Trench Warfare | OU vs. OSU (3rd Quarter)
Posted on: December 21, 2013
First off. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this second half up and running. Working in the transportation business right before Christmas isn’t the most user friendly time of year if you’re trying to find a couple of hours to put these together. Couple that with family obligations, and let’s just say it’s been a little crazy.
1. Anyway, the first play of the second half, Kendall Thompson’s in for the injured Trevor Knight. We go downtown to Bester and get it picked. In this picture, Colt is circled in blue. Saunders is the probably your best option here as he has the most separation(right red circle). We could have probably checked down to Shep as well. Not sure I understand the play call though, first meaningful snap in a big game for Thompson, and we call a pass? Sometimes we seem like we outsmart ourselves. I realize they’d never suspect us to throw coming out with a backup, but who cares. Run the dang ball! Kendal’s the most dynamic runner at the qb position we have…
2. The refs in this game had a tough day. Bad calls for both teams, and it seemed like all day we couldn’t get a decent spot. They even reviewed this play and upheld it. Now I’ve never been to referee school, but come on! This is just ridiculous.
3. I like how they put their lone championship on the far right of the big wall like they expect they’re going to get more….how cute.
4. A couple of big mistakes happened on this play:
a. Either it was a called keep or a missed read. In my opinion, if you’re running the option, you can’t call pitches or gives. Let the guy read. If it was a true read, Kendal should have given it. Check the blue arrow. Two outside defenders, and neither are crashing hard. Give the stinkin ball!
b. Derek has to let those guys go outside of him and crash down onto the mike. If we give it to Clay and Derek blocks the mike backer it’s likely a big play since the safety’s heading outside.
4. (cont.) If Derek blocked that player right behind him closest to the blue line, Clay has a huge lane to run through and it’s probably a td if we give the ball and block it correctly.
5. Coming back after the punt, we go downtown on first down. Nice protection on the play. Kendal just overthrows it by a hair.
6. One of the things I used to love about watching Dan Marino, and now Peyton Manning is their pocket presence. Neither one of em could run out of sight in three days, but they’re both masters at finding the space in the pocket. They both understand the protection. Here, Kendal has to step up in the pocket and get behind Clay. Clay blocks the guy, and the blue arrow illustrates the path Kendal should have taken. If you’re going to take off, take off to the side of your guys. This is another reason I know we’re not counting defenders and looking for weak spots in the alignment…
6. (cont.) If we were, then Kendal wouldn’t roll to the side that puts you out of the frying pan and into the fire. He’s totally negated the leverage that all of his blockers have, and I’m sorry my man, but we can’t help you out there. Get up in here behind us and let us do work. Back behind Clay, they ain’t nobody home. Kendal most likely goes for the first down.
7. We’re really going to miss Jalen. I love the leadership right here. Chatting up his young qb making sure they’re on the same page coming off of the sideline.
7. (cont.) Very good protection for Kendal as he steps up and throws a strike to Brannon Green. Kendal looked really smooth and under control on this play.
7. (cont.) Tell me again why Brannon doesn’t get more balls thrown his way?
8. Here’s the double reverse: Just like backs do on counter plays, Jalen(bottom) takes a jab step towards the line of scrimmage to set up the timing. Shep just turns and goes, so that he’s a split second ahead of Jalen for the exchange.
8. (cont.) I was going to draw on this one, but it would have cluttered it up too much. What I need you guys to do is to look at all of the orange jerseys turned and running towards the bottom of the screen. Almost all of them are sucked inside that top hash…
8. (cont.) I’d like Derek to turn and block back down inside. All he’s doing by chasing that guy outside is cluttering up Jalen’s path. If Kendal hadn’t been there to make the block, then give Jalen space to make a move on the guy. Derek would have picked up someone working inside out. Big ups to Kendal making THE block that sprung Jalen.
