The Football Brainiacs

Better late than never. Sorry this took so long but I made it in before the K. State game. If you just don’t feel like reading the whole thing then at least do an old trench man a favor and scroll down to the bottom to get a quick glimpse of Marrs and Farniok.

1. I really like the action on this play.  Trevor reverses out, which I haven’t seen us do a lot of this year.  That hides the ball for a split second, and sets up the counter play.  Shead is the blue line pulling around with kick out responsibilities and Ikard is going to clean the hole.  Rip does a great job washing his guy down as he crosses his face.

1. (cont.) With any other back, this play doesn’t go for nine like it did.  The two red arrows both have a shot at Finch, but neither of them get him.  We didn’t block this one very cleanly, but because of Finch’s elusiveness and vision, he’s able to make both of them miss in not a lot of space and get upfield.

1. (cont.) Here a frame later, look at those same two guys from the picture before.  Just makin folks look bad.  Come on Roy!  Don’t be doin em dirty like that!

2. You know I couldn’t go a whole week without talking about outnumbering people at the point of attack!  I’m not sure what Iowa State was doing with their front here, as I would go A-5-9 strong, with a 3 and 5 backside.  By shading the nose to the right side of Ikard, they just made it easy for us.  I love the formation with Nila at the tight end spot, and Brannon at the wing.  We’re under center here, and with the fullback, we outnumber them playside 6-5.

2. (cont.) Right off the snap we got em blown up.  By shading that nose to the backside A gap, Ikard is able to “block back” on him, allowing Irwin to pull around.  Everyone blocks down playside, while Rip just heads straight up to the end man on the line of scrimmage on the kickout.  You see great blocks by him, Brannon and Bronson squaring the backer up in the hole.    Damien’s looking at I-35 North here as he’s off and running!

2. (cont.) A little head-fake inside is all Damien has to give em.  It makes him stop his feet just a bit.  See the safety leaning back to our right?  He’s afraid of the cutback, when he should be respecting Damien’s speed.  Why I didn’t count the safety in the numbers frame earlier is because you expect your tailback to be able to win one on one matchups with the safety.  That’s why a great open field tackler at safety is such a hot commodity, and conversely, a tailback that can make em miss is just as valuable.

2. (cont.) Speed Kills.

3.Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for….Kendal Thompson!!!!!

What I missed watching this live was how good a ball fake this was.  No doubt pops taught him some finer points of option football for sure.  In the next frame you’ll see just how impressive KT carries this thing out.  What’s nice here is that even if Kendal gives the ball, Finch has a ton of room to roam.  Just a very well blocked play.

3. (cont.)  Check the D end…homeboy is turned completely around while Kendal still has the ball.  Look at Finch’s running lanes in green if we gave.  O line needs some good cigars after this game.

3. (cont.) After figuring out that Roy doesn’t have the ball, it’s all over but the cryin’ for our friend at defensive end.  Kendal has his foot in the ground and he’s headin’ north!

3. (cont.) Kendal executes a move that’s a lost art for a lot of runners.  This is called a “soft-shoulder cut”.  See the body language of the defender?  His momentum is going outside towards the hash.  His “soft-shoulder” is the one back inside where Kendal goes.  The reason we call it that is since the defender’s weight and strength are leaning to the outside, the side of him with less power(his soft-shoulder) is away from his momentum.  This is how you break tackles easily and get more positive yards.  Great runners just have a feel for this.  Trevor set the guy up on his td earlier cutting back inside to his soft-shoulder as well.  Kendal makes it look so effortless and smooth here.  It was refreshing to see.

4. People have been talking all week about how bad Kendal looked as a passer.  #SMH…when I saw Kendal, I was very impressed.  He was confident, and man he threw a pretty ball.  Saying that Kendal has learned how to “spin” it would be very accurate.  You can tell that he’s put in a lot of work getting better as a thrower.  He stood tall, stepped into the throw, and while it wasn’t out in front of Bester, I like that he saw it quickly and got the ball out.  A lot of guys would have tried to make the perfect throw, and ended up overthrowing it, but Kendal recognized that Bester had his guy beaten badly.  I can hear my old college roommate who was our QB saying, “all you gotta do is just put it out there!”  “The guy is wide open.”  That in and of itself is a great decision in my opinion, because he focused on making the completion first.  Subconsciously it tells us fat guys blocking that our QB believes in us because he’s saying…hey guys we’re gonna get the first down and completion first, because I know you guys got me for the rest of the drive.  Love Kendal as a QB.  It’s gonna be an interesting spring for sure.

