Good Luck Ducks, Week 9: Rebuilding Mode

It's time to ponder what's next.

Last week, Oregon fell on their faces again, going scoreless in the second half after putting up a competitive first half against the Fighting Illini. At some level, it's a little bit of a relief to not hear the announcers talking about the team's playoff chances anymore. Dante Moore has, most likely for his own future prospects more than anything else, been more or less declared out for the season as the Ducks seem to be headed for the Chili Cheese Fritos Bowl or something like that.

Next up on the docket is Northwestern, who have quietly put together a 6-1 season so far, with their only blemish being a 6 point loss to the defending champion Hoosiers. Chip Kelly has taken on yet another uniform in his post-Oregon career, now manning his post as offensive coordinator for the Wildcats. 

Dylan Raiola is set to start for the Ducks once again, despite having another rough outing last week at Illinois. The fans have understandably started calling for Akili Smith Jr., who has seemingly been around for years but never really appears on the depth chart. If the offense is stagnant again -- and keep in mind that this is a very good appearing ranked opponent, so the likelihood is there -- there's a good chance that Raiola isn't the only quarterback on Oregon's side of the ball today. I would be surprised to see anyone other than Brock Thomas get a shot in relief, though, even though this has official become a "lost season". In any case, let's hope the Quack Attack can get a win on my birthday. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Notes:

• The late night Nebraska post-game events have resulted in another Oregon wide receiver arrest, with Messiah Hampton being the latest player charged. Again, I don't want to downplay the seriousness of things like reckless driving and high speed car shenanigans in general, but Springfield has never been a great place to be for any person of color, unfortunately.
• Opponent fun fact: Northwestern is one of four FBS schools that are Wildcats. There are also two Bearcats (Cincinnati and Sam Houston -- though they spell it with a K) and two Bobcats (Ohio and Texas State). What is your favorite feline team?
• Opponent history: The Ducks beat Northwestern last season in their only meeting.
• Game time is 12:30 PM PDT in Eugene on Peacock. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 8: You Will Not Go to Heaven...

Oregon goes to Champaign, Illinois.

Well, okay, it's been a rough ride so far. Your backup QB is actually a 2-year B1G starter that transferred to learn at a higher profile program and, ideally, take the reigns in 2027. Of course, he's pressed into duty sooner than expected, and leads the Fighting Ducks to a satisfying win over everyone's least favorite California school. Unfortunately, the dude falls on his face against the other LA school and is replaced by the local walk-on guy -- what us baseball fans would refer to as an organizational soldier --after three quarters.  He does well, but it's too little, too late. You then... okay, this is where it gets truly questionable... start the local guy and watch him struggle through three more quarters, only to bring back QB2 to lead them to a win over his former B1G team.

A big glory story for Dylan Raiola taking down his old Nebraska Cornhuskers would have been fun, and probably otherwise uneventful. The fact that he was only the break-glass-if-emergency option has got to sting a bit. Nevertheless, he's apparently been tabbed as the starter for today's action at Illinois. Let's just hope it isn't another repeat of the UCLA horror show.

Illinois is also led by a QB2, one Michael Clayton II, who as far as I can tell is not related to any Michael Clayton football players that I've heard of. He also, as far as I know, does not have anything to do with a potential sequel to the 2007 George Clooney movie called Michael Clayton, which I'm quite positive I watched but have no recollection of. (Up in the Air, though... I quite liked that one.) The starter Katin Houser is out for a few weeks. The Ducks will again be without one of their top receivers in Evan Stewart, who missed all of last season and was out last week with an injury... and was one of multiple Ducks who crossed paths with Springfield police late at night after last week's game. (Guys, nothing good ever happens in Springfield. I guess that's what 8:00 PM kickoffs do to your brain.)

Notes:

• I don't know what it is with making certain permanent memories at certain ages, but whenever I think of Illinois football, I can only really picture this Jeff George Pro Set card from 1990.
• Opponent fun fact: The Fighting Illini (or just Illini in general) doesn't really seem to have any interesting connection to anything other than its usage in a way that was it was connected to Illinois itself. That's, at least, according to a very boring FAQ from the university library. Of course, the name Illinois itself can be traced back to indigenous people as many things are. Maybe I should rename this section "Opponent not-so fun fact".
• Opponent history: Oregon holds a 3-1 edge, with their most recent meeting (and first in nearly 30 years) a 38-9 victory in Eugene.
• Game time is 12:00 PM PDT on the Big Ten Network in Champaign. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 7: Post-Disaster Recovery

Oregon tries to pick up the pieces after a brutal loss where nothing went right.

