Oregon – Syndication Server

Endangered gray wolf poached in Oregon, reward set at $10,000

The radio-collared wolf, known to researchers as OR 159, was found dead in an area where the animals are federally protected.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in a case involving the illegal killing of a protected gray wolf.

The agency explained in a news release that the incident occurred in Morrow County west of Highway 395, where gray wolves are federally listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The radio-collared male wolf, known to researchers as OR 159, was found dead Nov. 8 on private property about 20 miles south of the county seat of Heppner.

The USFWS and the Oregon State Police are conducting a joint investigation.

The USFWS asks that anyone with potentially helpful information should call the Service at (503) 682-6131, or OSP Dispatch at (800) 452-7888, text *OSP (*677), or email TIP@osp.oregon.gov. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Former USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander lands at Oregon

You wanted him, Oregon? You got him. The Ducks now have to deal with Bear Alexander drama.

Back in September, USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander elected to redshirt and leave the team due to frustration over his playing time. Three months later, Alexander officially has a new home. On Friday, Alexander announced his commitment to Oregon. Thanks to his redshirt this season, he will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Alexander’s journey has certainly been a wild one. In high school, he attended four different schools in four years. A blue chip recruit, he committed to Georgia, and saw playing time as a freshman on the Bulldogs’ 2022 national title team.

Alexander entered the transfer portal following his freshman season and committed to USC. As a sophomore in 2023, he had a solid season, and was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise abysmal defense. He entered spring 2024 projected as one of the top defensive linemen in the country.

Since then, however, Alexander’s story has been a mess. He briefly entered the portal again last spring, before removing his name a few days later—essentially an NIL holdout of sorts. Then, after clashing with the new defensive coaching staff due to concerns over his attitude and work ethic, Alexander was relegated to a reserve role at the start of the season.

Even though he was not starting, Alexander still saw significant snaps in USC’s first three games of the season. Following the Michigan game, however, he decided to redshirt and depart from the team, with the intention of entering the transfer portal once it opened.

Now, Alexander is headed up to the Pacific Northwest. When he enrolls at Oregon in January, it will mark the seventh different school that he has attended in eight years.

If the Ducks’ coaching staff is able to work Alexander out of his attitude and work ethic issues, he has the potential to be one of the top defensive linemen in the country. But if they cannot, his addition could prove to be a massive headache for the program.

Oregon hunters join effort to catch crossbow deer poacher

“The acts represent a multitude of violations including using a crossbow to kill big game animals and shooting in city limits.”

Authorities in Oregon are seeking information that could help them solve a case involving the recent poaching of two deer with a crossbow in Corvallis.

Joining in the effort is the group Traditional Archers of Oregon, which this week chipped in $500 to bring the reward in the case to $2,000.

Both deer were bucks that roamed Corvallis with arrows in their bodies before they died.

“The acts represent a multitude of violations including using a crossbow to kill big game animals and shooting in city limits,” the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stated in a news release. “Several members of the public contacted Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife Troopers to report the injured deer wandering in the area.”

Traditional Archery Hunters of Oregon President Riley Savage is quoted: “As you can imagine, being traditional archers, using a crossbow to commit such heinous crimes goes against everything we hold dear.

“The operator does not need the same skills required to use a handheld, vertical bow, like getting close and knowing when to draw and when to shoot. They are an assassin, lying in wait, at long distance, with no detectable movement visible to their prey.”

The bucks were shot on or around Oct. 25 and Nov. 18 near NW Walnut and NW Witham Hill Drive.

Anyone with potentially helpful information is asked to contact OSP’s Albany Fish and Wildlife office via dispatch at 800-442-2068 or *OSP (*677) from a mobile phone. Case reference number: #SP24-383408.

Marcus Freeman named one of five finalists for Dodd Trophy

He deserves this for sure.

Notre Dame easily could have folded after its shocking loss to Northern Illinois in its home opener. Instead, [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] got the Irish back on track, and they haven’t lost since. That put the Irish in the College Football Playoff, and Freeman’s reward was a contract extension that locked him up for the next six years.

Now, Freeman has another reward coming his way. He has been named one of five finalists for the Dodd Award, which is given to the coach whose team best excels on the field, in the community and in the classroom. This is his first time making the final cut alongside all the other finalists, consisting of Army’s Jeff Monken, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, Oregon’s Dan Lanning and South Carolina’s Shane Beamer.

Brian Kelly is the lone Irish coach to win this award, doing so in 2018. Given the current environment, it’s very likely Irish fans would be much happier seeing Freeman win it.

Here’s Freeman news conference this past week in case you missed it:

Obviously, the real goal is a national championship, but this is a nice one to have at the moment.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

How to buy Oregon Ducks College Football Playoff Rose Bowl tickets

Get your Oregon College Football Playoff Rose Bowl tickets now.

The Oregon Ducks are headed to the 2024-25 College Football Playoff.

The Ducks were selected to be the No. 1 seed and earned a bye through to the quarterfinal.

Oregon will take on the winner of No. 8 vs No. 9 matchups in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Rose Bowl tickets are already available. At the time of publication, the cheapest available Rose Bowl tickets for Oregon’s 2024-25 College Football Playoff debut cost $332.

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The Ducks ended the season with a perfect 13-0 record, punctuated with a 45-37 Big Ten Championship win against Penn State.

Oregon is the only undefeated team in the College Football Playoff and there will be a lot of pressure on the Ducks as they continue their flight towards the perfect season.

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How to buy Oregon Ducks College Football Playoff Rose Bowl tickets

Get your Oregon College Football Playoff Rose Bowl tickets now.

The Oregon Ducks are headed to the 2024-25 College Football Playoff.

