The Football Brainiacs

We received a question from a reader who asked:

“Can you diagnose the few times we ran the zone read play where Blake handed off instead of keeping even though it looked wide open? Did he make the correct reads? I suppose not or he was told just to hand off and it wasn’t really a read. If he does run, is there open space to run?”

We counted 2 read option plays and, while it’s perhaps debatable, it appeared to us that we could have kept the ball on at least one of those plays if not both.

The first read option play appears at the end of the 1st quarter. Before this play is even run it seems destined to fail. Oklahoma is in 10 personnel (1 RB, 0 TEs) with 4 WRs. Texas is going to walk 2 safeties down into the box and play man coverage across the board without any safety help. We’ve got 5 guys blocking and they’ve got 7 in the box. And we’re going to hand the ball off to Clay who will run into the short side of the field but also into the side with more numbers because that middle LB is going to scrape to the strong side (to our right) and the safety is going to eventually make the tackle in the backfield. They’re daring us to throw it here.

The other issue is you’ve got that field side safety there to make sure that if Bell does keep the ball he’s in position to make the tackle. In the image below you’ll see Bell reading the defensive end. The defensive end is slow playing bell. He’s not really staying home and he’s not fully committing to the hand of. He thinks he’s quick enough to make up ground if Bell does keep it. As a side note, if this is Kendall or Knight that defensive end is done and dusted. If either of them keep it and the  D End slow plays it then its one on one with the safety and a lot of green grass. We think that D End is still playing too far inside and with a good enough fake Bell beats that D End or worst case scenario the D End gets an arm on him which we all know isn’t going to be enough to bring Bell down. If that happens then Bell is one on one with Adrian Phillips, the Texas safety. Phillips is about 5’11 205 and Bell is 6’6 250. You tell us who wins that one on one battle. Even if Phillips manages to make that tackle it isn’t after he gets a healthy dose of pain and we fall forward for a few yards.

Instead you see Clay running into a lot of burnt Orange jerseys and we lose yards and perhaps more importantly we don’t dish out any pain.

The second, and last, time we see the read option play comes at 8:46 in the 2nd quarter. This time we’re going to have more favorable numbers. Texas only has 6 in the box. That safety over by the referee initially looks like he’s going to come down but he bails at the last minute.

Again, the D End that Bell is reading is going to slow play him and though you can’t see it very well in the image below, a frame later that D End is going to float even further towards the boundary. You can see his weight leaning heavily inside already. This play feels like a keeper. You’ve got all that green grass, you’ve got a D End leaning inside and you’re on one with a backer if you keep it.

A few frames later you’re going to see that our O-line actually blocks the play for Clay beautifully but the unblocked D End is too far inside by the time Clay gets the ball and he’s going to be there waiting on Clay.

This play also really highlights how dangerous Trevor or Kendall would have been in the zone read. Texas is playing man free here and the safety isn’t high at the snap so it isn’t like they aren’t trying to protect themselves against the run. But if you’ve got a quick guy like Knight or Kendall running this play. Its pedal to the floor and there is no way that D End or even that backer make the play on a keeper.

We want to thank the reader for the question. And as always if you’ve got a question, a suggestion, or want us to take a look at something please comment or email us and we’ll try to oblige.

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.