Shawn Watson Serves Longhorn Veal

Longhorns fans are upset. It’s understandable. Many began the season expectant of a new spread offense, but what it appeared fans were treated to instead was a more narrowly focused version of an already defunct offense the staff installed last season. So, what’s changed? Well, it is now run primarily from the shotgun, a welcome change. Gone are the multiple formations involving tight ends, H-backs, and fullbacks. In those formations’ place are combinations of 3 and 4 wide receiver sets operating mostly out of a one running back environment. So, let’s take a look at some things run last Saturday.

It all starts up front with the “big uglies”, the offensive line. Joe Wickline’s charges were handily whipped by a talented Notre Dame front comprised of future draft picks and in a couple cases, two whole years or more of added maturity. This unit has to be right and it’s current state makes you wonder if they’d be an average FCS unit, let alone an average FBS unit. It’s here where we will begin.

Below are images of what appears to be an overmatched offensive line. One of the things I was looking for was good combination blocks by the guards and center. In the first shot you see left guard Sed Flowers and center Taylor Doyle pairing to help the guard gain control of the defensive tackle. In short, they fail and Flowers is unable to at least maintain his position and gives up penetration. Right guard Patrick Vahe isn't doing too well himself, allowing the defensive tackle to turn him. This was the story of the day. The offensive line remains a pointed weakness.

Up next, is what looks like a line, running back, and quarterback confused about their assignments. It's tough to tell who's wrong in this case, but the play looks to be going left based on the offensive line and quarterback, but the running back is headed straight. Perhaps this was a missed option left call. So, above is an offensive line failing to stand their ground physically and below is an offense as a whole or the running back failing in assignment, a delightfully toxic football cocktail. FIX THIS!!!

The above images stand as examples of run blocking gone awry. Now, we get a glimpse of what the quarterback and the pass game was faced with. The time between the two shots below is about 1 second. The assignments are taken care of, but as you can see, the offensive line allows the pocket to compress, forcing the quarterback to scramble and throw the ball away, a smart decision. You'll also note, the call kept the back in and the only quick-breaking route is being covered by two men, my gosh. What is a quarterback to do? Many times it's best to release a back to afford the quarterback an immediate option against pressure. 

For the most part, many teams run the same concepts. It’s how they’re taught and woven into the offensive framework that may differ. Let’s take a gander at some of the concepts run against a very stingy (currently) Notre 

Dame defense.

Here is Swoopes' first zone read play of the game. The read defender is the weak side linebacker. The tight end is "kicking out" the   force player on the edge by making him cover him. Swoopes makes the correct read as the weak side linebacker cheats inside to stop the interior run. The offensive line does a fair job, at least standing their ground and occupying the defensive line. Also, there is a "POP" pass option to throw to the tight end should the force player blitz on the play.

The jet sweep play should be familiar. It was a part of the "old" offense. You know, the awful one Texas ran last season. The blocking on this play starts okay, but notice the ensuing carnage a mere second later. The offensive line needs to stand their ground and sustain their blocks at least a half second longer. Contrast this with the similar sweep play Notre Dame scored on in the 1st half, you'll probably notice a difference. 

Another zone read that is doomed as the right guard is driven back 3 yards and the H-back whiffs on the edge defender.

And another on a 3rd and 1, notice AGAIN how the offensive line is driven backward by the Notre Dame front, frustrating.

The next shots were a rare occurrence during the game, a clean pocket. However, the route concept left the quarterback without a viable throw. A question, if the packaged play is meant to clarify what the middle linebacker is doing, and if he vacates, why doesn't the opposite side have a route or sight-adjustment planned to break into that void? Make the read player wrong! That is a missed opportunity in game planning in my opinion. Also, keep the vacated middle in mind, it comes up again later.

Swoopes' day was not easy. The call here is a running back slow screen and it's identified and destroyed by the defense. The very idea that Texas remains inept attacking defenses vertically boggles the mind, something I've counted against Watson for some time. Then again, I just spent time showing you terrible pass protection, what gives?