There was a point last week where I told my partner (who definitely doesn't care about the Ducks, but is supportive of my idiotic sports pursuits nonetheless) that this was the worst game I'd ever seen them play. I can't say that I'm not prone to hyperbole, especially where in-the-moment emotions come into play during these stupid sports games. Honestly, though, the only game that even rivaled last week's game against UCLA was the 70-21 debacle against UW about a decade ago. The thing with that game, though, was that we already knew that the Ducks were pretty lousy and were looking forward to the future. It also was notable for it being Justin Herbert's first ever start. It was also... well, the offense could actually move the ball at times.

There was nothing notable about last week's game.

It's time to turn the page to Nebraska. Last season, Dylan Raiola was their starting quarterback. Dante Moore is still out after the brutal head injury he suffered against USC, and if you didn't know anything about last week's game, you would assume that Raiola would be suiting up to start against his former team. Apparently, he will not. Brock Thomas, a walk-on from Eugene's Sheldon High School (shoutout Irish), ascended to QB2 last season despite other dudes in the group with better credentials. And after what transpired last week, he finds himself starting in a suddenly must-win game. (Aren't they all must-win games to some extent?)

Anthony Colandrea now helms the Cornhuskers, who are off to a 5-1 start, with their only loss being a 20-17 result against defending champion Indiana. Colanedrea has put up some decent numbers, which is something that can't be said about any of the Ducks QBs of late. It's flabbergasting how lost Raiola looked out there last week, but it makes me wonder if some of his former Cornhusker teammates have any stories.

Notes:

• As someone who was been following the Ducks for many decades, it's hard to think that it's just all over after two losses. Unfortunately, though, with the expectations that come with all of the money that these elite programs spend, two losses can get just about anyone fired and will also likely make some players think about going elsewhere. It's not a great situation.
• Opponent fun fact: Sure, you could poke fun at the Nebraska program and their nickname and talk about huskin' corn. However, they do take pride in their renowned  nutrition program. I wonder where Oregon would rank on the Nutrition Top 25.
• Opponent history: Nebrasks holds the all-time series lead at 6-2, with Oregon winning their last match in 2017. This will be their first meeting as conference opponents.
• Game time is 8:00 PM PDT on FOX in Eugene. Go Ducks!

Good Luck Ducks, Week 6: Bruin Time

Dylan Raiola gets his first Oregon start as the Quack Attack hosts the other team from California.

It's great that the Ducks had their bye week after the unpleasantness that transpired down at the LA Memorial Coliseum. It made national news when some jerk made what appeared to be a premeditated attack on Dante Moore on the field which resulted in the dreaded ambulance on the field and a trip to the local hospital. (I only say premeditated because of the immediate reaction of the player and his teammates.) Things like this in real life would get you thrown in jail, but, hey, it's football I guess?

Fortunately, Dante Moore did not suffer more serious injuries than a concussion. Less fortunately, but important in a football sense, Oregon has a highly skilled and experienced QB in Dylan Raiola, who after a nice 3 TD warmup in relief duty against Portland State, came out blazing against the suckwad Trojans and led the Ducks to a comfortable victory after what had been a very tense matchup.

The ex-Nebraska QB may or may not start against his former team next week, but first he and the Quack Attack have the UCLA Bruins to deal with. The Bruins were the other team that helped initiate the mass Pac-12 defection, and yet you could say that they've been even less relevant than their LA rivals. I always talk about USC not really being important since that 2006 Rose Bowl, but I can't even put a year on the last time UCLA mattered. They are off to a nice start so far, though, and they no longer have Chip Kelly mucking about. Today kicks off the first of three home games in a four week stretch in B1G play, so it's all hands on deck as they say. Or at least that's what sailing people say, I guess.

