Slingin' Quack

Sean and Rusty are back after a long layoff with a whole bunch of quack.  The two talk about the basketball team and the amazing success it has had quietly, the Ducks at the combine, and what the Titans should do with their NFL Draft pick.

This last week in Oregon sports had zero chill.  Oregon dropped the biggest lead in the history of college football bowl games.  Also, Oregon basketball lost the PAC-12 opener to Oregon State.   Sean and I spend a lot of time looking at the positives coming up.  We looked at the roster in terms of who was coming back, projecting some lineups, and Dakota Prukop getting into Oregon without the national media wondering if he can pass a test. We also talk about Pellum moving back to the linebacker coach role, the departure of another linebacker coach, and who we would like to see as the new defensive coordinator.  (Hint: Tako hates him) Lastly, we talk about Oregon basketball.  Sean posed a question about a year ago on a LOST pod about Dana Altman.  Sean, David Piper, and I all came to the conclusion that Dana Altman has surpassed all expectations every year as the head coach at Oregon.  So Sean and I are feeling pretty good about this season, especially with Bill Walton making the best calls of all time.

We're back!  Took a couple weeks off because of the holidays and we figured not that many people would listen, nor did our schedules line up.  But!  Comin' to you live from Hamsterdam we've got a lot of quack. First, we talk about the Oregon football game against the TCU Horned Frogs.  There's the obvious conversation about Trevone Boykin, whom I wrote an article about earlier this week.  Boykin is terrifying and is the player that we all thought Bralon Addison could be in a perfect world where he easily slid into the quarterback position when Vernon Adams went down and he received the golden arm of Johnny Unitas from the god Xerxes. The QB edge goes to TCU but if not for a Vernon Adams injury at the beginning of the year we are looking at a one loss Oregon squad (most likely).  TCU was ravaged by injuries on defense leading to a few very misleading scores and Trevone Boykin was absent a couple close wins.   The Alamo Bowl and Texas have a thing for tragic heroes.  People that could have accomplished great

Oregon beat Oregon State in the 119th Civil War game.  The first half saw Oregon's defense absolutely control the Oregon State offense, outside of the first drive.  The second half saw the Oregon defense completely check out of the game mentally and give up an embarrassing amount of success to the Beavers. Scott Frost has left his role as offensive coordinator to take over the head coaching role at the University of Central Florida (UCF), that went nearly unbeaten with Blake Bortles and dropped to a winless record this past season.  I think this is a great opportunity for him to succeed.  I've heard that UCF's fan base is willing to start spending more money on the football program.  He's killed it at Oregon the last few years, leading the #2 offense in the country, and if not for maybe bad play calls in the teens he would be viewed in a much more positive light. The basketball team is still undefeated heading into a game at UNLV.  It's technically a neutral site game, but it is at the MGM Grand, which is i

Both Oregon football and Oregon basketball had big wins this last week. Basketball beat Valparaiso, a tournament team last year, 73-67 at Matthew Knight Arena.  Shortly after beating Baylor, the Ducks have a couple of the best wins in the country thus far this season.  It is really exciting to have a team that is so clearly excelling this early and has a lot of promise.  Sean and I talk about the evolution of the offense, how overall impressive this team has been, and what to expect. Oregon football made USC look bad.  Adams torched the USC defense worse than they ever have in the history of the school and Adams tied the single-game record for touchdown passes.  I have never seen a player more open than When Baylis caught a pass on a vertical route up the left hash.  The Oregon defense is really playing well and their game against USC is a real testament to that.  Sean and I talk about why our perspective on this season has been a little tainted and what this team provides that none in recent history have.

We got almost too much quack this week so we tried our best to make sure we got everything in on a shortened timeline. The first thing Sean and I talk about is the performance of the Oregon basketball defense.  The offense really struggled at times but the defense forced 18 turnovers and got 28 points off of them.  Five players had over 10 points.  Boucher had 15, Cook had 15, Brooks had 10, Dorsey had 12, Benjamin had 13, and even Benson had 9.  While I hope we have one guy who can stand out and score in the clutch we have to be optimistic with the number of people who are scoring. Oregon football had the biggest win of the year when they beat Stanford.  Stanford has been eliminated from the playoff hunt.  Oregon's defense played opportunistic defense and overall extremely well given the strengths and weaknesses of each side.  The running game was astounding and Vernon Adams only had to throw 12 times.  Sean and I talk more in depth about the game and the positives and negatives.  We talk about this bigges

