It’s finally here, a new season with new faces and new surprises. In 2023 it was a surprise to see Bryce Boettcher, a walk on, get the start at linebacker. Since then he has become a household name among Duck fans. This season we had even more new faces making an impact in Game 1. Some of these new impact ...

Three Opening Season Offensive Surprises for the Ducks

Great fun, and great observations David. So many surprises contained in what you noted, especially the rotation of the running backs. Thanks!

Great article, lot's to be excited about. I think MSU was probably better than Northwestern and little bro U are. We're going to be a problem in the B1G again this year.

I wasn't crazy about the shotgun full house formation. It's like trying to clog 2 more players through the same pipe and compacts the defense over center even more, and it takes longer for the exchange to happen while the DEs and DBs crash down like a pistol run. I'm not a fan.

You'd be better off removing the QB with a wildcat snap and putting a WR way outside to pull away one defender.

I remember Taggart running something similar based on the same premise of having all these good backs so get them on the field at the same time. It wasn't worth more than a shoulder shrug and I think it faded as the season progressed.

Edited yesterday at 03:54 PM1 day by Solar

Thank you, David. And thank you, Natalie. No one appreciates an excellent editing job more than I do.

What's the news on Hughes? Will OBD receive a positive ROI? I hope so, but as you noted, with or without Mahki, Will Stein has a deep RB room to work with.

Great first outing from Benson. OBD sent a darn good Benson to FSU, the top RB on an undefeated Seminoles team. Wouldn't it be nice if FSU returned the favor?

Love the Triple Lindy Skadoo! I said, 'Shotgun!' formation. Right out of backyard ball with the neighborhood boyz, where little brothers blocked and big bros played QB or went deep. 😁

A perfect result from a perfectly scheduled, and sold out 🤑let's get the Duck feet wet game.

Lasso the Cowboys!

1 hour ago, Solar said:

I wasn't crazy about the shotgun full house formation.

What I like about the formation, (Shades of Stanford and David Shaw) is that it is balanced. Thus we can overload blockers to either side, and while the defense has to line up balanced--we can overwhelm them on one side. It is a very successful formation for inside the five, IMHO.

1 hour ago, Solar said:

I wasn't crazy about the shotgun full house formation. It's like trying to clog 2 more players through the same pipe and compacts the defense over center even more, and it takes longer for the exchange to happen while the DEs and DBs crash down like a pistol run. I'm not a fan.

You'd be better off removing the QB with a wildcat snap and putting a WR way outside to pull away one defender.

Based on last year and this year so far it is a short yardage formation. It's only designed to pick up 3ish yards at the most.

It's less about clogging the running lanes and more about creating windows via timing. My article I wrote about it last year looked at it's use against UCLA.

But when they used it in that game they put Cornelius and Connerly side by side on the right side of the formation. Both were NFL draft picks.

The blocking scheme between those two was rather complex and then the additional blockers coming off the delay from the snap as they were the ones standing next to the QB and the RB being lined up directly behind.

It has lots of potential but the timing and precision of the blocks has to be just right or it gets disrupted.

I'm just a simple design engineer worrying about space. Moving the ball past the point it's snapped requires some kind of path somewhere. Putting 22 people in a space the size of a classroom and trying to move the ball forward 5 to 10 feet is a pretty tall ask.

Like you guys are saying, if perfectly executed and the defense guesses wrong it will work 100% of the time. So if it is a true coin flip (based on the defense' guess) and you have 3 downs to pull it off then odds are it will work.

And it definitely sets up well for a sequence play of the outside blocker releasing into the flat for a pass.

Just don't run it on 4th and 1 in a frenzy and I won't complain anymore.

Hughes single carry came in the Ducks first possession of the third quarter. Oregon was leading 38-6.

None of us know if Hughes was offered an opportunity to be a "feature back" prior to his transfer. But, from a season planning perspective, seeing so many guys get reps (78 participated I believe) and get some game experience does have value. A lot of RBs touched the ball. Which I would rather see in a game like this one that being on the field with in-experience in a tight game due to sudden injuries of "feature backs."

It may also add value in recruiting to have so many guys get reps.

28 minutes ago, HDuck said:

It may also add value in recruiting to have so many guys get reps.

"If your good enough, you're old enough."

I also noticed the QB under center and thought that was rather interesting. I wonder if that will become a regular part of play calling over the season.

1 hour ago, kirklandduck said:

I also noticed the QB under center and thought that was rather interesting. I wonder if that will become a regular part of play calling over the season.

I'm sure it will be. It makes the defense have to prepare for that look and at the very least it would be a nice short yardage formation.

Even though I know they ran it for the first play of the game.

Of the team can handle it the more formations the better.

I'm kinda expecting the offense to look more like 2023 than 2024 because Moore has been in the system for a full year at this point.

It was nice to see Stein's vanilla, French vanilla, vanilla bean, vanilla extract and imitation vanilla so that opposing teams will have more to think about until the beasts are released.

ROC boys on YouTube commented how Montana State deliberately played a defensive scheme to limit explosive plays (nothing over the top).

Oklahoma State with Todd Grantham as DC is extremely aggressive with pressure (remember the ASU teams that brought the house every play?)

So this will be great to see how Dante handles pressure as well as how he, Dakorien Moore, Sadiq, and Benson can take the top off a defense.

We'll probably see a lot more Mahki Hughes since he is the best pass rush blocking RB.

13 hours ago, Solar said:

I wasn't crazy about the shotgun full house formation. It's like trying to clog 2 more players through the same pipe and compacts the defense over center even more, and it takes longer for the exchange to happen while the DEs and DBs crash down like a pistol run. I'm not a fan.

Luke Moga was the QB on that play. It was 52 - 6 at that point, and the Ducks are burning clock. It is another formation that future opponents will need to review.

That formation makes it difficult for defensive backs to see the hand off, and then react to the running back. More of an educated guess on their part.

What was that pre-play, huddle-ish looking thing I saw multiple times during the game?

WEIRD!

I didn't interpret the rotations we saw vs Montana St. as the rotations we'll necessarily see going forward. Lanning clearly indicated that he wanted to get a lot of younger players experience. That's invaluable tape to coach off of and it keeps our two deep fresh for another long season.

We also didn't want to tip our hand to future opponents, but at the same time give them as much as possible to waste time in practice on (e.g. odd formations and personnel groupings). It looks like the coaching staff balanced it to perfection and got an outstanding result.