Complementing the Power O: Weakside Runs

strong work. thanks.

Best Longhorn coverage out there. Good Work.

Have you gotten your own show on the Longhorn Network yet?

Oh hells yeah. And I haven’t read it yet. I’ll be back.

I really enjoy looking at the design of plays. I like how all this work together to keep the D from honing in on one portion of the field. Not only that there are subtly different ways to run each play to maximize success based on how the defense lines up or defends.

txsa & bevosbackside,

Thanks. Glad you guys are enjoying the series.

cmdr,

I’ve been told I have a face and voice that were destined for blogging. I’d gladly take David Ubben’s gig for all things Longhorn Football related though :]

Monahorns,

I think that’s really the key to designing a good ground game. The execution has to be there but you also need to attack the front in multiple ways to keep them honest… you just aren’t ever going to get the execution you are looking for if the defense doesn’t have to play nice.

LHS -

Very nice write up, thanks. You mention the different philosophies for zone plays from Greg Davis and Harsin / BSU. I’m not sure I get it. Did Greg’s philosophy 1) have everyone moving more (vs. staying put for more direct blocks) and 2) have most lineman moving to assigned position without a targeted player? Perhaps part of my confusion is not fully understanding the term “reach block”, which I understand to mean, getting to the outside of a player when the player is lined up outside of you (e.g., OT trying to seal a 5 technique lined up on his outside shoulder).

I"d be interested in seeing some comparisons GD Zone vs. BSU or Texas Spring 11 zone on tape. ;-)

Thanks for the interesting work.

Coach Harsin has a rude awakening coming this fall. Now that he has moved up to real football, he is going to disconver that relying on trick plays such as pretending to run to the strong side of your formation and then suddenly running the other way just does not work against real teams (such as 0klahoma). Like the pump fake, so-called “misdirection” simply is not sound football tactics.

Yes, we were better off with the unidirectional Greg Davis.

Couldn’t disagree more, Tex Long. Did you even read the post, or the ones before it linked at the top?

Harsin doesn’t run a gimmick offense. Those trick plays you deem fundamentally unsound are attacking a previously scouted weakness at a specific time to inflict maximum damage.

I will believe this scheme works at Texas when I see it. I doubt this team has the talent (or whatever you choose to call it) to succeed with any scheme this year. Maybe in 2012 or 2013. Maybe.

50 Years Watching,

If you are correct then the problem lies with the lack of talent, not the scheme. The Boise St scheme is fundamentally as sound as it gets.

Topo Gigio,
I’ll see what I can do.

Vasherized,
Sarcasam Sarcasm meter.

50 Years Watching,
You just got out of a bad relationship. I understand. It will take you some time to love again. But this new girl is the real deal from what I can tell.

LonghornScott sez: Vasherized, Sarcasam meter.

What he said.

Sarcasam sounds like Shazam’s side kick.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I read Tex Long’s post as sarcasm. It was the repeated bold “real” that did it for me.

Whoops. Didn’t see those last couple of posts before hitting.

And it started off so well.

Yeah, I would have thought the reference to Oklahoma would have given it away.

As they said in Generation Kill, let’s unfuck this reply thread.

LHS -

Fantastic stuff as always – this is the best X and O analysis I’ve seen on any site for any team, any time. Great marriage of diagram, description and video examples, as well as the higher-level commentary on how this all marries together to ratfuck a defense.

I still get a little twitchy when I see things diagrammed to rely on one of our Dirty Dozen at TE/H-Back to single-block a DE at any point, but on the whole it seems that every blocker is being put in a much greater position to succeed on almost every play through alignment and defensive hesitation.

To the defensive hesitation point, I’d love to see a piece (maybe after the play-action installment) that focuses on how this offensive package screws up individual defenders’ keys as a play begins. Something like, “Here on Play A you could see that the Mike LB can read the C and G’s double team and start running to the B gap to beat the pulling guard to the spot, but if he makes the same read on the same double team action on Play B he is going to get royally fucked.”

Awesome stuff man – keep it coming!

i am dense. it was ‘pump fake’ that finally turned me.

in vash’s defense, i must say the post was dangerously close to not giving itself away. foolish thing here is that we play these tongue-in-cheek games without regard to how they affect outsiders who don’t know to take it as a wiener on a stick.

another excellent link in a great chain, lhscott. very enlightening and much, much appreciated.

Vash has retreated to his Shame Hole, per the customs of his people.

Wait, wiener on a stick? wtf?

would like to second what tommy n said above me. egg-sealant suggestions.

vash has people?

nobis60,

Thanks for the encouragement. It’s very appreciated.

I was actually thinking about putting a post like that together between the ground game and the play action, but I think it makes more sense to talk about play action and quick passes from the power sets first so we get a full picture of the conflicts for the defense. It’s something I definitely want to be at the forefront which is why I brought up defensive responses right from the get go. The hard part is to find video clips that illustrate exactly what you are looking for but even if we just look at a few examples in close detail it should help us extrapolate.

