Good Luck Ducks, Playoff Semifinal Edition: Peachy Rematch

Oregon takes on the only team that has defeated them this season in the Peach Bowl.

The Ducks did a rare thing last week in their second CFP game this season in holding Texas Tech to zero points. Patrick Mahomes had to wear a Ducks jersey. It was glorious! The defense definitely turned things around after easing up against James Madison in the second half. Unfortunately, things are about to get significantly tougher with Oregon facing off against the only undefeated team in the FBS this season, one they fell short against just a few months back.

Quite a bit has changed in the nearly three months since the Hoosiers beat the Ducks in Eugene. Late breaking news today mentioned that Oregon is down to just a few scholarship players at tailback, a position of tremendous wealth back in September. With starter Noah Whittington questionable tonight and Jordon Davison declared out due to injury, the Ducks have had a couple of players from the defensive side practicing at the offensive position of need. (The postseason transfers of a certain two experienced players here certainly haven't helped.) Oregon has won eight straight since the Indiana loss, however, and there's still a lot of reason for optimism coming off of two strong playoff wins.

This is one that the pundits have overwhelmingly sided with the Hoosiers, and why wouldn't they? It's a team of apparently no weakness, who rolled through their playoff game (albeit against a 3-loss Alabama team that shouldn't have been there.) Most of these people would have you believe that Indiana blew out the Ducks last time, even though the game was tied 20-20 until Indiana took the lead for good with just 6:23 left in the game. My immediate impression from that game is that Oregon just didn't play well. It felt like they had played their worst game, in fact (though that was yet to come, unfortunately.) But when you look at what the Hoosiers have done since, it's hard not to give them all the credit for that win. No one really expected Indiana to be what they are, and that has a lot to do with why they are where they are. It's up to the Ducks to meet them at their level and see where it takes them.

Notes and miscellany:

• The one-sided Orange Bowl exposed something very uncomfortable in the current configuration of football conferences in that you can be a Power Four school and the best in your conference, but you might not measure up to some of the teams in these superconferences. It's yet another reminder of what was lost when all of the schools started making their moves. Ultimately, like most things these days, so much of it comes down to money and how much resources a school has.
• I never in a million years saw Fernando Mendoza as a future Heisman winner when he was getting obliterated by Oregon (63-19!) with Cal as a freshman two seasons ago. Most of these people talking glowingly about what they saw in him back then are probably lying.
• Opponent fun fact: Since I didn't touch on this during their initial match, Indiana's new mascot is Hoosier the Bison. Apparently they brought it back after it was some sort of unofficial student supported mascot in the '60s. In practice, it just looks like some guy found a wooly mask at some sort of Halloween store.
• Opponent history: It's at 2-2 now after Indiana win back in October.
• Game time is 4:30 PM PST on ESPN in Atlanta. Go Ducks!

Pre-Semifinals Contest Update

With just three games left to play, let's check out the leader board (and some random cards.)

The annual college football pick 'em contest is about to come to a close, and according to the numbers, we may already have a winner. I'm not sure if this has happened before with a few games left to play, but Jason K. leads all entrants in total points, and no one has enough "max" points as it stands to catch him. Jason also won the Mayonnaise contest, so we may also have another unprecedented event as I don't recall anyone winning both contests. We still do have a few people jockeying for position to make it to the podium, with Brandon L., Elliptical Man and Dominic J. currently holding spots 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

I thought I'd throw up some cards (well, not literally!) for you to look at while you're here and selected the last 5 cards I've scanned. If I'm not scanning something for a blog post, it's almost certainly because it's a card I added to my collection in TCDB that was missing image(s). These are mostly football cards, with a Jalen Hurts bronze parallel and a 2022 JOGO CFL Alumni card leading things off. Jim Evenson is a Portland native who played at UO in the '60s before embarking on a pro career mostly north of the border.

Most of the cards in this post came to me in recent TCDB trades, but this one -- a Topps Season Tip-Off parallel, was plucked from a massive lot of cards I came home with from a card show last weekend. This heads to my Ducks binders as it features Chris Boucher. It's also the lone basketball card I scanned most recently.

Here's another Duck in a Ducks uniform. I love that. This is a red parallel from the 2024 Score football set.

Last up is a card from one of Panini's final releases, the 2025 Mosaic set. They still have a few more releases scheduled even though the calendar has flipped to 2026. I'm assuming the Topps license will only go into effect for the start of the 2026 season, or maybe shortly after the draft.

Enjoy the games (both collegiate and professional) this weekend!

Good Luck Ducks, Playoff Quarterfinal Edition: Seeing Red

Oregon heads to Florida for the next round of CFP action.

The Ducks are back in the spot where they found themselves last season before it all went terribly wrong against the Buckeyes. This time, they'll face a different opponent in the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the champions of the Big 12. After opening up a 34-3 first half lead against James Madison, Oregon put it in cruise control and coasted to a decisive win to set them up for the Orange Bowl today.

The Ducks welcomed the return of a couple of their receivers in the first round game against the Dukes as they seem to be getting healthier at the best possible time. Once again, the speculation turns to whether or not it will be Dante Moore's last game in his short Ducks career, as many draft projections have him going near the top of the draft. Personally, I feel like he's got a good shot at staying put if there's anything short of a championship victory, but nothing would really surprise me. With the imminent departure of the offensive coordinator (Will Stein) who lured him back to Oregon, I could also see him thinking that it's time to move on.

Texas Tech retooled its coaching staff after a 8-5 season and found their biggest ever success as a member of the Big 12, finishing at the top of their conference. The Red Raiders are led by QB Behren Morton, one of the few players who was on the roster the last time these teams met in 2023 (he did not play.) Both teams are very similar in that they have explosive, powerful offenses and stellar defensive play to boot. This game truly feels like a toss-up, but one team will definitely be sent home feeling disappointed.

Notes and miscellany: 

• This will be the first Orange Bowl appearance for both schools, as the traditional bowl fixtures and alliances between conference have given way to... whatever madness this is. I think just about everyone wanted a true playoff system in FBS, including me, but this just doesn't feel like "it".
• Opponent fun fact: One of the Red Raiders mascot is named, naturally, Raider Red. He seems like a rough 'n tumble, rootin' tootin' stereotypically Texas style guy. There's also The Masked Rider, some Zorro lookin' dude who rides around on a horse. They like their finger guns, which is something that would almost certainly get a football player in trouble if one was to do it on the field at an opponent.
• Opponent history: The Ducks lead the all-time series 3-0, including the recent 38-30 win in 2023 in Lubbock when ex-Duck Tyler Shough (hey, that rhymes!) started at quarterback for TTU.
• Game time is 9:00 AM PST on ESPN in Miami Gardens. Go Ducks!