The Football Brainiacs

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*Ed. Note – So even though this is listed as authored by ‘The Brainiacs’, it was actually written by Gabriel Alcocer. Who is a friend of TFB and kind enough to share with us his insight into some of what OU’s new offensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley, has done in the past and perhaps some of what OU fans can expect to see in 2015.

What’s up y’all!? This post is intended to provide a quick and dirty look at OU’s new offensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley. What you’ll see below are embedded draftbreakdown.com videos of Justin Hardy vs USCe and UF, two semi-powerful SEC foes. I included these two games mainly because it showed how Riley’s offense performed against defensive units that may have had more talented personnel than ECU’s own. Of course, that’s certainly up for debate as the ECU offense was able to move the ball very well against a schedule that included the above two teams, as well as Bud Foster’s famed Va Tech defensive unit.

Also, if you’re not familiar with this format, let me explain. I’m terrible at editing and embedding video and have limited time. Instead, I like to take notes about what I’m seeing and then discuss them in general terms. You can watch the videos before and/or after the descriptions. Let’s get started.

I became familiar with Lincoln Riley’s offense last year, when he was rumored to be a candidate at Texas. Lincoln’s offense strikes me as a coherent and integrative approach to combining classic “Air Raid” concepts to the run, play-action, and read-option game. The pass game integrates with the run game in that the base zone and power (gap) schemes are primarily utilized in the read-option, play-action, and quarterback movement game. This can be a headache for defensive players as the majority of standard down and distance plays will all appear the same, especially if keying on OL steps and/or movement.

Adding to that, I was surprised how ‘multiple’ the offense can be. I noted personnel that ranged from “20” (2 RB, 0 TE), empty, to “12” (1 RB, 2 TE). With regard to formations, it ranged from your typical 2 X 2 spread set to I-formation alignments with the QB under center. Base runs include zone (inside, outside, slice, and lead) and a Power-style gap scheme with the backside guard pulling around the center and leading into the A-gap. The beauty of those schemes are that they tend to be excellent for use in read-option and play-action. As far as the pass game is concerned, you may note shallow crossing routes (good versus man coverage), deep crossing routes (think Y-Sail), a lot of flat combination routes (slant-flat, curl-flat), deep out routes, and of course 4-verticals, some of which contain option routes like seam-read. So, let’s watch some football.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwGfmRpOwAQ

What stands out most to me from the USCe video are the packaged plays. Many quick-game pass concepts will be paired to base run schemes with the read player being one of the linebackers, i.e. 2nd-level reads. What I really like about read-integrated offenses is that the consistent alignment and QB/RB mesh gives the defense the same look without tipping a read, or more traditional play-action concept. Of course, these will tend to be quick-to-intermediate level passing concepts paired with base run schemes.

When Riley wants to attack deep, he’ll change the mesh and the QB will take more steps on his drop. Also notable, I like that some traditional bootleg concepts are adapted to the shotgun alignment. These often help to manipulate the linebackers with run action one way, while bringing a crossing route behind them the opposite way. A couple of plays that stood out in this video are the delayed wide receiver screen paired with run-action at 1:30, and the packaged double screen at 2:16, a wide receiver screen paired with a running back slow-screen. Also note the offensive line releases and blocking, well designed and coached.

These constraint plays need to be well-coached and executed with attention to detail. They serve to protect the offense’s base concepts as well as punish defensive over-play. Let’s move on to the Florida game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgzp2WrS3a8

In this game we see a bit more multiplicity. For instance, the use of the I-formation in short yardage. It’s good to see a spread football coordinator carry this set in his overall approach, a contingency often lacking in spread offenses.

At 0:43 you’ll see ‘Spot’ paired with a quarterback sweep. This is another 2nd-level read on the linebacker, who opens to take away the quick-game pass concept. So the quarterback simply pulls it down and follows his pulling lineman on the backside, again, well-conceived.

A lot of this is made possible by Riley’s understanding of basic defensive assignments, as well as how formations distort defensive structures. At 4:01 you’ll see a play, I don’t even know what to call, out of a split-back shotgun formation, the left guard and tackle pull, lead around the center through the A-gap, while the “fullback” arc blocks the unblocked defensive end. What I suspect here is the end is the read man and if he attacks the running back, he will be bypassed by the arc blocker and the quarterback will keep it and have a lead blocker on the backside of the play, another well-conceived play. What do you call it though?!?

Speaking of the split-back shotgun formation, Riley will utilize this — as opposed to the diamond formation — to create favorable match-ups outside and/or in the box. Depending on the safety look, 1-high or 2-high, the quarterback can easily check into a read-run or pass. Another motif I liked is the movement of the TE, specifically, motioning him out wide. Again, it’s all about distortion and creating numbers advantages from sideline-to-sideline, forcing the defense to pick it’s poison.

I’ve also been impressed with the way Riley will attack in the red zone, and his tendency to be aggressive. As seen on the first touchdown in the video above, he calls a back shoulder seam. Riley, as many of you know, is a former wide receivers coach, so it doesn’t surprise me that this group excelled at ECU. Another example is at 6:47, look at the receiver releases, fake blocks, and the rub on the corner-flat, dropped!

One thing I didn’t get into much is the quarterback position. But from what I’ve sees, there are plenty of easy reads in this offense. And more often than not, there is only one player the quarterback is being asked to read. The offense is coherent with all the ‘bells & whistles’ of a modern spread-option attack.

Well, there are my thoughts in a nut shell. Given the Sooners’ penchant for finding wide receiver talent, not to mention tight ends and running backs as well, Lincoln Riley stands to field an aggressive offense. One that should be able to attack from sideline-to-sideline, as well as all three zones of coverage.

I hope you enjoyed. Please share your thoughts.