Score Board is Almost Finished

Here's an update on the new DuckVision from The Press Box with Andy McNamara (GoDucks.com Blog).

Portland Tribune Articles

Jason Vondersmith from the Portland Tribune wrote two pieces in today's paper that give any Duck fan a good look into the team and players of the 2008 season.

Bellotti Breaks Down UO Team
Gridirons Heating Up - Ducks Gear Up To Chase Pac-10 Title.

College Fantasy Football

Not sure if any of you have ever played fantasy football (or any other fantasy sport). I stayed away until last year and then found it quite addicting. Managing your own team, drafting players, substituting those who are injured or not performing for someone else, etc, etc...

Recently CBSSports.com announced plans to introduce fantasy college football this upcoming season. Sounds like there have been previous attempts but they were always those on the level of NCAA Football terms of player recognition. NCAA Football uses a player's real number and adjusts their skills according to those of the actual player. Though to avoid legal ramifications it has always stayed away from using a player's real name, instead allowing the gamer to plug in names manually.

According to the article, CBS found a loophole of sorts to allow it's fantasy league to includes a player's name. The NCAA will be looking at the issue next week to determine if their bylaws need an adjustment or if they should stand tall. This is a big step for fantasy sports and I in the long run I believe it would increase the viewer ratings of college football dramatically.

New DuckVision Update

Rob Moseley posted an updated picture of the new scoreboard today... That thing is going to be huge...

Kevin Garrett

I love it when the press release the vague statement "suspended indefinitely for violation of team rules." I guess sometimes it is better to be left in the dark than to realize what a dip$hit he was in the situation.

Preseason vs Final Ranking Anaylsis

Tasser 10 over at Bruin's Nation did an analysis of preseason rankings compared to final AP rankings at the end of the season. Tasser gathered information from 1993 and on. Here is some of the basic information he found...

• Pac 10 predictions have not been accurate year to year
• Oregon and Washington State have been consistently underrated
• Michigan, Tennessee, Florida State, Texas and Notre Dame (NO, tell me it ain't so...) have been consistently overrated
• There are 4 teams to be ranked in the preseason every year since 1993 but no team has finished ranked every year

Very interesting stuff... I would love to see how some of the other teams around the country fared.

New DuckVision & Baseball Stadium

Here is a picture of the new DuckVision being installed from Ducksportsnews.com

Rob Moseley posted a picture too but it was a bit blured. His blog post does have a good picture showing the footprint of the new baseball stadium.

Newcomers

Here is a blog entry with few more interesting tid-bits on the newcomers from Rob Moseley over at the Register Guard that compliment two of my previous posts regarding the 2008 recruiting class and 2 of the 3 new transfers.

Pac 10 Media Day

All sorts of information out today from the Pac 10 Media Day...

Here is the preseason media poll...
1. USC (38 first-place votes)...389
2. Arizona State...330
3. Oregon...295
4. California (1)...274 - Who the in world voted Cal #1?
5. UCLA... 204
6. Oregon State...192
7. Arizona...185
8. Washington... 139
9. Stanford...76
10. Washington State...61


Rob Mosely had a few interesting posts on his blog regarding Mike Bellotti's comments.
Bellotti leads media day comments with Todd Doxey tribute
More comments from Pac 10 media day


Ted Miller absolutely flooded his blog today...

According to Ted here's a quick summary of what each team's coach had to say (ok, ok the picture below still has Dorrell and Doba, so what?!?):

• Tyrone Willingham - Washington
• Jim Harbaugh - Stanford
• Paul Wulff - Washington State
• Jeff Tedford - California
• Mike Stoops - Arizona
• Mike Bellotti - Oregon
• Rick Neuheisel - UCLA
• Mike Riley - Oregon State
• Dennis Erickson - Arizona State
• Pete Carroll - USC
  

Mike Tokito's (from Oregonlive) summary of media day

Last, here is Oregon preview on the Pac-10 website.

The rankings seem about right for preseason hype. Should be an interesting season with the talent and coaching in the Pac-10 this year. I'm looking forward to some pleasant surprises... Think Stanford can take down USC again? Maybe Cal will dominate all season like they did earlier in the season? Washington may make a bowl game with Jake Locker?

New DuckVision?!?

