Will Stein's Best Play Designs of the 2024 Season

Since coming to Oregon from UTSA before the 2023 season, offensive coordinator Will Stein has kept up with the high-powered offensive tradition set by previous play callers like Chip Kelly, Scott Frost, and Kenny Dillingham. During Stein’s first season in Eugene, his creative play designs led the Ducks to the nation’s second-best offense by both points and yards per game. Despite losing a Heisman finalist at quarterback (Bo Nix), Stein’s unit still finished as one of the best in the country, helping the Ducks to a perfect 12-0 regular season and a Big Ten Championship in their first year in the conference while sending yet another signal caller (Dillon Gabriel) to the Heisman ceremony.

While the season may have ended on a low note at the Rose Bowl, Stein is still one of the best offensive minds in college football. Let’s break down his best play designs from each of Oregon’s games this year as we look back on one of the greatest seasons in program history.

Idaho - Z-Motion Fake Toss Double Post Wheel

We’ll start here with a classic post-wheel concept, designed to attack the Vandals’ outside corner. The Ducks line up in a heavier 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends) set, with tight ends Kenyon Sadiq and Terrance Ferguson to the right of the offensive line and two receivers — Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden — split out to the left. When Johnson motions across the formation to make a bunch to the short side of the field, it creates an overload for the defense, with four receiving threats to Gabriel’s right and only one to his left. Combined with the fake toss to Noah Whittington that pulls Idaho’s linebackers down thanks to the run threat that 12 personnel presents, Ferguson is left wide open on his wheel route as the Vandal corner follows Johnson’s post, resulting in an easy 15-yard pickup for the Ducks.

Boise State - RB-Flip PA Verts

On this play, the Broncos make the mistake of soft-pressing Evan Stewart — Oregon’s best deep threat — from a Cover 4 look, leaving him one-on-one to simply run straight by his defender for a 67-yard strike from Gabriel. Flipping the running back from one side of the QB to the other just before the snap is a common tactic for Stein (and something we’ll look at later). Here, the play-action, along with Ferguson’s post route, ensures that Boise State’s safety is distracted long enough that Stewart can get his one-on-one opportunity down the sideline, something he excelled at all season.

Oregon State - Fake G/H Counter WR Reverse

Stein was absolutely in his bag with the Ducks already up three scores against their in-state rivals late in the third quarter. On the season, Oregon employed a near-even split between gap and zone scheme runs (191 to 183), with counter tending to be Stein’s gap-scheme run of choice. Here, Gabriel fakes a counter run to Whittington, with guard Marcus Harper II and tight end Patrick Herbert pulling, before flipping the ball back to Holden heading the other way. The key to this play is Herbert, who begins to pull as if Stein had called G/H Counter, before pivoting 180 degrees to become Holden’s lead blocker, intercepting a Beaver defensive back to clear the way for a 21-yard gain.

UCLA - Fake QB Sweep Dagger

The dagger concept was one of Stein’s favorites when the Ducks were looking to attack deep this season, also utilizing it to pick up chunk plays against Boise State and Ohio State. The wrinkle here is the fake QB sweep, with Gabriel even tucking the ball like he is about to run it before stepping back with plenty of time thanks to some great protection to launch a deep ball to Johnson for six. With the Bruins playing with a single-high safety, the Ducks send both Stewart and Johnson deep over the middle of the field, allowing Stewart to clear out the safety and leaving Johnson wide open for the score.

Michigan State - Fake FB-Jet Weak Toss

These are some classic Oregon shenanigans. The Ducks come out in an extra-heavy 21 personnel look, lining up starting left tackle Josh Conerly Jr. as a receiver to one side, fullback Zach Grace as a receiver to the other side, and defensive tackle A’Mauri Washington at tight end. When Grace goes in motion, all signs are pointing toward a jet sweep behind the combined 635 pounds of Washington and Conerly. Instead, Gabriel tosses the ball to Jordan James going the other way, who races to the front pylon behind a stonewall block from Herbert.

Ohio State - H-Motion Y-Flat Read RPO

This was one of Oregon’s biggest plays of the year in a key situation during the biggest game of the regular season. On third and short with the Ducks trailing by six in the fourth quarter, Stein dialed up a run-pass option (RPO), trusting his veteran quarterback to make the right decision. First, Ferguson motions out wide to set things up. Then after the snap, Gabriel reads the purposefully unblocked JT Tuimoloau, who crashes hard to James off the edge, indicating Gabriel to keep the ball. Next, Herbert’s arrow route to the flat occupies the Ohio State linebacker, leaving a massive running lane for Gabriel, who gets a block from Ferguson, makes Davison Igbinosun miss, and dashes 27 yards to the endzone to tie the game at 28 apiece.

