I hope everyone had a great Christmas. While the day itself was great, I always love the week between Christmas and New Years. Not much going on, a lot of time to relax, some good football games, and this year, we're only a week away from the Rose Bowl. The Ducks should be gathering soon in LA to begin their final prep, and hopefully bring home a Rose Bowl victory.
- Ted Miller has a blogger debate with ESPN's Big 10 blogger, Brian Bennett. Ted does a good job as always defending the conference, and does a good job discussing how Oregon will deal with Wisconsin's size.
- If Oregon's going to be successful on January 2nd, their defense will have to surprise a lot of people. Rob Moseley's piece from yesterday is on how Nick Aliotti and the Oregon defensive coaches work. Under Chip Kelly, all coaches have been given more freedom, and responsibility. The trust in the coaching staff is huge, and one of the big reasons Oregon's defense has become so much better over the past few seasons.
- Wisconsin has always had a good running game, but the offense is arguably the tops in the nation this year because of Russell Wilson. Adam Jude has a piece on the transfer QB. Matt Prehm also compares the QBs of Oregon and Wisconsin.
- Moseley's piece this morning is on recruiting. The Ducks have a very good class so far, and could push them to another top 10 finish if they close on a few of their top prospects. Rob Ricket also notes that soft USC commit WR Darreus Rodgers will visit Oregon on January 20th.
- Brian Libby has a post at FishDuck.com ranking Oregon's best 20 seasons. He ranks the first two correct, but is 1916 really the 3rd best Oregon season? Yeah, the team won a Rose Bowl, but it wasn't even the Rose Bowl as we know it at that point. Yes, I want to win a Rose Bowl, but I don't want to win it for the sake of winning it. A Rose Bowl win is not only about winning a game against a good team in Pasadena, but the journey to get there. Beating up on Athletic Clubs just doesn't cut it.
- Lastly, Ken Goe plays Debbie Downer with a piece comparing tOSU and Oregon and how they are dealing with a NCAA investigations. This piece is a rundown of where Oregon stands in the NCAA investigation. Unfortunately, there is little actual comparison between Ohio State's wrongdoing and Oregon's alleged wrongdoing. Both are playing ball with the NCAA, and that's as far as the comparison goes. What makes this piece not good, is that it tries to compare what the punishments between the two programs will be, without actually comparing their infractions.
That's all I got. Leave anything else in the comments. GO DUCKS!