Picture posted by merduck on Chat4Quacks

There are rumors on Chat4Quacks and Educk about a new HD DuckVision screen. Currently at the DuckVision screen and all the sponsor ads have been removed (see picture above) and talk has started about what will become of it. Some rumors say that will be a new HD screen, some say even the largest in the Pac-10 (beating the Beaver's new screen that was just installed before last season) and others go so far as to say that Autzen will have a light bar similar to those running around NBA arenas. Not sure if these rumors are true or if they are just performing some maintenance on the old screen. Only time will tell since UofO hasn't released anything on any plans for Autzen upgrades this summer.

UPDATE: 7/21/08 (4:17 pm) - Rob Mosely posted this blog today regarding the new DuckVision. According to his sources it will be 33' x 89' and, while it won't be larger than the Beaver's new screen, the video area will be larger. They are also adding 4 LED screens measuring 5' x 30.5' on each side of the tunnel.

College Football Future Odds - 2008 Season

So college football national championship odds and over-under win totals were released on Tuesday (Link)...

Here is how the Pac-10 looks...

National Championship Odds for 2008 PAC 10 Teams

• 3/1 - USC
• 35/1 - ASU
• 40/1 - Cal
• 60/1 - Oregon & UCLA
• 100/1 - Washington
• 125/1 - OSU, WSU & Arizona
• NONE - Stanford (Field 40/1)

NOTES:

So I guess people like ASU... Yes Erickson can coach but I'm more interested to see what happens when he decides to take off for something better in a year or two (and the team he leaves behind).

Interesting to see Cal this high after last year's melt down (similar to the Ducks meltdown the year before...) Are people expecting a similar turnaround for the Bear?

Can't believe that Washington has better odds of winning a NC than OSU. Wonder where they would be without Jake Locker (or without Willingham).

Over/Under Win Total for 2008

• 4 - Stanford & WSU
• 4.5 - Washington
• 6.5 - Arizona & OSU
• 8 - Oregon & Cal
• 8.5 - ASU
• 10.5 - USC
• NONE - UCLA

NOTES:

• Stanford (4)- OVER
• WSU (4) - EVEN
• Washington (4.5) - OVER - But just by 5... Still means... Bye Ty
• Arizona (6.5) - UNDER - Think Erickson would move to Arizona if the price was right?
• OSU (6.5) - OVER - Beavers always seem to do better than expected, even without their front 7 on D
• Oregon (8) - OVER - Better to be slightly optimistic than overly unrealistic.
• Cal (8) - UNDER - I'll believe it when I see it.
• ASU (8.5) - UNDER - They are no longer under the radar... They have the players but I don't think they will win more than 8 (Even with the 3 game gimme to start the season).
• USC (10.5) - UNDER - Regardless, I think the Trojans will stumble at least twice this season.
  

National Championship Odds for Other Notable Teams

• 8/1 - Georgia - Interesting they are below a few other teams as they will probably be AP and Coaches #1 pick to start the season. I'm still not completely convinced about the Georgia team that didn't even win their division last year.
• 8/1 - Ohio State - I'd take this bet in a heart beat if it was to "play" the national championship and get their ass spanked, yet again.
• 40/1 - Michigan - Hmmm... Really?!? Without a quarterback to run RRs system? I understand the pressure to win at Michigan, but really? I might take this bet if Michigan was included in the 40/1 field bet.
• 50/1 - South Florida - Isn't this the same team that the Ducks kicked to the curb with their 4th sting quarterback? I don't believe the hype.
• 75/1 - Nebraska - This bet sounds about right. New coach but respected program that may never be the juggernaut it used to be.
• 75/1 - South Carolina - This also wouldn't be a bad bet. Cory Boyd (their leading rusher) and Blake Michell (starting QB) are gone.... But Steve Spurrier jr. was rehired to run the offense, Jasper Brinkley (all-American linebacker candidate) is back after a season ending knee injury and Spurrier has brought in enough talent over the past few years to make a serious difference.
• 100/1 - Purdue - Don't know much about the boilermakers besides their run defense should have some serious trouble stopping JJ, Blount, Crenshaw & Remene.
• 100/1 - Notre Dame - Knowing the media I'm surprised their not up their with Ohio State at 8/1.
• 150/1 - Boise State - Understandable after that bowl appearance. Wonder how many people lost money on a "sure thing" versus East Carolina. I wouldn't even know where East Carolina was if the "East" and "Carolina" weren't already spelled out for me.
• 150/1 - Fresno State - This is actually surprising since many believe they will be challenging for a BCS birth this year.
  

