The Oregon Offense: QB Trap RPO

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

En route to a 38-29 victory over the Oregon State Beavers, the Oregon Ducks scored points on six of their seven offensive drives. Five of those drives ended with a touchdown. That is a really efficient game by the offense and one of those touchdowns came by way of the QB Trap RPO. This is a play that Coach Joe Moorhead installed last season, and used successfully again in last week’s rivalry game.

QB Trap RPO

The QB Trap RPO is actually very similar to the version of the Inverted Veer that Coach Moorhead has gone to on multiple occasions this season. This version is more of a trap than the traditional power version that teams go to. Where Coach Moorhead’s inverted veer pressures a defense horizontally, the QB Trap RPO pressures them vertically.

The blocking by the offensive line is exactly how the Inverted Veer we’ve talked about is blocked. The backside tackle takes a step inside and pass sets to block off any backside pursuit. The center through playside tackle all block down, while the backside guard pulls and kicks out the playside EMOLS (End Man on Line of Scrimmage). This block by the backside guard is what makes this blocking scheme more akin to a Trap than Power.

After the snap, as is the case with most of Coach Moorhead’s plays, the QB has a couple of options. He is going to read a playside linebacker, and if that LB crashes down on the run, the QB will throw the ball to the running back up the seam. If that LB does anything to take away the RB’s route, the QB will take the ball himself.
——————————————————————————————–
The Our Beloved Ducks Forum is the most extraordinary Oregon message board, a GREEN REFUGE! Come get the links to Oregon Sports articles, the press releases from the Oregon Athletic Department and the news from your fellow Duck fans. It is the only safe place on the web for Duck Discussion, such as today’s article, so join us over there!
——————————————————————————————–
The receivers on the outside are going to work together in a bit of a high/low concept. To my knowledge, none of these receivers are actually options for the QB, but are being used to draw the safeties away from the center of the field.

In the clip above, the playside LB takes himself almost completely out of the play. This prompts Anthony Brown to keep the ball, and he goes the distance. Brown’s athletic ability is on full display here and it’s really exciting to watch.

In this clip from the 2020 season, you see the other option to this same play. The playside LB is crashing down on the QB run, so Tyler Shough pulls up and throws the ball to Travis Dye for another nice touchdown.

The QB Trap RPO is another awesome wrinkle in the Coach Moorhead offense, and one that plays very well into the skillset of the Oregon Ducks offense.

Coach Eric Boles
Newark, Ohio
Top Photo Credit: Craig Strobeck

Come join us in the new Our Beloved Ducks Forum, where you get the news about Oregon Sports and is the safest place on the web to read and post your opinions!

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!