Welcome to this week’s edition of X’s vs. O’s! Today, we will be discussing one of the ways the Ducks exploit defenders’ simultaneous run/pass responsibilities. The example today is an RPO concept Oregon used in their game against Arizona State. “RPO” stands for Run-Pass Option. On an RPO, the play is set up as a run, but the Quarterback (QB) …
Fall is both football season and back-to-school time, so let’s grade head coaches in the Pac-12. They need most of the following for success: The late great Bum Phillips said it best about top football coaches: “He can take his’n and beat yourn and take yourn and beat his’n.” The best coaches adapt and mold players into cohesive units, finding …
If only Saturday’s loss had been to USC, Stanford, or Washington — against one of the Pac-12’s better programs — I’d feel much better about things. I could say that the Ducks are a legit top-25 team, that they scratched and clawed to the bitter end against one the conference’s premier teams, and almost pulled it off. I could say …
My wife burst into the infamous FishDuck.com ManCave late Saturday night and shouted, “What was that huge THUD out there?” I told her … “That was us Oregon fans coming back to Earth.” There is no sugar-coating that game. The Ducks lost to a 1-2 team known for poor defense and are known by all to be in the bottom half of …
Oregon’s offense has started with a flash and struggled in the second half of all three victories. Play selection has come under criticism for becoming too conservative, but the young offensive line has failed to sustain dominance while quarterback Justin Herbert has been out of sync, particularly in Laramie’s hostile environment in the win over Wyoming. The question is: How …
Duck fans interested in time-traveling to Eugene may want to skip Sept. 20, 1975. That Saturday evening, Oregon and the San Jose Spartans played the most boring game in Autzen Stadium’s 50-year history. Yes, even worse than the infamous 0-0 “Toilet Bowl” versus OSU in 1983. The latter, amidst a November monsoon, was more an exercise in survival than an …
Something became somewhat obvious in Oregon’s first two games. Then it became crystal clear against Wyoming: Coach Taggart is going to utilize Justin Herbert’s running ability, no matter how some think the quarterback should and should not be used. Honestly, it’s a smart move. When I say that Taggart is going to use Herbert in the run game, I don’t mean this …
Oregon fans are thrilled with Willie Taggart’s 3-0 non-conference debut. In the first half of each game, the Ducks have scored 42 points, and have looked like they could run the table. But their second-half offense has looked sluggish and uninspired. Where is the juice in the second half? The inferior quality of Oregon’s non-conference schedule amplifies this concern. Southern Utah and talent-starved Wyoming …
Can you adjust to the new FishDuck? The one that has transformed from a cheerleader (always) of our beloved Ducks to a publisher that has views both positive and negative about what he sees? I know it is hard, as the former is how he’s been for the majority of the six years of the site. But this new, balanced …
Setting the edge and limiting runs in the wide open spaces is the first thing coaches must establish in an effective defense. It happens when the end man on the line of scrimmage, usually a defensive end or an outside linebacker, crosses the line of scrimmage, digs his feet in, lowers his inside shoulder to keep outside leverage, and fights …
The blue-collar work was back in the second half of Game 2 I would like to focus on the second half of this past weekend’s Nebraska game – on three points specifically. First our opponent stepped up and played better, our hats off to them – their blue-collar ethic rubbed-off on the Oregon defense. Second the coaches let us absolutely stall out on …
Welcome to the third installment of X’s vs. O’s. In this series, we will analyze how Oregon utilizes different schemes and techniques to attack and defend the opposition. Today, we will discuss how the Cover 5 defense matches up against the 4 Verticals (so called because it involves four vertical receivers) passing concept. These common enemies clashed in a third-and-long …