Adjusting On The Run

Like every other woe begotten soul that follows Ole Miss Football, I sat there Saturday night watching the Rebels take on Auburn.  For the second week in a row Ole Miss has played a solid first half of football before falling apart in the 3^rd quarter.  All of the message board pundits over at The Spirit and in The Grove are fuming over the 2^nd half meltdowns and the word “Adjustments” has become a time bomb of hatred, malice, and confusion.   Well, I finally decided that I should make an adjustment to this website (1^st post in about 6 months) and go over some of the things that I saw during the game.

Someone must have mentioned Pete Boone

Disclaimer:

-I did not TiVo the game so I have not been able to review things.

-I was so focused on the Ole Miss offense – particularly their newfound fondness of gap scheme run plays – that, like David Lee, I didn’t notice any adjustments by AU’s defense.

-This post is being based off of memory and watching live football so it may contain errors.

AU Run Game:

Gus Malzahn’s offense has been cataloged and dissected by every football writer in the country.  People that study his offense start to notice the reality: is not an overly complex scheme that is loaded up with a bevy of different plays and schemes, but rather a nice mix of plays that are masked several times over and executed from a number of different formations, shift, motions, and personnel groupings.  Today I really just want to hit on two of Malzahn’s top run plays against Ole Miss: the Power and the Hand Sweep.

Y-Stick

Continuing on the theme of the 3 step passing game, it is important to recognize Y-Stick and note its prominence in modern football. Y-Stick has become one of the most popular passing plays that coach coaches utilize in early down situations. Many offensive coaches consider the Y-Stick to be a free 4-5 yard play. I prefer to use the Y-Stick concept while still keeping our customary access rule on the back side of the play. Other teams, like the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, get more creative on the backside, especially in empty sets.

I prefer Y-Stick from some type of 3 X 1 formation. Pretty much any form of a 3 X 1 will work.

We use our Access Rule on the backside of Y-Stick. The Concept Side of the play is as simple as it gets. I believe in giving young QB’s simple and sure reads so that they can make a throw with confidence.

Our Progression: (With Access CLOSED)
Z: is a pre-snap read only. Z is out of the equation unless we see two things: Man Coverage or Cover 2 with a big window.

Y to H: The rule is simple; the ball automatically goes to the Y unless color covers the route. Color = H on the speed out.

The goal is to out-leverage the invert or force defender with a horizontal read and make him wrong.

Accessing A Great Quick Passing Game

*Updated with video (at bottom of post)

Some passing offenses are designed to take shots down the field. Some teams rely heavily on play-action for their passing game. Some systems are based on concepts designed to attack the defense all over the field. Due to personnel, some teams are forced to design their passing game around the one true threat that they might have. I feel like I have done a little bit of everything in my time as a coach, but my studies have led me to one strong conviction: to have a great passing game you must be great in the quick game.

An efficient quick or 3 step passing game can be an extension of your run game. If you are the 2007-2009 New England Patriots, a good 3 step package can BE your running game. This past season we made great strides in our quick game, and as a coach I learned lessons that I will carry with me as long as I stroll the sidelines as a coach. These lessons took shape when we implemented simple rules and proven concepts that proved to be effective for both our JV and Varsity programs. These same concepts are the ones I see utilized time and time again by some of the most successful offenses in college and professional football.

Our journey started by teaching the Read Slant that I discussed in a previous post. As noted, I taught the route to our quarterbacks and relied on them to work the routes with the receivers. Our offensive staff made sure to utilize this route from the start of our spring install calendar. Using the same 3X1 (or offset I) formations that we use in our run heavy offense, we would call an “Access” route for the single receiver and match that route with a quick game concept on the 3 receiver side. One major advantage is that any of these plays can be run from multiple formations without changing the read for the QB.

The Read Slant

The slant route has been a staple in the passing game for decades. The route has remained popular because it can be a high percentage throw and has the potential to bust for big gains. Guys like Jerry Rice made their career off of running the slant. NFL teams still execute the slant flawlessly. There might not be a better slant team in the NFL than the Green Bay Packers. For some reason though, you have started to see less and less of the slant in high school and college football. I think a lot of this can be attributed to three things: 1) NFL defenses run a ton of cover 1 where good receiver’s can get loose on a 1 step slant, 2) defenses on the HS and college level have become more multiple, and 3) the threat of a spinning safety or dropping lineman in a zone dog/blitz scheme.

Many teams have adjusted their slant game to answer the evolving defenses. Last spring we incorporated the Read Slant to our offense and found it to be successful this season. We borrowed this idea from Rich Skrosky (formerly of Elon) and a video he shared with A Play A Day. Many coaches, particularly high school coaches, prefer to abide by the K.I.S.S. rule and stop reading at this point, but I assure you that this concept is simple and can be learned and employed by athletes most any level.

What is the Read Slant? A smart way to assist your quarterback and receiver’s and help create open space for a high percentage throw.

