Tag: Washington Oregon

It’s time to watch Mike Leach determine which Pac-12 mascot would win a mascot fight

As the Pac-12 conference comes to an end, it’s time to watch legendary coach Mike Leach break down which mascot would win a battle royale.

Legendary college coach Mike Leach, who put together a 158-107 record over 21 years for Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State, was one of the most original offensive thinkers — and thinkers overall — of his era. Leach, who passed away on December 12, 2022, could go off-subject at any time and with the slightest provocation with the media, and as the Pac-12 conference will come to an end after Friday’s Pac-12 Championship game between Oregon and Washington, it’s a good time to take a trip in the wayback machine to a time when Leach broke down in great detail which conference mascot would win a mascot fight.

His answer was legendary.

R.I.P., Pac-12, and R.I.P., Coach Leach.

Duck Tales: Dan Lanning’s decisions play central role in Oregon’s shocking loss

Dan Lanning makes aggressive decisions, and that’s very good. What he got wrong against Washington were two key nuances. We’ll explain.

This is going to be a nuanced conversation, and that’s the whole point: A lot of debates about football strategy should involve fewer discussions about the ultimate decisions coaches make, and more discussions about the thought process which informs the discussions.

There are plenty of instances in a game where both decisions can be reasonable and sensible. A coach can do A or B and have a good rationale for either choice. Coaching criticism is better when the thought process is examined. The decision might be fine, but the thought process and philosophy need to be aligned with the decisions.

This takes us into an analysis of the two big mistakes Dan Lanning made for Oregon in its loss to Washington on Saturday:

Oregon journalists, fans react to Ducks’ seismic, wrenching loss to Washington

We felt this when #USC lost to Utah: A big game doesn’t go the right way, but you cover it anyway. @Ducks_Wire has great coverage of UO’s loss.

Oregon fans and anyone who covers Oregon football have been here before.

It happened in 2011 against USC. It happened in 2012 against Stanford. It happened in 2019 against Arizona State. It happened in 2021 against Utah.

Oregon had a legitimate shot at the BCS National Championship Game or the College Football Playoff and let it slip away.

What hurts more than those other instances from past years is that on this occasion, Oregon’s bitter rival, the Washington Huskies, did the job against the Ducks.

How are Oregon fans reacting to and processing this? You’ll find out.

Our friends at Ducks Wire have been covering the heck out of Oregon football this season. The guys there do a fantastic job. Ducks Wire staffers are unhappy about the loss to U-Dub, but you can at least give them some pageviews by reading their stuff. We’ll share some links and some Oregon fan reactions as well: