A note from FishDuck.com: Today we have a unique treat, this article from a highly successful coach gives an inside perspective football fans don’t often get to see, the direct insight of football concepts from a coach in the know. This week Coach Curtis Peterson of Glenbard North High School and owner/editor of StrongFootballCoach.com. We encourage other coaches that are …
PAC 12 Spread Laboratory: How Chip Kelly’s Offense Can Learn From Mike Leach’s “6” Route
If there was a primary reason to adapt a spread offense, it usually would be a desire to put fast athletes into open space. The fact that the spread works hand-in-hand with modern zone-blocking schemes and the no-huddle system is just icing on the cake for any team that has made that transition from a traditional offensive scheme. For Oregon, …
Weekend Performances An Exclamation Point On Already Extraordinary Times
In case you haven’t been paying much attention to the Oregon athletic program lately outside of football, it’s been quite a year all-around for the Ducks. Men’s Basketball, Volleyball, and Lacrosse all made post-season tournaments. Acrobatics & Tumbling became back-to-back national champions. The Women’s Track & Field team added a national championship of their own by taking the indoor title, …
The FishDuck Minute #7: PAC 12 Spread Analysis – Outside Run
The second part of my Pac-12 analysis looks at how several teams do their outside run, or their version of Outside Zone play. Don’t worry “Air-raiders,” Leach will make an appearance very soon. Josh Schlichter Oregon Football Analyst for FishDuck.com Eugene, Oregon Top Photo from FishDuck.com Video
The FishDuck Minute #6: PAC 12 Spread Analysis – Inside Run
If the PAC 12 wasn’t the most interesting conference in the country already, it is now. Offseason acquisitions and retooling left the PAC 12 with 4 of the nation’s most respected offensive gurus out there: Chip Kelly at Oregon, Noel Mazzone at UCLA, Mike Leach at WSU, and Rich Rodriguez at Arizona. All four coaches are distinctly different, attacking different …
Oregon Spread Offense Tutorial No. 4: The Straddled Triple Option
This play, the Oregon Straddled Triple Option, is the fourth most used running play by the Ducks and has an interesting twist that most have not noticed. I call it a “Straddled” Triple Option because we are not optioning all three choices to the same side as most teams do. We are running the Inside Zone Read to one side, …
Oregon Spread Offense Tutorial No. 3: The Power Play
The Power Play is based upon deception, but its execution is based upon blast football. This is old smash mouth football, and the birth of the power play goes back to the 1890s, and I’m sure that Shy Huntington of Oregon used a variation in the Rose Bowl nearly a hundred years ago. We use a version adapted by Chip …
Fish Report: RB Zone Blitzes
Remember the joy of massive discovery? Going down the candy isle as a kid for the first time….seeing all the pretty girls at your first junior high dance…..or being thrilled to the thousands of apps available on your new cell phone? With Zone Blitzes….I’m there baby! Going back over Oregon’s Season revealed some wondrous new defensive strategies that I just …
Oregon Favored but Focused in Playoff Opener Against JMU
By any measure — spreadsheet, some nerd’s algorithm or Fat Joey’s Calzone and Sportsbook — the No. 5 Oregon Ducks‘ College Football Playoff opener looks like a formality dressed up as a national event. The Ducks open Saturday against No. 12 James Madison at Autzen Stadium as 21-point favorites — projected as a primetime belt-to-buns hardly worth pundits’ coveted analysis. …
Duck Dynasty Begins: Lanning Gets Signature Win Over Ohio State
After years of heartbreaking defeats and losing the “Big One” over and over, a midseason Big Ten matchup proved the game that would silence years of criticism, fair and unfair, against the Ducks. With the eyes of the nation upon Autzen Stadium on Saturday night, the No. 3 Oregon Ducks changed the narrative, defeating No. 2 Ohio State 32-31 to …
Oregon Offense: Will Stein Backs Up His Vow
After the tough loss in Seattle last year, the teeth were gnashing in Eugene about some fourth down-short yardage play calls by Oregon Offensive Coordinator Will Stein. While it was true that quarterback Bo Nix missed an open receiver in one of those plays, the focus of the blame from the Duck fans were directed at Oregon’s young OC. In …
Why Oregon Needs Their ‘A’ Game for Liberty U.
After watching highlights of most of Liberty’s 2023 football games–I come away with a healthy respect for what they have built, in particular on the offensive side of the ball. While most are critical of an “all-Group 5” schedule, I think many missed how Liberty nearly beat a then No. 19 Wake Forest in 2022 by a slim 37-36 loss. …