Offensive Breakdown: Oklahoma Game

[Rifleman]

Here's Hurd's big run in the 3rd quarter.

The first thing to notice is that we are in the "King Stack" formation that 8188 detailed in the Utah State thread. We are unbalanced because both receivers to the left are on the line of scrimmage and Malone is in the backfield.

Obviously Oklahoma had seen this formation on film before and they shifted to defend the jet sweep. This is a great example of using a constraint play to have success. We've shown this formation and the jet sweep so Oklahoma thought that was what we'd run here. Instead, we hit them with a counter back to the right side and the Sooners were heavily outnumbered. At the time of the snap there was shockingly only 2 defenders to the right of the center.

Counter is a fantastic play to use as a constraint to zone. The playside of the offensive line (RT, RG, and C in this case) all block "down" which means they just block the next down lineman away from the play (left in this case). The backside guard is going to pull through and kick out the playside end. The H-Back is going to pull through and lead through the hole and block the first linebacker. Here, Hurd takes a jab step towards the swing screen then comes back and takes the handoff from Worley. (Pic #1)

Worley is making a read on this play. He has the option to throw the swing screen to Malone if the defense does not rush out to cover him. In this case they are clearly worried about him as the CB (#15) rotates back to the deep middle and the safety (#13) comes down hard to take away the swing pass. (Pic #2)

In the last picture we see just how wide open this was. Jackson gets an outstanding kickout block, Helm puts a good hit on the linebacker and the rest of our linemen did a good job blocking down to create the hole. The defense has so heavily overreacted that the FS is the only player anywhere near position to make a play and he is unable to get Hurd down. Hurd ends up with 43 yards on the play before someone finally chases him down. (Pic #3)

This is a really good example of what happens when you combine great playcalling and great execution.

Also shows why we continue to run some of the stretch the field horizontal plays. That jet sweep everybody on here hates helped set this up. The defense was playing checkers and Bajakian was playing chess on that one.

 

[volstopfan14]

I agree completely that Worley missed the read and held the ball too long. However, should Hurd be expected to see that:

(a) the right guard and tackle only have a total of one man to block AND
(b) neither of the LBs on that side are showing blitz (although the ILB on that side does end up blitzing),

And if he should be expected to see/know those things, would it then be his responsibility (if he doesn't get the handoff) to get his hindparts over to the left side to block someone?

More than likely this play is just being signaled in to Hurd as inside zone. That's all he and the offensive line are doing. Basically, think of this as 3 plays. The OL and Hurd on the run, Smith and Howard running a fade/out combo, and Johnson and North running spacing. The quarterback is likely the only player who is getting the signal that connects all 3 plays. Everyone else, Hurd is included, is just getting the signal for "their" play. Hurd is just being told that it is a run so he's not worried about pass protection. (Now I don't know with certainty that this is how Tennessee does it. They may tell all 11 players what everyone's responsibility is and expect them to know that. But most teams who use plays like this try to simplify it by only giving players the information they need to accomplish their part of the packaged play.)

Once again, Worley was never intended to have the ball as long as he did. We aren't worried about blocking the blitzer because the ball will be (or should be anyways) long before he gets to the QB.

I'm not sure if your suggestion is something a team would do or not. I get your point, but you don't want to over complicate it for Hurd. That could be something that the coaches could look at it in the future, but it's not part of the play right now.

This is the downside of packaged plays. They are brilliant when executed correctly but there is some risk to them.

 

[Dougie_D]

You've got to understand, this is not being blocked as a pass play. It's being blocked as a run play. Worley absolutely has to get rid of the ball fast or he's gonna get crushed. This is why it is on Worley not the line. The line did their job. The hole was open for Hurd if he had been running the ball. This is the risk you run when you combine pass plays with run plays. If the QB chooses to pass, the ball has to come out quickly because no one is pass protecting for him.

I don't know for sure, but it appeared that Worley tried to make his decision pre-snap instead of post-snap and got burnt. Instead of reading the OLB to decide if he should throw to Smith or handoff, he just decided to throw. And then when it got snapped he realized that Smith wasn't open and by then it was too late to do anything else.

So, was this a designed pass play or run play? Read play? I'm sorry, but if Worley is a pre-snap guy, then give him better plays where he doesn't have to make those type of decisions.

 

[volstopfan14]

Here is a new packaged play that we unveiled on Saturday.

Offensive line and tight end are blocking for split zone. Split zone is traditional zone blocking, but the tight end/H-Back is going to come from the playside to backside at the snap to kick out the backside end.

Worley can hand it off or throw to either Josh Smith or Josh Malone. Smith is running a bubble screen like we often package with the inside run game, but Malone is running a slant route. (Pic 1)

Worley first reads the linebackers. If they move outside to defend the pass play then he can hand it off. Here the weakside outside linebacker comes on a blitz and both inside linebackers flow inside to stop the run. Worley then pulls the ball and moves his read to the outside. (Pic 2)

The strong safety has rotated down over Smith and he is the "flat" defender. If he runs to cover the bubble, then the slant should be open but if he drops to defend the slant then the bubble should be open.

