Coach Eric Boles

Thanks! They’re always fun writes.

The 14 in the name of the formation is a little misleading, because when we see it we’re thinking 14-personnel and 4 TEs.

You’re right, there’s a ton that they could run from this formation.

There is a ton they can do from this formation. Anything that a team like say Stanford could do out of their 22-personnel, Oregon could do out of this one in addition to the option game. And a quick note on the 14J; it only uses three TEs also. Conerly comes in to play an in-line TE spot, but it’s really a 6 OL formation.

More than likely, if the LB doesn’t blitz, he’s covering someone else of the defense is playing zone. The read would be the same, but the slot would adjust his route a little to get upfield a bit more.

If the QB had gone the other direction, the RB would have picked up nice yardage too!

The really nice part is that Coach Stein’s offense is pretty much the same as Coach Dillingham’s but with a bit of an uptick in RPOs. So it should be a pretty smooth transition.

Nice piece, Joshua. Exactly as you say, I expect the offensive scheme and identity to remain mostly unchanged this coming season. The only two things I expect to differ is the amount that both RPOs and the pistol are used.

Possibly. Still not 100% on that one. But even if there are, and you’re not sure a QB can execute all of it, options can always be taken out of a play by design.

He’d definitely be a problem on this play.

Yeah, if you’re talking about an RPO, there’d be a lot going on there. Timing is the issue I run into, but I’m sure there are people smarter than I that could work it out.

If you did that as a play action, there’d be nothing to worry about. But if you found a way to make it an RPO, and was able to make the timing work, you can always just have the receivers run routes instead of blocking. You would have to go with the more traditional Power Read blocking and read the edge guy that the TE is no longer blocking. Otherwise you have to first level playside guys unblocked.

All for getting the TE involved! I am almost certain that there is no option for the QB to run the ball in this play. That would be a ton of first level reading to have to read a playside defender and then a backside. I’m not sure how the timing would work out on that either. But, you could probably run a constraint that looks exactly the same with the read being the backside, but then you’ll want to block that playside guys so your QB isn’t blasted looking the other way.

Harbor? I could have swore he was a 5-star, but he’s a freakish athlete either way. It’d be a nice get for Oregon. The TE does man one of the slots in their 10-personnel look and 11 when there are two out there.

That could be a possibility, but something also happened during the bowl game that made me think. Whittington got some time in the slot. I wonder if that’s a possibility with the amount of quality depth that RB position has. A lot of what the slot is asked to do in the Stein system would suit a player with RB skills. Whittington will more than likely stay at RB, but it did make me wonder.

Also, this list is in no particular order. It was also a bit longer until I shaved it down right before writing. Mack Leftwich’s Incarnate Word offense is scoring 53 points per game. Andy Kotelnicki’s Kansas offense is very creative, but he’s not a QB coach. Whether that last part matters or not depends on who you ask.

I think Morris is an exceptional OC, and the fact that his offense is from the same tree as Dillingham’s would make the transition smoother. And I don’t know what the chances of Brady going to Oregon would be, but it’s worth the call.

My one nitpick with Brady’s offense is the run game. It’s predominantly inside zone, and after Dillingham, I’d like to stay with the larger variety of run concepts. He could always implement the run game that’s already here into his offense, but what he did at LSU worked. And if it works, it works.

You could be right, I don’t know what the relationship between the two was like. But I do find it difficult to place the blame on Morris. He was only OC for a year during the Covid season, under a HC who is in full control of the offense. But there’s always the possibility that there are issues that I’m unaware of.

Out of the guy’s on this list, I’d go with Brennan Marion. Did really nice things as the OC at Howard and William & Mary. The GoGo is also only a portion of what he does offensively. His offense is a version of the Malzahn/Norvell offense and uses the same verbiage. I also believe that the choice will be Coach Lanning’s alone.

While I understand the disappointment to the end of the season, but some of the sentiment floating around out there is insane. So I took a look at some older articles, and some similarities popped up that were pretty interesting. Anyway, I think it was pretty good first season for Coach Lanning, and I’m very optimistic about the future. Kirby Smart's 1st Season at Georgia a Mix of Frustration and Cautious Optimism SYNDICATION.BLEACHERREPORT.COM The first season for head coach Kirby Smart at Georgia was like a roller coaster that comes to a screeching...

I think you’re exactly right. Defense was always going to take some time with the new scheme.

There are a few trips to the red zone where I think they’d rather have TDs than FG, but it’s hard for me to say it’s been difficult for them. They’re currently ranked 13th in the nation in red zone offense and 1st in the Pac-12. 94% of their RZ trips have ended with points. They have 25 TDs and 7 FGs. I think what you’re pointing to is some of the FGs they’ve had to settle for due to penalties. I completely agree that it’d be great to clean that up and turn those into TDs. But I do believe in Oregon’s ability to score often in this game.

That’s right, they’re two separate plays. Throw it in the dirt. That’s what QBs are taught to do on busted screen passes. I was just looking back, and WSU ran this play against Oregon. It was the pick six.

You’re right, this tunnel screen is not a RPO.