Offensive Breakdown: Utah State

#1

Vol8188

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#1
I'm going to break down some of our more interesting offensive plays and formations. Any other things you guys want to discuss about offensive strategy, let me know.
 
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#2
#2
We did a great job with formation tonight. Most coaches (although not all) would call this formation king stack. King means the H-back (Wolf) is on the same side as the twins, stack tells the RB (Hurd) to align behind the H-back.

This set was our formation for our first TD. If you count, we have 4 of our 5 skill plays on one side of the football. This gives us a big advantage in the running game to that side of the field. So we brought Pig in motion and ran jet sweep to that side of the football, with both the H-back and RB leading the way.
 

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#3
#3
As a read option team there's one thing you don't want, and that's the defense being able to force your QB to run. Especially late in the game when you have a lead. But in general, no offense wants their qb keeping the ball 15 times or more. So what do you do when the defensive ends are crashing and trying to make your qb keep?

This was one of our answers. We simply aligned in the TE and RB on the same side, and ran zone weak. This widens the defensive end and prevents him from being able to crash down and make a play.
 

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#4
#4
A couple of things to notice about the previous diagram:

1. I didn't draw us blocking the MLB or SLB. On inside zone you double team the two tackle to the lbs. One problem we had in the running was getting off the double team and getting to the lbs. This one reason the running game struggled tonight, and it is something that simply takes reps. The other issue I saw in the running (and I don't like to put our players down, but) was that Jackson and Gilliam played awful.

2. Notice to the weakside they have two defensive backs over our two wr's. This is one reason we threw so many screens. We had one on one coverage, and they were playing fairly loose. On the bubble screen that Smith nearly took to the house Pig has a great block on the corner, and Smith simply outruns the safety to the sideline.
 
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#9
#9
I eat this kind of stuff up. It's definitely appreciated.

How did you think Robertson performed at guard?
 
#10
#10
One of my favorite wrinkles tonight was the jet sweep read. We brought Pearson in motion from the slot and blocked it like you would outside zone. Except we blocked the backside DE and left the Will linebacker. Worley read him. When a LB sees jet motion, they naturally want to run with it and we took advantage of that. The LB goes flying over the top to Pearson and Worley keeps the ball for about 7 yards and a first down.
 

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#11
#11
I eat this kind of stuff up. It's definitely appreciated.

How did you think Robertson performed at guard?

I've mainly watched the first two quarters on offense so far, but he looked pretty nasty on a few plays. Aggressive lineman who finishes blocks.
 
#12
#12
One of my favorite wrinkles tonight was the jet sweep read. We brought Pearson in motion from the slot and blocked it like you would outside zone. Except we blocked the backside DE and left the Will linebacker. Worley read him. When a LB sees jet motion, they naturally want to run with it and we took advantage of that. The LB goes flying over the top to Pearson and Worley keeps the ball for about 7 yards and a first down.

Were some of our play action throws actually a read with run pass options or was Worley just holding some of his ball fakes a long time?
 
#13
#13
Another wrinkle I liked tonight was running the speed out with Pearson on our inside zone. I saw us do this on back to back plays, and each time Worley threw a great ball to Pearson for about 5 yards.

This is also why a lot of you guys kept asking "why aren't we running the ball more?". We were calling run plays, but the defensive alignment left our slots uncovered for easy catches that we couldn't pass up.

On this play Worley is reading the OLB (B) who is aligned halfway between Pearson and the offensive tackle. We are blocking the DE because he's playing so heavy inside (in B gap). Worley sees the OLB come inside for the zone play, and throws two great passes in a row with this unblocked LB in his face.
 

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#14
#14
Another wrinkle I liked tonight was running the speed out with Pearson on our inside zone. I saw us do this on back to back plays, and each time Worley threw a great ball to Pearson for about 5 yards.

This is also why a lot of you guys kept asking "why aren't we running the ball more?". We were calling run plays, but the defensive alignment left our slots uncovered for easy catches that we couldn't pass up.

On this play Worley is reading the OLB (B) who is aligned halfway between Pearson and the offensive tackle. We are blocking the DE because he's playing so heavy inside (in B gap). Worley sees the OLB come inside for the zone play, and throws two great passes in a row with this unblocked LB in his face.

Well that answers my question. Really cool wrinkle.
 
#15
#15
This has been one of our go to pass plays for two years now, and the reasoning is simply: It's easy and effective. I saw us run this between 4-5 times tonight. And at least 3 of them that I remember were 10 yards or more.

It's simple and effective because it looks just like inside zone. The H-back goes back side like he's going to block the DE or arc block the LB (Auburn loves to arc block the lb), and then slips out into the flats. The slot wr runs a drag (Pig caught a first down on this).

Those are the main two routes we are looking for here. Our second td of the night came when we took the slot out and put Downs in at TE. This added to the illusion that we were about to run. We then hit him on the drag for a 12 yard td.
 

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#16
#16
Great thread!!! I love this kind of stuff! I especially liked the play where Downs had the touchdown after the USU fumble on kickoff. It was nicely executed.
 
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#21
#21
Great breakdown. I am hoping that once we took the lead and it looked like we would keep it, we slowed on opening up the playbook. We match up so well against DBs and hardly saw a single slant which we should own each time with our WR height.
 
#22
#22
Hallelujah! A thread that is not emotion-based and invariably winds up with people calling each other idiots or bashing the other team and their fans. Thanks, I'm learning a few things.
 
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#24
#24
We did a great job with formation tonight. Most coaches (although not all) would call this formation king stack. King means the H-back (Wolf) is on the same side as the twins, stack tells the RB (Hurd) to align behind the H-back.

This set was our formation for our first TD. If you count, we have 4 of our 5 skill plays on one side of the football. This gives us a big advantage in the running game to that side of the field. So we brought Pig in motion and ran jet sweep to that side of the football, with both the H-back and RB leading the way.

You don't point it out but this formation is also unbalanced since the tackle is the last man on the line of scrimmage on the left side. The slot receiver on the right is actually ineligible. I notice they (and USU) did this a couple times during the game.
 
#25
#25
You don't point it out but this formation is also unbalanced since the tackle is the last man on the line of scrimmage on the left side. The slot receiver on the right is actually ineligible. I notice they (and USU) did this a couple times during the game.

Agreed. Auburn uses a very similar set also, but to create that numbers advantage play side we have to put both wrs on the right on the line so that we can motion Pig.
 

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