Ditch The Zone Read Running Game

#27
#27
Guys I have figured out why this is confusing for you.

One way you can tell if a play is a read is that the backside DE remains unblocked. He has the choice of getting upfield to take down the running back from behind as he moves behind the center to find a hole in the zone blocking sheme. Or he can stay at home in case the QB holds the ball.

Since we weren't able to block the DEs at all on Saturday everyone thinks every play was a zone read, but in fact it was just a missed block 9 times out of 10.

:)
 
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#29
#29
Tux said:
Butch Jones ran his zone read offense at his fist two stops and then at Tennessee. The offense worked great against lesser competition. Against SEC and other national powers, the offense has failed to generate any kind of serious running game.

Jones has adjusted his short route passing route tree and we are seeing more vertical routes being run and thrown, with some success. In fact, Justin Worley has turned into one of college football's best passers. It does not hurt that he has one of the more talented group of WRs in the nation.

WRs are the most explosive playmakers on the field and a smart coach is going to do what he can do to get the ball into their hands as often as possible. Thus, you need a good passing QB. That is the biggest prerequisite of QBs to play in this offense on this team.

All teams need to be able to run the football. It is an integral part of the game. In Butch's old version of his offensive scheme, his QB was as important in creating a ground game, as the RB. However, he did not have WRs half as talented as the group he has at Tennessee. He also did not face defenses with athletes as big and as fast as he has been facing in the SEC.

The Vols offensive line was much maligned a year ago, but the NFL vindicated them in the 2014 NFL Draft. The problems with the Vols run game lie more in the scheme itself, than in the the guys who played on the OL last season. This season the issues lie with the scheme and the talent on the OL.

This years OL is young, not huge, not particularly strong, and is without any true offensive tackles in the line up. Butch is playing two offensive guards at offensive tackle. Butch is partially culpable for the failure to recruit quality offensive tackles in his two recruiting classes. Derek Dooley is equally at fault for the failure to recruit OTs too. Butch came here believing that he could recruit tall, thinner, and mobile offensive linemen and play them at tackle in the SEC. He has learned that he has to change his faulty recruiting paradigm in order to put together a good OL in this league. He is no longer in the MAC or the Big East.

Butch is also seeing that he is having to change his run blocking in order to open holes for his RBs. We saw him use some lead blockers to open up holes against Oklahoma and it worked well. Using lead blockers, as he did is not truly part of his zone read scheme. However, it worked.

Shortsighted fans want to blame Worley for the run game woes for not keeping the ball and forcing the defensive ends from crashing. There is a reason why he dies not keep the ball. The coaches have likely instructed him to not keep the ball. They understand his value to the team's offensive success.

The zone read May work in smaller conferences and the read option may work at Auburn where they run the ball 70% if the time and more. However Tennessee is playing in the SEC against the predominant defensive linemen in the nation. If your offense throws a lot and you have a plethora if talented WRs as UT does, you need to be able deliver the ball to them accurately, something most mobile QBs can not do on a consistent basis.

Knowing that your team does not truly have the talent to run the zine read offense, why does a coach continue to do so? They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Maybe Butch is waking up and realizing that he can still run a spread offense with some changes to the run blocking. I sure hope he has had an epiphany. If not, we may become a better program due to the influx of talent to the program. However, how long does the continued recruiting success last without major victories and lots if them? I firmly believe that our future success depends on Butch Jones adapting his offensive scheme to his talent and to the defenses personnel of the SEC. A major part of that adapting is dumping the Zone Read run game.
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Out @ "Justin Worley has turned into one of college football's best passers". Good grief. He is middle of the pack in his own conference, get out with that "one of the best in the nation" molarkey.
 
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#31
#31
Crazy Ivan said:
Butch Jones ran his zone read offense at his fist two stops and then at Tennessee. The offense worked great against lesser competition. Against SEC and other national powers, the offense has failed to generate any kind of serious running game.

