No, the title to this article is not a typo, and no, the sky is not falling. Chip Kelly’s Blur Offense was once the pinnacle of innovation, but that was so 15 years ago. There’s a limit to how fast an offense can be run, and offenses across the country have reached that limit. It is now the dawn of …
The past two seasons the Oregon football program has primarily used zone blocking schemes to run the football, and this blocking concept usually has the offensive line moving in unison at the point of attack. These schemes take advantage of a defense by using double teams initially, then having one of the two blockers peel off to attack a linebacker …
Conference realignments? Changing the playoff structure? An Elite League? Given the limited sporting news and live sports events during the COVID-19 sheltering slowdown, it’s surprising fans and sportswriters have not blown up discussions and ranted more scenarios involving these topics. Though realigning the conferences and reforming the playoff structure are separate issues, they are obviously linked. One affects the other, including …
Chip Kelly arrived in Eugene as a virtual unknown from the University of New Hampshire. From 2007 to 2012, Kelly changed the landscape of college football with his blur offense, transforming Oregon into a national title contender in the process. Following a lull under Mark Helfrich and Willie Taggart, Mario Cristobal started restoring dreams of a “Natty” in 2018, inciting FishDuck’s …
Standing at 6’5, weighing in at 255 pounds, Treven Ma’ae comes from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was the 2nd overall ranked player in Nevada by ESPN, and 44nd nationally for defensive ends. Ma’ae was picked up in August of 2018, adding to an already ripe recruiting class. Ma’ae chose the Ducks over Air Force, Arizona State, Army, Boise State, …
As the 1960s were exploding with counter-culture social awareness across the United States, Buffalo Springfield’s For What It is Worth proffered, Something’s happening here, What it is ain’t exactly clear. While 2020 certainly isn’t the 1960s, and we’re far removed from the Vietnam War and concurrent cultural revolution the Springfield’s Stephen Stills sang about, his words could easily describe an interesting trend in …
“Winter” and “college football” don’t often co-exist in the same sentence. But with COVID-19 threatening fall kickoffs, a delayed start is one of several options being kicked around by college presidents and university athletic directors. Reser Stadium in late January? What could possibly go wrong? College presidents have declared there will be no football, basketball or any other college sports …
(To the tune of “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers) On a warm summer’s eve In a manse in San Francisco I met up with a gambler He was looking slick and chic. We both took a flute Of champagne from his table And as we were sippin’ He began to speak. He said, “Son, I’ve made a livin’ Out of …
The Pac-12 conference leaders met in March but with few results. Video conference was the mode rather than face-to-face, and immediate issues rather than long term issues were the focus. Some say the only positive was the savings on travel and housing, but let’s look at some of what went down. Issue: Immediate Eligibility for Transfers The Pac-12 has not …
How do you fit five pegs into four holes? The obvious answer is, “You don’t.” You leave one out. AZcentral.com and SEC born-and-raised Andy Staples have another solution. You whittle one of the pegs down to nothing, pick up a few of the scraps and glom them onto one of the four remaining. Naturally, the one that gets carved up—according …
Imagine being a linebacker tasked with making a split-second choice between taking on Outland Trophy winner Penei Sewell as a pulling tackle or trying to cover a speedy receiver like Mycah Pittman or Jaylon Redd out of the slot. The RPO (Run, Pass, Option) is an offensive scheme that mixes together different run and pass options based on defensive alignment …
Before Andy Avalos introduced his brilliant defensive schemes last fall, Oregon’s glaring weakness was its inability to defend players in space. Ducks defenders often looked like ghosts pursuing pac-men all over the football field. Former defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt shored up some of the weaknesses, but it was Avalos who put a stop to the flow of embarrassing big plays …