Lastly, Swoopes' bad day included unforced errors as well. Here, he sails a pass over a wide open single-covered Armanti Foreman on a hitch route, bottom of the screen. The quarterback MUST execute when a clean window and throw presents itself, especially when things aren't going well.

Now, on to some shots of Texas' current backup quarterback, Jerrod Heard.

Behold, a well-blocked zone run, for the most part. This time, they block all the defensive linemen and constrain the linebacker on the backside with a bubble screen, simple yet effective.

Another zone play with a read on the backside alley defender. Gray manages to make the best of a pileup at the line of scrimmage to keep the chains moving. 

Read-option here, the offensive line blocks zone and a bubble screen is tagged to the field. Heard makes what appears to be the correct decision to throw the bubble screen as the middle linebacker in the alley is out-leveraged.

The following play is a bit complicated, for different reasons. I believe this is the play wide receiver Marcus Johnson pulls up lame and it made me wonder if Heard noticed and didn't throw to Marcus in the flat because of it. If he didn't notice, the ball should have definitely been thrown on-time. Heard was forced to scramble into the alley and was hit very hard while attempting to slide. As mentioned above, note the 4 pass defenders to 3 receivers to the field, the 2 pass defenders to 1 receiver to the boundary, and the vacated middle. If and when the quarterback recognizes that, especially Heard, he should be coached to tuck and run through a lane in the pass protection, a possible untapped source for explosive gains. 

The last shots of Heard feature the shotgun "bootleg" concept. The blocking is decent minus the left guard, but the ball doesn't come out. It's hard to tell if it should have gone to the hitch being run by Armanti Foreman at the bottom of the image. If so, the ball would have been terribly late, maybe a good thing he decided not to throw it. Nevertheless, if the holds, he needs to get on the move quickly and take as many yards as possible toward the sideline.

For any offense, there must be a unifying idea behind it. What is that for this season's Texas offense? There needs to be something the offense can “hang their hat on”. Texas needs to find that and base everything they do from it, even if it means teaching only one base blocking and protection scheme. Also, I’m a proponent of the best players seeing the field and Texas running the spread would mean the most dynamic athletes should see playing time. Some names that come to mind are Daje Johnson, John Burt, Jonathan Gray, Marcus Johnson, Jacorey Warrick, other freshmen, and dare I say, Jerrod Heard. In that context, I’ve concluded that Tyrone Swoopes would no longer fulfill the prerequisite for inclusion as a starter in the current offense. It pains me to say that, but the current state of the offense simply cannot take advantage of Swoopes’ best traits, that of a strong-armed passer with only decent mobility. Adding to that, it’s time for Coach Strong to notify both Shawn Watson he's on a very short leash. This cannot persist. I realize this post doesn't cover the entire scope of the Texas' staff and players' problems, but I invite you to discuss them here.

When The Stitt Goes Down...

Below are some screen shots and a final drive video from Bob Stitt's Montana Griz head coaching debut. Let's take a look below at some of the concepts captured. It won't be clear what the reads are exactly, but I'll do my best to make educated guesses. Bob Stitt's offense is predicated on abusing zone defenses, forcing many defenses, in many cases, to play more man-coverage than they may be accustomed to playing. This tends to have two effects. One, it's not that easy to play a lot of man-coverage throughout a game and two, many of Stitt's spread football innovations lie in beating man-coverage. The latter aspect is why many vaunted spread practitioners nationwide have sought the help of Coach Stitt. So, let's take a look.

