The Oregon “Duckies” — as defensive end Jason Nikolao calls his teammates — are making a major splash on the national radar. As a tribute to Oregon’s No. 9 ranking, here are nine inches of what the country has been saying about the Ducks.
From CBSSportsline.com’s Don Borst:
“In a year in which the Pac-10 is establishing itself as perhaps the best conference in the country, the Oregon Ducks are establishing themselves as the best team in the Pac-10. Victories over the league’s two top-ranked teams in back-to-back weeks say so with an exclamation mark, rather than a question mark.
“There’s a big difference between this Oregon team and that now-legendary 1994 [Rose Bowl] club: Essentially, this one is a lot better.”
From Bruce Pascoe for “The Sporting News”:
“Who needs Phil Knight’s Nike bucks, anyway? Oregon’s cozy Autzen Stadium has never been better, reducing UCLA and Washington to bumbling, hearing-impaired losers the past two weekends.”
Jon Horton, host of Fox Sports’ weekly Pacific-10 Conference show, “Runnin’ with the Pac,” was on campus for the Oregon-Idaho game. From Horton:
“When we visited Autzen we expected to find a laid back bunch of Ducks before an easy non-conference game. Instead we found the opposite. The tandem of Saul Patu and Jason Nikolao provided some of the most inspiring words we have heard in our two years of doing this show. They talked about the team sweating with each other, bleeding for each other. It’s a family and it shows.”
And lastly, from ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit after he ventured to Eugene to film the popular “College GameDay” preview show:
“GameDay live from Eugene was our first-ever visit to a Pac-10 site. We had a great time. Thanks to the folks for coming out; the turnout was phenomenal.”