Can Oregon Repeat as Pac 12 Champs?

Last season, the Oregon Ducks won the Pac-10 title. Do they have what it takes to repeat, this time as Pac-12 Champs? I think with running back LaMicheal James and quarterback Darron Thomas returning, they have a great chance. That is as strong of a tandem as anyone else in the country. I think Oregon has what it takes to return to the Title Game in 2012.

Pac-10 Offensive Leaders

The Pac-10 has been full of some big plays by some talented players this season. Here are the Pac-10 offensive leaders:

Quarterback Rating: Andrew Luck, Stanford - 166.9

Rushing Yards: LaMichael James, Oregon - 848

Receiving Yards: Juron Criner, Arizona - 531

Passing Yards: Steven Threet, Arizona State - 1719

Touchdowns: Shane Vereen, Cal and LaMichael James, Oregon - 10

Pac-10 Winners in Week 6

Big upset against Arizona, Stanford kicks a last second field goal, California romps UCLA, and Oregon glides past WASH U

California 35, UCLA 7

#3 Oregon 43, Washington State 23
Oregon State 29, #9 Arizona 27

#16 Stanford 37, USC 35

Arizona State 24, Washington 14

Week Four Scores

#14 Arizona 10, California 9
#5 Oregon 42, Arizona State 31
#3 Boise State 37, Oregon State 24
#16 Stanford 37, Notre Dame 14
UCLA 34, #7 Texas 12
#20 USC 50, Washington State 15

Predictions record: 4-2

Pac-10 Week One Game Results

Here are the Week One results from the Pac-10:

41 Arizona, 2 Toledo

54 Arizona State, 9 Portland State

52 California, 3 UC Davis

72 Oregon, 0 New Mexico

30 Texas Christian, 21 Oregon State

52 Stanford, 17 Sacramento

31 UCLA, 22 Kansas State

49 USC, 36 Hawaii

23 Brigham Young, 17 Washington

65 Oklahoma State, 17 Washington State

Oregon vs Oregon State

Since this blog is about home much I love the Pac 10 conference in general, (plus all teams in it) I feel guilty picking sides or favorite teams. I even feel guilty picking favorite team rivalries, but I must confess I LOVE the Oregon Ducks vs Oregon State Beavers rivalry.

Oregon Ducks Football Schedule

This week, alphabetically, we are moving onto the O's of the Pac 10 conference....Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers. HUGE RIVALS and one of the reasons I love the Pac 10 conference so much! Look at this great Oregon Ducks football schedule - the Ducks play a lot of tough road games and I would love to travel to support them. I figure there are at least 4 CAN'T MISS games (highlighted by my asterisk)and I mean, can't miss! I won't be sitting on the couch for the Oregon vs. Oregon game, that's for sure.
Here ya go....

2010 Oregon Ducks Football Schedule
Sat. Sept 4 vs. New Mexico
Sat. Sept 11 at Tennessee
Sat. Sept 18 vs. Portland State
Sat. Sept 25 at Arizona State
Sat. Oct 2 vs. Stanford
Sat. Oct 9 at Washington State
Thur. Oct 21 vs. UCLA (*)
Sat. Oct 30 at USC
Sat. Nov 6 vs. Washington (*)
Sat. Nov 13 at Cal
Fri. Nov 26 vs. Arizona (*)
Sat. Dec 4 at Oregon State (*)

(*) = CAN'T MISS GAMES

Oregon Ducks Team Preview

The Oregon Ducks are loaded with talent and expect them to be very good next season. They're returning 10 starters on offense and nine on defense. The Ducks lost quarterback Jerimiah Masoli to suspension after he stole laptops on campus. The Ducks return all five players on their offensive line and have a strong defense. The Ducks have simply too many weapons on offense for it to falter without Masoli. Whether it is Nate Costa or Darron Thomas, the quarterback they have will have plenty of weapons to work with. Lamichael James is an elite back. Expect them to be a top the Pac 10 all year and don't be surprised if they compete for a national title.