Many spread quarterbacks are taught to read alignment, leverage, and numbers before the snap. Some initial reads may even comprise taking advantage of whether the defense has 1 or 2 high safeties. In the above example, two safeties are outside the hash marks, a clear indicator of a 2-high safety coverage. So, the quarterback chooses to read the side that will have a greater number of receivers, the boundary side. Here, Stitt employs a spacing concept with the slot receiver. Also of note, the middle linebacker is bailing to the middle of the field in coverage (Tampa-2). Now this is where it's hard to decipher whether the receiver runs a short curl "spacing" concept or whether it's a drag route read, where the receiver can stay on his path if the linebacker stays. Either way, he's able to sit right in the zone vacated by the middle linebacker for an easy pitch and catch. Special note, Tampa-2 coverage is a North Dakota State specialty and it's beat early-on with ease. Keep that in mind when you watch the final drive video below.

Next we see what may be the drag concept again. This time the linebackers stay underneath in coverage and the receiver continues his path to cross the face of the linebacker in his zone. You'll note the boundary receiver runs a deep route and the back releases to the flat creating a stretch between the two linebackers underneath. Most offenses will take those matchups all day.

Here's a gander at the run and receiver screen game. Stitt became famous for the fly-sweep he helped Dana Holgorson abuse Clemson with, so it's no wonder that the motif remains in the offense. The offensive line blocks zone (note the double teams) and the sweeper continues past the defensive end who the quarterback may or may not be reading. In my mind, this could be a read on the linebacker between the hashes who stays in to defend the inside run. Where the constraint for the free rusher comes is in the fly-sweeper continuing his path to the flat to receive a quick pass-lateral from the quarterback. A very important aspect to this play is the block that comes from the slot receiver on the outside linebacker. What a great way to create a significant leverage advantage!

Here, the quarterback chooses to read the single receiver side, why, if it's still a 2 high safety defense? If I had to guess, it's because the defense aligned it's outside linebacker to the field outside the box and over the slot receiver. So, the space and leverage advantage is to the boundary in this case and another short curl, spacing, is run to beat the underneath coverage, simple.

Now we get to one of my favorite plays of the game. I'm not sure whether to call this a delayed running back screen or merely a tagged running back route. Nevertheless, the result is a very difficult assignment for the middle linebacker, having to pursue and tackle a running back in the open field. That's not it though, in the last shot you can see the receiver, probably after running a curl route stem, come back to block that middle linebacker! The scheming of that block alone causes me to lean toward calling this a delayed screen. Well done Bob.

Lastly, we see the beloved drag concept again. Why more teams don't abuse the drag route is beyond me. Above, the underneath coverage is beaten again. It must have been maddening for those defenders all game.

That's it for the screen shots. Below is the final drive and I'd like you to pay special attention to the coverage on the first play. I hope you recognize it. That's all I have time for, but I'd like to add a little tidbit. I had the pleasure of speaking with Bob Stitt when he was at his last coaching job. One thing that stood out from that conversation was him explaining that if teams choose to play zone against his offense, the outcome would be heavily tilted in his favor. Now I see why.

A Very Brief Look at Swoopes And The Spread Quick Game

This is an extremely brief glimpse of "Texas Fan Enemy #1", Tyrone Swoopes in the spring game. Below are merely 4 quick passing game plays, but I wanted to note some good and bad things executing them.

In the first example there is a 1-high safety look, inside the hashes. Based on alignment and leverage of the corner backs, a pretty clear zone defensive look. After the snap, the quarterback looks like he is reading the middle linebacker. This would be a R.A.M. read (Read Away from Mike). The play looks like a run-pass option, RPO, based on whether the middle linebacker stays put on run or expands to defend the pass. The quarterback keeps the ball, rolls right and throws the curl route on time. The quarterback exhibits good footwork and timing on the throw. In the parlance of Dan Gonzalez' work, the "Advantage Principle" here is R.A.M. and the concept is curl-flat to the field side, meant to conflict the flat defender, the defensive back in the alley in this case.