Worley reads the flat defender, sees that he is running to defend the bubble, and throws to a wide open Malone for a first down. (Pic 3)

This play really highlights to me how wide open the middle of the field is on run plays or quick playaction plays. We seem to throw outside a lot, but a packaged play like this or even a playaction over the middle to attack the linebackers would be pretty effective.

 

[Mick]

On the Worley fumble play the Line was run blocking or screen pass blocking. It's obvious that Worley thought it was a screen pass to the WR.

EDIT: Not necessarily a screen but a pass behind the line of scrimmage.

 

[IN Jed]

Thanks for the breakdown. Do you plan to look at the pick 6? On replay, it looked as if the right slot may have been open but Worley looked left the whole time. Also, in the post-game presser didn't CBJ or Bajakian say Worley threw it where they wanted the ball to go but, obviously, OU made the better play? Thanks again.

 

[volstopfan14]

Here is a play that should've been a touchdown but ended up being a sack because of poor pass protection.

We are lined up in an empty formation with an tight end to the right and 2 receivers to each side of Worley. It is 3rd and 5 and we are running double slants to the left. On the right side the slot receiver runs a quick out and the outside receiver runs a fade. The TE is staying in to pass protect.

Oklahoma is only rushing 3 linemen and dropping 8 into coverage. They are playing cover 3 (3 deep zone coverage). (Pic 1)

This play gets destroyed because of a poor job blocking and communicating from Coleman Thomas and Brendan Downs. Downs steps outside as if he was expecting a blitz. Thomas stepped inside and looked as if he was expecting outside help from Downs. The defensive end shot through the open gap with barely any resistance at all from Thomas and Downs was so far outside that he couldn't even get a hand on him. (Pic 2)

It seems to me we are using a full slide protection scheme, which means every blocker is stepping into the gap to his left and zone blocking. Downs saw #19 faking a blitz and stepped outside to block him rather than inside to protect his gap. #19 didn't blitz and it left Downs way out of position. Thomas thought he had help outside and that Downs would pick up the DE, but with Downs out of position they got a free rusher. Thomas still should've put up more resistance rather than basically let him go untouched.

Worley pump faked the quick out to Smith and the flat defender and the corner both bit on it hard. That allowed North to get behind the corner and we can barely see in this last picture that he is wide open down the sideline and had Worley been able to get him the ball this would've easily been a touchdown. Instead, Worley gets sacked. (Pic 3)

This is really an unfortunate play and a missed opportunity. We had 6 blockers to 3 pass rushers and had a receiver wide open deep, but our protection wasn't good enough for Worley to get the ball out on time.

 

[volstopfan14]

Thanks for the breakdown. Do you plan to look at the pick 6? On replay, it looked as if the right slot may have been open but Worley looked left the whole time. Also, in the post-game presser didn't CBJ or Bajakian say Worley threw it where they wanted the ball to go but, obviously, OU made the better play? Thanks again.

I'll get there eventually. I do remember seeing that the slot receiver on the slant had a little bit of open space. Ultimately, I think the biggest factor was Oklahoma just caught us in the perfect coverage for that route combo.

 

[Mick]

You've got to understand, this is not being blocked as a pass play. It's being blocked as a run play. Worley absolutely has to get rid of the ball fast or he's gonna get crushed. This is why it is on Worley not the line. The line did their job. The hole was open for Hurd if he had been running the ball. This is the risk you run when you combine pass plays with run plays. If the QB chooses to pass, the ball has to come out quickly because no one is pass protecting for him.

I don't know for sure, but it appeared that Worley tried to make his decision pre-snap instead of post-snap and got burnt. Instead of reading the OLB to decide if he should throw to Smith or handoff, he just decided to throw. And then when it got snapped he realized that Smith wasn't open and by then it was too late to do anything else.

I should have read your post before I posted. He didn't hand the ball off and the receiver was not behind the line of scrimmage. His only option would be to run with the ball because you cannot throw down field when linemen are past the line of scrimmage. It would have been a penalty. He should have know that and thrown it away or ran. He had 2 options at that point.

 

[SeniorDrill]

Bajakian himself said a couple of the sacks were on the quarterback! This was one of them!

 

[volstopfan14]

Bajakian himself said a couple of the sacks were on the quarterback! This was one of them!

I don't think so. After the pump fake to make the corner jump the out route, Worley did not really have time to reset and throw to North. This is on the line. 6 guys have to be able to block 3, period. You especially can't let one guy come completely free.

I'm assuming you mean the last breakdown I posted. If you mean the sack/fumble you would be correct.