1. Starting the 2nd quarter now. Circled on the right is Rip, who went out for a pass from the tight end position. That position is something we need desperately, and hopefully Grant, Ijalana and McNamara will be ready to go next year. With more of a threat there, maybe Blake is looking to throw here after he steps up in the pocket.
1. (cont.) Same play a second later, and Blake, come on dude. You’ve gotta be the hammer, not the nail! Go run over those guys! You end up getting hurt when you play it safe sometimes.
2. This play was just too pretty not to have multiple pictures. It’s the same play we ran with Finch on the 2nd snap of the game. This play illustrates why Coach Bedenbaugh is a great coach. The small blue right arrow shows Shead on this play cutting the backside a gap player instead of playing him up high. No doubt Coach B was on him about that. Ikard and Irwin are pulling around with the two left blue arrows.
2. (cont.) A frame later you see Adam has his guy on the ground(blue arrow), while Ikard and Irwin are pulling around. The umpire is the only one home for Damien to beat in the box.
2. (cont.) Great job here of Damien being patient and allowing Ikard to run that guy by the hole. Very smart football by Ikard using that player’s momentum against him, and Damien pausing a tick to let the blocking set up. Bronson’s making tortillas again…
2. (cont.) Here you really see it open up. Rip has his guy 3 yards downfield, Daryl’s doing a good job, while Ikard and Irwin are playing twister with the two guys they’re blocking. If Damien takes a more vertical path here, he may have had room to put a move on that safety
2. (cont.) Speed you just can’t teach, and why I was so high on Damien. He’s a downhill one cut guy who needs a lot of touches to let the game come to him. He steps out by just a hair, and if he doesn’t, OU runs for over 450 on the day.
3. This is a draw play designed to go to the left. The x represents where Adam Shead needs to have kept his guy. The little blue arrow is where he gets driven back to. The red arrow shows the path the play was designed to take.
3. (cont.) The red line is where Damien is forced to go, since Adam got pushed all the way back. The big blue arrow is where he was designed to go. See how Bronson has his guy turned out(small blue arrow)? That tells me that the play is designed to go off of his back to the left.
3. (cont.) The big blue L, shows the space that Damien would have had, had we executed better. You can see three o linemen turned outside facing the play, probably wondering what happened. A lot of times you go back to the huddle asking, who screwed up, or wondering if the back went the wrong way. Here, Damien was just forced to. This was Trevor’s first snap by the way.
4. Remember my numbers argument from last week? Brought in my “high-tech” box graphic too. Iowa State only has seven in the box , and technically you could probably call it six, since that deep player’s so far back. We’ve got a tight end to our left, so that’s a good spot to run here. Damien gives us four on four there, or three on three back to the right. Either way, it’s a great formation to see on such short yardage.
4. (cont.) The linebacker I circled in blue followed Bester across the formation. You see him here turning his head back to where the play’s going. Earlier in the 1st quarter I noticed the backer following our motion, and undoubtedly our coaches did too since they used the motion on to take him out of the play. Damien’s getting ready to square up the safety for the block.
4. (cont.) There wasn’t a lot of room to draw on this shot, so bear with me. Damien made this play since he was technically sound on his block. Look at the little red arrow, and note that Damien’s head is on the safety’s upfield shoulder. Had his head been on the other side, then the player would have had a chance to slide off of the block and close the lane. Trevor goes right up behind Damien into that lane. I tried drawing on it, but it totally covered it up. Trevor’s beyond the marker before he gets contacted.
5. This play was a glimpse of what type of player that Trevor could grow into. He’s got a very clean pocket to set in, and just steps up and throws a laser to Saunders. There’s an escape route to the right if he needs it, but just a good lookin’ play on 3rd down.
6. A few weeks ago after the tech game, I posed the argument that when you get in jumbo formations it gives your outside receivers room to run, and more room to operate in space against defenders. There is no chance to bracket, since teams have to commit players to stop your run game. Here in the box, Iowa State has committed eight guys. It’s eight on eight since we have five o linemen, two fullbacks and a tailback to protect. Look at all of the space outside on both sides. It’s cover 1 with man coverage and a single high safety.