The next play the defense shows a 2-high safety look, but if you look closer, the boundary side corner back is "pressed up" on the receiver. What I call a "force clue", meaning he may have responsibility to contain the run on the boundary side. Given that and the alignment of the field corner back, it is another fairly clear zone defensive look. The quarterback may note the pressed corner and the soft coverage on the first receiver to the field and elects to keep the ball and execute a throw against said soft coverage. The problem is, the quarterback's movement to the left is less efficient and forces him to take what looks like an extra step, thus making the throw late. Also, the receiver could have come back to the ball some more to help the quarterback's throw. The quarterback must quicken his feet and get his shoulders turned earlier in order to better time his release on an otherwise easy throw and catch.



Below is another 2-high safety look, but with one outside the hash to the boundary and the other right between the hashes, indicating a 1-high safety look. Again, there is a cornerback pressed-up to the boundary, a force clue. Now, the middle linebacker is walked out over the third receiver in from the field side, leaving five in the box, a look most teams would typically choose to run against. However, it's the spring game and it's 2nd down and 10 yards to go. This play is an in-flat (similar to slant-flat) to the boundary, and I suspect it's thrown to the boundary because of the above aforementioned alignments. This time, the QB takes a drop and throws behind the weak side linebacker tracking the running back to the flat, an excellent well-timed throw.



The last play, there is another 2-high safety look with one safety on the boundary hash and the other inside the field hash. Neither corner back is pressed on receivers, but both linebackers are threatening to blitz, showing a 6-man pressure. If the linebackers blitz, the running back needs to pick up the linebacker to his side and the quarterback needs to recognize the blitz as well, he's part of the protection. The pass protection here is excellent and the boundary side receiver looks to run an in-breaking route below the corner back that is bailing over top of him. However, not only is his break inside a bit sloppy, but the quarterback's throw is late as well, allowing ample time for the corner back to break on the ball and break up the pass. This ball must come out quick because of the 6-man pressure.



Now, the above are an extremely small subset of plays, meant to illustrate some of the timing involved in Texas' quick passing game and some of what the quarterbacks are tasked with checking and reading. The question that will be answered this fall is, which quarterback manages these tasks and executes similar concepts the best for this offense? Also, where is the "fulcrum" that will decide how much the staff gives each quarterback to work with for the season opener at Notre Dame. One thing is certain. I can't wait to find out!

Texas Ball Control

I wanted to upload some more of my screen shots of Texas' 2014 season on offense. This time I wanted to focus on the ball control aspects of the offense and with that in mind provide a general overview. What is central to Texas' ball control oriented attack is the run and quick passing game. I didn't include many straight-ahead run plays because the base run schemes are so well-integrated with the other concepts. Below you may be able to note zone and power run schemes at the heart of the bootleg, read-option, and play-action schemes, minus of course the straight-ahead quick and drop back passing game.

The first series of pictures are some of Texas' bootleg plays. I've grown to really love this concept. It serves to punish the defense's initial response in run defense, fitting gaps and pursuit. You see eyes and hips turned as well as steps taken by the defense towards what will quickly become the back side of the play. That's winning initiative! These schemes typically involve a receiver coming across formation behind the OL. This can serve two purposes, he can block the edge defender if needed or continue his path and release into the flat. There is usually a play side out-breaking route and a back side intermediate crossing route serving as a high-low (or low-high) read and the QB still has the option to pull the ball down and run. As for the toss-sweep I included, below it is a bootleg off the same run-action, creating an "easy" gain after having gashed the Sooner front. Looking ahead, as Texas' OL-play improves and gaining 3 to 4 yards on base run schemes becomes a near-certainty, these bootleg concepts will be like stealing. Also needed is quicker recognition and decision making from the QB position.

Next is the read-option run game. I personally like that Texas operates from both under center and shotgun, each have their advantages. Also, if rumors are true regarding Texas utilizing faster tempos, operating from both alignments could yield a great deal of defensive confusion. Nevertheless, below are a couple examples of the now ubiquitous zone-read option scheme and a speed option play. There is also a shovel option built into this offense as well. All are reads on an edge defender. Texas can read-option run with most of their base run schemes and also vary the read defender when pairing it with quick pass concepts, what are referred to as run-pass option (RPO) plays. 