Purdue - RB-Flip G/T Counter & RB-Flip Fake G/T Counter Crack Toss

This is where we’ll get into Stein’s use of the RB flip, something I noticed a lot in his run game during my film review. On the first play, Whittington begins to motion like he is going to run a swing route before turning at the snap to pick up 15 yards behind the pulling Conerly and Nishad Strother. Rather than having the running back take a false step like a normal counter run, flipping the back from one side to the other accomplishes the same sense of misdirection from a look defenses haven’t seen as often. Later in the game, Stein once again flips Whittington from Gabriel’s right to his left, pulling Strother and Conerly to make Purdue’s defense think they are running the same counter play. Instead, Whittington jab steps before sweeping out left for a toss, where Herbert and Johnson crack block the inside defenders to create a running lane while center Iapani Laloulu gets out ahead to lead block downfield.

Illinois - Fake Jet Boot Throwback Screen

While this play was saved by a spectacular one-handed catch by Johnson, it was Stein’s design that allowed him to pick up over 20 yards after the catch. Johnson comes across the formation in a jet motion as the entire offensive line heads the same way to make it look like a sweep to the right. But the line doesn’t block anybody, rather waiting to set up the screen. When Gabriel begins to roll to his left, both of Illinois’ linebackers begin to follow him that way, so when he throws back across the field, the only defender to that side is the corner who followed Johnson across the formation, with four linemen standing between them. The corner takes himself out of the play trying to avoid a block from Ajani Cornelius, leaving Johnson with a clear path and half of his offensive linemen ahead of him down the sideline. 

Michigan - RB-Motion Swing QB Draw

With the Ducks lined up in an empty formation, Michigan answers by not putting a single linebacker in the box. When James motions into the backfield, his man follows and even stays inside when he swings out to the right. But even with the backer now in the box, Oregon maintains even numbers, with five blocking linemen to Michigan’s four defensive linemen and one linebacker. When Gabriel takes the snap and drops back like he is about to pass, the Wolverine safeties take off into a two-high shell, leaving the middle of the field wide open once he takes off. All Gabriel needs is a single block from Laloulu on the Michigan backer, and it’s 23 yards to the house to put the Ducks up three scores at the half.

Maryland -  PA Tackle Eligible Pass

This entire drive was defined by the big guys. After what looked like a three-and-out, defensive end Jordan Burch rumbled for 36 yards on a fake punt, before backup offensive lineman Gernorris Wilson caught Gabriel’s record-setting touchdown pass and Conerly ran in the two-point conversion from the wildcat. On the touchdown, the Ducks sent in Wilson as a sixth lineman, who had changed his jersey number from 78 to 91 just for this play. Cornelius — Oregon’s regular right tackle — was moved to the other side of the formation to create an unbalanced line with Wilson taking his place, but as an eligible receiver. When Gabriel faked the run to Whittington, not a single Terrapin noticed that Wilson had snuck out into the flat, where he made a nice hands catch before walking in for the thick-six.

Wisconsin - H-Exit PA Power TE Delay Screen

Stein has an incredibly diverse screen game, especially with his tight ends, constantly looking to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers with room to run after the catch. When tight end Kenyon Sadiq motions out to his left, Wisconsin’s linebackers begin to shift that way before fully biting when Gabriel fakes to James with guard Dave Iuli pulling to feign a power run. Meanwhile, the rest of Oregon’s line heads the other way, setting up to block for Ferguson, who himself blocks for a second before turning for the screen pass. With an army of blockers ahead of him, Ferguson runs 25 yards before even being touched. 

Washington - Jet Power Read

This is a classic spread-option concept that the Ducks used twice in their 49-21 stomping of their archrivals. The first time around, when Whittington comes on the jet motion, Gabriel reads the Huskies edge rusher, who bites inside when he sees Strother pulling for the power run. Gabriel hands to Whittington on the jet sweep, picking up nearly 20 yards to the outside. A key detail here is Oregon’s ability to line up in a spread empty formation from 12 personnel, which gives Whittington two tight ends to block for him, which Ferguson and Sadiq do excellently. The second time, Washington’s edge defender sees the same jet motion from earlier in the game, and plays it to the outside, giving Gabriel a free path up the middle to follow behind a pulling Iuli for the first down.

Penn State - Unbalanced Fake Jet G/T Counter

On this play, the Ducks line up with an unbalanced formation, moving Conerly from left tackle all the way to the right of Cornelius, loading up that side with big bodies. The jet motion from Holden brings his man with him to the other side of the field and forces Penn State’s linebackers to take a couple of false steps to that side, slowing down their ability to play the run the other way. With the unbalanced line, it means that Conerly is the one walling off the inside rather than a tight end — which he does perfectly, clearing the way for Whittington to follow behind the pulling Strother and Ferguson for a gain of nine.

Ohio State - PA Jet Boot F-Slide

This game was by far the most difficult to choose a play from as the Ducks struggled so mightily on offense. Oregon couldn’t get anything going with the Buckeyes dominating at the line of scrimmage, disrupting the Ducks’ entire offensive attack. For this one, we’ll go with Oregon’s two-point conversion to end the first half, one of the few plays that went right at the Rose Bowl. After faking the run to Whittington on the jet motion, Johnson slides underneath the line, looking for the ball in the flat. Gabriel boots out to his left and when he sees Ohio State’s linebackers and safeties crash down on Johnson, stops to hit Justius Lowe coming across the back of the endzone behind them.