Thomas Tyner is heading….

Last night Aloha High School running back Thomas Tyner decommitted from Oregon and said that he has re-opened his recruitment, this of course sent college football fans into a frenzy. Duck fans were asking why he would decommit? Oregon State fans were asking if he could end up in Corvallis? While, California coach Jeff Tedford followed Tyner on twitter shortly after his announcement. If you haven’t heard, Tyner is pretty good at football. How good is he? Well, I’ve seen him play once in person and the kid ran for 644 yards and 10 touchdowns against Lakeridge. He looked like the real life Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson. Once he hit the second level of the defense, he was gone. The kid has special talent and now it’s a waiting game to see where he ends up playing football on the next level.  You’re going to read/hear a million things when it comes to Tyner and his decision to decommitt and where he might end up playing over the next few months, but it’s not like this is anything new. High School kids commit to a school and have a change of heart all the time. We are talking about 17-18 year old kids here. Of course Tyner might have second thoughts on Oregon. He hasn’t taken an official visit to Oregon or any other school yet. If I was Thomas Tyner, I would do the same thing. National letter of intent day isn’t until February and Tyner should take as much time as he needs to decide where he wants to spend the next 3-5 years attending school and playing ball.

I’ve seen the reports of why Tyner might be looking elsewhere just like you today. Some people say he wants to play in warm weather, some say he wants to play in a pro style offense and one report even  said a school might offer him extra benefits that he can’t refuse. My question is, why can’t it be the simple fact that he just doesn’t know if Oregon is the best fit yet? Let’s face it, the kid knows everything he needs to know about U of O. He knows the coaches, he’s been to Autzen stadium, he knows some of the players, maybe he just wants to take a couple visits to other schools just to make sure he isn’t missing anything before making a final decision on playing at Oregon.

A report that surfaced this afternoon says that if Tyner was to make a visit to UCLA that Chip Kelly and Oregon would pull his scholarship offer. I really hope that’s not the case. Not only does that look bad on Oregon’s part but it would go against what Chip Kelly always says and talks about. When a player gets in trouble with the law, Chip Kelly says “he wants to gather as much information as possible before making a decision”. He said the same thing when it came talking to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last off season. He went and met with Tampa Bay about their coaching position, gathered as much information as possible and decided Oregon was the best place for him. Why wouldn’t Chip Kelly and Oregon give Tyner the same opportunity? Tyner hasn’t said that he isn’t going to Oregon. He’s essentially doing exactly what Chip Kelly did not that long ago. He wants to go meet with other schools, hear what they have to say and then make a decision at that time. Oregon didn’t close the door on a Chip Kelly return when he met with Tampa Bay, and I think it would be a shame if  Tyner’s scholarship offer was pulled just because he wanted to meet with other schools. When it’s all said and done, I think Tyner will be wearing the green, yellow, black, silver and neon of Oregon. I don’t have “sources” telling me that, it’s just my gut feeling. Just sayin.

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Stay or Transfer?

Oregon quarterback Bryan Bennett is meeting with coach Chip Kelly today to discuss his future with the football program according to multiple reports.  As you know, Marcus Mariota was named the starting quarterback on Friday and Bennett now has to decide whether or not he wants to remain with the program or transfer to a school that he knows he can start and play at. It’s a tough call. If Bennett transfers to another D1 school now, he can sit out this season and have two years of eligibility left at his new school. If Bennett decides to stick it out this season and transfer next year, he will only have one year of eligibility remaining. When you transfer from one D1 program to another D1 program you lose a year of eligibility and he’s already used his redshirt year. Another option for Bennett is that he could remain at Oregon this season and if things don’t work out the way he likes, he transfer down a level without losing a year of eligibility. This option would also give him two years to start at another program. Will he stay or will he go? Not sure. Either way, I wish the kid the best. Just sayin.