I’m also interested to see how the H-backs/Fullbacks/Tight Ends play out. ‘Get it done’ guys have to emerge here. Berryhill and Mathews/DJ Grant showed something in the Spring Game… those would be my best guess as starters in the power sets right now.

hey, it was 5:30 in the morning. It’s too fucking early for sarcasm. this is serious shit here.

THIS IS THE NEW OFFENSIVE REVOLUTION.

Well done, TexLong. Asshole.

And I cannot be shamed, nordberg. You should know this by now. You must be thinking of BrickHorn. Or nickel rover. Sometimes I confuse the two.

The only shame is on fan talky for letting dongfongwoksoy sully the site every nite… I used Wordpress for years, and it used to have a pretty well-behaved spam filter or three…

I second the call for D-key mindfuck mechanism explanations – presumably when we get to the play-action series complements. I’m sort of under the impression that the first two or three steps (and.or other motion cues) have to be the same in order to put the “wait… wut?” into the D-heads.

Great, great stuff, LHScott, thanks again… keep ‘em coming and I’ll vote for doubling building use fees again.

Vasherized sez: Well done, TexLong. Asshole.

No anal. It’s just that I’ve used up several Lifetime Supplies of “Jesus Fucking Christ, Greg Davis is a fucking moron!” rants, and was forced by circumstances to resort to calling on Captain America’s new sidekick, Sar Kazam.

Great write up, even though I can’t see the video here at work. Will read again (to see the video).

Much thanks LonghornScott!

Following the 2010 season, I will perceive any play that results in a touchdown as a trick play.

I will react with raised eyebrows and dropped jaw. I will telephone friends and family.

“Crazy fuckjob Harsin! Running the ball up the middle for a four-yard gain. Can you believe that shit?!?”

LHS-
 
Great stuff man.
 
I have to thank you for this series most of all for debunking the myth of the gimmick Boise State offense. Everything they did under Harsin was built from an effective running game. The trick plays are amusements. Mirages. They want coaches to burn practice time preparing for that bullshit to the exclusion of what they actually run. All practice time is finite and if you can make an opponent burn half an hour per day on halfback option passes and the statue of liberty, you’ve just deprived that team of real preparation time.
 
And the trick plays they run are generally reactions to defensive overplay – they’re not of the Mack Brown grab bag “let’s run us a trick play” variety.
 
You’ve said it all above, but a couple of observations:
 
1. The backside pulling guard on this play gets a lot of depth. That prevents his pull from being disrupted by penetration at the LOS and it allows him to adjust his angle of attack on the playside defender. The downside is that you don’t get the same quick pop that can occur when you pull laterally with your path along the LOS skirting the butts of the OL.
 
That depth also allows the guard to react to a run blitz from a linebacker or a gambling Will who decides to run under the block and try to take the play down from behind in the backfield.
 
2. The size of the hole on any counter play is determined by the quality of your playside blocks. The tackle should have no problem screening off the end and your double team on the interior DL has to create movement or a pin. If you can’t get these initial wins with strong positional advantage, the play is dead in the water.
 
3. The depth of the hole – if you want to think of it that way – is reliant on the pulling guard, FB, and RB all making the same reads and acting in concert. Our backs don’t understand timing at all because they’ve never played in a real running game, but once they get the feel for when to hesitate or drive hard off of a blocker’s hip, that’s when this play can be devastating and you end up splitting safeties before they know what has hit them. The fullback and pulling guard don’t have to have decleaters, but they need to get contact on a moving defender and keep those feet moving.
 
I expect Hopkins to be particularly good in space and you need a fullback who is an accurate blocker as much as a devastating one.

Nobis60,

I think the one thing that sometimes gets lost is the impact on defensive players when they have to hesitate for a moment and actually try to diagnose what the offense is actually doing instead of getting into a sprinter’s stance because the down, distance, and formation has told them with 90% certainty what Texas will be running.

A friend of mine who played at UH as an offensive linemen for Yoeman will talk about how people could not believe they could the Cougs would often times not block the back side defensive end. Once he started chasing the play down the line of scrimmage they would either come back with a reverse or a trap block. Do that a time or three, insert a bit of uncertainty, and even an unblocked defender can be slowed.

I understand that is a completely different offense and era of football, but I truly believe the core principles of football stay the same and if a defender is a bit uncertain and they are having to read the actions of the offense that can be enough of a distraction to completely focus on hand the task of being a lesser blocker.

“I understand that is a completely different offense and era of football, but I truly believe the core principles of football stay the same and if a defender is a bit uncertain and they are having to read the actions of the offense that can be enough of a distraction to completely focus on hand the task of being a lesser blocker.”

It’s sad that we’ve all been so traumatized by GD that we feel like we have to even make statements like this, sheepishly.

Great comments, Scipio.

