Coming up for Air after Wyoming

First of all, the defense video is blocked. Copyright business.

But I watched the offense video. Really enjoyed it (don’t mind the length at all…that’s what she said). Confirmed my impression of Hawkins that game. Really strong in setting the edge. What an addition. The clogging on the inside looks correctable, rather than the initial fear that Espinosa just got manhandled every snap.

The FB situation looks troubling. Maybe someone develops on the Cody Johnson curve, but I’m not sure that’s likely. The spacing looked better when we went 3 WRs instead of having a fullback. Think that’s probably Harsin’s fix? Or could we just be looking at using more H-backs for the DE blocks, and stick to using pulling linemen as lead blockers inside?

And Smythe probably won’t suck either. So what if they’re green. 2013 is looking good.

I’m sure you’ll get a lot of this, but thanks for all the effort you put into these. I really enjoy them.

Big picture, just going off my crappy memory, if this is year 3 of the “downhill” experiment, we are getting significantly better blocking at OT, RB, and WR compared to the openers in 2010 or 2011. Plus Harsin seems to have a better feel for what he can get out of the team compared to last year.

Question I have been pondering: are any of the more potent offenses in the big xii paired with a defense that is well suited to stopping the Texas offense (assuming Texas shows a reasonable amount of improvement by the time conference play starts)?

Great points on the availability of the weakside cutback on a couple of our power runs (particularly Gray’s instincts there), but I think Run #1 is a bad example. The defender isn’t overcommitted and he’s positionally perfect to prevent Bergeron from cutting back. You’re basically asking Bergeron to eschew hammering it up in there for positive yardage – as he has been told to do all week – in exchange for trying to make a ESPN highlight play on a guy in good position that probably results in -2.

Very poor game. I guess we’ll give Alex De La Torre an audition against the Lobos.

is the 10 yard+ piggy back ride he gives the Wyoming defender who finally made the tackle.

doing a search for LonghornScott will yield the Droids (video) im looking for? yes?

If we don’t lose physical battles, our pass protection looks to be about 50% better than last year.

I really liked some of what I saw from Daniels going head-up on the DE without any real angle/leverage advantage and at least stalemating him on a number of plays. If he can continue to grow that will be huge, considering how much our offense seems to ask the ‘end’ TE to accomplish that task. One thing I don’t think I had taken away from some of your Power O diagrams last season was how the play has the flexibility to go outside if that DE ‘wants’ to be ridden in – of course, the fullback has to realize that as well.

Great analysis of how quickly Jon Gray spotted the over-pursuing WLB and cut the ball back. Vision is probably the most often under-appreciated attribute in a great tailback, but the primary reason that the Cowboys’ Lead Draw may have been the most dominating base run play in NFL history was Emmitt’s ability to turn it into about five different plays based on his vision and cutback ability. And, like Ginger Rogers doing everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in high heels, Moose Johnston was able to make the proper read and get to the right spot with three yards less room to figure things out.

Espy was definitely a mixed bag – I liked seeing the power he showed on some plays to push the nose or at least deny penetration, but he got beat a few times as well. I’m kind of encouraged by the fact that he was beat mainly when he got too high – I think his struggles were with correctable technique rather than the baseline strength deficit that plagued him last year.

A couple of general questions that popped into my head while viewing:

On a typical combo block, is one lineman typically the ‘designated’ guy who peels off to get to the second level, or do the players go by feel based on which way the DL they’re engaging is going/trying to go?

Is the pulling guard on Power always going to turn upfield inside the TE, or are there instances where he’d go all the way around and kick out whoever’s there or turn up?

it is blank where the film should be, i must have something blocking it, but what?

Thanks, Scott.

Seriously, I started looking forward to this at the final gun Saturday night. While I was happy to find a feed and watch the game, it is really hard to determine all that is going on in real time. Your coverage of our fullback blocking is particularly educational for me. I just couldn’t tell at the time exactly what was going wrong on some of those plays, but watching it in slo-mo with your commentary makes it all come together.

Great breakdown as always. So, we have a fullback in the 2014 class. Anybody step up sooner?

What a difference between inside zone run in the first half and second half. At first I was willing to chalk that up to being a conditioning factor in the game and say that Wyoming was just tired of trying to tackle Bergeron and Brown. But, after rewatching and seeing your breakdown, I think Jaxon and DJ gave Wyoming a lot more than they thought they could handle on the speed sweeps. Later in the game, Wyo’s defenders were much more apt to look at the speed sweep than earlier in the game (DJ’s beast-monster TD is probably a big reason for that). But getting a LB and Safety to step toward that speed sweep makes a huge numbers difference in the zone running game.

And that’s really the great thing about our base package. Any of the backside constraints can be paired with the base runs to enhance them. That’s why its not always a bad thing to run with 8 in the box. If you can create some hesitation, you can still gain a numbers advantage on an inside run and the chances for an explosive result go up with a safety walked down.