The first thing people immediately notice or comment on when they watch Oregon is their tempo and pace of play. With that type of philosophy, you have to have run plays that work against all different fronts and looks because sometimes the defense isn't set up when the ball is snapped. The inside zone is ideal because of that reason. The offensive line just has to know if they are zoning right or left and they are responsible for the gap they are zoning. Assignment wise it is fairly easy, but great technique takes lots of time to develop. The other great thing about the zone like I mentioned before is you can use in any formation and any personnel group. You can run with 2 RB's 3 TE's or with 0 RB's and 5 TE's. This allows the offense to window dress it with motions and formations but the offensive line where games are won, they can rep that zone play over and over because the formations and motions have little effect on them.
Oregon gets a ton of mileage out of this play and has several different variations of running this play to adjust to the defense or to use their personnel in the best way possible. The first variation is the base way of running inside zone, where the offense line zone their specified gap and the tight end block the defensive end. When the defensive end is blocked there is no read. Here is a look below:
Regular Inside Zone
The other base way Oregon will run the zone is with split flow with the tight end/h-back coming across the formation to block the defensive end. Many teams will call this zone wham or slice to tell the TE to come across to block the defensive end. The nice thing about this variation is 1) The tight end has a nice angle to kick the defensive end 2) The split flow action distorts the view of the linebackers 3) Pre-snap it gives the defense an appearance that the tight end will be blocking to the side he is aligned but post snap he actually goes to the other side so many times you can gain a gap or man advantage over the defense. Here is a look at that variation.
Zone Wham
The compliment to this variation is a play call the zone avoid or zone bluff. In this variation the h-back will come across making it look like slice but he will avoid the defensive end and lead to the alley in case the QB pulls the ball on the read. It's a read because nobody is blocking the defensive end. This is a great compliment because if you are playing a great defensive end that wrong-arm and spills the ball to the force player, this uses his technique against him. He will dive inside and the QB will pull the ball with a lead blocker. Here is a look at that example:
Zone Bluff/Avoid
The other variation compliments the first play I showed. It's your traditional zone read play. This play allows you to still run the zone play even if you don't have a tight end on your team or in on that play. Or you may just want to use because the defensive end is better than your tight end. Sometimes the best answer for a great player is to not block him. Here is a look at the zone read play:
Zone Read Away From Tight End
Here Oregon has a tight end in the game, but instead of blocking the defensive end like in the first example, he arcs in case the QB pulls it who is reading the defensive end. The other nice thing about the ARC is it may cause the defensive end to widen which creates a lane for the RB.
In this example the tight end is on the play-side so they have no one on the backside to account for the defensive end so they have to read him. This is how spread teams will run the zone if they don't have a tight end or h-back in the game.
Zone Read to A Tight End
Another variation is the zone with the Jet Opposite of the zone. You could use jet motion or like in the play below the RB just runs the sweep opposite of the zone call. The QB reads the defense end but now if the DE widens with the RB, the QB will run the zone. If the DE crashes the RB will get the ball to the edge. This is a great misdirection play because the line is running zone to the left and the back is on the edge to the right. This is extremely difficult for the defense because the LB's have to keep their gaps and play the inside run and the Perimeter players have to defend the sweep. It obviously helps to have electric backs like Oregon routinely does.
Zone Jet Opposite
A great variation of the zone if you have multiple backs that you want on the field and an athletic QB is the zone option. The QB will run the play just like zone read but this time if the defensive end crashes and gives the QB a pull read he will then option the next level and either keep or pitch to the second tailback.
Zone Option
Another variation of the option is there midline read game. As you can see in the clip below, this time the backside tackle arcs to the the c gap instead of zoning the b gap and the QB reads the b gap player instead. This is extremely effective against a 3 man front team that slants. It can also be used against a tradition 4-3 team and it will help slow down the 3 technique. Finding different ways to run the same scheme can create indecision and hesitation to the defense.
Zone Midline
Another way to use the inside zone if with Run Pass Options (RPO's) built into the run game. The first RPO is just an attached screen to the inside zone. The QB can throw the screen pre-snap based on numbers and leverage or can run the football if the defense is respecting all of the WR's. Oregon and some other teams give their QB the freedom to throw the screen late post snap too if the QB pulls the ball. Here is a few different looks at this variation:
Zone Bubble (RPO)
Can also use motion, to see if they adjust to a numbers advantage:
They will also use stack formations to really help the QB decide if the overhang players are respecting the screen.
Zone Now (RPO)--Stack Formation
Another creative formation they use with the attached screen is bunch. They will try and get the defense to condense so they can have more field to work with.
Zone Bubble From Bunch
The second type of RPO is the one where they are reading a player post snap. In this first clip, Oregon aligns in trips and the #3 wr is running a pop pass to vacated space. If the ILB steps up to play the zone, the QB will pull the ball and throw the pop pass. This play puts the LB's in a bind because they are punished for being disciplined. That's the great thing about RPO's is it gets the ball to the where the defense isn't. Here is the clip:
Zone Pop (RPO)
Another example of that type of RPO is Zone Arrow. The QB will read the flat player during his mesh while the tight end runs an arrow route. If the tight end outflanks the defense, the QB will pull the ball and throw the arrow to the open space. If there is no open space he will give to the RB. That version is below:
Zone Arrow (RPO)
The last thing Oregon does a great job with is using unbalanced trips sets. This type of formation forces the defense to decide if they are going to add a player to heavy side or if they are going to play 3 over 3 on the trips side. It's a very easy read for the QB. If he has numbers he will throw the screen. If he doesn't have numbers he will run the ball. Add this with tempo and the defense will really struggle how to align. Here are a few looks of those plays:
Unbalanced Zone w/Attached Screen
All of these examples are primarily from 2 game breakdowns, which demonstrates how versatile this play is. The variations and personnel groupings you can use with this play are limitless. The great thing about all of these run plays is that the offensive line is running the same play over and over. Games are won in the trenches and when you have this many variations of one play, your offensive line can master the zone technique instead of adding new run schemes each week. Add tempo at a blistering pace like Oregon does and it becomes a nightmare for defenses.
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