more important. Receivers coach Scott Frost is finally getting some talent at the position, and it's now time to see if he can coach them up.

What do you think? Are we going to see significant improvement from the wide receivers next season? Leave your thoughts and any other quack below. GO DUCKS!

It's been a big week for Chesterfield as he got @addictedtoquack trending on Monday night with this tweet. If you're not already, follow us on twitter! Here's your quack for today.

• Kurt has been dropping a lot of great old videos in the fanshots, and has used that footage in a piece at FishDuck on Oregon's facilities over the years. He starts at the founding of the University, and moves through the years, covering Hayward Field, Mac Court, Autzen Stadium, Matt Court, and much more.
• Pac-12 basketball is a mess this season, both on and off the court. ASU has been leading the off-court shenanigans with two suspensions and a dismissal. Oregon is heading to ASU tomorrow night. Unfortunately, the two suspended players, Kyle Cain and Chris Colvin, are reinstated for the game. Still, ASU is without a true point guard and has been turning the ball over at a pretty astounding rate. This is a very winnable game for the Ducks, and they'll need to get the road victory to stay in the conference discussion.
• Oregon ended the season ranked 4th in the country, and could likely end up ranked there to start 2012. Rob Moseley runs through a few early 2012 rankings, and all have Oregon ranked 4th. But let's not go counting on anything just yet, we still have an offseason to get through.
• USC and Oregon are already being typed as the two Pac-12 contenders, and USC, as usual, is losing some depth, especially at wide receiver. Hyped WRs Brice Butler and Kyle Prater are leaving the program. USC may have the top starting lineup in the conference, but with recruiting sanctions taking effect this year, they may have some depth issues this season if they have any serious injuries.
• In some recruiting news, Rob Rickert has an update on Texas WR Thomas Johnson and his cousin CB De'Vante Harris. Johnson has recently decommitted from Texas and Harris from Oklahoma. Both will be visiting Oregon this weekend. Though they aren't necessarily trying to play together, they are both looking for similar things.
• The indoor track season is starting, and the Oregon women have started the season ranked #1 in the country.
• Oregon headlines Ted Miller's "what we learned: Bowl edition." The Ducks can win the big one! Its amazing how quickly the narrative will change with a win in a big game.

Leave any other quack in the comments. GO DUCKS!

One last game of college football tonight. Maybe we'll get some offense this time around. Here's your quack:

• The Ducks couldn't hang with Cal in the second half last night, and ended up falling 77-60. A string of turnovers, poor defense, and poor rebounding doomed the Ducks, as Cal took control early in the second half, and never let up. Here's CGB's recap. This is a disappointing loss. It was a game that would have allowed the Ducks to turn a corner, getting a sweep of the Bay Area schools. But now the Ducks have lost to Uw and Cal by a combined 33 points.
• Let's move on to some more exciting news, the 2012 football season! Yesterday, the Register Guard had their football season wrap-up and look forward. This season, the Ducks overcame a lot of adversity (especially injuries) to win the conference and Rose Bowl. This gave the Ducks valuable experience that will be key in another run next season. Moseley also has a position-by-position breakdown.
• Aaron Fentress also has a look at the 2012 football team, and says that the Ducks will be in the mix for the BCS Championship game, despite LaMichael James moving on to the NFL.
• George Schroeder is at the BCS Championship Game, and got some interesting thoughts from the players on the Ducks.
• Lastly, a couple good pieces from FishDuck. Charles has his Rose Bowl recap video, taking a look at some surprise plays. Also, Brian Libby has a piece talking about the 85 scholarship limit, and how it has allowed Oregon and many other teams to compete nationally.

Leave anything else below. GO DUCKS!

Well, it's official: LaMichael James is entering the NFL draft. While it seemed like a foregone conclusion since he decided to come back for his junior year, it was not an easy decision for him. Here is LaMichael's statement from the UO press release:

"My experience at the University of Oregon has been one unlike any other, and one I will never forget," James said. "I am grateful for the people I have met, the things I have learned, and the amazing community I have had the privilege of being a part of over the last three-and-a-half years. The community of Eugene welcomed me with open arms and has supported me since the day I arrived. I am lucky to have been a part of such an amazing place. I can truly say Eugene is my home away from home and a place I will always hold in high regards.

"As for my coaches and teammates -- they are my family. I love each and every one of them and am eternally grateful for having each of them be a part of my life," James emphasized. "It has been both an honor and a privilege to be a part of something as great as the UO family."

We've rehashed James' accomplishments over the past month, but he leaves Oregon the best running back in school history, if not the best player. With a Rose Bowl win, and another great performance, he leaves Oregon on an incredibly high note.

Selfishly, I'll miss watching James shred opposing defenses. His speed, power, and agility were a joy to watch. We were lucky to have three relatively healthy seasons from James, leading the Ducks on their best three-year stretch in school history.

Good luck LaMichael. We'll miss you, and thanks for the awesome memories.

Good Morning Rose Bowl Champs! I don't think that'll ever get old.

• Let's switch things up this morning and start things off with some basketball, which we can now acknowledge since football is over. The Ducks host Stanford tonight (game will be aired on Comcast Sports NW), and the Ducks will need to find a way to score against the Cardinal. Stanford is giving up only 56.5 points per game, and KenPom has them as a top 10 defense.
• The Oregon women head to No. 4 Stanford, where they haven't won since 1987. Oregon is 9-5, but still haven't won a road game. I'm not feeling too optimistic about this one.
• The Oregon coaching staff may have just won a Rose Bowl, but they don't get any time off. He's now on the recruiting trail, and Aaron Fentress spoke with him about the season and what lies ahead. The Ducks had to rely on a lot of young players this year, and many stepped up. The Ducks lose only 10 scholarship seniors, which gives Kelly optimism for next season.
• Though Kelly noted to Fentress that he didn't expect the Rose Bowl to help in recruiting now, the Ducks are getting a lot of late visits this year, especially from wide receivers.
• With the Pac-12 schedule out, everyone adds their two cents on how it will affect next season. Ted Miller gives his thoughts on each team. Paul Myerberg lists the games he's most excited for.

If you've got anything else, drop it in the comments. GO DUCKS!

With the Pac-12 season officially over, the Pac-12 has released the 2012 conference football schedule. With the Pac-12 games announced, we know Oregon's schedule. Here it is (thanks to ProbablyMonty in the comments)

Sat, 9/1: vs. Arkansas State
Sat, 9/8: vs. Fresno State
Sat, 9/15: vs. Tennessee Tech
Sat, 9/22: vs. Arizona
Sat, 9/29: @ Washington State
Sat, 10/6: vs. washington
Thu, 10/18: @ Arizona State
Sat, 10/27: vs. Colorado
Sat, 11/3: @ Southern Cal
Sat, 11/10: @ California
Sat, 11/17: vs. Stanford
Sat, 11/24: @ Oregon State
Fri, 11/30: PAC-12 championship

Obviously, the first thing that jumps out at you is the game against USC. With Colorado following, and a Thursday game before that, the Ducks will hopefully be in good shape injury-wise heading into the likely battle for Pac-12 supremacy.

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