It’s a beautiful thing when elite talent meets proper technique. That’s what’s happening with Oregon’s all-world freshman pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux as the season nears its end. After a relatively quiet start to the season, Thibodeaux has emerged as Oregon’s best pass rusher, leading the team in tackles for loss and sacks. Thibodeaux’s physical attributes (size, length, athleticism, etc.) have …
If there’s one thing that this Oregon Ducks offense does better than any before, it’s the screen game. Not only has Coach Marcus Arroyo designed some very effective screen plays, but he also has an uncanny feel for calling them at just the right time. This kind of success leads to even more effective constraint plays. Multiple times this season, …
Everybody loves an exciting, explosive spread-option offense. The Ducks had one of their own under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich, and many legendary offenses have thrived using this still-effective scheme. However, with defenders becoming bigger, faster and stronger, and with the importance of having a healthy starting quarterback, head coaches of spread schemes now have to determine whether it’s worth …
This is certainly an article where we want to discuss the USC game, but something even more important than my fondness for alliteration (The Title) needs to be touched upon. If a football hack like yours truly is going to criticize the coaching decisions when I feel they are wrong, then for credibility to be maintained — I must give …
Over the last few weeks, the Oregon Ducks have taken a huge step forward with their ground game. In the first four games of the season, the Ducks averaged 160 rushing yards per game. In the following four they’ve averaged 240 yards per game. During that recent stretch, Coach Marcus Arroyo has implemented a more robust set of run plays. …
If ever there was a time for Marcus Arroyo to shed his image of being predictable, the second half of last Saturday’s game was it. Justin Herbert’s Helter-Skelter first half performance last week cast a chill through living rooms of Duck fans across the nation. Memories of flame-outs in Pullman and Salt Lake City last year reared their ugly heads …
No one’s going to confuse Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo for Oklahoma wunderkind Lincoln Riley. The latter is arguably the brightest offensive mind football right now, and his offense is once again lighting up the scoreboard this season. The same can’t be said about Arroyo, whose offense has struggled at times to live up to the lofty expectations of highlight-starved …
It should be apparent by this point in the season that Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo is a creative dude, and he can certainly string together effective constraint plays. Those are obviously two very important traits for a play-caller to have, and in this article I want to dive into a set of two plays that demonstrate both of those …
Funny how things reverse when you least expect it, isn’t it? It wasn’t that long ago the Oregon offense was scoring boatloads of points, and so many people would be screaming at the defensive coordinator for giving up so many points. Now we have the reverse, and while the offensive woes do frustrate us, we do need to enjoy this …
It is becoming clearer by the week the kind of passing wizard we have in Marcus Arroyo. While some fans have criticized Arroyo for his lack of creativity, my goal today is to remind you that Arroyo is a passing specialist, tasked to bring a physical brand of football to Oregon. Indeed, in back-to-back weeks, Coach Eric Boles introduced more …
Perhaps Marcus Arroyo’s biggest challenge when he took over as lone offensive coordinator and play-caller for the Oregon Ducks was building an offense that would marry his own experience with the kind of physicality that head coach Mario Cristobal was looking for in the run game. I believe that his answer has been to infuse a heavy dosage of RPOs (run-pass options) …
To say that Oregon fans were underwhelmed with offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo’s play calling in the Ducks’ week 1 loss to Auburn would be an understatement. No one shouldered more of the blame for Oregon’s abysmal second half showing — in which the Ducks failed to put up a single point after their first possession — than Arroyo. But for …