The Fish Report: Winning Strategies Against Stanford

Reported by Charles Fischer on November 14, 2011
In Fish Reports | 0 Comments

What a showcase game of Oregon Football! Our young men were prepared and ready for the national spotlight as they epitomized their motto of “Fast-Hard-Finish,” on both offense and defense. We knew that Coach Kelly would pull something new out for this game, and he didn’t disappoint, as we study a new offensive strategy and examine the background components that bring about a passing attack touchdown play. We are also going to have a “FishDuck First” analyzing some crucial plays on defense. So much to learn and so little season left!

Categories: Fish Reports Tags: 2011 Fish Reports

Charles FischerCharles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks for thirty years and has written reports on football boards for over a dozen years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He and his wife Lois, a daughter, Christine, and their dog (Abbie) reside in Eugene, Oregon, where he has been a financial advisor for 27 years serving clients in seven different states. He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More...View all posts by Charles Fischer →

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http://winesfamily.blogspot.com/ DuckStud

Good stuff Charles, always enjoyable and we learn something new each week.

GO DUCKS!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Burgwin/1167881948 Michael Burgwin

Once again, nice job, Charles. Am loving what yall are putting together here. And I am loving this group of Ducks, student-athletes and coaches and … by the way, who’s the guy standing next to Chip signaling at light speed.
- Charles Fischer
  
  Thanks Michael, we appreciate your thoughts. I don’t know who is signalling in plays, but can you imagine the pressure of getting it right while standing next to Chip? Thanks again, Charles
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BMS3KKUMU7IZU46MJ6ONQN3C3M Philip Johnson

Great breakdown. One thing I wanted to comment on after watching the game again last night is that not enough is being said about Stuckey on that interception 1st interception. Re-watching the game, I noticed that he fell down. It looked to me that Luck saw him on the ground and thought he was going to have an easy pass completion but Stuckey got up and back into coverage so fast that he made a great play on the ball and Luck was blamed for a bad throw. I think that Luck thought he had an easy completion and Stuckey made a great play getting back into coverage.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BMS3KKUMU7IZU46MJ6ONQN3C3M Philip Johnson

Great breakdown. One thing I wanted to comment on after watching the game again last night is that not enough is being said about Stuckey on that interception 1st interception. Re-watching the game, I noticed that he fell down. It looked to me that Luck saw him on the ground and thought he was going to have an easy pass completion but Stuckey got up and back into coverage so fast that he made a great play on the ball and Luck was blamed for a bad throw. I think that Luck thought he had an easy completion and Stuckey made a great play getting back into coverage.
- Charles Fischer
  
  Hello Phillip,
  
  I wrestled with that thought as well as I watched the replay over several times in slo-mo from many angles. Did he think the TE cleared the “Zone” he thought Stuckey was located in, or did he underestimate DW in getting up? Did he really even see him fall with all that was going on around Luck?
  
  In the end I decided that, with all the other clues that Luck may have used to deduce a Zone Defense lulled him into that throw. What a play by Stuckey though.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Charles
Kalon Jelen

Great work as always, and I’m really intrigued by the defensive plays.

One nit – Huff’s pattern for the TD wasn’t a post pattern. A post is one where you start out running a go route and then angle in so that you’re going to the post of the goalpost. A true post pattern is a 20-30 yard route that starts from the flanker spot. A skinny post starts from the slot. In both cases a Post doesn’t stop running. Huff ran a 10-yard curl, basically.
- Charles Fischer
  
  Hello Kalon,
  
  You’ll note that I called it a “slide” pattern, which starts out as the appearance of a post and as he turns in he stops while the DB is flying by. This is why I have coaches helping me now! Thanks for the comment. Charles
  - Kalon Jelen
    
    Ah, missed that completely – thought you were saying he slides, not that it was a pattern. Thanks!
1BIGDUCKFAN

What Really is the point of diagramming our Offense for all to see on-line ? Aren’t you helping the opposition by showing the plays with written out detail ? Well done, but maybe too well ?
- Kalon Jelen
  
  Check out the FAQ. What he’s doing is basically peanuts compared to what the opposing coaches do.
  
  Put it another way: if the opposing coaches are using fishduck to figure out how to play Oregon they have already lost.
- Anonymous
  
  The coaches from the other team know all of this stuff. They trade film with Oregon and spend massive time not diagramming the plays but running reports on how many times Oregon ran each one, on what down, etc etc. In the end they will use a program called hudl http://www.hudl.com to run a report with hundreds of pages in it. Tithe stuff in these videos is basic knowledge. As you can see Stanford was ready for unbalanced because they adjusted to it. But they were screwed anyway because no matter which choice they made chip would exploit it. Upcoming coaches know what is or could come their way but they can’t stop it. These videos don’t change that.
  - Wozzeck67
    
    Congrats 42! Great site!
- Charles Fischer
  
  Hello 1BIGDUCKFAN,
  
  For YEARS I was asked that question…and last year with my written reports getting quite detailed–I heard that question nearly every day, sometimes twice. I got sick of answering it, as anybody would if they hear it every day.
  