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Winning is all that matters

Arkansas State, Fresno State and Tennessee Tech…that’s who Oregon will beat up on the first three weeks of the football season. Big names? No. Great schedule? Without a doubt. When it comes to college football, it’s all about winning. The longer you have a zero in the loss column the higher you go in the rankings. When you’re a team looking for national respect, you go out and play Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma and the LSU’s of the football world. Oregon has done that in the past and that’s why they sit where they are today. The Ducks enter the season ranked fifth in preseason polls. When you come in at five, it’s time to schedule cupcakes the first few weeks of the year.  The Ducks only need to jump three spots and they find themselves in the national championship, where, when you’re sitting in the 20’s or just outside the top 25, you have a lot of ground to make up and the easiest way to do that is to schedule the big boys and hope you knock them off. It’s a different time/era in Eugene and I can’t argue with the schedule.

If you go undefeated in a major conference, chances are, you will play for the national title. So, why risk a loss in the preseason if you’re Oregon? It doesn’t make sense. I understand some fans/media would like to see a better opponent but what’s wrong with winning and being happy? A perfect example comes from last years Ducks schedule where they opened with LSU and lost. What good did that game do for Oregon? The loss pretty much wiped out any shot of a national title. The way the BCS is set up, it’s better to get an easy win and get ready for the next game. Let’s play the “what if” game for a second. (I’m not a fan of the “what if” game but I think it makes my point in this situation.) We replay Oregon’s season from last year but instead of Alejandro Maldondado missing the last second field goal against USC, he makes it and the Ducks go on to win that game in overtime. The Ducks finish the season with just one loss but still find themselves on the outside looking in at the BCS title game because LSU and Alabama would have both finished higher in the BCS standings. Now, let’s play last season out the same way but insert Arkansas State in place of LSU. Oregon handles Arkansas State with ease and again get the overtime win against USC. The Ducks finish the season undefeated and find themselves back in the national title game. The BCS would have put Oregon up against LSU. Two power conferences with two undefeated teams would have faced off for the title before Alabama would have got it’s rematch.

The BCS rewards teams for winning, not for who they schedule. In fact, if I was Pac 12 commissioner Larry Scott I would change the entire Pac 12 schedule. The Pac 12 plays nine league games and has a title games. No other conference does that. I would change it from a three game non conference schedule to a four game non conference schedule and play eight regular season games. The only thing the ninth league game does is ensure the conference six more losses. Why not play a fourth non conference game and play mostly cupcakes as a whole?  This would give the conference a chance to win more games. Washington is playing LSU this year, Arizona State was at Illinois last year etc…playing those games only hurt the conference. Go play teams you know you can beat and move up in the rankings. This would allow the Pac 12 to go from a guaranteed 6-6 record in the ninth week of conference play to possibly going 12-0 in the fourth week of non-conference. Look at the SEC, the best conference in America. Why do you think they have so many teams ranked in the top 25 and reach bowl games each year? Well, they’re damn good but the non conference schedule is a big help too. For the most part, each school gets four easy non conference games. They take care of business in all four and all they have to do is win two league games the rest of the season to become bowl eligible. You might not like the BCS system and the early season schedule for Oregon but they’re doing it the right way. Again, a win over Arkansas State and a zero in the loss column is a lot better than a loss to a top ranked team. Just Sayin.

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Tweet this

Earlier this afternoon Chris Larsen tweeted “Rumor: possible #Oregon sanctions. 4 years prob, 2 year bowl ban, 30 scholarships ovr 3 yrs” which of course turned Duck nation and the college sports world on it’s head for about an hour. A little while later he deleted the tweet and and posted “There is no concrete information out there regarding possible #Oregon sanctions. Just twitter and message board fodder rumors I saw/heard.” This is the world we live in today. People want information as soon as it happens and twitter can give that to us. At the same time, this is the problem with twitter. People can write whatever they want, whenever they want & without any kind of regard. Larsen’s profile says he works for ESPN Radio 540 in Wisconsin as a producer, reporter and co-host. Today, was the first day I had heard of him. I don’t want to kill the guy for putting the tweet up but at the same time, if you’re in the media, you have to be better than that.