Who Will be the New Signal Caller in Oregon? Nate Costa Has Got a Chance

It has been a long time since Oregon has gone into a season with a clear-cut senior starting quarterback, and it appeared that Jeremiah Masoli would end that streak. Then Masoli decided to steal laptops on campus on January 25th, 2010 which led Head Coach Chip Kelly to suspend Masoli for the upcoming season. Even with the loss of their potential Heisman Candidate, the Ducks seem to still be in pretty good shape. They have recruited extremely well at the position and posess a 5th year senior in Nate Costa who will be pushed by redshirt sophomore Darron Thomas, who gave Duck fans a ton of hope when he played spectaculary in his debut as a freshman against Boise State. Thomas was able to red shirt last season in order to get stronger, learn the offense, and sharpen his throwing mechanics. Remember Duck fans, Costa was the heir apparent to Dennis Dixon in 2008, but suffered a knee injury that ended his season. Costa has all of the tools to be a great quarterback and the Ducks have the explosive weapons necessary to run up the score on a lot of teams. If Costa can produce like the Ducks thought he would in 2008, their National Title aspirations are not a long shot.

Troubles on the Oregon Ducks football team

After Jeremiah Masoli was convicted of second-degree burglary last Monday, he was suspended for the 2010 season with the Oregon Ducks. Coach Chip Kelly will be meeting with him to decide his fate for the spring practices, if he has any future with the team at all. Masoli was given the option to redshirt the season and come back next year, but nothing has been decided quite yet. Masoli was up for the Heisman Trophy position, but I suspect that has already been decided. One big no.

The Oregon Ducks are a little shaken right now with being thrown such a curve ball, and the coaches will have to decide soon who the starting quarterback is going to be. There is a huge competition between Nate Costa, a senior at Oregon, and sophomore Darron Thomas. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that one. LaMichael James is also suspended for the season opener for charges of a DUI. Let's hope the team doesn't completely fall to pieces.

Mike Bellotti is going to ESPN

Mike Bellotti has officially left his post as the athletic director at Oregon for a position as a college football analyst at ESPN. Bellotti has only been at Oregon since July, but cannot pass up an opportunity like this. Mike Bellotti has been in the coaching business for 36 years and is ready for something new. He is passionate about the game of football and a great speaker, so he will do wonders as an analyst at ESPN. Good luck Mike!

Rose Bowl is holy grail of College Football Games

Every college football season teams prepare all year for the post season bowl games. Bowl Games are the veritable who's who in college football. For Pac 10 Football Teams, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is the Holy Grail of Bowl Games. According to the official Rose Bowl Game website, "Known as the The Granddaddy of Them All, the Rose Bowl Game kicked off a myriad of college football legacies in 1902. Since then, the game has showcased 18 Heisman Trophy Winners, produced 28 national champions, and featured 197 consensus All-Americans."

This year the 96th Rose Bowl Game will be played by the Number 8 BCS Ohio State Buckeyes and the Number 7 BCS Oregon Ducks. Both the Oregon Ducks and the Ohio State Buckeyes have had great 2009 Football Seasons and are well prepared for the game. The Oregon Ducks, ranked a place higher in the BCS rating system than the Oregon Ducks are the favorite. But in my opinion both teams really have a shot at this title and if the Oregon Ducks want to keep the Rose Bowl Championship in the Pac 10 they are going to have to do serious work to protect the title...

There are still Rose Bowl Tickets left, I found some at Oregon Ducks Football Tickets... but if you intend to go, you better scoop up your Rose Bowl Tickets soon!

Pac 10 Football Standings are very close

The Pac 10 has been quite the conference this season. With 5 teams all within a game of each other, analysts are saying that the Rose Bowl is still within anyones reach. This weekend there are several Pac 10 match-ups that will help determine who will make it to the Holy Grail of Pac 10 football.The weekend kicks off with Arizona State vs. Oregon, and then Oregon State takes on Washington.

Another Pac 10 fan put together this video which highlights the top Pac 10 teams in his opinion. While I didn't create this video I think its a good look at some of the best Pac 10 football teams.

Oregon State Beavers are set to make another late-season surge

The Oregon State Beavers are poised to make a late-season surge for the Pac 10 Conference Title. The OSU offense is playing really well, although the pass defense has been a little shaky, the Beavers are looking good and with other teams in the Pac 10 starting to look tired, the OSU Beavers may be in the perfect position to swoop in last minute under the radar and pull out a conference title.

Fellow Oregon team the Ducks, who at one point looked like they might be the biggest competition for the title seem to have lost focus leaving the perfect place for the Oregon State Beavers to slip and claim the glory for themselves. This weekends games are likely to be very telling of who will be on top and who is going to walk away empty handed this season!

The Oregon Ducks battle the UCLA Bruins, and reports say it is anyones game

The Oregon Ducks will take on the UCLA Bruins this weekend in a game that could be one of the hardest to predict this week in the Pac 10.

The game is at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which is automatically a strike against the Ducks... but if the Bruins bank on a home field advantage carrying them they are going to walk away crying. The Ducks may be down four or five strikes but they have the heart to carry them far!