4. (cont.) I wanted to show how tight of a spiral and pretty ball that Kendal actually threw here, but you may not be able to see it very well.  Something I also noticed was that the coaches didn’t scale back the playbook late in the game.  They were actually giving Trevor and Kendal real reps to see how they were going to do.  If I were a betting man, I’ll bet we see both of them this weekend in Manhattan.  I’d love to see Kendal and Trevor on the field at the same time.  One of em at the slot running an option going the other way off the reverse…whoa nelly!

5. Kendal executes another great fake here on the option.  The small blue arrow shows the d end leaning inside again.  Kendal stumbles just a bit as he’s reading the play, and if he doesn’t, it’s six.

5. (cont.) Because he stumbled a little, you see how flat he has to get.  That slight pause gives the d-end just enough time to get back out to get him.  Still, Kendal’s so darn fast that he gets a 10 yard gain on the play.  The tiny blue line with the x is where I believe KT would have been had his feet not got crossed up.  Look at all that green grass up by the squiggly line that he runs into if he clears that d end.  Kendal probably saw it opening up, and for that microsecond thought to himself that I’m gonna get my first td.  They’ll come big man, keep bangin.

6. There’s a lot going on in play action.  With a guy as good as Kendal is at ball fakes, and running, the bind you can put on a defense is for real.  Rip does a good job selling the fake.  Right off the snap he goes charging at the corner to act like he’s going to block.  Kendal and Roy are carrying out the zone read fake in the backfield.  All three defenders(blue arrows) have bitten.  Look at their heads.  There’s no way they can see what’s going on with Rip.  Conversely, Kendal’s eyes never come off of Rip.

6. (cont.)  You hear it in basketball about what players do without the ball in their hands.  Roy sells the fake hard here, and this is one of those little things that your everyday fan doesn’t see, but the coaches do.  Are you playing as hard without the ball in your hands as you are when you have it.  Roy makes this play as much as anyone here. Rip is off the fake, and into his route, while the three defenders still think it’s run.

6. (cont.) While Aaron’s busy scoring his first TD, look at the hands of the ISU defenders.  Obvious bewilderment.  The bottom guy shows it best when he’s like really guys?  Really well executed play by a lot of different guys for us.

7. I wanted to watch these last two plays to see Kyle Marrs (RT) and Derek Farniok (LT).  I’ve been an advocate of both young men since we signed them, while a lot of sooner fans don’t think they can get it done.  What I know about offensive linemen that need time to develop is that just because they need a little time doesn’t mean they’re bad players.  I speak from experience because I went through the same thing.  Kyle’s just a second year player while Derek’s been here three.  These two guys are the types of guys that Wisconsin and Stanford make a living off of.  Year in and year out they have solid offensive lines because guys earn their spots in those programs.  They may take three and sometimes even four years to get ready, but those two and three years they get, they take advantage of.  The difference is, that after a redshirt and two or three years in the program, you get ticked off and you grow up a bit.  You understand that you need to take your spot, and you develop an ability to get nasty.  These two guys are going to be fine. On this play Derek gets a little high, but neither of them stop their feet and finish the play strong.

7. (cont.) On the next play, you see Kyle (top arrow) on the down block and Derek on the inside out technique.

7. (cont.) Kyle never stops his feet and drives his guy down about four or five yards.  Derek stays with his guy keeps him out of the play.  What I liked about Kyle’s film in high school was that while he wasn’t very strong in his upper body, he rarely fell down.  He always stayed on his feet.  I knew he was raw and needed some time to develop, but I saw a mauler in waiting, a kid who played hard and was able to stay on his feet.

7. (cont.) Alex Ross got a gain of 12 on the play.  Check the defender on the ground to the right of the ref.  That’s who he ran over.  Oh yeah, he ran behind Kyle Marrs for a gain of 12.  Not too bad for an o lineman that isn’t any good.