Oregon Ducks
University	University of Oregon
Conference	Pac-10
Division	Division I
Athletic director	Pat Kilkenny
Location	Eugene, Oregon
Varsity teams	14
Football stadium	Autzen Stadium
Arena	McArthur Court
Mascot	The Oregon Duck
Nickname	Ducks
Fight song	"Mighty Oregon"
Colors	Green and Yellow
Website	www.goducks.com

The University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, United States. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific 10 (Pac-10) conference. The Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and Track and Field program, which has helped to make Eugene be known as "Tracktown, USA".^[1] Oregon's main rivalries are with the Oregon State Beavers (the Civil War) and the Washington Huskies.^{[citation needed]}

Relationship with Nike

UO track and field coach Bill Bowerman revolutionized the athletic shoe by pouring molten rubber into a waffle iron, creating a prototype rubber sole. Bowerman went on to co-found the Nike corporation with UO alumnus Phil Knight, one of his athletes.^[2]

Nike has maintained a close relationship with UO ever since, manufacturing all university logo clothing and uniforms for the football team, including research prototypes for high-tech "smart clothes", such as jerseys with cooling systems. Controversy surrounding Nike's labor practices precipitated protests in 2000 led by a group of students calling themselves the Human Rights Alliance. The protests included a 10 day tent city occupation of the lawns in front of Johnson Hall, the main administration building. Protesting students demanded and initially received independent oversight by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) of Nike's overseas factories.^{[citation needed]}

The University of Oregon joined the WRC but was quickly admonished by Phil Knight in a scathing letter^[3] resulting in the rescission of a US$30 million dollar contribution to renovate Autzen Stadium, and a pledge for no more future donations should the University continue its membership in the WRC. The University eventually terminated the relationship with the WRC within a year of joining, citing "legal complications." Phil Knight later reinstated the donation and increased the money to over US$50 million dollars.^[2]

National championships

Through the fall 2007 sports season, Oregon has won 14 NCAA national championships:^[4]

• Men's Basketball: 1939
• Men's Cross Country: 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 2007
• Women's Cross Country: 1983, 1987
• Men's Track & Field: 1962, 1964, 1965, 1970, 1984
• Women's Track & Field: 1985

Venues

The Oregon Ducks basketball teams play at McArthur Court on the campus of the University of Oregon. The Ducks football team's home is Autzen Stadium, just north of the main campus. Track and field events are held at Hayward Field, on the campus adjacent to McArthur Court.

Football

Achievements

As of 2006, Oregon has appeared in 20 postseason bowl games and has an overall bowl record of 7-13.^[5]

The Ducks have been named Champions or Co-Champions of the Pacific Coast and Pacific-10 conferences on seven occasions:

Pacific Coast Conference:

• 1919 Co-Champions
• 1933 Co-Champions
• 1948 Co-Champions
• 1957 Co-Champions

Pacific-10 Conference:

• 1994 Champions
• 2000 Co-Champions
• 2001 Champions

2005-2006 football season

In 2005, Oregon had success behind senior quarterback Kellen Clemens and a new spread offense. Unfortunately, during a game at Arizona, Clemens suffered a broken ankle. At that point Oregon was 8-1 (their only loss was to #1 ranked USC 45-13), and still in the hunt for a BCS game. Oregon won their final three games and their success led them into contention for a bid to the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks finished the regular season with a 10-1 record, their best finish since their Joey Harrington-led, Fiesta Bowl-winning 2001-2002 team. They finished 5th overall in the BCS ranking system, which would in many years have been high enough to earn them a bid to a BCS Bowl. In 2005, however, there were no at-large bids available to Oregon. Ohio State finished just ahead of the Ducks, in 4th place, guaranteeing them one of the at-large berths (although they had an inferior 10-2 record). Notre Dame finished 6th in the BCS, also securing a BCS bid due to a pre-existing clause in the BCS contract. Many college football fans were outraged that two teams with worse records were selected over the Ducks. Moreover, for the second consecutive year, the Pac-10 conference had a team that finished with a one-loss season snubbed by the BCS (the Cal Bears finished 10-1 in 2004). It was later demonstrated that Oregon drew the highest bowl ratings in college football, calling the argument that TV ratings hurt the Ducks' BCS chances into question.^[6] The situation (and others like it in recent years) has led to more calls for a playoff system to replace the BCS, which has received widespread criticism from college football fans. Instead of a BCS game, they were assigned to the Holiday Bowl versus the Oklahoma Sooners. Playing without their starting quarterback, Kellen Clemens, and combined with a strong showing from the Sooners, the Ducks fell in a close game, 17-14, finishing the season tied for the second-best in school history with a 10-2 overall record.^{[citation needed]}