After last weeks difficulties we are back!  Sean and I spend a lot of time going over the win against Arizona State and Cal.  Both games showed signs of improvement for their own reasons.  This team is clearly getting better as the season goes on and I think they'll be able to finish strong.   Looking at the team we saw against Eastern Washington, Georgia State, Colorado, Utah, and Washington State, this team seems light years ahead.  The offense is totally revamped with the addition of Vernon Adams and Darren Carrington. The defense is starting to make plays.  Sacks and interceptions are happening (THEY'RE HAPPENING!) but the lone weakness of the defense thus far has been consistently getting off the field after third downs.  Against Cal everything came together.  At this point, what can we say about whether the defense will get better and what the lasting impression is of the unit?  We're at week 11 so they have a clear identity. At the end of the pod we talk about the most recent playoff rankings and ho

With Halloween this weekend and the Ducks' playing on a Thursday night (allowing me to not have to schedule my day around the game) the festivities will be in full force.  Might be a three-day weekend for a lot of us because it's not like people will be able to function after a Duck game anyways. Oregon has Vernon Adams back along with Darren Carrington.  The offense looked like a totally different unit with both of the top playmakers back.  Sean and I were very critical of Vernon Adams after his performance against Utah, broken finger or not, so we make a solid effort to praise all the things Vernon Adams did well against Washington.  Is Darren Carrington what the offense was missing to bring it to the next level? The episode starts off with a thorough look at the Oklahoma-Oregon onside kick because often before we even record we go on crazy tangents that lead us all over the college football landscape. Oregon needs to win two of it's last five and the only winnable game seems to be against Oregon State w

Oregon and Washington squared off in Seattle this past weekend and Oregon came away with a big win.  It looked like the streak might come to an end during an off year but the return of Darren Carrington, Vernon Adams, and the front seven actually living up to their expectations. There are big positives and negatives to take away from the game.  How much of an improvement did Vernon Adams actually bring?  How much more of an impact can Darren Carrington have?  Does this mean a new Oregon squad the rest of the season? Sean and I go through a very early preview of the basketball season.  Even though Altman has had extended success as head coach of the basketball team there still isn't huge attendance numbers.  I don't believe that it's because of the transfer students or anything like that.  Do this for instance: I also want you guys to go through your own exercise that I posed to Sean near the end of the pod. Name three words you would use to describe the Oregon football team: 1. 2. 3. Name three words

Normally I try to come up with funny titles but this was just too wild to not make it as the headline.  You'll have to listen through to find it though.  CLICKBAIT FTW.   Sean and I talk about the Colorado game and what the stats say.  Obviously, we talk about the defense and how it has gotten worse over the last couple years.  But is the secondary really to blame?  Is there another position that is not meeting expectations?  One unit is severely disappointing this season.   There were a couple noticeable moves in the Colorado game.  We talk about the re-appearance of Oregon's power running attack and how Taj Griffin fits into the offense.   Taylor Alie and Jeff Lockie are now sharing time at quarterback.  Is Alie that good? What do we make of a two-quarterback system?  Is Vernon Adams going to be back soon and is he actually that much better than the other QBs?  

The game against Utah was flat out embarrassing.  Utah did to Oregon what Oregon usually does to other teams.  Utah dominated every phase of the game and were outcoached.  Is this what Oregon is this year?  Are they doomed to being average?   Will they make a bowl game?  Is this the end of the Golden Age of Oregon Football? Marcus Mariota had a game against the Colts and I talk with Sean about what to expect from Mariota this year and how the Titans are using Mariota.  You can probably guess what our comments are on this subject.   Looking ahead to Colorado we look at Colorado's strengths.  The line is Oregon -7, which is pretty much awful given the history of these two programs over the last decade.   I highly encourage people to listen to the podcasts.  Not just because I do it because I actually believe this is pretty solid stuff.  

The podcast opens with a recap of Marcus Mariota's second performance in the NFL.  Also, the ugliest game ever, aside from the Oregon State v Pitt Sun Bowl, occurred Sunday afternoon when the Dallas Cowboys played at the Philadelphia Eagles.  We talk about the pitfalls of Chip Kelly's reign in the NFL and the system. After the Georgia State game we look at the lessons to take away from the game.  Specifically we talk about Jeff Lockie and Vernon Adams. Previewing the Utah game there are a lot of points to consider.  How will Vernon Adams look a few weeks removed from his hand injury.  Is the Utah offensive and defensive lines going to bruise our, allegedly soft, lines?  Will Utah start Travis Wilson or the quarterback who shredded Oregon for the first quarter last year? There are plenty of detours to have, including: are athletes or actors easier to be agents for, what does being a "pro" mean in the NFL, and what is the deal with the R Bar in SF?