I think I hear Gus Malzahn snickering.
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Also blessed with two of the most athletic qbs in SEC history too
 
#34
#34
Pacer92 said:
Have to agree with the majority of OP's opinion. I've never been a fan of this offense and never will be unless RG3 was running it.
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This. And obviously your comment is going over the head of most folks here. The scheme CAN be successful, yes read it again for those of you disagreeing with the op. The scheme is not the problem. The scheme with worley at qb is the problem.

Did some of you see Trevor knight score on the read option? Wonder why it works for them and not us? Then did you see us have to throw inside their 10 yard line and they picked it and returned it for 6 to effectively end the game? Do you know why we had to throw it that close instead of running the read option like them? It's not rocket science.
 
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#37
#37
The zone read only works if you have a threat of run at QB. Worley is not made for the zone read. He would be much more effective from a standard pro set. The RB's don't have a chance. When Worley puts the ball in the RB's gut, the RB will slant to the opposite A or B gap.....and so will both DE's. At least put the RB in the pistol so that the direction of the play is not as obvious...or better yet, run a ghost streaking behind the QB to give the DL and LB's something else to see and think about. Our bad running game is not good for many reasons, but design is high on that list.
 
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#38
#38
wilrob75 said:
This. And obviously your comment is going over the head of most folks here. The scheme CAN be successful, yes read it again for those of you disagreeing with the op. The scheme is not the problem. The scheme with worley at qb is the problem.

Did some of you see Trevor knight score on the read option? Wonder why it works for them and not us? Then did you see us have to throw inside their 10 yard line and they picked it and returned it for 6 to effectively end the game? Do you know why we had to throw it that close instead of running the read option like them? It's not rocket science.
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Worley kept it and scored against Arky St. I think the real issue is that Butch doesn't want Worley hurt, he just doesn't trust Perterman and Dobbs to get it done. He wants to win now, not suffer through a 4-8 trying to build for the future. I fully support Butch in that and I understand what he and Bajakian are doing.
 
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#41
#41
fade route said:
Worley kept it and scored against Arky St. I think the real issue is that Butch doesn't want Worley hurt, he just doesn't trust Perterman and Dobbs to get it done. He wants to win now, not suffer through a 4-8 trying to build for the future. I fully support Butch in that and I understand what he and Bajakian are doing.
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I agree about preserving Worley, and I'm still a fan of butch. Hell, I'm still a fan of the read option. And I'm not even saying that we get rid of the read option all together with Worley. But you can't keep a defense honest with a statue at quarterback in that play. And they obviously know it. And I promise you OU is fine giving up a 5 yard scramble to Worley once a game if that means that they shut down Hurd for 4 quarters.

The interesting question to me is how was he able to make this offense at Cincinnati successful with Zach Collaros...Lesser competition negates the difference in qb speed perhaps?
 
#42
#42
I get the whole preserve Worley thing, but you can't just leave the backside end unblocked to kill the RB. You've got to adjust the scheme to block him. We do that some with a backside TE or a slice block, but we could do better with it if Worley isn't going to keep.
 
#46
#46
gemlek said:
The zone read only works if you have a threat of run at QB. Worley is not made for the zone read. He would be much more effective from a standard pro set. The RB's don't have a chance. When Worley puts the ball in the RB's gut, the RB will slant to the opposite A or B gap.....and so will both DE's. At least put the RB in the pistol so that the direction of the play is not as obvious...or better yet, run a ghost streaking behind the QB to give the DL and LB's something else to see and think about. Our bad running game is not good for many reasons, but design is high on that list.
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But you don't change the system for one player and for one year. The o line need to learn blocking for the zone and the RBs need to learn the system. We might not be relevant this year due to lack of a running QB but it's coming. Worley will be fine this year.
 
#47
#47
I have seen multiple posters say Worley is supposed to pass if he keeps the ball instead of handing off in our zone read run game. Has he or any of our quarterbacks actually done this? Thanks.
 
#50
#50
Vato said:
But you don't change the system for one player and for one year.
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Good point. But you also have to compete now. I don't think you overhaul everything, but mix it up and add new wrinkles...We'll see what happens going forward.
 
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