The Football Brainiacs

1. Alright.  Starting the 2nd quarter now. Look at all of the o-state defenders on the right side of the offensive formation.  If you block it perfectly you’ve got it matched, but if you go back left you actually have a numbers advantage with the qb and back in the run game.  We go right and get stuffed.

1. (cont.) The zone read is essentially the veer.  We ran this style of offense when I was in college at Missouri Southern.  I actually played the position that Daryl Williams is playing here.  Oddly enough we ran out of the open set quite a bit since Brad Cornelsen, our qb was a smaller version of Trevor.  Brad’s actually coaching at Memphis now on Justin Fuente’s staff. Anyway…I’m pointing at Daryl with the blue arrow.  I drew a red line to show the path that Daryl should have taken.  Look at his feet.  He’s going on a 45 degree angle and he’s beat already.  The defender on his outside shoulder is the player that the QB is reading, so he’s going to leave him unblocked unless he crosses his face down into the b gap.  Since he stayed outside here, Daryl has to step with his right foot first, be strong and get straight off the ball.  This would keep him outside, and make the block on that middle linebacker very easy.  Daryl loses that technique here, and since he steps down, the d-end pushes him down because defenders are taught “block down/close down”.  That means if the player you’re over blocks down, you close it down to prevent the gap from widening.  In not stepping correctly, Daryl allows that Mike linebacker to get over the top of him outside…

1. (cont.) Here you see that Daryl’s missed that linebacker, and now instead of Trevor and Sterling being one on one with the player I circled, they now have to deal with the mike as well.  Imagine the success of this play if Daryl makes this block.  So often it’s one missed block that stops the train.

1. (cont.) Even though the Mike didn’t make the tackle, he made the play.  If Trevor and Sterling are able to attack that outside we get the first down and maybe more.

2. Outside the punt return, not a lot to be optimistic about with 8:34 to go in the first half…yikes!

2. (cont.) We ended up going back right on this play, but I drew up how I would attack this front.  The d-end is making it easy for Derek, since he’s lined up on his inside eye(4i).  We could double the A-Gap left, have rip come around and lead on the backer, and Sterling would have the corner.  You go speed option here, you’re two on one with the safety out on the hash, and man you could put the hurt on em.  Look at all the orange jersey’s bottom side…which way would you go?

2. (cont.) Coming back right now, Brennan with great vision hops outside.  Check out Derek to the top left…looks pretty stout to me!

2. (cont.) Spielman said it during the broadcast, that the mark of a good back is that they’re always falling forward.  Has there been a steadier back for us in recent memory besides Clay and Chris Brown?

2. (cont.) Brennan putting a great stiff-arm on the defender to get seven yards.  To my earlier point, why wouldn’t you want to get him and Trevor out on a safety downfield?

3. Zone read to the right.  Check the d end who’s circled.  Trevor reads correctly and pulls the ball since the d end is leaning inside.

3. (cont.) This is the second time I’ve seen Trevor do this, and I don’t like it.  The red path is the path that he takes, but if he takes the blue path and gets north and south Right Now!  then that defender to his immediate left has no chance.  It’s also most likely a pretty big play.  Rip’s clearly pushing his man to the outside here, and Trevor…come on my man.  Hit the gas to the goal post!  He did this also on that first drive against Baylor and it cost us a first down.

3. (cont.) This is why it’s harder to coach really talented kids sometimes, because they trust their abilities more than the discipline you’re trying to teach em.  Trevor’s able to out run em to the sideline and pick up the first down.

4. One of the things I used to get sooooooooooooo  sooooooooooo very frustrated with Venables watching our defense is that we NEVER disguised our blitzes.  Here it looks like a very normal defense, but the safety I circled here is coming on a delay blitz…

4. (cont.) Against smart players, you have to fool em sometimes.  That’s exactly what happened to Brennan here.  No one shows early, so he commits down to help out his line, but by the time he realizes the delay blitz is on, it’s too late for em to get back outside.  Also, Nila’s lost his battle inside, and its a lot of pressure on Trevor.