I actually see two behaviors from Harsin’s offense. In the Power Sets he uses the run to set up the pass, in the Spread Sets he uses the passing game to set up the screen and draw game. When he adds in a suite of plays he brings all the essential elements to make the plays successful. But the biggest difference is how he calls the game. He is going to leverage the defense against itself as soon as he spots overplay. Sometimes you see him switching sets because he is probing but when he probes he actually prods the defense in opposing fashions.

The point about getting our running backs to read the hole. It’s also why Malcolm Brown has a chance to come in and compete right away… he’s been running Power and Counter all through high school. There’s nothing to unlearn there and I think he will have an easier time reading his lead block than our backs that have been primarily reading clogged up zone for years.

Davey,

You’re dead on there. Of the defenses I watched most of them decided to just try to engage the offensive line rather than stunting or run blitzing. Harsin is happy to play the guessing game with the defense and get his big plays or if you decide to play base he’s going to swing you back in forth until it produces overplay and hesitation. He targets the defensive ends in particular and I think that’s important for us this season.

With the news that Gilbert has been named the starter, it really doesn’t matter which offense we run. 5-7 holla!!!

Great series, LHS. nobis and nordberg nail the post-GD state we are all in—that the basic concept of making the defenders hesitate induces euphoria.

ransom—you are in mid-season form.

Scott,

A very good friend of mine who was a very successful high school line coach would make a point about a back breaking off big runs later in a game. Common perception is the defense gets tired, but his position is that it is a combination of fatigue and the defense responding to the offensive attack . Play side will flow to the ball, but if the back side has been burnt enough or coached enough coming into the weak it stays home and gaps start to emerge. A physical back like Brown or an explosive runner like Gray exploit the gaps that weren’t always there at the start of the game, but emerged over the game as that back side end would get tentative chasing the play, the interior line would start to fatigue, and gaps would start to emerge.

The trifecta then is to add play action. You get those safeties flying up to fill those lanes that are starting to open and a receiver who blocks his butt off on running plays and above average route ability can get open for big plays .

The above mentioned friend will tell you they had a very, very basic passing game, but when you had defenses have to defend the entire defensive front and safeties were having to come up to support the run they did serious damage basically running bootlegs and sprintouts playing off the running game.

One thing for sure, Harsin is going to get to put his product on one of the largest stages in all of college football for all to see if it can produce despite the weakest roster and worst QB at Texas in almost 15 years. Its sink or swim for a bunch of shave tail young coaches.

Its sink or swim for a bunch of shave tail young coaches.

Fuckin’ A, Tweety. We’re fixin’ to see if Mack was right about GDGD… or not. Dollars to doughnuts, if we go 9-3 or better, some will insist it would have been fine last year if we’d had Malcolm Brown and/or Muschamp had done his job and not divided the coaches and players.

Me? I don’t care – as long as the football is good again. Oh, and fuck the Dr. Pepper, bring me a Dub and a Moon Pie.

I heard that. If we go 9-3 this year and better each of the next two years, Harsin and Applewhite can write their own tickets anywhere in the college football world. And you can knock me over with a feather.

… a combination of fatigue and the defense responding to the offensive attack.

One of the things that made me lust after Harsin-for-OC early on was a comment in his narration of the Three Plays – I think he was talking about the hook-and-ladder – when he said “we were trying to get to this play the whole game.”

Multiple contradictions from the same basis, and not just occasionally, but play after play after play… and when you get to the end-game, the D is not just tired, but mentally reeling at every snap.

That’s the ticket.

And you can knock me over with a feather.

Not me, bubba. I’m expecting it… tryin’ not to, but I cannot lie about that. I’m tryin’ to hold it down to a little but of hope, but truthfully, it’s pure expectation.

Well played Louis L’am Jones

Longhorn Scott,

Having just discovered this series, I am a little late to the party.

I love the analysis and as one, of many, irritated Longhorn fans I will point out to my brethren:

1) The ability to switch from the blocking philosophy of Greg Davis’ offense to that of Harsin isn’t something that is going to be fluid or easy. That said, these are guys who were highly recruited out of high school and these linemen either are as bad as Greg Davis’ offense exposed them to be or they simply were being asked to do things that don’t play to their strengths. We all know how stubborn Davis was with those square pegs and the round holes. You can moan all you want about misdirections, traps and influence blocking but when run effectively, they work well. Give your o-line some advantage and let them actually get an advantage tee off to blow someone up.

2) There is nothing wrong with having a more complex offense. The single most important reason to use motion is to give your QB information. Secondarily, you can use that motion to dictate matchups. Greg Davis seemed to either think his players were too dumb or that he didn’t need the advantage.

3) With the number of colleges running the spread rising…it may be to our advantage in recruiting to feature a large amount of a package where linemen get to block, QBs take the ball from center and RBs actually have reads and holes to run through.

4) I am old enough to remember the time when we used to run counter plays and traps as recently as the days of John Mackovic. Anyone remember Ricky Williams’ highlight run against A&M his freshman year? Those weren’t necessarily bad schemes.

5) THIS IS SMASHMOUTH! THIS IS TEXAS FOOTBALL! I’M ALL FOR IT!