Oregon Ducks Make History (living in, stats, rated)

[karlsch]

Here is a nice story about one of the Ducks who through incredibly hard work achieved success both on the football field and in the classroom. He is a Heisman Trophy candidate and is being named to Academic All-American teams. I doubt whether many here faced as many obstacles.. Worth a read:

"Before LaMichael James was born, his father was shot and killed. Two weeks after his mother gave birth to him, she gave him up. When he was in high school, the grandmother who raised him died of cancer."

The whole story here:
Oregon Ducks' LaMichael James has taken a rocky road to stardom - CFB News | FOX Sports on MSN

[backdrifter]

Who cares about the sports team when the U of O is, academically, such an embarassment to the citizens of Oregon? Especially considering its our "flagship" of the Oregon University System.

Scott Woodward, UW's atheletic director, riled some people up by saying:

"...it's an embarrassment what their academic institution is, and what's happened to them as far as their state funding has gone. In my mind it's a wonderful athletic facility, but they've watched it at the expense of the university go really down.

"But the athletic facility is impressive. The fans at Oregon should get down on their hands and knees at night to Phil Knight and pray to him because this is an incredible facility he's built. Any of the rankings you look at, you watch how far (the Ducks have) dropped because of their state funding."

While I realize UO stopped taking public money for the athletics program some number of years ago, I still cringe to think that its football team is really all U of O is known for...

[Cornerguy1]

Don't look now, O-Ducky, but that 2 point win over Cal left some AP voters less than impressed; the Ducks garnered 11 fewer first-place votes this week than last.

There's a ways to go on the sked yet and all it takes is one tipped pass or bad bounce to turn a team into also-rans.

[Gunluvver2]

I am a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan but I don't see them making it into the top five this year. Maybe next year. I think Boise State is probably the best team in the country although Oregon is impressive. I am rooting for Boise State. I love that Blue field.

GL2

[Deezus]

Until you insitute a college football playoff system you're always going to have these sort of debates. Oregon's non-conference schedule was really weak this year(PSU and New Mexico?) but they beat everyone except for Cal last weekend by a minimum of a 20-point margin of victory--including USC and Stanford.

Boise State has been impressive as usual, but in non-conference play, they barely beat a ranked Virginia Tech--other than that most of their victories have been over the usual WAC cupcakes. if Auburn loses to Alabama or South Carolina it will be interesting to see if the BCS system will select a one-loss team over a possibly unbeaten Boise State or TCU for the BCS championship. Every year though you are going to have a Boise State or Utah who goes undefeated and doesn't get a chance for the big game.

It's too bad we can't just swap Washington State with Boise State and bring the Broncos into the Pac-10 for football to end these debates...Although the argument is that Boise State isn't up to the academic level of most of the Pac-10, let's stop pretending that college football is about much more than athleticism.

That being said, I've enjoyed the heck out of watching Oregon this season. I'm proud to be a Ducks fan and for what it's worth, this year they've got one of the most dominant offenses in recent history. Maybe a lot of the success is due to the contributions of Phil Knight's Nike dollars--but a lot of SEC and Big 10 schools have had much more financial backing for their programs over the years.

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Here is a nice story about one of the Ducks who through incredibly hard work achieved success both on the football field and in the classroom. He is a Heisman Trophy candidate and is being named to Academic All-American teams. I doubt whether many here faced as many obstacles.. Worth a read:

"Before LaMichael James was born, his father was shot and killed. Two weeks after his mother gave birth to him, she gave him up. When he was in high school, the grandmother who raised him died of cancer."

The whole story here:
Oregon Ducks' LaMichael James has taken a rocky road to stardom - CFB News | FOX Sports on MSN

Thanks for posting that.

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by Cornerguy1

Don't look now, O-Ducky, but that 2 point win over Cal left some AP voters less than impressed; the Ducks garnered 11 fewer first-place votes this week than last.

There's a ways to go on the sked yet and all it takes is one tipped pass or bad bounce to turn a team into also-rans.

I'm not worried one bit just because of a very close game with a good at home Cal team. A team doing this good is only "destined" to have a close game like that. Nothing surprising. The whole nation is going to get to see them at thier best!

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by Gunluvver2

I am a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan but I don't see them making it into the top five this year. Maybe next year. I think Boise State is probably the best team in the country although Oregon is impressive. I am rooting for Boise State. I love that Blue field.

GL2

How can anyone not be going for Boise State - as far as at least being number two in the nation and going to the championship? If anyone doesn't think Boise State is number one or two, that's pretty sad. I don't care, there is no excuse or reason why they shouldn't be.

With that being said... Not even Boise State will be able to stop Oregon from winning this year.

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Until you insitute a college football playoff system you're always going to have these sort of debates. Oregon's non-conference schedule was really weak this year(PSU and New Mexico?) but they beat everyone except for Cal last weekend by a minimum of a 20-point margin of victory--including USC and Stanford.

Boise State has been impressive as usual, but in non-conference play, they barely beat a ranked Virginia Tech--other than that most of their victories have been over the usual WAC cupcakes. if Auburn loses to Alabama or South Carolina it will be interesting to see if the BCS system will select a one-loss team over a possibly unbeaten Boise State or TCU for the BCS championship. Every year though you are going to have a Boise State or Utah who goes undefeated and doesn't get a chance for the big game.

It's too bad we can't just swap Washington State with Boise State and bring the Broncos into the Pac-10 for football to end these debates...Although the argument is that Boise State isn't up to the academic level of most of the Pac-10, let's stop pretending that college football is about much more than athleticism.

That being said, I've enjoyed the heck out of watching Oregon this season. I'm proud to be a Ducks fan and for what it's worth, this year they've got one of the most dominant offenses in recent history. Maybe a lot of the success is due to the contributions of Phil Knight's Nike dollars--but a lot of SEC and Big 10 schools have had much more financial backing for their programs over the years.

You better enjoy the heck out of it!

ooOOOOOOOO !!!

[Steve Pickering]

Go Ducks .................