A few more strikes against the Oregon Ducks, this is Quarterback Nate Costa's first NCAA Start, and its in the Rose Bowl, and its televised.. can you say nerves? Next, the Bruins are sure to be out to redeem themselves after being spanked up and down the field by Stanford last week. Finally, with the return of QB Kevin Prince the UCLA offense will be hard to beat.

The game is televised so if you can't make it out to the game, sit on your couch and send as much Duck Love through the screen as possible, they are going to need it!

Cal Golden Bears vs. Oregon Ducks September 26

The California Golden Bears will face-off against the Oregon Ducks on September 26 at 12:30 p.m. The game will be played at Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks football program. Autzen Stadium is located in Eugene, Oregon just north of the University of Oregon campus. For Cal Golden Bears fans, the drive to Eugene from Berkeley is a beautiful 8 hour drive up the coast and Eugene, Oregon has lots to offer for those Cal Golden Bears fans who want to make it a weekend event.

This years match up against Oregon Ducks and the California Golden Bears is especially exciting because the although the Oregon Ducks have the home field advantage, they will be just a four games into their season with new Oregon Ducks head coach Chip Kelly. Coach Kelly stepped up into the Oregon Ducks head coach position after former head coach Mike Bellotti was named Athletic Director for the University of Oregon.

Students and season ticket holders often eat up tickets for this and other Pac-10 conference games, however there are several ticket brokers that still have seats for the Cal Golden Bears vs. Oregon Ducks on September 26.

New Oregon Ducks Head Coach hoping to make a splash in his bigger pond

Chip Kelly will be taking the plunge into the NCAA Division-I Head Coaches pond this season when he starts his first season as the “top Duck” at the University of Oregon. Although Chip Kelly has no head coaching experience, he has accumulated a respected reputation in the football world. Many of his peers regard him as one of the most innovative offensive minds of our time and see the team he is leading as the one to beat.

Coach Kelly got his first real break into coaching when he was hired as the University of New Hampshire. Serving in many different positions on the coaching staff, Chip Kelly spent his last 8 seasons with the New Hampshire Wildcats as offensive coordinator. Then in 2007, Chip Kelly was hired by the University of Oregon to be their offensive coordinator. Kelly’s spread option offense was instantly successful at the University of Oregon and he helped guide the Ducks to the top Pac-10 scorers per game, with an average of 38.15 ppg. In 2008 after a series of injuries threatened the offensive half of the team, Chip Kelly stepped up once again helping the quarterbacks to pull out another offensively successful year. On March 13, 2009 it was announced that former Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti was resigning in order to take over the athletic director position and Chip Kelly was announced as his successor.

Oregon Ducks fans are eager to see what this relatively young head coach will do with the team. Pac-10 fans in general should watch out for Chip Kelly and the Ducks as they are sure to have one of the best coached offenses in the conference.

Nike partners with the University of Oregon Ducks for the latest in football jersey innovation

Over the last few years the University of Oregon Ducks have taken a lot of flack for their flashy uniforms and endless jersey-pants combinations. The University of Oregon partnered with Nike in 1997 in order to take advantage of brand recognition in hopes of boosting Oregon Ducks ticket sales but the Ducks also chose Nike as its official outfitter because Nike is known for its innovation and unique approach to sporting apparel.

One advantage of the University of Oregon Ducks jerseys is the light-weight water wicking material. With laminated designs that do not absorb moisture and a fabric that is designed to be light, the 2009 Oregon Ducks roster will be playing in uniforms that are 25% lighter than the 2006 Oregon Ducks jerseys, something players recognize makes them faster on the field.
Another cutting edge change to the Oregon Ducks apparel is the fact that instead of stuffing pads into pockets of the jerseys like most teams do, the Oregon Ducks uniforms have pads built directly into them. The Nike Corporation calls this design “Pro Combat” pads. The University of Oregon Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti who took over as athletic director on July 1st spoke about the uniforms in a recent press conference, “(the uniforms) are some of the best looking, fastest playing, most efficient uniforms ever made.”

While the Oregon Ducks may get crap about what they wear from critics and haters, the players seem to recognize that although the uniforms are great and have advantages ultimately it is about who is wearing the Ducks jersey that counts. Oregon Ducks Defensive End Will Tukuafu told reporters, “We pride ourselves on going out there and playing hard. It doesn’t matter what we’re wearing we’re going to go out and compete. It’s just a plus to have the best stuff out there.”

No matter what the Ducks wear, this season is sure to be an impressive one.