Over/Under Win Total for Other Notable Teams

• 2.5 - Syracuse - tough one... OVER
• 3 - Vanderbilt - OVER
• 5.5 - Colorado - OVER
• 6 - Arkansas - UNDER
• 6.5 - Kentucky - OVER
• 6.5 - Purdue - OVER
• 7 - Texas A&M - OVER
• 7 - Notre Dame - UNDER
• 7 - Nebraska - hmmm... OVER
• 8 - South Carolina - OVER
• 8 - Michigan - UNDER
• 8.5 - Fresno State - OVER
• 9.5 - Boise State - OVER
• 10 - Ohio State - OVER... unfortunately...
• 10 - Oklahoma - UNDER... but barely...

Arrested Development Movie

A little over half a year after Keith Olbermann's "Come-on" speach regarding an Arrested Development movie, the announcement was finally made (or at least somewhat confirmed). It's never a guarantee in the movie business, but given the clever and intelligent nature of the Arrested Development series, this movie should create quite a stir when it is released. If Fox had actually kept it in a decent time slot and quit moving the show around I'm guessing Arrested Development would still be on today.

New College Football Rules for 2008

So here are the new college football rules for 2008. The new rules seem like a step in the right direction by implementing some of the rules used in the NFL. I am especially fond of the new sideline rule... Hopefully that will keep Pete Carroll and Mike Stoops off the field during the game. If not, thanks for the 5 yards...

Photos from hollywoodcollectibles.com and Coacheshotseat.com

A Look at the 2008 Recruits

I know this is a bit late but the following is some info I typed up back in February regarding the 2008 Oregon Ducks recruitment class (I updated it for this recent post). In addition, here is a good article by John Hunt at the Oregonian and one from Bleacherreport.com regarding the Ducks 2008 recruiting class.

First, a bit of the bad news from February 6th...

Unfortunately the Ducks lost two 4* WRs to their respective home states. Tommy Streeter from Miami (Scout profile) signed with Miami because his dad wouldn't sign a LOI to go to Oregon and Aaron Boyd from Kentucky (Scout profile) signed with Kentucky because his mother wouldn't sign a LOI to go to Oregon. Both recruits favored Oregon but the parental involvement (In regards to distance) was enough to make sure they stayed close to home.

The Ducks also lost DE Jamaar Jarrett on signing day in a sneaky attack by... You guessed it... Dennis Erickson @ ASU. Oregon was expecting to see a signed letter that day and instead found that Jamaar had sent one to ASU. The rumors went so far as to say that Dennis used Jamaar's sisters to convince him he wanted to go to ASU instead of Oregon. I wouldn't put it past him or Slick Rick. To make it fair, Ducks did do the same thing to Erickson (Tim Day) a few years ago.

Then the good news... Welcome, the Oregon Ducks class of 2008...

