The Oregon Offense: Arroyo’s Slot Outs Concept

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

There are a lot of misconceptions about Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo’s passing game. Fans incorrectly label his strategies as “predictable” or “contrived,” when in reality, there’s a level of creativity to many of them. This week, let’s return to the offensive side of the ball and dispel the myths about Arroyo’s passing offense. Over the next handful of articles, I …

How Sequential Plays Ignite Oregon’s Offense

Mike West Analysis

I’ve often wondered if Mario Cristobal has a sense of humor. Here’s a man who intentionally replaced the vaunted Chip Kelly spread offense at Oregon, featuring an awesome running game, with an offense led by a coordinator whose strength is his passing background. How’s that for a head scratcher? But guess what? Old tricks are new tricks in football. Just …

The New Oregon Defense: One Gap vs. Two Gap

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

When it comes to having a good defense, the number-one priority is usually stopping the run. Defenses like Alabama’s and Clemson’s have won titles by adhering to this basic philosophy. With championship aspirations of its own, Oregon hopes to join the Tigers and the Tide and have a shutdown run defense in 2019. Here’s how the Ducks will be trying …

“Golden Era” vs. Now: Attacking the Edges

Jeremy Mosier Analysis

For those longing for a return to the program’s peak offensive production of the past, the finality of spring football did not offer much for an Oregon Duck team that ranked 41st in total offense, 49th in passing offense and 54th in rushing offense in 2018. This is not entirely surprising however, as head coach Mario Cristobal emphasized that the …

The New Oregon Defense: Defensive Line Stemming

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

Stemming across the defensive line is a simple yet effective tactic that new defensive coordinator Andy Avalos will implement in the Oregon Duck defense. In short, stemming is a shift from the defensive line, right before the snap of the ball, used to confuse the offensive line. The better the defense is at recognizing the offense’s snap count, the more …

Analysis: DeForest Buckner Was One Ferocious Defensive End

Jay MacPherson Analysis

(My friends, we have a “blast-from-the-past” as we have an unpublished article about star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner from 2015. He has gone on to a career with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, but I thought it would be fun to see some highlights of him while with the Ducks during the long off-season. Enjoy!)  Charles Fischer ——————————————————————————————————— The …

Golden Era vs. Now: Has Oregon’s Run Game REALLY Changed?

Jeremy Mosier Analysis

Expectations weigh heavily on the Oregon offense this year, no sense shying away from it. The meteoric rise of Oregon football in the early 2000s was fueled by innovation, executed at a blur-like tempo and presented in uniforms unlike anything ever seen. This overload of stimuli throughout the “Golden Era” of Oregon football (2009-2014) has cast a shadow over the …

The New Oregon Defense: Quarters Coverage

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

New Oregon Duck defensive coordinator Andy Avalos prefers that his defense stay multiple and mix up its coverages, but quarters coverage may be his most dependable scheme on the back end. Avalos plays quarters in a more aggressive fashion, allowing his corners to play closer to the line of scrimmage in order to jam receivers and knock them off their routes …