Notes:

• If Raiola continues to dominate in the manner that he has in the two halves or so of football that he's played this year (albeit under very different circumstances in each occasion), there's going to be a pretty awkward conversation that needs to happen eventually. Moore's struggles to start this season could be explained away as an adjustment period to the new play-caller and changes made to the O-line, or you could also point back to a performance slide that started with the playoffs last season. I don't really have a strong feeling about this.
• Opponent fun fact: UCLA has two mascots: Joe and Josephine Bruin. Apparently they were originally live bear (cub) mascots, but they appear now in costumed form. Josephine looks rather sassy, which is fun.
• Opponent history: UCLA holds a slight edge (38-35), with Oregon winners of the last 5 meetings.
• Game time is 12:30 PM PDT on CBS in Eugene. Go Ducks!

Yep! More Group Breaks

Cardinals cards and more from earlier this year.

We've somehow already entered the final quarter of 2026. Leaves are starting to drop and everything looks like death outside. Isn't it... fun? 

I'm dropping in here with another batch of cards from several rounds of box breaks. These come from Cardboard Collections Affordable Group Breaks, of course, one of the longest continually running breakers in our weird little corner of this increasingly ridiculous hobby.

I never once saw a box of the 2025 Topps Chrome Platinum (Anniversary?) on any shelf this year, virtual or otherwise, so I was happy to get in on a couple of spots for this. Apparently it must have been very popular? This "don't stare too long or your eyes will cross" parallel of former Card Brendan Donovan ended up being my best card from this round.

Even after losing their NBA and NFL licenses, Panini is still cranking stuff out, with sadly a more diverse lineup than the actual licensed company is willing to provide. It's still hard to get used to unlicensed Blazers cards even after Topps was doing them for a couple of years, but I can at least add a few of these to my binders.

With the company presumably having to secure individual rights to players rather than having the backing of any single organization, the checklists can be a little strange. For the Blazers, this primarily means some big stars of the past and a couple of G-League players. Panini, as we see, prefers to American-ize Yang Hansen's name by putting his family name last. (Is this a Texas company thing? I mean, we never saw "Ming Yao" cards as far as I can recall.)

It's back to baseball, something Panini has been doing in this style for about as long as they've been in the American card market.

Thomas Saggese featured prominently in this package. This is a holo yellow foil card which matches up well with the Future Stars logo inspired by the 80s. It's numbered to 399.

I'm always glad to see more new Jim Edmonds cards. Someday I will hopefully forget that he was ever a broadcaster.

One of the breaks featured a hobby box of 2003 Bowman Heritage. This being a set I'm still working on, I picked up several of the spots and was able to put a little bit of a dent in my needs. I'm not going to plaster this wall with a ton of base cards, so here's just a selection of the Cardinals I added. Tyler Johnson on the left is a foil parallel.

I wasn't really quite sure what to make of the apparently licensed Uno football sets that have been popping up on my TCDB trade matches, but I ended up with a healthy stack of them in this break. I assume they are affordable and can be purchased at big box stores that carry games and toys? It looks like each set is produced in many different color variants, with some of the more difficult ones to pull being holofoil cards like this one of Jordan Davis. Davis is a large man who could barely be contained on a regular sized card.

I think Topps either needs to commit to Stadium Club being a full-fledged premium product or put it to rest. The much delayed half-effort they've made the past couple of years just doesn't give it an excuse for existing. These photos aren't even interesting, and Saggese's card at least must be using his Photo Day photo in front of a green screen because his jersey doesn't have a number on it. (It's either that or it was heavily Photoshopped for unknown reasons.) These are the blue retail parallels.

Topps did do a good job on the 1991 tribute insert cards this year, however. They do look nice.

Good Luck Ducks, Week 4: California Bound

The Ducks open conference play in LA.

After being left for dead just two weeks into the season (ha!), Oregon took out their frustrations on a Portland State team in disarray, scoring more points (84) than they had in over a century. I suspect that the coaches were more pleased with the shutout than anything else, and that the squad was able to escape any additional serious injuries must have been the icing on top.

