The Oregon Ducks have hired Coach Tim DeRuyter to fill their vacant defensive coordinator position. Coach DeRuyter has spent the last four seasons as DC for the California Golden Bears, where his defensive units have given the rest of the Pac-12 headaches. He took over what was the 127th nationally ranked scoring defense the year before he arrived in Berkeley, …
Coach Boles: My Top Five Candidates to Become Oregon’s DC
Now that it’s official, and Coach Andy Avalos is set to become the new head coach of Boise State, I first want to thank him for his two seasons as the Oregon Ducks’ defensive coordinator. Coach Avalos took the Oregon defense to heights that it had not seen in quite some time, all within a couple years. Congratulations, Coach Avalos. It …
10 Candidates to Replace Andy Avalos as Defensive Coordinator
Another year, another coordinator search. The idea of replacing coordinators every two or three years isn’t an enjoyable one for most Ducks fans, as they long for the days of decades-long staff continuity, but it’s the reality of having a great staff. Coach Mario Cristobal has done a tremendous job building Oregon’s staff. These coaches aren’t leaving the program for …
The Joe Moorhead Offense: The Devastating MESH WHEEL Play
A few weeks back, I wrote about the possibility of seeing a specific play from Coach Brennan Marion’s highly praised GoGo offense. Though we’ve yet to see the Oregon Ducks implement the two-back look of the GoGo, we did get to see Coach Joe Moorhead’s take on the Mesh Wheel concept against the Washington State Cougars with the kind of results …
The GoGo Offense: Mesh Wheel Concept
The idea of the Oregon Ducks perhaps adding the GoGo offense is an exciting one. As we’ve learned from Coach Mosier and Mr. FishDuck the last couple days, the GoGo is an offense that can give defenses all kinds of fits. Though the GoGo can apply substantial pressure in the run game through its unique, twin-back formations, that pressure makes …
A Larry Scott Ballad and a Pair of Limerick Chasers
We Pac-12 fans, who have suffered so much under the failed generalship of Larry Scott, really deserve a smile at his expense. I hope the following offerings will provide you some. Jon Hoffman, who posted a delightful parody about the Huskies here on FishDuck.com a couple of years ago, graciously helped me out. He took the lyrics that I had …
The Oregon Offense: The Powerful Moorhead ISO Play
One good thing about an extended off-season is we get to learn more about the new offense Coach Joe Moorhead has brought to Oregon before seeing it in action. Okay, not exactly a great consolation prize: we want to see it now! Hey, I’m just trying to make lemonade here. Today’s flavor: coach Moorhead’s ISO play. The ISO–or as some …
Join the Pond: Ducks Football Journalism with FishDuck!
Readers, commenters and writers all play important roles in making FishDuck work, with our varying perspectives on Duck sports interweaving to form an Oregon sports enthusiast’s online community. The term community suggests symbiotic interpersonal relationships, and, truth be told, we are all related by our shared interest in everything DUCKS. The heart of FishDuck is an online community discussion initiated and steered daily by a …
The Joe Moorhead Offense: The Hitch Concept
For most of the off-season, we have been examining what makes Coach Joe Moorhead’s offense go. For the past couple of months we’ve focused on his passing attack, and today we’ll dig even deeper into that aspect of the offense and learn a bit about Coach Moorhead’s “hitch” concept. It’s well documented that Coach Moorhead likes to stretch a …
A CFP Duck Dynasty? It’s Not So Crazy
Yes, I know. And I will happily embrace the name change you might be thinking of: Lou Farnsworth should now be known as “Homer Duck.” So with that preliminary bit of honesty settled, let’s look at the data, which actually gives objective support to my claims of a dynasty in this article’s title. I recently wrote about our chances of …
Coach Joe Moorhead’s Switch Concept
We touched on the idea a couple times this offseason that the biggest difference between the 2019 Ducks offense and the one to come in 2020 will be by way of the passing game. It’s no secret that Coach Joe Moorhead likes to push the ball vertically downfield, as evident in his fade smash concept that we covered a couple …
Joe Moorhead’s New Offense: Introducing the Smash Fade Concept
Something we have heard throughout the offseason is that the biggest changes Joe Moorhead will bring to the Oregon offense are in the passing game. Coach Moorhead hasn’t been shy about pushing the ball down the field at any of his previous stops, and that looks to continue with the Oregon Ducks. One concept that highlights the new offensive coordinator’s propensity …