Though the Oregon offense didn’t always fire on all cylinders this season, there were moments that showed us that Coach Marcus Arroyo can be a pretty creative offensive coordinator. The question remains, can he continue to evolve both as a play caller and in scheme? The final two games of the season showed movement in that direction, and the Red …
One of a few aspects of the Oregon Ducks offense that seemed unusual to me, as the season progressed, was the lack of gap schemes. Not to say there weren’t any, but for a team that was thought to be a power run team, the scarcity of these plays was puzzling. That was until Oregon’s game against the Arizona State …
Writing this article came about by way of a strange coincidence. The morning of the Oregon v. Washington game, I received a text message from a coaching friend in Oklahoma. His question was simple: “You think GT Counter Read works from Pistol?” Neither of us had seen anyone do it before, so we weren’t sure of how the timing and exchange …
When running a spread offense that utilizes a power run game, the H-Back position is key. The position opens up a variety of possibilities in the run game that are not usually afforded the offense with an in-line tight end. The position was used some during the Chip Kelly/Mark Helfrich era, but was a staple of the offense that Willie …
There are a couple of areas that the Oregon Ducks are certainly emphasizing under Coach Mario Cristobal. The first is a physical run game, a main component of offseason work. Yes, Oregon is still going to run all of the things that propelled them to the upper echelon of the college football world, but when push comes to shove, the staff wants to …
With Coach Marcus Arroyo taking on duties as full-time offensive coordinator for the Oregon Ducks, I thought it would be worth continuing to look at a few plays he picked up with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. A play that I would love to see implement into the Oregon offense is a variation of the Split Zone that the Cowboys like …
At the risk of triggering some of you, last year’s Las Vegas Bowl is one of those games Oregon Duck fans would like to forget. however, although the offense was inconsistent and ineffective for a good portion of the game, there were some bright spots, one of which is the focus of this article. While re-watching the bowl game, I stumbled upon a play …
Today, we’re going to take a look at some possibilities for the Oregon Duck offense, specifically the running game, this coming season. We’re at a point in the offseason where we don’t know a whole lot about what the coaching staff is planning for this offense. We’ve seen a couple scrimmages so far that have told us a little, but after …
The Zone Read has been a staple of the Oregon offense for more than a decade now. Since the day Chip Kelly first set foot in Eugene, the Duck offense has used this play to punish even the most tenacious of defenses. Indeed, the Zone Read has become one of the pillars of Oregon football. Traditionally, Oregon has run the Zone Read …
The Pin and Pull is something I’ve lightly touched on twice in the past year. Once was in the article about the Oregon’s Buck Sweep play, and the other was in a piece I wrote on the Stretch play that the program started to run at the end of the season. The fact that Coach Mario Cristobal brought the scheme …
One of the strongest passing plays in the Oklahoma State Cowboys’ playbook during Marcus Arroyo’s time in Stillwater, and one that is still persistent in the offense today, is the post/dig concept. Post/dig is really just the explanatory title for the Mills Concept. Any time that an offense pairs a post route with a dig route, this is known as …
More than any other hire that the Oregon has made this off-season, I am excited about the hiring of Jim Mastro as running backs coach, whom Head Coach Mario Cristobal was able to lure away from Mike Leach and Washington State. Mastro’s biggest calling cards is that he helped Chris Ault create the Pistol Offense while at the University of Nevada. A …