6. (cont.) As the play develops, you can see all three linebackers and the strong safety(four blue arrows) all within three yards of the line of scrimmage. Think about how lethal a legitimate tight end threat could be here. With our run game as dominant as it has been, it will give defenses fits once we have that dimension. Back to this play though, look at the clean pocket that we deliver, and Trevor is standing tall back there. You can see bester up in the corner(red arrow).
6. (cont.) And Trevor delivers a strike on time!
7. Humor me for a second on this one. Sorry Jalen, but I scribbled you and your defender out in the pale green dots. I wanted to show the space we would give Jaz to operate out there if Jalen was a tight end tight to the end of the line. You’d truly be putting that corner on an island out there with a ton of space to defend and no help inside since there’s no safety.
7. (cont.) This looks like a read option, but it’s really a called give. I circled Rip on this one, so you can see him going in to kick out the defender. As a staff, we’re either setting up something(I hope), or we don’t trust our Qb’s to make reads.
7. (cont.) Look at what happens if Trevor pulls the ball off of this. The defender (bottom blue arrow), has taken the bait inside and isn’t even paying attention to Trevor. Hopefully the coaches see this in film, and do an influence play where they give Trevor or Kendal the option to pull it or give it. You could give a defense fits on this look. Then, take it one step further and drag that imaginary tight end across the formation to have an option pass. Had Trevor pulled it here, he walks into the endzone.
8. This play is another example of telling your player where to go with the ball, rather than letting them see it and play. We run a fade to Bester. To me, a fade is a give up play. You’re taking 9 players out of it, and relying on your qb and receiver the fade is thrown to. As an o-lineman I always felt like the coaches didn’t trust us when they called a fade. In this example, Trevor has Clay and Saunders wide open. Clay would be one on one with the linebacker there, and Saunders is the most elusive guy on the team outside of Finch. It’s six to either one of them with a pump fake and letting Trevor look at it.
9. Showing six defenders here in the box, so it’s a good formation to run against. Also, if you’re going to run outside, going back to the numbers theory, you have three more players you have to be successful blocking(bottom side) vs. only one top side.
9. (cont.) Here’s what happens when you slow play a qb who’s a legitimate run threat. Kind of a death by a thousand cuts. The red path is where Damien gets upfield with the ball, while the big blue arrow is where Trevor goes had he kept it. The small blue arrow shows the defender trying to slow play Trevor, and he has no chance.
9. (cont.) Damien’s got six yards before they even know what hit em. Look at all of the green grass had Trevor pulled it.
10. The linebacker crashes down to take Damien on the next play. Trevor makes a bad read and gives the ball. If he keeps it, the blue line shows another missed opportunity. We really could have run for 600 yards on them if we execute better.
11. Only six in the box. A dream on 3rd and short.
11. (cont.) This has to be a called give. No way Trevor misses this read. Look at the right red arrow, and tell me that defender’s not coming down on the dive. Trevor could have run to Ardmore untouched if he keeps it.
11. (cont.) Great job by Damien, muscling up and getting the first down. On second thought, I bet Trevor gets to Denton before he’s touched.
12. Look at Colt running down the hash calling for the ball. He’s got a linebacker on him, and there couldn’t be a bigger mismatch. Again, don’t know if this is a called throw, or he just missed it. Blue arrows show body language of other defenders. Neither could have made the play on Bester if we get the ball to him. This is the stuff that Trevor can improve on in the offseason. He’s got the physical tools. Just needs time to see this stuff.
13. Gotta admit, that this is one of the gutsiest, ballsiest, decisions by a punt returner that I’ve seen in a while. Can you even see Jalen in this picture? Of course had this play gone south, then we’d be calling the decision something else. Sometimes you gotta let your playmakers make plays.
13. (cont.) True freshman, Ahmad Thomas with THE big block that sprung Jalen.
13. (cont.) He gone. Staff cheering and Eric Striker is cool.
The Football Brainiacs note to the reader: This play analysis is meant solely as an attempt to bring our readers closer to what’s happening on the field. This is not intended to demean or deprecate any player or the coaches. We all made mistakes and we all made plays just like any one of these fine young men. It’s part of the game and it is part of life and we wish them nothing but the best on the field and off.