  Go to FAQ and look at the page dedicated to it, but better yet–go watch the Inside Zone Read Video, which is the first tutorial I suggest people to watch. (Go up and to the right) I spent an enormous amount of time and money installing software and hiring a video editor to help me with that and now the other videos. I spend a ton of time in that video answering your question and it will become apparent to you. Now I hardly ever get that question if fans have watched that video.
  
  One of the coaches I spoke to on Sunday told me of how he went to a Coaches Clinic this last summer at a D-1 ACC school where they had taken EVERY pass play of the Oregon 2010 season, broken it down, and then explained it to the tons of High School Coaches in attendance. Everything I show is AFTER the fact, just as the opposing coaches would see.
  
  Now if I could tell you WHAT play they would run WHEN, or what new tweaks Chip will unveil for the next game….now THAT would be valuable. And I’d never tell anyone that info!
  
  Thanks for coming onto the site,
  
  Charles
Anonymous

I’ve enjoyed the series very much, and learned a lot so far — I especially enjoyed the preview of the long-awaited defensive breakdown. But I have to say this is a pretty underwhelming entry compared to the very high standards you’ve set so far. My knocks are:

1) No discussion of the replacement of the OZR with the pitch play, which started at the Washington game and accelerated at Stanford. By my count only a single true OZR play was run against Stanford.

2) Relatively few plays actually examined … waiting until Wednesday to post so we can take a look at more plays is a better model than a quick release on Monday.

3) It feels like half the video is a classified ad or shoutouts to helpful folks. I know some of this is necessary but taking up so much time out of an already short presentation is puzzling.

4) No Abby!

I hope this is taken as constructive criticism, because I want to reiterate what a great resource your videos are.
- Anonymous
  
  Whew! You’re tough!
  
  1) I do not believe the OZR has been replaced by the pitch play. The pitch play is the current play that he’ll use for awhile and then replace it with something else. Remember that most of the plays are ancillary or spin-offs of the two foundation plays (IZR & OZR) and the pitch play is NOT an OZR, but a spin-off of the IZR. Last year we would line up in the IZR and then run a Speed Double-Option the other direction to take advantage of the over-reaction to the IZR, and this is a similar strategy. The Civil War has some good examples of that in 2010.
  
  You saw that perfect OZR in the Washington game, thus the OZR isn’t going away–maybe shelved as teams prepare hard for other plays used, then he’ll come back to it in a big way.
  
  2) I always only cover a few plays. I do not have the time or money (I pay a video editor) to go longer than 10 minutes. I would rather cover a few well, than skipping over more. Plus…I have material for the offseason to discuss.
  
  I don’t wish to go longer than what I do already, hence the Monday-night or Tuesday morning release. I spent from 9:30 AM Sunday morning to 12:30 AM Monday morning working on it, then got up a 5:30 AM for three hours more, then to my real job, and then home early for nine hours with the video editor. When done I am burnt and do not wish to extend it longer, when it is for free as it is.
  
  3) I agree with you that after we finished this time….the announcements were too long. I’ll work on that, but how else do you get the word out? Printing announcements only has limited coverage and impact……. But I will shorten those, and they’ll naturally shorten as time goes on, because we are only three months old–you have alot of announcements to make when you’re new. And we are evolving quickly to something MUCH different than envisioned five months ago–and changing to the positive.
  
  Keep in mind that we’re learning in an area that has no prior examples; NOBODY is doing what we’re doing and I hear from fans of other teams that wish they had video analysis of their team. We’ll make mistakes and strive to get better.
  
  And hey–thanks for your comments, as since you thought them–so did other people and I do appreciate the feedback.
  
  We love to learn about our beloved Ducks,
  
  FishDuck
Sarge5895

Just curious why do you think we’re running the zone read less this year? Is it because of Darron’s knee?
- Charles Fischer
  
  I don’t think we’re running it less, but Zone Reading different players this year. More Outside LB, and less Defensive Tackles/Ends, thus he’ll naturally be handing off more.
Mitch McCoy

Charles, I have been following your comments for a number of years now starting when you used to post in eDuck. I stopped subscribing to that site a number of years ago due to the constant flaming in the threads. It is so refreshing to have regular access to your posts again. Also, I think your knowledge of the Chip Kelly offense has really expanded over the last two years. Awesome work. And also, kudos to you and those who help. Each week your videos and diagrams get better and better. The still shots (with plays diagramed) combined with the video of the play and your breakdown is outstanding. Love it. Keep up the great work. And Go Ducks!
- Anonymous
  
  Hello Mitch,
  
  Thanks for your words, and yes…I have learned a TON more in the last two years, thus passing it along. We have even more plans for the site! Charles