The Ducks were selected to be the No. 1 seed and earned a bye through to the quarterfinal.

Oregon will take on the winner of No. 8 vs No. 9 matchups in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Rose Bowl tickets are already available. At the time of publication, the cheapest available Rose Bowl tickets for Oregon’s 2024-25 College Football Playoff debut cost $332.

The Ducks ended the season with a perfect 13-0 record, punctuated with a 45-37 Big Ten Championship win against Penn State.

Oregon is the only undefeated team in the College Football Playoff and there will be a lot of pressure on the Ducks as they continue their flight towards the perfect season.

Oregon Big Ten title should make USC fans angry

Dan Lanning and Oregon are actually doing the things Lincoln Riley was hired to do at USC. It’s the harsh but obvious truth.

It has now been more than 16 months since it was announced that USC and Oregon would be joining the Big Ten Conference together in 2024. At the time of the announcement, USC football and Oregon football appeared to be in similar places. Both were coming off of double-digit win seasons under first-year head coaches, were recruiting well, and appeared poised for long-term success.

Since then, however, the Trojans and Ducks have gone in completely different directions.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Oregon is 25-2. On Saturday evening, the Ducks defeated Penn State to win the Big Ten championship in their first season in the league and lock up the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

USC, meanwhile, is just 14-11 the past two years. At 6-6 this year, the Trojans barely even made a bowl game, and were nowhere near the playoff.

The unfortunate truth for USC fans is that Dan Lanning is doing at Oregon exactly what Lincoln Riley was hired to do at USC.

The Ducks have recruited elite talent. They consistently have high-level quarterback play. They are extremely physical along the lines of scrimmage. They have a culture of toughness and discipline.

The Trojans? Not so much. USC had a great season with Caleb Williams in 2022, but the Trojans have yet to prove that they can field an elite team in the trenches. USC has been dominated along the lines of scrimmage on numerous occasions under Riley, and there have not been enough recruiting wins to suggest that is going to change in the imminent future.

For decades, USC has been the premier football program on the West Coast. Right now, Dan Lanning and the Ducks are stuffing the Trojans into a locker. Given how much Riley is getting paid, USC fans have every right to be furious with the results.

Eric Musselman offers blunt assessment of USC’s season outlook

Eric Musselman knows he does not have a full plate of options at USC in his first season. The Trojans are fighting an uphill battle all the way.

It has not been the best start to the season for Eric Musselman and the USC men’s basketball team.

On Wednesday night, the Trojans fell 68-60 at home to Oregon in the first Big Ten game for both programs. With the loss, USC fell to 5-4 on the season. With only three more nonconference buy games left before conference play gets into full swing, things are not looking great for the Trojans in Year 1 under Musselman.

Following the loss, Musselman was asked by Luca Evans of the Orange County Register about his outlook for this year’s team, and he gave an extremely honest assessment.

“I don’t know how many Big Ten games we’re gonna win,” Musselman said. “What I do know is, if you put forth that effort—from a culture standpoint, you know—I don’t think any, you walk out of the building, you think the team played hard, you think the team played hard, you think the team gave great effort, and you think the team didn’t close the game. Which we didn’t.

“We were right there. And like I said, if you lead for 30 minutes, it’s the last 10 minutes of play that we’re not used to winning as a unit.

“There’s probably going to be other nights that we play really well, and whether we can walk away with the win or not, I don’t know in year one. But the effort was there, other than defensively, down the stretch.”

Given Musselman’s prior success at Arkansas and Nevada, the Trojans’ program should be in good hands long term. But if early results are any indication, USC fans might need to wait a year or two before the victories start to come in.

One projection has Notre Dame in College Football Playoff semifinals

Would you consider this to be a successful season?

All Notre Dame can do right now is wait for the conference championships to be awarded. After that, it’ll know who it’s playing in the first round of the College Football Playoff. What happens after that is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Still, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network has taken a crack at where he expects the Irish to be seeded and how far he expects them to go. His outlook for them at the moment is a very positive run.

In his latest playoff and bowl projections, McMurphy has the Irish grabbing the No. 5 seed, which is common for a lot of experts right now. He predicts them to win their first-round game over UNLV and then defeat Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal. He has them falling to Oregon in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

While this wouldn’t end the Irish’s national championship drought, it would mark a very successful season all things considered. Hopefully, it would be a stepping stone to finally winning that elusive title in 2025.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort opens new tee time booking process for 2026

Dreaming of a first trip to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in coastal Oregon to see what all the fuss is about? Already been, and itching to return? You better plan early – very early.

The incredibly popular resort, which features five 18-hole courses ranked highly among the best modern courses and resort layouts in the U.S., has announced a new pre-reservation methodology for scoring a tee time. Registration already is open for 2026. Yes, 2026.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort has opened three registration windows for 2026 tee times, based on time of year in which a golfer hopes to obtain a tee time. The windows are:

Registration window closes Dec. 24: This first window is for tee times in January through April 2026.
Registration window closes Jan. 19, 2025: This second window is for tee times in May through September 2026.
Registration window closes April 20, 2025: This third window is for tee times in October through December 2026.

Within a couple weeks of the close of each window, there will be a random drawing to determine the order for reservation requests. Potential guests who are chosen in the random drawing will then be assigned a number that indicates their place in line, and Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s booking team will call players when it’s their turn to select dates and courses.

All this is necessary because the resort has dealt with such a high call volume when previous booking windows have opened in recent years.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort’s five 18-hole courses are Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Sheep Ranch. The resort also is home to two par-3 courses, Bandon Preserve and the new Shorty’s. With a varied and recently expanded range of accommodations and restaurants, the resort has proved to be a bucket list buddies trip since it opened 25 years ago.