     

As mentioned above, RPO schemes are integrated throughout the run and quick passing game. Texas will typically pair a zone or power scheme with quick passing game routes like stick, bubble, slant-flat, and out breaking routes against leverage. These reads are relatively simple. The first and last pictures are examples of a "read away from Mike" or RAM principle. The others, zone and power paired with the bubble, slant, or slant-flat are reads of the alley defender. The beauty of these reads are that they are already pass game reads for similar concepts in the quick game. So, they are "just like" concepts to enhance user friendliness for the QB. These concepts serve to keep an extra man out of the box on shotgun run concepts, in these cases the Mike and alley defenders are keyed. As execution of these plays improve, the offense will begin to realize a more explosive nature.

Now we get to some quick passing concepts. First are a couple sprint pass concepts. These are meant to use the threat of the QB run to spring a deep or quick route open to one side, usually the field side. The second example is of the QB's bad read and INT in the RRS. You'll see the speed-out by #8 is clearly the right throw, but the QB instead throws into trouble to #11 with poor ball placement to boot! Lastly, I included a corner route against cover-2, a "Spot" or spacing route against underneath zone, another speed-out against very soft CB coverage, and a deeper route concept that scored for Texas. Throughout the season, the QB-play was a mixed bag, but I give credit to Texas' young signal caller. There wasn't any relief coming from the sideline, a luxury often afforded struggling young passers. He had to stick with it every snap and he did that, no matter how bad it got, and it got very bad at times.

All in all, much of what plagued the offense was inconsistent play from both the OL and QB. In the OL's case, physical mismatches and missed assignments plagued many schemes. In the QB's case, slow and missed reads along with OL mishaps synergized to doom many possessions for Texas. Now imagine these schemes with a significant improvement in OL and QB-play. I for one am very optimistic about that. The team requires much work at this point, but I suspect there will be noticeable improvement by the time the 2015 season is underway. These things tend to take time.

4 Scores and 7 Downs Ago... A Quick Look At Lincoln

What's up y'all!? This post is intended to provide a quick and dirty look at the Sooners' new offensive coordinator. What you'll see below are embedded draftbreakdown.com videos of Justin Hardy vs USCe and UF, two semi-powerful SEC foes. I included these two games mainly because it showed how Lincoln's offense performed against defensive units that may have had more talented personnel than ECU's own. Of course, that's certainly up for debate as the ECU offense was able to move the ball very well against a schedule that included the above two, as well as Bud Foster's famed VT defensive unit. Also, if you're not familiar with this format, let me explain. I'm terrible at editing and embedding video and have limited time. Instead I like to take notes about what I'm seeing and then discuss them in general terms. You can watch the videos before and/or after the descriptions. Let's get started.

I became familiar with Lincoln Riley's offense last year, when he was rumored to Texas. Many Texas fans, including myself, had our fingers crossed for the potential hire. However, it never came to be. So now, we get to hate him instead, fun! Lincoln's offense strikes me as a coherent and integrative approach to combining classic "Air Raid" concepts to the run, play-action, and read-option game. The pass game integrates with the run game in that the base zone and power (gap) schemes are primarily utilized in the read-option, play-action, and quarterback movement game. This can be a headache for defensive players as the majority of standard down and distance plays will all appear the same, especially if keying on OL steps and/or movement. Adding to that, I was surprised how multiple the offense can be. I noted personnel that ranged from "20" (2 RB, 0 TE), empty, to "12" (1 RB, 2 TE). With regard to formations, it ranged from your typical 2 X 2 spread set to I-formation aligments with the QB under center. Base runs include zone (inside, outside, slice, and lead) and a Power-style gap scheme with the backside gaurd pulling around the center and leading into the A-gap. The beauty of those schemes are that they tend to be excellent for use in read-option and play-action. As far as the pass game is concerned, you may note shallow crossing routes (good vs man), deep crossing routes (think Y-Sail), a lot of flat combination routes (slant-flat, curl-flat), deep out routes, and of course 4-verticals some of which contain option routes like seam-read. So, let's watch some football.

