130 Comments
Dec 29, 2022·edited Dec 29, 2022Liked by John Canzano

Tip of the cap to the Ducks! Such a great season for football at Oregon's universities - Beavers and Ducks gave us some fun, exciting games and we end the year with two high-profile bowl victories. Lots to celebrate!

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I absolutely love reading your Bald Faced Truth. Always great, fair, informative, and inspiring. Thanks for that.

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You will never convince me that with a healthy Nix the Ducks don’t beat both Washington and OSU this year. Keeping him whole for the season next year is job one for new OC.

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It's like when you yank your drive way left and it hits that tree and ends up right in the middle of the fairway. Just another fairway in regulation.

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Heh, I don't think Alex Molden watches much college football.

“Drake Maye is a bonafide stud! He will be a top-five pick in the 2024 draft! You heard it here first.”

Heard it here first? Literally everybody has been saying that since September.

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103 for 1 point comeback win!

Hats off to Bo and Chad and the entire Ducks squad for gutting one out.

Doesn't San Diego State have a new FOOTBALL stadium where this game could been played instead of on the skating rink that was Petco?

BTW - 7 decades of watching CFB and the UNC 2nd Q interception was the most insane I've ever seen.

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Let's not overlook Bucky Erving's block on blitzing LB on winning TD throw by Nix.

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Dec 29, 2022·edited Dec 29, 2022

John, you did not mention Nix tackling the db during the runback of the "immaculate interception". Took a lot of grit for someone with a bum ankle. If the ankle hasn't healed by now.....surgery in the off season?

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Gotta give credit to UNC. Those guys played hard and very well. Nix clearly wasn't right - until he was. Another gutsy performence. And the pitch was appalling. Hopefully this game gets moved to Snapdragon in the future. Petco is a beautiful park - for baseball.

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Chase’s father was not just a defensive back while at Oregon, he was one of the Ducks’ team leaders back in the 80-90s when the program was starting to flourish and had a significant NFL career. Chase is a great extension of Chad. The Cotas are certainly great Oregon alums/former players.

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The Ducks looked pretty average for a team loaded with four and five star recruits. Just sayin’.

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"But very interesting, wildly entertaining, and mostly successful." Good description of your columns! I am always impressed by your ability to get to the heart of things. Looking forward to another year.

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In 2nd half, Bucky Irving only had one carry as Ducks chose to go with Whittington and James. Not sure of the logic there. Was he injured? I thought Drake Maye was the MVP of the game.

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Great column John, you summed up the game and the season accurately. Personally, I like Coach Lanning a lot and I'm taking his comments about being there long term at face value. I really hope he proves me right. To be honest, I thought this was going to be very tough season for the Ducks even before the Georgia fiasco. It looked like a rebuilding year with the coaching change and so many players taking the portal so looking at the 10-3 record they accomplished I'm proud to be a Duck.

Maybe Coach Lanning will reflect back on this season and temper his enthusiasm for going for it on fourth down. If I had one ding on his performance evaluation it would be that he should be a tad more conservative on 4th downs. It makes for great excitement and being aggressive is good but sometimes the risk/reward ratio says no.

There were a couple game-time management foibles but he knows that he will learn. Your grade of B+ is pretty fair and I'd second that. And, so much credit to Bo Nix. He has proved himself far above my expectations.

Go Ducks! Eager to see what happens in '23.

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As a WSU Coug fan my second favorite team every fall week-end was whoever played Oregon. However, after reading your column for a while I have now come to the realization that it raises the profile of all PAC 12 teams if they win non-conference and bowl games. Consequently for the first time ever I found myself pulling for the Ducks during the Holiday Bowl. Thanks for expanding my horizons and giving me a new perspective.

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Perfect summation of the 2022 Duck season. Glad Lanning appeared to have settled down and took what the game, and Nix, gave him. That said, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who saw the similarities between Maye and Justin Herbert? That kid is special. It will be fun to watch him grow.

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