Maybe he didn’t think it would get this kind of attention but when you’re talking about a football program like Oregon, word will travel quickly. He should know that. People are always in a rush to have the story first but what’s wrong with being second and having the information correct? You saw it with the Dwight Howard trade that just went down. How many different deals did you see reported before the trade became official and how many people really had it correct? I’m sure this won’t be the last rumor that shows up on twitter about the possible Oregon sanctions but I’m going to wait for an official word from the University of Oregon or the NCAA  on what is really going to happen. Lets be honest, nobody knows what’s going on and trying to predict it is a waste of time. Just sayin.

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Ducks check in at 5

The preseason coaches poll was released today and checking in at number five are the Oregon Ducks. Crazy how things have changed in Eugene over the last 10 years or so. Not long ago, Oregon was a program trying to earn national respect and it looks like they are getting it now. What Chip Kelly has going on is pretty special. Think about this, the Ducks are ranked 5th in the nation a year after they lose Darron Thomas and LaMichael James. Thomas lead the Ducks to the National Championship game in his first year as a starter and followed that up with a Rose Bowl win in his second season. Thomas lost a total of three games as a starter at Oregon. That’s pretty good if you didn’t know. As far as LaMicahel James goes, he leaves as the teams all time leading rusher and possibly the best player to ever step foot on campus. Despite both of these guys leaving early for the NFL draft, the coaches across America view them as a top five team.

A top five ranking for a squad that has yet to name a starting quarterback. Pretty impressive. The Ducks are to the point where they reload…not rebuild. Oregon will go with either Marcus Mariota or Bryan Bennett at quarterback and people should be confident with whoever Kelly goes with. Kelly has shown that he can groom a quarterback and keep his high powered offense rolling. You name the quarterback and the offense keeps on putting up points. Jeremiah Masoli went to the Rose Bowl. You know what Thomas did. Nate Costa went onto the field with knees that Greg Oden wouldn’t trade for and won a couple of games, while Bryan Bennet stepped in and played pretty well for the Ducks last season. Hell, Chip Kelly made Justin Roper look like Joe Montana for a bowl game while serving as the teams offensive coordinator.

When you look at the running back position the Ducks are in good hands with Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas. Barner will get his shot to shine in the Oregon offense after being behind James the past few years.  If Barner rushes for 1466 yards this season, he will become the Ducks second all time leading rusher. De’Anthony Thomas is just a freak and could find himself in New York for the heisman ceremony if the Ducks continue to win games and he continues to do his thing in the return game, rushing game and as a wide out. Look for incoming freshman Byron Marshall to get the ball as well. The Ducks don’t have a lot of depth at the running back position but if they can stay healthy, expect Barner and Anthony to do big things.

Enjoy it Duck fans. You never know how long it will last. As long as Chip Kelly is running the show I think you’re in good hands. I have said it before and I will say it again, I love Chip Kelly. Going for it on 4th down, an onside kick, telling kids to “shut up” jumping up and down and pointing to the football in the Rose Bowl. The sarcasm. I love it all. Oh, and the nickname isn’t bad either, “big balls Chip”. Just sayin

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Chip Kelly and George Horton

Is it just me or are Chip Kelly and George Horton the exact same and complete opposites all at the same time? Follow me here. They’re both  unconventional when it comes to their sports. Chip Kelly will go for it on fourth down when every other coach in America would punt, while George Horton will bunt with runners at first and second, no outs and his three hole hitter at the dish. Tell me another coach that is calling for a sac bunt with the meat of his line up coming to the plate? Where they’re different is what they’re trying to accomplish by doing what is unconventional. Chip Kelly does it to keep teams off guard, push the pace and score as many points as possible. Kelly loves offense, it’s flashy, it’s exciting and isn’t afraid to show it off. When you look at Horton, it’s the opposite. He plays small ball. Instead of sitting back and waiting for the three run homer, he advances the runners and hopes one of his next two guys can get a single to score a run or two. Horton’s offense isn’t flashy, it isn’t exciting, in fact you might say it’s boring. What you can’t say though, is that it doesn’t work. Horton lead the Ducks to a 46-19 record and a game away from the world series in just it’s fourth season since returning in 2009. The same thing goes for Chip Kelly. Three straight BCS games and a Rose Bowl win in January. You have to love what Kelly and Horton are doing at Oregon. Again, the exact same approach yet completely opposite.

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