Some of you must think I’m off my rocker, as Chip Kelly is known for great success through his extraordinary 46-7 tenure in Eugene. Yet he made some mistakes that prevented him from winning the National Championship; mistakes that were not football related. The question on my mind: will he repeat these blunders at UCLA? Did he learn and grow from these …
Throughout the spring, we have received a few clues as to what the Oregon Duck offense will look like under new head man Mario Cristobal and new offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo. Taking these clues, we can make several educated guesses as to what we’ll see come payoff time this fall. Today I want to look at how Cristobal may use wide receiver sets …
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 …
In the last couple weeks we have learned that Oregon’s offense going forward is going to be a mixture of what Willie Taggart brought from South Florida and the offense new play caller Marcus Arroyo helped orchestrate at Oklahoma State, with wrinkles from head coach Mario Cristobal’s days at Alabama. One of those Crimson Tide concepts is the Stretch running play. First things first, I’m going to …
This week has been a gut punch to the University of Oregon and its community. I know as well as any just how tough things have been with Willie Taggart deciding to take the Florida State head coaching position. I have defended Taggart a good number of times in my articles this season. I’ve defended his play-calling when it was …
With it being a bye week for the Oregon Ducks, I have decided to go back a couple weeks and take a look at a play Oregon used against the Utah Utes. The play is Buck Sweep, often referenced by Mr. FishDuck on the site as the Sweep Read. This is a play Gus Malzahn has famously run at Auburn; former Duck …
Welcome to this week’s edition of X’s vs. O’s. Today we return to the “picture book” format! The concept we are discussing today is another new idea that has spread like wildfire throughout the collegiate ranks in recent years. However, like most “new” things in the world, it is simply a combination of two very old ideas. In this case, …
Dominant. If the performance of Oregon’s offensive line against California had to be summed up in one word, it would be dominant. We saw flashes from the offensive line early this season and then witnessed the hiccup against Arizona State. On Saturday night at Autzen Stadium, everything came together for the guys in the trenches. Mario Cristobal has done a fantastic job …
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 …
The wait was finally over. It was time to see what these Ducks had, after grinding through the rigors of the offseason under the command of new head coach Willie Taggart. Ducks football had arrived at Autzen, and so had the Counter Trey. The Counter Trey is something we have touched on here at FishDuck, with Coach Morris leading us through …