Trench Warfare | OU vs. Iowa State (2nd Quarter)
Posted on: November 19, 2013
25 Comments
great breakdown…do you think the coaches are lacking faith in our qb’s to make the reads or do we not have the qb’s prepared enough to do it themselves?
Couldn’t say. Maybe it’s they believe they see something. I’m of the thought that you have to let guys go and make some mistakes. As long as there aren’t any turnovers, you live to fight another down.
Thanks,always look forward to these breakdowns.Good job.
Appreciate it!
Good stuff J!
Thanks man.
You should breakdown Trevor Knight’s 50+ yard TD run…I like what Rip was doing this game with his blocking and was the happiest all game when Kendall got him a TD pass
Agreed. I’d like to see that one as well.
Thanks Adrian. I plan on getting the second half up tomorrow. Lot of good stuff to see.
I’d also like to know moving forward (assuming Blake doesn’t play), if these Iowa State defenders just weren’t prepped for Trevor (and KSU will be) and the read option because of how poorly Blake has run it this year or if we just really executed well and as Andymancan20 said and you’ve been alluding to: Heup is just telling him hand it here, throw it here with no option for 2nd read.
Also is it just good scheming on our part or bad defense on Iowa State for having 6 in the box on 3rd & short more than once? seems almost like a gimme especially given our size/athlete advantage?
Nate,
thankks for the comment. Now that Landry’s gone, I can see that a lot of things that he got a bad rap for were called throws. Just like the fade. He’s being told where to go with the ball, give or keep etc. You cannot do that in my opinion. It stunts the growth of your people severely. Educate them and hold them accountable!
ok thanks for the info, how does he have this fantastic reputation of developing quarterbacks then if he’s handicapping their growth?? I really want Heup to succeed nothing like a previous quarterback come back to coach the offense…I mean the story writes itself, but good grief there’s a lot of information coming out this year and last about even questioning his development skills of a QB that was supposed to be a strong point. That’s not good news
Well to me, you gotta consider that Huep was a thrower all day. He’s always been part of a spread, air raid type offense. He may not feel comfortable with a run game like this.
Another great breakdown….I had heard through the rumor mill that almost everything is a called give or keep. I mean it is what it looks like. And also they didn’t want bell lowering his head too much which is sort of why he was so hesitant to run or power through guys. I don’t know how much truth there is to that but seems to make sense. Really glad our guys kept their heads up and played hard. They will need it for the next two games.
You’re right Jared. Some of them are definitely called gives.
Thanks Jared. Hopefully they Trust him after last week and give him a shot to run it.
Awesome information on this site! Not sure how long you guys have been around, but I just found you and am glad I did. Did it seem to anyone else that Rip has been running more TE routes lately or is it that I am just now noticing? Hopefully his TD isn’t an anomoly. Looking forward to the 2nd half breakdown.
Thanks man! Last week against Baylor was the first route run by a non Millard tight end I’ve seen.
Both TKs completions to Jalen and Colt were on in route type passes. Jalen ran either a dig or drag and Colt a skinny post. Much higher completion% on these type routes hope we see more of them. As both young QBs mature I hope we see more boots and sprint outs w/ run/pass option. Almost impossible to defend flood routes of qb is legit running threat too. No reason for a guard to get blown up like that on the draw play, I’m sure coach B had done words about that!
Yeah. It’s a big play if we hold our ground there
Looking forward to 3q and 4q. I’m curious to see if you find there are more actual read option plays and less called gives or keeps. That’s what it seemed to me. Also felt like Knight made mostly all correct decisions in the 2h. Thanks for these breakdowns.
From what I can see, THE biggest halftime adjustment was turning Trevor loose and letting him make the decisions. it opened things up for us for sure.
should have em up tonight
Good stuff JY! It was really good to see Trevor come in and play so confidently. I agree the coaches should let him loose…I really think he has the talent, just needs the experience and that can only come from learning on the job. Our season is pretty much over in terms of competing for any type of a championship so why not give him or KT game time experience to get them ready for a run next season.
Exactly