2006-2007 Football Season

2007-2008 Football Season

The Ducks rose to a national rank of number 2 in the Bowl Championship Series poll, until an injury to star quarterback Dennis Dixon led to defeat at the hands of the Arizona Wildcats on November 15, 2007.^{[citation needed]} The Ducks lost to Arizona 34-24 in that game. They lost the next game to UCLA in Los Angeles as backup quarterback Brady Leaf was also knocked out of the game. The final score was 16-0. Oregon lost the season finale to rival Oregon State on December 1, 2007 by a score of 38-31 in two overtimes. Oregon finished the season at 8-4 and qualified for the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

On December 31, 2007 freshman quarterback Justin Roper, making his first start, passed for 4 touchdowns and 180 yards as Oregon crushed favored South Florida Bulls 56-21. Jonathan Stewart rushed for a Sun Bowl record and career high 253 yards and a touchdown and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The 56 points scored by the Ducks was a Sun Bowl record. The Ducks finished the 2007 season with a 9-4 record. They finished with a ranking of 23rd in the final Associated Press Poll.

Uniforms

The University of Oregon football team is know for their unique uniform style in recent years, often to the criticism of alumni and football purists. The new schemes are designed by the nearby Nike Corporation, who have the outfitting rights for the Ducks. In the 2005 season, they used nine uniform combinations, including white jerseys and white pants, yellow and green, yellow and yellow, green and green, white and green, green and yellow, white and yellow, black and black, and white and black, which they wore in the 2005 Holiday Bowl against the University of Oklahoma.^{[citation needed]}

New uniforms were introduced for the 2006 season, allowing up to 48 different combinations of jerseys, pants, and helmets. It was announced prior to the beginning of the season that different colored helmets would be used, however these did not debut until the Ducks wore a metallic-yellow colored helmet^[7] in the 2006 Las Vegas Bowl. The Ducks wore the previously announced white helmets^[8] for the first time on October 20, 2007 in Seattle, when they played the Washington Huskies.^{[citation needed]} They wore the yellow helmets for a second time in the 2007 Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

Basketball

The Oregon Ducks won the first NCAA Basketball Championship in 1939, defeating Ohio State 46-33.

2002 saw the Ducks attain one of their finest performances ever, going undefeated at home and winning the Pac-10 title. The team went on to defeat Montana, Wake Forest and Texas in the 2002 NCAA Tournament to reach the Elite Eight and end their season with a No. 6 ranking.

The following year, the Ducks won the Pac-10 tournament, and received an No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament behind the strong play of Pac-10 Player of the Year, Luke Ridnour. However, they were defeated by Utah in the opening round of the 2003 NCAA tournament.^{[citation needed]}

After a disappointing stretch of seasons from 2004-2006, the team regained its composure and kicked off 2007 with an upset of #1 UCLA on Jan. 6. They attained their best start since 1928, when they started the season 18-1. The Ducks finished the regular season with a 23-7 record and defeated Arizona, California, and USC to win the 2007 Pac-10 Tournament. In March 2007, the Ducks entered into the NCAA tournament with a #3 seed. On March 16th, the Ducks defeated #14 seed Miami of Ohio 58-56.^{[citation needed]} Oregon continued their run into the 2007 Sweet Sixteen by defeating Winthrop, 75-61. The Ducks defeated #7 seed University of Nevada, Las Vegas to secure a spot in the Elite Eight against defending national champions Florida. The Ducks run ended in the Elite Eight, losing to the eventual NCAA National Champions, the Florida Gators.^{[citation needed]}

Baseball

Oregon fielded its first baseball program in 1876. The Ducks won the Pac-10 title 14 times and produced 22 Major League players before being downgraded to a club sport in 1981. UO made one College World Series appearance, in 1954, and was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Arizona and Massachusetts. In July 2007, the university announced that Oregon will again field an NCAA Division I baseball team beginning with the 2009 season.^[9]

See also

• List of University of Oregon football bowl games
• 2006 Football Season

References

External links

• University of Oregon homepage
• Oregon Athletics