5. Here’s one of Derek’s not so good plays.  He gets whistled for a hold here, but I thought it was a little ticky tack.  Check out his hands.  Get em up tight to your chest my man…off the snap he’s doing good staying square to the line of scrimmage…

5. (cont.) A blink later he’s opened the gate.  That means like on a swinging gate, he’s turned 90 degrees to his left.  You can see his numbers which isn’t good.  He needs to stay square here, and force that defender to stay outside.  By opening the gate, he actually gives the defender a shorter path to the qb.

5. (cont.) Right here is where he gets called for the hold since his head isn’t out in front of the defender…

5. (cont.) He’s able to recover a frame later, and he ends up burying the guy as he tries to put it in four wheel drive on em again.  Check out Bronson bowin up!

5. (cont.) Even though he got called for the hold, he probably taught that guy a lesson after makin em eat dirt here.  Yeah he got beat here, and had a hold, but it’s stuff you can fix.

6. Two plays later on the 3rd and 15, Derek’s initial pass set looked much better.  He’s still not using those hands though.  Look at the hands.  See how he’s catching instead of punching?  Derek, my man, those arms are tree trunks.  Use em to kill people.

6. (cont.) The parting of the orange puke…

6. (cont.) Trevor gets a gain of 13 to set up a fourth and two.

7. Man oh man did we ever luck out on this one.  We ran this back to the weakside of our formation, but they had six defenders to our three blockers!  When you outsmart em, I guess it doesn’t matter.  Look at the disparity in numbers left to right on the defensive front.

7. (cont.) I did say we lucked out, but you gotta give credit to the staff on a great play design.  Trevor’s givin or pitchin, but you know it was a called pitch all day here.  Get the ball in the hands of your best player(Saunders), and let em do work.

7. (cont.) You better calllll Tyrooooooone!  Cause Saunders takin it hoooooooome.

8. Just a nice off-tackle play here.  Daryl(blue arrow) does a great job locking his guy up.  Nila get’s off his feet here, but…

8. (cont.) A split second later he’s back on his feet and helping Brennan get a gain of 8!  You can’t help but love the effort and grit our guys played with Saturday.  They just fought their butts off.

9. I’m still baffled as to why Brannon Green doesn’t get more time.  Guy plays his butt off, hustles, catches when he’s thrown to, and here he’s smart.  The end slants across his face, so he washes him down.  Rule #1 when you’re on the end of the line of scrimmage in a veer/zone read offense is that you block the guy on your inside gap.  The guy outside you is the read.  If he crosses your face, take him down.  Great blocks all around by everyone here.

9. (cont.) Brennan doesn’t get contacted till he’s at the first down marker…

9. (cont.) And ends up with a gain of five…

10. Would you believe me if I told you this was a gain of nine?

10. (cont.) Brennan and Bronson just workin their tails off here…

10. (cont.) It’s a two on five fight, and come on guys!  Get up there and help out your back!  That’s your boy!  Get in there!

11. I would have ran this offtackle play till they stopped it.  We get a gain of five on 2nd and 1.  Look at Jalen blocking.

12. This front is why I’m convinced we need some checks at the line of scrimmage.  We have no one lined up over our left tackle, our tight end or our wingback.  How can you not just say we’re going left?  It’s a called give too…

12. (cont.) Cause there’s no way if Trevor’s reading this that he gives it.  The end crashes hard, and you’re one on one with the corner.  How I know it’s a called give is look at Rip chasing back down inside.  If he doesn’t know it’s a give, he’s out leading on that corner, and on the keep Trevor walks in untouched to put us up 14-10, and he doesn’t get hurt on the next play.

13. Look at that picture perfect pocket.  The announcer, Sean McDonough, says “Trevor Knight, straight back to pass…Flushed from the pocket”  But why?  There is no one breaking through there.  He’s gotta be more disciplined and hang in there…

13. (cont.) By rolling left, he negated Clay’s leverage on 91 left circle and Bronson’s on #38.  Just sit back there and let your guys work open.  He goes and rolls outside, right into pressure and ends up getting hurt.  People blame the o line for “all the pressure” that o-state got here, but there was none.  Man that ticks me off!