What stands out most to me from the USCe video are the packaged plays. Many quick-game pass concepts will be paired with base run schemes with the read player being one of the linebackers, 2nd-level reads. What I really like about read integrated offenses is that the consistent alignment and quarterback-running back mesh gives the defense the same look without tipping a read or more traditional play-action concept. Of course these will tend to be quick-to-intermediate level passing concepts paired with base run schemes. When Riley wants to attack deep he'll change the mesh and the quarterback will take more steps on his drop. Also notable, I like that some traditional bootleg concepts are adapted to the shotgun alignment. These often help to manipulate the linebackers with run aciton one way while bringing a crossing route behind them the opposite way. A couple of plays that stood out in this video are the delayed wide receiver screen paired with run-action at 1:30 and the packaged double screen at 2:16, a wide receiver screen paired with a running back slow-screen. Also note the offensive line releases and blocking, well designed and coached. These constriaint plays need to be well-coached and executed with attention to detail. They serve to protect the offense's base concepts as well as punish defensive over-play. Let's move on to the Florida game.

In this game we see a bit more multiplicity. For instance, the use of the I-formation in short yardage. It's good to see a spread football coordinator carry this set in his overall approach, a contingency often lacking in spread offenses. At 0:43 you'll see "Spot" paired with a quarterback sweep. This is another 2nd-level read on the linebacker who opens to take away the quick-game pass concept, so the quarterback pulls it down and follows his pulling lineman on the backside, well-conceived. A  lot of this is made possible by Lincoln's understanding of basic defensive assignments as well as how formations distort defensive structures. At 4:01 you'll see a play I don't even know what to call, out of a split back shotgun formation, the left gaurd and tackle pull and lead around the center through the A-gap while the "fullback" arc blocks the unblocked defensive end. What I suspect here is the end is the read man and if he attacks the running back, he will be bypassed by the arc blocker and the quarterback will keep and have a lead blocker on the backside of the play, another well-conceived play. What do you call it!? Speaking of the split back shotgun formation, Lincoln will utilize this, as opposed to the diamond formation, to create favorable match-ups outside or in the box. Depending on the safety look, 1-high or 2-high, the quarterback can easily check into a read-run or pass. Another motif I liked is the movement of the TE, motioning him out wide. Again, it's all about distortion and creating numbers advantages from sideline to sideline, forcing the defense to pick it's poison. Lastly, I've been impressed with the way Lincoln will attack in the red zone, he will be aggressive. As seen on the first touchdown, he calls a back shoulder seam. Lincoln is a former wide receivers coach, so it doesn't surprise me that this goup excelled at ECU. Also, it may be part of the reason Stoops let go of Norvell, though I can't be sure. Another example is at 6:47, look at the receiver releases, fake blocks, and the rub on the corner-flat, dropped! 

Well, there are my thoughts in a nut shell. Given the Sooners penchant for finding wide receiver talent, not to mention tight end and running back, Lincoln stands to field an aggressive offense, one able to attack from sideline to sideline as well as all three zones of coverage. One thing I didn't get into much is the quarterback position, but from what I see, there are plenty of easy reads in this offense and often times there is only one player the quarterback is reading. The offense is coherent with all the "bells and whistles" of a modern spread-option attack. I hope you enjoyed. Please share your thoughts.

The Watson Propagandist.., Why We Don't Have A Bad OC.