8. (cont.) #52 who’s running on the “3” in the 30 yard marker is most likely the guy that Derek would have blocked had he worked inside out. Then that would have given Jalen the ability to cut it back behind Ikard who’s hustling downfield to make a block…
Great hustle by Bronson on this play as well
9. This is just straight ahead iso against a perfect front for it. Heup coming up with the perfect play call. We just gotta execute it. Rip(blue) is leading on that top backer, and Nila(red) has got to make the block on the bottom backer. Nila has to understand that the linebacker is going to fill towards the play. Instead of stepping with his right foot, he needs to step with his left foot to get himself in position to make this block. If he does, then Brennan cuts off of his back and walks into the endzone untouched since there isn’t a safety there.
9. (cont.) We see in this picture how Nila understands that he’s missed while Rip has his guy locked up. Look at the alley if we block this correctly. Still ain’t nobody home. Come on man!
10. Very early on in this play, Ikard gets beat, and Bell has to get out on the run…
10. (cont.) He showed very surprising change of direction, and there are times that Bell just wows you.
10 (cont.) This is one of those times, because as he’s rolling to his left, he’s on the run and drops a dime in there with touch to Brannon Green…
10 (cont.) Great concentration by Brannon getting his feet down…
10 (cont.) But ya gotta secure the ball bro. Could have been called helmet to helmet there too.
11. Going against numbers, this is a great call coming back left. Only three defenders left and 8 back right.
11. (cont.) 3 on 3 to the left…The tight end in the pattern is Taylor McNamara
11. (cont.) Bothun with a great touch pass on the run, and MONEYcutt with the nice catch.
11. (cont.) Ball still secure as he’s going down after taking the big hit…
12. The man outside of Green top side is crossing his face down into the C gap. I know it’s a called give, because if it isn’t, then Bell isn’t giving it. He’s not giving it because the outside defender is completely turned and coming down hard. If it’s a read, it’s a pull all day…
12. (cont.) And if it’s a pull all day, it’s most likely a good play. Maybe Bob doesn’t want to get his qb’s hurt, but for the life of me I don’t understand by week 12, why we haven’t taken the cuffs off of the qbs in the read game. Sterling’s most likely going to make that block to the top right, and while Bell isn’t a speedster, he’s been durable over the last couple of years. Turn em loose coach!
30 Comments
JY: Great stuff, as always!!!!
Thanks Connie!
Yes, great breakdown, and terrific analysis.
thanks!
As always this is just awesome. Loved your sometimes it like we out smart ourselves. JY would you say this mentality of “out smarting” is why we have no real identity? It seems like we spend way more time trying to do the opposite of what people think we should do. If we should run the ball OL over a team we try and pass it every down or of we being in our most dynamic running QB we go play action. As a coach don’t you want to impose your will on the other team? I hate to say it and I have never asked for another coach to leave but I kind of hope heup takes the Arkansas state job or something. This play calling just baffles me. Get someone who will take he cuffs off players, impose will, and put players in position to win on plays.
Overall Heuple called a good game..Just because a few plays are questionable isn’t a reason to get all baffled..Keep in mind he’s dealing w three different qbs in one game. In practice each will show better success in different areas of the play book. In practice some of these plays most likely are successful. We can’t know for fact that the qb is not allowed to read…they could have made the wrong decisions on some of these plays and then it comes down to execution..also when we try to impose our will on the other team they load the box. This is why we ended with Blake…because the run game wasn’t really imposing it’s will
I disagree, because either we’re teaching them how to read incorrectly or there called gives or keeps. Quoting Sheriff Buford T. Justice….”There ain’t no way….no way..” that all three qb’s miss the same reads over and over week after week. They have to be calls.
Ahhh, very wise big guy!
JD I’m not saying that we Heup called awful game or tht we Gould run when their is 8+ is the box. What we have been able to see all yer as a pattern are the very things JY is pointing out. The choice to go deep on first play is just a gimmick call for a guy that had not thrown a single pass in the game. Also how many times have we seen JY point out that we run to where the def. Has more numbers. I agree that if our QB’s are being told to keep or give because both Kendall and Knoght ran zone read in HS. The reads they are “missing” are basic. It’s not this game that make me frustrated it’s the whole season.
As for identity we have not had one in 2 years. We don’t know what we want to do, and when it is obvious what we should do we often do the opposite in our outsmart ourselves strategy. The only identity we have is no TE use ever. Maybe I am wrong I just don’t think Josh is ready yet.
