The Oregon Ducks "pistol" is proving to be a formidable offensive weapon

EUGENE - When running backs coach Jim Mastro arrived to redesign the Oregon Ducks' running game, senior Tony Brooks-James concedes he was a sceptic.

"At first I was like, 'Coach I don't know why we are doing this,'" Brooks-James said Tuesday. "He was like, 'Trust me. It works.'

"Now, I love it."

Mastro and former Nevada head coach Chris Ault drew up the Pistol Offense while together in Reno in 2008. They used it to terrorize defenses with dual-threat quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

In a pistol formation, the running back lines up a few yards directly behind the quarterback. This differs from the zone-read, shotgun alignment the Ducks often used in past, in which the back is set to the side of the…