At first glance: Ducks have some serious reloading to do

Duck tight end Johnny Mundt dropped a fourth-down pass in the Oregon State end zone with 41 seconds on the clock and the Ducks down 34-24, and that was that. The first Beaver win in their last nine tries of the annual Civil War battle in Corvallis.

But Mundt should not take it too hard, this defeat was a team deal. Partly on the offense’s departure from the premises after scoring 10 points in the third quarter and the rest on the painful collapse, for yet another time, by the defense.

After reviewing film of Oregon State’s 34-24 win over Oregon in the Civil War game in Corvallis, several things were very clear. As has been detailed all season long, there were serious deficiencies in the Ducks’ play that continually prevented progress from the mess left after the loss in the Alamo Bowl last season. Looking back at Chip Kelly’s philosophy about coaching, he said, “If you accept it, expect it. If you are getting a huge amount of holding penalties in the game, you are allowing the players to hold in practice. If you allow the player to hold in …

First-year coach Willie Taggart unveils his version of the Oregon football team Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Taggart has impressed many with his enthusiasm and energy, which he is going to need, to rebuild the Oregon program, which three years ago competed for a national championship but last year lurched to a 4-8 record, punctuated by several severe beatdowns. Taggart and his new staff have their work cut out for them. Last year’s team was rotten in the core, buffeted by individual breakdowns in effort and teamwork that resulted in increasingly embarrassing defeats.

regon’s first-year coach Willie Taggart broke up his football team Saturday into two squads that provided a relatively competitive spring game with the grey (Team Free) defeating the black (Team Brave) 34-11.

Duck fans traditionally support their spring game in greater numbers than any other Pac-12 team and on this day 36,824 basked in sunshine at Autzen Stadium. Although many probably still had symptoms of post-traumatic stress from last year’s dismal season, there was evidence fans might see better times coming this fall.