Heup needs to be replaced with an elite level play caller. I don’t think he can handle both QB coaching and play calling.
Well if Colt is wide open and it’s a big play, then we’re singing the praises of Heupel on how smart he was. There for a time in the third quarter it was a string of three and outs after the defense continued to get stops. We had kept the ball for over the last eight minutes of the 2nd quarter and had shown we can run the zone read on them, so I wasn’t that concerned when Kendal came in. I thought we’d continue in the zone read game and exploit that weakness we had found just a quarter before. We got lucky that O-State couldn’t take advantage of the extra possessions.
Even if Bester isn’t wide open and he hits Jalen for a good gain, as he should have, it’s still a big play, IMHO. You’re gonna get overwhelmed by Heupel hate, here, I fear, but I think it was a fairly gutsy call. Underdog, tie game, on the road, desperately needing to loosen the d with some passes, I don’t think it was a horrible choice. I understand the issue that it was Kendal’s first play, and it’s easy to criticize in hindsight cause it had the worst possible result, but I don’t think you beat OSU under those conditions by being timid, and I really liked the aggressiveness of it.
I get what you’re saying, and it’s an interesting way of looking at it for sure.
Excellent break down. Love your point about letting the QBs make the decision on the reads, especially in the last instance with Bell. As invested as OU is in the read game, the QBs have to be given that latitude when they see an alignment they can exploit. Good stuff JY.
‘preciate it Ed!
You guys do a really excellent job here. I am sure you have seen some sporaduc comments from me thus far. I just wanted to get a feel for this site, and the fans also. I pretty muched followed Jordan here from ccm. But I hope to become more involved from here on out comment wise. Just wanted to say you guys run a very informative and classy site here.
Thanks sir!
Nice break down. I think Nila is going to be a really good guard once he understands the small things that you pointed out. Too often I see him chasing his man or looking for someone to block. But, dang if he isn’t nasty mean when he gets a bead on a guy. I appreciate his effort and love his attitude; he only get better.
This is why it’s imperative that upper classmen and/or guys who have been around the program a long time are your starters in my opinion. Getting those mental reps and understanding where defenders are going to be based on the play call and the front are going to make you a half a step faster and allow you to bend the defense to your will as an offensive line.
Nice timing JY. I don’t mind rehashing the memory of bedlam 🙂
Yeah, for sure. Any time I can bring up bad memories for puke fans it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Great job. Horrible use of Kendal, should have him ride and decide until the pass game opens. I don’t like the way plays have been called for most games. We should use our strength based on alignments and groupings, instead it appears we are calling plays based on what we think the defense might be thinking. This isn’t chess, it’s about lining up and whipping the s.o.b. across from you.
Great write up, I really like how detailed you’re able to get when it comes to blocking schemes. There may be nothing better then being able to relive the fake field goal just because it brings me back to Stoops early days.
“7. (cont.) Tell me again why Brannon doesn’t get more balls thrown his way?” Because Heuple.
Funny statement about the big 12 sign. Lol. I also noticed the obnoxious line on top of the score/stat bar. Was that there the entire game? like the result was predetermined …but then again we’re talking about espn. ..
I just loved smacking them away from the table. The they clinch the big 12 with win was there most of the day. Annoyed the heck out of me.
It was there even on the last OSU drive.
All season we watched our qbs hold onto the ball waiting for recievers to open up. I wonder how often what happened in play breakdown #10 occurred this season. Bell is scrambling for his life while clay and another reciever have run into each other five yards down field. Was this the result of the scramble or bad route running by the recievers? I cannot remember if Clay lined up in the backfield on this play or not. Earlier in the game two WRs were in the same spot and we got away with one. Nice work on the breakdowns. Cannot wait to see the fourth quarter.
Thanks west coast!
Man these are awesome, I’ll join the resounding choir of praises for your work breaking down film. Have y’all thought about doing one of these on how to best attack Bama’s defense? That would be interesting, as many “experts” have already annointed Bama with a blowout win.
Yes we have, and I plan on getting rolling this week!