• Zach Taylor - 3* LS (Texas)- Yeah, I know, big whoop, a long snapper. First, apparently the Ducks didn't burn a scholarship on him since UofOs current long snapper left a year early. Second, Taylor is said to be the #1 long snapper in 2008.
• Dewitt Stuckey - 4* WLB (California) - ESPN Evaluation. NorCal Defensive Player of the Year. In May, Stuckey was initially arrested for his possible role in a fight but was later released and all felony charges were dropped. Ted Miller at ESPN's Pac 10 Blog thinks Stuckey has a good chance to make an impact during the 2008 season. Here is an AOL video of Stuckey.
• Kiko Alonso - 3* MLB (California) - ESPN Evaluation. NorCal 1st team Defense
• Nick Cody - 3* OT (Washington) - ESPN Evaluation. Had offers from just about every Pac-10 school (I think with the exception of USC). #21 Northwest top 100. Apparently Nick has been a recruiting stud and has been helping familiarize many of the incoming players.
• Blake Ferras - 3* DT (California for JC) - 6'5", 285lbs with a 4.8 40yd. Played on the same team as incoming QB Jeremiah Masoli (see my last blog) and won the JC National Championship last year. Blake sat out most of Spring practices due to a sprained ankle but according the Portland Tribune article on Dion Jordan (see below) he says 'I’m a nice guy off the field, but a bad ass on it. Not dirty, just aggressive.' in response to a question on toughness.
• Kenjon Barner - 3* CB (California). ESPN Evaluation. Haven't heard much about him except from his evaluation but he looks impressive in his YouTube video.
• John Boyett - 4* S (California) - ESPN Evaluation. All-NorCal Player of the Year. EA Sports Second Team All American Defense. This guy only came off the field (in HS) during kickoffs! He was enrolled at Oregon for Winter Term 2008. YouTube video.
• Garrett Embry - 3* WR (Georgia) - 6'-1" and 210lbs. ESPN Evaluation. YouTube video.
• Blake Cantu - 3* WR (Texas) - ESPN Evaluation. Played in the UnderArmour All-American game. 1st team All-State 5A. Here is one high school highlight.
• Scott Grady - 3* CB (Tigard, OR) - ESPN Evaluation. Looks like he played WR and Kick Returner also. #34 Northwest top 100. Check out this YouTube video.
• Mychal Rivera - 3* TE (California) - ESPN Evaluation. Mychal was the Ducks first 2008 commit and he stuck to his word.
• Josh Kaddu - 3* SLB (California) - 6'-3" and 210 lbs. Offers from Arizona, ASU, Fresno St & Washington.
• LaMichael James - 3* RB (Texas)- 4.4 40yd. ESPN Evaluation. Had offers from Nebraska & Minnesota, among others. Check out this YouTube video.
• Dion Jordan - 4* TE (Arizona) - ESPN Evaluation. Offers from Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, OSU & Cal. Dion missed much of his senior year due to burns from an accident in October. There are similarities between Dion and Jaison Williams and I'm guessing the coaching staff will look to using him more as a WR than a TE. Here a recent article from the Portland Tribune on Dion.
• Darron Thomas - 4* QB (Texas) - ESPN Evaluation. Offers from Florida, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma St, Illinois, etc. Was actually committed to LSU but decommitted to become a Duck. Was on campus for Winter Term '08. Is said to have many similar qualities to Dennis Dixon.
• LaGarrett Blount - 4* JC RB (Originally from Florida, Miss. for JC) - This guy is 230 lbs with 4.5 40 speed. Had offers from Florida St, Miss, West Virginia, Etc. Was committed to Florida State before signing with the Ducks and signed with Auburn in 2005 before attending East Mississippi CC. Was considered the #1 JC RB this year. Expect him to fill J. Stew's shoes the next two years (or one if he has a huge breakout year) as many have compared him to Duck Alumnus Reuben Droughns. Was on campus for Spring Term '08 and would arguably be considered the star of the spring game by rushing 5 times for 68 yards. Espn wrote this article about Blount. Here is a Spring video from KVAL.
• Chris Harper - 4* QB (Kansas) - 6'2", 220 lbs & 4.45 40yd. ESPN Evaluation. Offers from Cal, Illinois, Kansas, KSU, Missouri, Notre Dame & a late push (after he committed to the Ducks) from Michigan. One of ESPNs top 150. Forget the Kansas State title (he committed to Kansas State before some coaching changes) in the video, He's a Duck - YouTube Video. Was on campus for Spring Term '08 and impressed those who watched him in the spring game. It wouldn't surprise me if he winds up as 3rd string QB going into the Ducks first game of the season.
• Justin Thompson - 5* JC DT (Cal for JC) - 6'5" and 290lbs. Offers from Cal, LSU, Miami, Ohio St, Tennessee, Nebraska & Oklahoma. Was committed to Miami at one point. This came down to Oregon and LSU. Still hasn't arrived but our chances are looking good (better than former teammate Simi Kuli to OSU). As both starting DTs are gone from last year’s team, expect Justin to make an immediate impact.
• Ellis Krout - 2* JC WR (originally from Texas). Ellis apparently visited Oregon just days before signing day and signed just days later on February 6th. From what I've heard of Krout will likely see the field this fall.
• Hamani Stevens - 3* C (California) - ESPN Evaluation. Some considered Hamani to be the #1 Center in this year's recruiting class. Originally committed to UCLA in the summer of 07. Once the new coaching staff arrived in LA, Slick Rick made a strong comeback for him, but in the end, Oregon came though. He was heavily recruited by UCLA, BYU, ASU, & Colorado (among others). The Ducks are hoping Hamani can take the reins in a year or two under Center.

This season the Ducks were also in the top 3 for the nations #1 player (and #1 qb) Terrelle Pryor who didn't sign (Ohio State) until March. Bellotti and staff also picked up Jeremiah Masoli in May (see my blog on Duck transfers).

Ducks were rated 19th on Rivals.com and 24th on Scout.com. That is with only 20 recruits. For comparison sake, on Rivals, ASU was 21st and they had 28 recruits.

Side Note: R.I.P. Todd Doxey. Thank you and God Bless.