The No. 1 Oregon Ducks are eyeing down the final two games of their regular season, which also means seasonal award lists are narrowing down their candidates. One massive (literally and figuratively) award recently announced their semifinalists today, and the Ducks are included.

The Joe Moore Award, given to the best offensive line unit in the country, named the Oregon Ducks as one of their coveted semifinalists. Joining the green and yellow on this list includes No. 9 Alabama, No. 16 Army, No. 5 Indiana, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 3 Texas, and finally No. 25 Tulane. This is the third season in a row the Ducks have emerged as semifinalists for this honor.

“This year has been unique—many of the units we expected to excel have struggled, and week-to-week performance has been oddly unpredictable at our position,” said Cole Cubelic, the Chairman of the Joe Moore Award voting committee.

Cubelic’s statement certainly can apply to Oregon’s unit. At the start of the 2024 season, many pointed to the offensive line as the biggest weak point for the squad. Against their opening game vs. the Idaho Vandals, the offensive line only allowed 2.9 yards per rushing attempt; a statistic so shocking that Oregon offensive line coach A’lique Terry wore a shirt with the number to the following weeks’ practices to motivate his athletes.

The inside of the line was the biggest struggle for Oregon to overcome. With injuries to last year starter Dave Iuli and transfer Matthew Bedford, and the loss of center Jackson Powers Johnson to the NFL Draft last year, a sure path ahead wasn’t certain for the Ducks in terms of a clean pocket for quarterback Dillon Gabriel and open gaps for rushers like Jordan James. The Ducks had things figured out on the exterior with preseason All-American Ajani Cornelius and former starter Josh Conerly Jr., but the interior was a question mark.

By their bout against Oregon State, the Ducks figured out a switch at left guard and center was essential, allowing Iapani “Poncho” Lalolou to take over snapping duties and Nishad Strother to emerge from the bench and a previous injury to take over the left guard position. Both men have excelled so far, with Lalolou’s communication at the helm creating a strong base to strengthen the trenches.

Since the Ducks have figured out their core rotation, with Dave Iuli back in the mix at right guard after Marcus Harper II was placed on the injury list after Oregon’s win over Michigan, their statistics have shined. In the last seven of their eight contests, Oregon’s offensive line helped create over 150 rushing yards per game. In their last eight games, the Ducks have only allowed three sacks. Though the start of the season significantly heightens their sack statistics (bringing the number up to ten), this drastic improvement should show how impressive it is the Oregon offensive line and Terry were able to right the ship.

On top of all of that, in their win against the Maryland Terrapins, the Oregon offensive line helped Gabriel score his record-breaking touchdown with backup Gernorris Wilson suiting up in 91 instead of his usual jersey number 75 to catch a 3-yard touchdown pass. Conerly Jr. followed up the score with his own two point conversion. In what’s usually a third quarter slump for the Ducks, their only points in that period came from two offensive linemen.

Though the Ducks won’t find out who wins the Joe Moore Award till Tuesday, December 3rd, their impressive performance and ability to course correct is already something Duck fans can be proud of.

The trench monsters will be back to keep moving the rock on Saturday, November 16th at 4:30pm as the Ducks take on the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium.

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The family of an Oregon hospital security guard who was shot to death while protecting a maternity ward from an attacker during the summer of 2023 is suing the medical facility for $35m in damages, saying it ignored warning signs that could have prevented the killing if addressed.

In the days before the killing of 44-year-old Bobby Smallwood made international news headlines, staffers at Portland’s Legacy Good Samaritan hospital made five separate complaints to administrators against the man later charged with his murder, PoniaX Calles, according to the lawsuit from the victim’s family, which was filed on Tuesday.

Calles allegedly threatened violence and tried to strike a nurse while saying, “If you guys keep acting like this, someone is going to get killed around here” – after accompanying his partner to the hospital on 19 July. All were clear violations of Legacy’s policy prohibiting workplace violence and should have resulted in Calles’s immediate removal, but administrators initially responded to the complaints by providing “support options” over email, the lawsuit prepared by attorney Tom D’Amore’s office alleged.

According to the suit, nurses resolved to have Calles removed from the hospital on the morning of 22 July. Smallwood was working that day as an unarmed guard and had received instructions to wait nearby in the hallway while other hospital security staff searched the room of Calles’s partner, finding ammunition and multiple guns.

The lawsuit alleges that, for more than 40 minutes, Smallwood’s colleagues failed to notify him of their dangerous discovery – or their having learned that Calles had an additional gun in his possession. Hospital staffers encountered Calles prior to his departure – and before they had declared a “code silver” that would have alerted everyone there of a potential shooting threat, the lawsuit said.

Calles turned around, fired at Smallwood, struck him in the neck and mortally wounded him, the lawsuit said.

Calles allegedly had a history of arrests on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing, including one case in which he was accused of stabbing someone at a restaurant in the face.

Calles, 33, fled the hospital and was shot to death by police as officers moved in to arrest him, authorities said.

“The repeated failures of Legacy Good Samaritan to follow their own safety protocols directly led to the tragically preventable death of Bobby Smallwood,” D’Amore said. “Despite documented threats and abusive behavior that required immediate removal under hospital policy, Legacy allowed a dangerous individual to remain on the premises for three days until those threats escalated to violence.”

Smallwood’s parents said they were told that their son was standing between Calles and patients along with staff in the hallway of a hospital maternity ward. His family is seeking $30m and $5m in non-economic and monetary damages, respectively, from the hospital over his murder, said a statement attributed to his parents, Walter and Tammy Smallwood.

“Every day we grieve the loss of our son and all the years ahead that should have been his to live,” the Smallwoods’ statement said. “Nothing can bring Bobby back, but we will not stop fighting until Legacy is held fully responsible for what they took from our family.”

A Legacy Health spokesperson declined to comment, the Oregonian newspaper reported. Days after Smallwood’s shooting death, the health network that runs Legacy Good Samaritan announced it would add metal detectors with bag searches at each of its hospitals’ entrances, equip lead security officers with stun guns and weigh whether any more measures were necessary.

The lawsuit from Smallwood’s family said Legacy Good Samaritan “only checked individuals for weapons at a single entrance equipped with a metal detector located in the emergency department” at the time he was killed.

Smallwood’s death illustrated the dangers of the unarmed security and highlighted how – as the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration says – “workplace violence is a recognized hazard” in the medical field.

Brigham Young, Colorado and Washington State all climbed three positions in the second rankings released by the selection committee.

Originally Published: November 12, 2024 at 6:59 PM PST