It was a disappointing loss in East Lansing, aka the worst place on earth not named Husky Stadium, (seriously, East Lansing is the worst city I've ever been too, but that's neither here no there).  However, while there are no morale victories in zero-sum games there are a lot of positives to take away from the loss at Michigan State.   After discussing the specifics of the game Sean and I discuss what the loss means in terms of Oregon making the national championship game.  A quick view of the national landscape gives a greater perspective on where Oregon fits into the national equation.   I give my hot take on Oregon's biggest weakness, one that's been around for a while, but it's weak not for the reason you might expect. It was a big weekend for Marcus Mariota and the player we love to laugh at, Jameis Winston.  We talk about our heirarchy of following our second and third favorite teams and talk about the dogmas that have led us to this point in football.

Rusty and Sean talk about the opening game of Oregon's 2015 college football schedule in the matchup against Eastern Washington.   Then after briefly going over the PAC-12 week 1 slate they discuss how important it is now for Oregon to beat Michigan State.  

Rusty and Sean Larson look into all the post-fall camp news they can get their hands on.  They discuss what finishing second on the depth chart means for Jeff Lockie.  They also discuss what we can expect from Vernon Adams as a starter and what he brings to the table.  Side note, a Seattle, Washington news person hates on Oregon for getting a post-grad transfer, because the city of Seattle has never beneffited from one of those. Breaking down the entire depth chart Rusty and Sean go position by position and see what are the strong parts, the weaker parts in terms of depth, and which units really need to step up this season. After much googling and deep keyword searches on the internet, as well as crawling around a couple sites, Sean and Rusty find the Eastern Washington media guide, which is really the only piece of information they could find on the Eastern Washington Eagles.  At the end the two go over what to expect for the Ducks in their matchup against Eastern Washington.  

Rusty and Sean Larson discuss the headlines coming out of Rob Moseley's practice reports.  The receivers are getting better because of depth.  The injury of Thomas Tyner is discussed and what that means for the Oregon backfield.  Vernon Adams and Jeff Lockie are still locked in a battle for the starting quarterback job and the two discuss what it means when Adams wins and what i means if Lockie wins. Sean and Rusty disagree on depth and talent in certain areas of the roster and go position-by-position throughout the roster. As always, the impending mtachup with Michigan State is discussed.  

Rusty Ryan and Sean Larson give the PAC-12 South an exhaustive look.  They weight the odds of whether UCLA, USC, Arizona State, Arizona, or Utah will win the South, how seriously teams should take Utah, and look into how much progress has been made at Colorado.  Lastly, the two give an idea of what to expect in the future from the teams.

Rusty Ryan and Sean Larson give the PAC-12 North an exhaustive look.  They weight the odds of whether Stanford or Oregon will win the North, how seriously teams should take Cal, and try to sort through Washington, Washington State, and Oregon State.  Lastly, the two give an idea of what to expect in the future from the teams.

Rusty Ryan and Sean Larson reunite aftr a hiatus in time for college football season.  This podcast is focused on the Oregon Ducks football team heading into fall camp.  The podcast begins with what the quarterback race looks like between Jeff Lockie and Vernon Adams.  Will Adams showing up late to camp put Lockie in a big enough lead to secure the spot?  The next topic of conversation is what to do with Charles Nelson.  Should he play on the offensive side of the ball or on the defensive side of the ball?  Regardless of who is the quarterback he's got a lot of help with the skill players back on offense.  The last position on offense is the line and Sean and Rusty talk about the transfer at center.  On defense the two look at the unit seeing the most new faces: the secondary.  The importance of DeForest Buckner and the hopes for the linebacker group finish off the podcast.  

Rusty Ryan and Sean Larson end their sabbatical from the podcast to recap the year that was in 2015.  The first topic of conversation is the almighty football team, how this team was different from the 2007, 2010 teams, and what we can expect moving forward.  Men's and Women's basketball were covered with how the men blew away all expectations and how the women are back on the path to success.  There's also discussion about cross country, golf, acrobatics and tumbling, and track & field.  The ending sees Rusty and Sean discussing baseball.