The Football Brainiacs

Hey guys.  Sorry it’s taken until now to get this up, but as some of you know, we moved across town over the weekend.  With that man cub had my I-Pad, which I now can’t find, and I had to use his to get this part up.  I think I know where it is, but my apologies for the lack of cropping etc.

 

What I loved about the defense Saturday is we saw some looks we haven’t seen.  Here we have two deep safeties with every DB up tight on the receivers.  While it’s not quite press coverage, the 98 yard cushion wasn’t there.  Also the four down look was nice with a spy technique by Kenneth Murray.

 

 

You’ve heard me say before that OL is about playing “with your eyes”.  Look at Creed humphrey in the middleand Carson Meier up top.  Look at their heads.  They’re both looking up to the 2nd level to cut off those linebackers.  That’s a heck of a tough block for a center, and the young freshman does it with ease.  The threat of Kyler Murray keeping it freezes em to help set it up.

 

 

Hollywood is in in a crossing pattern with Lee Morris coming in the opposite direction.  Hollywood is fast enough without getting help from a “rub route”.  What that means is that because Morris is occupying space, his route will “rub” or occupy defenders.  At the line of scrimmage it’s legal but downfield, if you make contact offensively it’s offensive pas interference.  What also makes this offense so difficult to defend, is that #12 for TCU is having to navigate traffic to cover Hollywood.  Also, if the bottom green arrow defender busts and turns to run with Brown, then your back is wide open in the flat.  Simple but lethal design.  Oh and by the way, great protection up front.

 

 

Oklahoma loves to run the counter play to death.  Knowing TCU loves to send the backside guy, to shut down the counter, Riley put a little wrinkle on it.  It’s still counter action up front, but he put an RPO on it.  Run-Pass Option.  This is the look that Flowers gave teams fits with last year.  See Meier and the defender attached by the green line?  If that linebacker crashes the middle on the counter action, Murray has Meier for a quick pass.  Kyler also has the option to keep it and run, or give it.  This prevents an aggressive defense like Patterson’s from crashing the backside and forcing the issue.  TCU plays it straight up and it’s a nice gain up the gut.

 

 

Here a tick later you can see Sermon getting through there.  There’s the linebacker who stayed outside on Meier.  That’s the guy who Murray’s reading.

 

 

TCU has 6 defenders right of center with OU having four blockers.  To even out that numbers matchup, you have to pull two guys on the counter over there.  You have Meier at Tight End with Calcaterra lined up in a wingback spot.  Powers is going to pull across and kick out the d-end, while Evans is going to get up in there and swab the hole.  Meier is blocking down on the 5, and Calcaterra is up on the linebacker pointing his finger.  Ford is going to take the Middle backer.  With a QB like Murray you have to defend so many things, and both Meier and Calcaterra are threats in the pass game.  It prevents the linebackers from flying up.

 

 

But nothing prevents them from flying back!  Evans straight mashes his guy, while Cody mauls his man and Meier is up in the end zone with his guy too.  Sermon finishes with physicality, and while you want to say Oklahoma is a finesse team, there isn’t anything pretty about this for the defense.  Just a whole lot of pity.  Stay tuned for part two.

 

 

I know everyone has been chompin at the bit wanting to see the defense.  The guys definitely looked more active and decisive.  At the core of the defense is to stop the other team from scoring.  It’s really simple, but it can be complex.  To eliminate thinking and allow your athletes to run, be decisive and fast is the mark of a good leader.  Ruffin McNeil gets my Grown Ass Man award this week.  Final score had TCU w/27.  Had a kickoff return for a TD, so now you have 20 pts.  The Turpin tunnel screen that popped was just catching OU in the right d at the right time with the right call.  They were blitzing to that side and it popped.  Then short field after short field on some special teams mishaps put the D in a bad spot.  Still it’s improvement.

 

 

What I liked was that the guys were reacting and playing on TCU’s side of the line of scrimmage.  The safety is coming up to match up with the back, and Mann, on the outside is reading the QB to keep him contained.

 

 

While he didn’t get a sack, the Sooners had pressure on the QB most of the day.  Mann was on top of Robinson before he could set his feet.  Bolton had the correct angle and would have got him for a big loss had he pulled it down and taken off.  This was just sound defense.

 

 

Then there are three defenders around the receiver.  There weren’t any wide open guys this weekend.  DB’s were turning and running with em, and forcing the Frog QB’s to make throws.

 

 

Ruff also mixed up the looks.  While this looks like a four-man front, it’s actually 3 with Bolton (blue arrow) in a blitz look.  Most of the time, the LB isn’t going to show this early over a guard and actually come.  You’ll see a loop or something like that or him back out and the other backer come.

 

 

But Bolton’s such a good pass rusher, that the Sooners just lined him up in a stand up 3 and let him have at that guard.  He’s so quick, that the guard and the back didn’t have a chance.  Him occupying two guys gives Mann a free run inside, and again not a sack, but getting the QB off schedule to force a bad throw.

 

 

Haughton should have had the pick.  The Sooners could have had a few more turnovers than they did, but the good news is that they WERE IN POSITION to make those plays.  Again you have pressure on the QB with multiple DB’s around the receiver and no free runners.

 

 

Tre Brown is step for step with Turpin with perfect coverage over the top.  He has safety help too as shown in the previous pic, but Tre is a flat out DAWG.  His speed and attitude can match up with anybody in the country.  Kid’s a baller.

 

 

A reader asked about how much of an impact this pick that wasn’t had.  Well, had Bookie picked this off and housed it, I bet the O coordinator for TCU reins in Collins a bit.  The deal with a backup QB coming in is that you’ve scouted the tendencies of the starter.  Which way does he like to throw.  When he escapes pressure, which side of the pocket does he go to.  Etc Etc.  When you don’t know much about the backup it takes a minute to dial it in.  Still, Bookie could have put him to bed early.  What I like though is how quickly he diagnosed it, and how decisive he was.  As soon as the receiver goes lateral, Bookie jumped it.  Foot is in the ground and he’s attacking.

 

 

And the thing about it, is he’s going to start making these plays.  These are plays he made in hs in his sleep.  He came in with so much hype, and now he’s actually playing in a spot at nickel where he can blanket those slot guys.  He’s a cover guy all the way, not a safety like he was playing.  He’s going to come up big in some big spots in the future.

 

 

Since Texas and Army had so much success Running, TCU decided to go Wildcat with a tight end right and a wing.  In the past we would only see a 3 man front.  Ruff is having none of that and puts four down linemen with two linebackers walked up on the edge.  You’ve got 4i, 7 and 9 bottom with 0, 3, 5 to the top.  Every gap is secured with a lot of horsepower.  After seeing this it gives me hope for this weekend because K State is on the record saying they’re gonna come out and attack the Sooners physically.  We will see a lot of Wildcat and QB run game.  Had the Sooners done this against Army and Texas I believe the results would have been much different.

 

 

After the ball was snapped, look at how much penetration there is.  Gallimore and the other DT I believe Bledsoe have beaten their guys to the bottom.  Bookie’s in place to come up and take the pitchman while we still have contain on the outside.  The Green arrows show the rest of the guys coming up on the backside being decisive, with tight coverage on the 20 to the top.  Just look at how the Sooners have “re-set” the line of scrimmage.  6 guys behind the line of scrimmage with no one getting pushed back.  Give Ruff time to work with em some more.  This could get fun.  Boomer!