There's been a lot said about the 2014 "Watsline" Texas offense, much of it criticism of the Assistant Head Coach of Offense and Quarterbacks Coach, Shawn Watson. So, I decided to play devil's advocate and explain why I think much of the criticism has been hyperbolic. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the scheme, it was the players. When I first set out to do this I planned on creating cut-ups of Texas' offensive snaps in a couple of games, but that wasn't working out. Instead, draftbreakdown.com happens to have a great video of Paul Dawson terrorizing what I contend to be a poorly executed Texas offense. Below I have characterized the first 20 plays of the video. I'm not sure how well this format will work, but feel free to review the video or play descriptions first. Then we're set to begin the scheme-personnel kerfuffle.



The rest of this post will be generally bland. I will place a number for the play it is in the video in sequence (1st 20). Also, I'll try to mainly highlight crucial factors in the plays, so don't be overly critical if my untrained eyes miss something.

1) Lead Zone-Bubble packaged play is run w/ the HB missing a critical block. I for one liked what the bubble screen offered and w/ QB under center, can throw it out there pretty fast. 2) Lead Zone-Slant, another packaged play. The ball seems to come out a bit slow, maybe slightly tipped, but behind the WR. "Watsline" clearly asking QB to make quick post-snap decision in order to get the ball out early. 3) The QB makes a late high-low read on Mike, ball is late to released RB, tackled short. 4) Double-Screen run here, releasing OL fails to block Mike, Daje down! 5) Power-Bubble-Hitch, another packaged play, though QB doesn't appear to have a read on the "Cloud" CB. DL beats OL here, ugh! 6) 3rd & 14 vs obvious Cover-2, don't like route grouping, but checkdown is obvious play here once the underneath coverage vacated. QB, let the RB make the play. You are not Vince Young! 7) Split-Zone w/ reverse, the RB misses cutback lane on a play blocked at a mediocre level. 8) Sprint pass throwaway that ended badly for the QB. This didn't seem effective at all, but the QB made correct play. 9) First INT, ball out late, it needed to come out at or slightly before the break. If not, progress to the release player, on QB. 10) Lead Iso w/ decent blocking, but LT fails to seal his block outside and the RT fails to reach Mike, as if! 11) Bunch set w/ a better read from QB, Mike holds, RB makes great play. 12) Power out of spread set, RT cannot hold up, busted. 13) Spot concept from empty, great job of splitting the field to gain #s in the passing game. 14) Split-Zone + quick game, the speed-out wins w/ leverage on the safety. 15) I can't make out the concept, but QB is late, needs to progress to "3rd Fix". Also, checkdowns tend to be low-risk high-reward vs Cover-2. 16) This play would make for a great "Snuff-GIF". OL (G) fails to get in front of blitzing LB, let alone seemingly being unable to check out of this play. Also note, the QB may have had a "hot" read, the slot running a hitch. 17) Power+Quick, read Will, he stays out equals a "give" read for the QB, great concept from a spread formation. 18) QB holds ball too long on concept, eyes go down, but behold! The 3rd Fix is open! QB needs more composure in the pocket (eyes up progressing and moving to his help). 19) Pistol read-option, a killer! The DE bites and something funny, the strong safety doesn't want to tackle big Ty, lol! 20) RB flare protects QB from LB blitz, simplicity at it's finest. Also note the decent pass-pro and the Spot concept again.

There it is. This offense is comprised of many modern elements, read-option and packaged plays. It's my contention that it only needs improved execution to succeed, by the OL and especially the QB. I think, for the most part, the tape shows well-conceived concepts vs the defense and personnel presented to it. The staff appears to have put the players in a position to succeed. From there, it's up to them to execute and finish. This group simply could not. That's my case. I hope the formatting of this post wasn't too strange. Now, let's argue!!!

Putting The Hog-D On A Spit...