What exactly are we reading? The “Read” portion of this concept is based on the alignment of the defense and the rules are simple. First, is there a slant threat? Second, what kind of cushion am I going to get? From there the route develops.

Wisconsin's Power Run Game

Anybody that has coached with me knows that I love "power" football. More specifically, I love the magical offensive play that bares the same name. Some people simply call it Power. some call it Power O, others call it Power G. I call it the best offensive play in football. Whether we are talking pro sets, 2 tight ends, one back, or with no backs (see Auburn) I love this play and in my mind no one does it better than the Wisconsin Badgers. In fact, I love everything about their offense and their program in general. In my mind their transition from Barry Alvarez to Bret Bielema has been successful because they did one thing that I find crucial to succeeding as a football program:

They took an honest look at what they are and what resources they have round them and they built the program around those resources. And what did they see? A landscape filled with massive offensive linemen and the reputation for running the football that will allow them to recruit a quality running back (or three).

Another staple of the Wisconsin offense is their use of the Tightend. Guys like Owen Daniels (Texans), Garrett Graham (Texans), Travis Beckum (Giants), and most recently SR Lance Kendricks (below) have been instrumental in every phase of the Badger offense.

I am especially in love with how Wisconsin has incorporated their TE in to their power run game.

The Basics of Power...

"Power" is a downhill run play designed to give the offense at least one double team to the play side while gaining a play side blocker by pulling the backside guard. There are hundreds of coaching points that coaches to discuss. Power can be run from multiple formations and utilizing several different motions. I've set and listened to coaches debate for an hour over what type of pull technique to use (I prefer skip pull). Regardless of the makeup of your offense, there is a place for Power.

Here is a look at Power from a Pro set. For simplicity purposes I am going to use an Under front.Versus an Under front most teams will double team the 5 technique and work to the backside linebacker. The fullback, or H-back, will be responsible for kicking out the end man on the line of scrimmage. In the Under front that will usually be a stand up DE or Sam LB in a 9 technique. The play side guard will work down on the play side shade while the center "chokes" back to the 3 tech. The backside guard pulls for the play side LB, in this front that is the Mike LB. The backside tackle gap-hinges to protect the backside. Our tailbacks take a drop step with their backside leg and drive downhill at the inside hip of the guard. The back has to be patient and hit inside his pull in almost every case. Our primary coaching point to the running back is the Power is a downhill play that should not bounce.

The school where I coach uses a pro-style offense that believes in running the football to find success. Power has been one of our primary offensive plays. Due to our proclivity for running the football we began to see and eight man front. Most of the teams in our region base their defense out of 4-3 personnel. The Under front became the most popular answer against our offense. Those same teams liked to live in Cover 4 on the back end of their defense. The result was tightly aligned Cover 4 safeties ready to get downhill in a hurry. Even prior to my arrival they always used a good play action game to keep defenses honest, but the bottom line is: we have to run the ball to be successful.

When everybody did their job and blocked the play correctly they always had that Cover 4 safety that they could not account for. That is where Wisconsin came to the rescue...

Wisconsin Power...

When I changed programs prior to the 2008 season and made the move to my current school I began looking for resources that would enhance the pro-style offense referenced above. Item #1, taking care of that 8th defender or aggressive safety. Thanks to a great connection from a great friend and former coaching brother I was able to get a cut-up of the Wisconsin run game. One thing that I had noticed from watching the Badger's play during the previous season was that they had a play that looked like a hybrid of Power and Counter schemes. The result: an extra man at the point of attack. The cut-up of the Badger run game opened the door to the play that would change our offense. Although the play was initially installed to become a part of our short-yardage/goal-line package, it quickly became a primary force in our game plan each week.

Wisconsin used an extra TE or Wing to pull from the backside and account for the extra defender. The blocking scheme for the rest of the line didn't have to change, they still blocked power. The carry-over was important to our staff. The only thing that we had to tweak was our running backs steps. Now the TB would take a drop-step at a slight angle to the weak side before working back play side and downhill on his normal path. The slight counter step allows for the extra "puller" to get in front of the play. The coaching point for the TE/FB/W that you use as the extra guy is simple, follow the guard and take the first color that you see. Just like a tackle on counter, he takes the window created when the guard in front of him declares and takes on a defender. Schematically you are only weak in one area: the backside edge. If a defense brings edge pressure off of the weak side the player can work down the line and stop the play for a short loss. Watching Winconsin this season it appears that they counter that pressure by having the "puller" read the edge as they pull.

We began to run this play from several different formations and be utilizing several different motions. The result was a play that accounted in over 60% of our playcall's in 2008. That season we rushed for over 3,300 yards and averaged 285 yards rushing a game and 6.1 yards per carry. Our run game, relying heavily on this play, accounted for 37 rushing touchdowns. Changes in our roster have led to adjustments in our scheme over the past few seasons but this play has remained an integral part of what we do.

Watch a Wisconsin game and you will see them run this from several different sets and formations. Below is a slide show of some formations used by both the Badgers and our high school offense to run this play effectively.

Power plus formations

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