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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
In our last article on the new Oregon Duck defense, we discussed the basics of Coach Andy Avalos’ system. Now let’s get into the two positions that make it go, the Stud and the Spur. Avalos refers to the latter simply as the Nickel, so that’s the terminology I will use going forward. However, first on the list is the …
Is it a 3-4 front? Or is it a 4-3? There is a lot of discussion among the Duck fan base about the new defensive scheme being installed by recently hired coordinator Andy Avalos. In the interest of greater clarity, today I simply want to dive into the look and personnel of the defense. Once we understand the base alignment and …
Throughout a long off-season, I often find myself thinking of different plays I’d like to see added to a team’s playbook. Today I want to follow up on my last article with three new plays that I would love to see included in the Oregon Duck offense in 2019. Do I expect these exact plays to be added in the …
For most of the season, we heard how the Pistol was the sole culprit of a dwindling run game. While I do not believe that the Pistol is responsible, I do believe that the manner in which it was used, is. It is possible to be creative with the formation. There’s more to the Pistol than the Inside Zone and …
The Inside Zone has been a play utilized by the Oregon Ducks’ offense for quite some time. Chip Kelly predominantly ran the play from the Shotgun, while Coach Mario Cristobal leaned a little more in the direction of the Pistol. Today we’re going to take a look at how the play works and how it is run differently from both formations. …
Though the Oregon offense didn’t always fire on all cylinders this season, there were moments that showed us that Coach Marcus Arroyo can be a pretty creative offensive coordinator. The question remains, can he continue to evolve both as a play caller and in scheme? The final two games of the season showed movement in that direction, and the Red …
One of a few aspects of the Oregon Ducks offense that seemed unusual to me, as the season progressed, was the lack of gap schemes. Not to say there weren’t any, but for a team that was thought to be a power run team, the scarcity of these plays was puzzling. That was until Oregon’s game against the Arizona State …
Writing this article came about by way of a strange coincidence. The morning of the Oregon v. Washington game, I received a text message from a coaching friend in Oklahoma. His question was simple: “You think GT Counter Read works from Pistol?” Neither of us had seen anyone do it before, so we weren’t sure of how the timing and exchange …