The Arkansas defense is an over-shifted 4-3/4-2 defense that plays with 2 high safeties. They are a physical and disciplined unit capable of making life miserable for 1-dimensional teams. The strength of the Hogs defense is run defense. They are very disruptive and effective without having to "game" their fronts very often. This is due to a powerful and athletic defensive line. The Hogs pass defense is respectable, but as we'll see, there will be opportunities to aggressively attack their coverages, which tend to be a mix of cover-2, quarters, cover-1, and cover-3. They are not as aggressive with their safeties as Longhorns fans are accustomed to (TCU, BU), but they are well-disciplined in their reads and run fits. Let's take a look at how Auburn attacked them with an inexperienced QB. If I recall, Texas has one of those too.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4354445

Here, they are in a 2-high S (safety) look vs "20" personnel (RB, HB offset). Notice the FS (to the field) come down as soon as he reads run via the receiver to his side blocking or the HB arcing across formation to block instead of attack the flat. That S would also be responsible for pursuit to the field if the QB keeps on the read play.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4359675

This is a peculiar blitz. You'll note the boundary side DE drop into the short middle zone while on the field side, the Mike and SS blitz. What began as a 2-high safety coverage shell has morphed into a cover-1 look. A key to attacking this defense is quickly recognizing the S rotation in order to make quick decisions with the ball and avoid pressure. The QB receives good protection and does a great job of reading the above route concept.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4360590

2-high S coverage is shown above and it's taken advantage of with a post route. Again, note the quick recognition of the S's as well as the timely ball delivery, an area Texas has struggled. Auburn created explosive plays with the same route concept multiple times against 2-high S coverage. Expect Texas to attack downfield in a similar fashion.

The Hog defense is very formidable against the run. In order for Texas to approach the kind of efficiency needed to win on offense, the passing game must force the Hog defense into more of these 2-high coverages. This will improve Texas' chances running the ball against a very good defensive front. Given Texas' recent struggles at the QB position, this seems like a lot to ask. We will see if there has been any real growth from both the QB and the beleaguered OL come the 29th. On to some more of what Auburn did.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4360092

I chopped this play to illustrate how simple concepts can be included in the game plan. There is nothing special here, just a well thought out RB screen. I liked it because it punishes the leverage tendency of the defense against bubble screens. It's simple, yet effective.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4360162

Now, Auburn lines up heavy to the field and runs split-zone with a read on the boundary CB. They catch the defense with a "Cloud" call to the boundary, meaning the CB is the force player in the boundary alley. The "POP" pass proves effective here and results in a TD after the S misses the tackle. This is a key I'd expect other teams to attack, whether it's pulling and leading blockers to the "Cloud" CB or keying him as the flat and force defender in the pass game.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4366325

Here's a scheme that will give the Texas offense a chance to control the ball and succeed in setting up play-action opportunities, Power. This set and motion are things the Texas offensive brain trust can easily scheme into the game plan along with building a few other concepts from it. Make no mistake, Texas wants to be a zone running team, but timely use of gap schemes and lead plays are meant to punish defenses overplaying zone schemes. Auburn, of course, is very good at this. Whether Texas will be is a good question, the OL needs to step up!

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/4366427

I really loved the above pass play. Auburn utilized the slant to the field and grants a receiver a free release to the boundary to run the drag vs a 1-high S coverage with man underneath. Notice if somehow the slant is taken away via leverage or quicker bracketing by the S, the drag is open with plenty of grass in front. Again, much of the pass concepts I'm seeing are easy reads for the QB. Also, like Auburn, Texas has the ability to be very effective from "11" personnel and the receivers to take advantage of shabby coverages like the ones above.

The above examples represent minor parts of Auburn's plan to attack the Hogs' defense. However, they illustrate what type of concepts may be effective in creating explosive plays for Texas. Texas (Watson) must begin creating simple plans to get the ball into playmakers' hands in space. Think back to the abysmal TCU game, the one truly explosive play of the night was a well-blocked WR bubble screen. Sometimes it's that simple. For whatever reason, the staff has seemed to fall short in this department. I'm curious, given the team's recent performance, what plan the staff puts into practice. What think you?