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I'd like to officially welcome our Kansas State friends who have been visiting the last few days. Always enjoy some friendly banter. I'd also encourage Duck fans to check out SB Nation's Kansas St. blog, Bring on the Cats.
Football is in hiatus and with it being finals week, there is no basketball until Saturday. Not a lot of Quack out there, but here is what we found:
- This was touched on a bit yesterday but, while Fiesta Bowl tickets are flying off the shelves in Manhattan, Kansas, they're a slow sell in Eugene. The fact that we don't travel well shouldn't come as a huge surprise: we're a relatively small state with an economy that's been completely in the tank. While our national bandwagon has gotten rather large, our core fanbase is still fairly small, as is our enrollment compared to, say, you're average Big Ten school. When you top those factors off with the fact that we're in our fourth straight BCS bowl, while Kansas State is going to their first in quite some time, it makes sense.
- Oregon goes into the Fiesta Bowl as 8.5 point favorites over Kansas State.
- SI's Stuart Mandel ranks the Fiesta Bowl the #2 bowl matchup behind the BCSNCG.
- Ted Miller wonders if the Pac-12 can go 8-0 for bowl season.
- Three Oregon volleyball players, Liz Brenner, Alaina Bergsma, and Lauren Plum have made the AVCA all-region team.
- Athlon Sports gives its 20 most amazing statistics of the season. Marcus Mariota makes an appearance.
Finally, with it being a bit of a slow sports week, I'll throw in a couple of links to get a little off-topic conversation going. For any of you younger folk who don't know the story, one of the most interesting events in Oregon history is the founding of Rajneeshpuram. Essentially a giant cult community, it is best remembered for its 1984 attempt to use bioterrorism to steal control of the Wasco County Commission, and their plot to assassinate the U.S. attorney who was investigating them. They have nothing to do with the Ducks, but maybe you'll learn something.