USC is up next on the docket as the Ducks enter the real part of their season schedule. Oregon comes in to the old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as an underdog, a rare thing in the Dan Lanning era. (I should note here that I stay far far away from sports betting, and while I've seen reports both saying that Oregon was favored and that the "line" has since shifted to USC, I'm going with the fact that USC is ranked higher AND are playing at home. Let's also just not get into the whole thing about how rankings are worthless now...) While USC still hasn't been totally relevant since the days of Reggie Bush and Vince Young, they do look like they might have some things going for them in 2026. 

The Trojans are kind of a grifter's team, not only in the sense that they were a big name way back in the day (uhhh O.J. Simpson? I guess?) but also that they had a head coach "on the rise" who used a storied program like Oklahoma as a stepping stone to go to LA to a mediocre school to rest on a pile of cash or something. Also, something something Caleb Williams. While not all of that worked out as planned, I'm sure, they are in a good position as of today with a 4-0 record and their sights set on breaking a streak against an Oregon team chock full of a lot of question marks. As usual in September, I have no idea what will happen, but I'm hoping things stay the course.

Notes:

• It's the first prime time game of the year. With (generally speaking) a week to prepare for these games, I don't think start times are as big of a deal to the participants as they are to the watchers like you and me, but I feel like in some respects the Ducks are going to be a little more comfortable playing in an early evening game on their coast than some of those pesky early starts.
• Opponent fun fact: With condom jokes, terrible human mascots, O.J. and Reggie Bush... it's hard to come up with anything else "fun" here. I mean, it's not like the Trojans won the war.
• Opponent history: Here's where USC prevails so far. They are 38-24-2 versus Oregon all-time, although the Ducks have won the last 4.
• Game time is 4:30 PM PDT on NBC in Los Angeles. Go Ducks!

From B1G Country

All bird teams here.

Late July brought in another fantastic batch of surprise cards from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders. Dennis is deep in the heart of Michigan Wolverines territory, which will eventually put our respective college teams on collision course come mid-November. For now, though, everything is totally cool, so let's just check out the nice things he sent my way.

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside was a rare Spanish (American) football player, but he failed to make an impact in the NFL. It was a widely criticized draft pick at the time, but at least we've got a snazzy looking card with three separate memorabilia chunks here.

I only have a small amount of cards that could be considered 1 of 1 in my collection, of course, but three (!) of them are Dion Jordan cards. If I was up for doing more research into my collection on TCDB, I could probably tell you what kind of percentage that represents, but it's late on a Friday right now.

Leaf is by far the least annoying of the annoying lesser known manufacturers of unlicensed college/draft/prospect/creepy teenager sports cards, mostly because they don't crank out hundreds of thousands of "1 of 1" cards for every cycle, at least as far as I can tell. (I'm looking at you, Wild Card.) This is a pretty solid looking card with a wave pattern that retains most of the all-green Ducks look despite the lack of logos.

Now that Topps/Fanatics has taken over the NFL license for the foreseeable future, my days of occasionally buying somewhat affordable football packs are probably over. I keep adding this kind of stuff to my want list, but I know that I can't really reciprocate with the same kind of stuff in return.

Yadi just recently got inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame during a ceremony held inside Busch Stadium. I made it to St. Louis for the 2022 ceremony, which was held outside the stadium in Ballpark Village and included Matt Holliday. It would have been pretty amazing to see Molina and Pujols this year.

Brycen Mautz appears here on a parallel from the 2022 Panini Prizm Draft set as he coincidentally made his MLB debut this season, making a short start and a handful of relief appearances.

'90s parallels are always appreciated here, as some of them can be pretty tricky to track down.

Dexter Fowler is probably remembered better as a likable Cardinal than a big contributor on the field, even though he spent four seasons in St. Louis. This is the black parallel version of his 2018 Topps Series 2 jersey card.

Here's a nice pair of Dillon Gabriel cards. Gabriel led the Ducks to a huge season during their first B1G campaign, but they ultimately didn't have enough to beat the dreaded Buckeyes a second time.

Oh yes... remember what I said about '90s parallels? That goes even more for certain insert cards, especially from the latter half of the decade. McGwire has a ridiculous number of cards from this period, but even though I own a big pile of the, I've probably barely scratched the surface.

Welp, it's almost football time... once again. Happy weekend!