Against Umass, Lindgren did what most of us wished he had done with Hawaii. He rushed the football, and then he did it again and again until Umass's defense was pulverized into a lifeless corpse. We broke their will and we did it with just two plays, the Power and the Inside Zone.
Last season, we discussed the Inside Zone here as it was a bread and butter of our offense. We did not run it much against Hawaii and that really surprised me. This week, we returned to it with effective results. The general premise is that the QB is optioning the playside LB. He's reading whether to hand the ball off, if the linebacker takes steps to drop into coverage or to throw the ball to a receiver on the play side, usually a slant or bubble screen if that LB commits to the run, thus vacating space to throw into. The backside receivers will sometimes block and sometimes have route patterns depending on the variation. At times, the run or pass can be predetermined, though the action of the play will remain the same.
We ran a Zone Read or Inside Zone play three times on the opening drive against Umass. Here is one example (click spoiler button). Here we see the inside backer jump on the action and move right to Lindsay. Liufau rifles one out wide to Fields. As the clip plays through a few times, watch the OL. This is not typical pass blocking technique, and in fact it's run blocking. Look at the crease the OL creates that LB must fill. Later in the game, the LB is late or reads pass and we break off longer runs.
The Power (or its close relative The Counter) have become the preferred running plays of most power running football teams in the College or NFL ranks. Different offensive systems disguise the play differently, and we actually ran it out of four or five different formations yesterday, but the execution is basically the same. Here is a longer article on the Power from Grantland, in case people want a full breakdown and history of the play. Essentially, what happens on the power is that a FB or TE (depending on the personnel) kicks out the first defender (tends to be an OLB) outside the other TE on the down line. Then the guard from the backside simultaneously pulls and as he turns up field he tries to flatten the first defender he sees, usually an LB or DE. With the exception of the backside tackle, the remainder of the OL finds their assignment by checking for a defender inside, head up and then last outside. This creates a system that allows the OL to block the defenders down to the backside of the play while usually creating a double team somewhere. The backside tackle seals of the back defenders to prevent penetration. The ball carrier then looks for his hole inside out from gaps A to D. Next time we're playing, when you see a heavier personnel packages and it's a running play, look for the guard and FB/TE action. Regardless of formation, if they move liked described above, we're running Power.
On the opening drive, we ran the Power three times, out of three different formations. Here are two examples. Watch the backside guard and the TE/FB as the play starts. This tell us it's a Power. As you rewatch the clip, notice the pre-snap motion along with the different formation.
There has been a lot of motion with Ross the first two weeks but he has not yet received the hand off. As the offense evolves this year, do not be surprised to start seeing Ross, Lee, Walker and even Fields receive the hand off from after motion across the formation pre-snap. I would surmise we'll break this wrinkle out for conference play or perhaps CSU.
On the first drive, we ran Inside Zone or Power a combine six times out of nine or ten plays. I knew right then, if we could execute, we were coming for Umass. As we saw, we had to pull the dogs off of Umass. They couldn't stand up to these two plays, in part because they were so concern about getting beaten by the pass and in part because this year we have three maulers at guard. Last year, we tried to run the power a lot early in the year and we got stuffed a fair amount of the time. While the guards need to continue to sure up their pass blocking, they are much stronger run blockers than we've had since Dan Sanders and Ryan Miller era days back in the early Hawkins era
Last season, we discussed the Inside Zone here as it was a bread and butter of our offense. We did not run it much against Hawaii and that really surprised me. This week, we returned to it with effective results. The general premise is that the QB is optioning the playside LB. He's reading whether to hand the ball off, if the linebacker takes steps to drop into coverage or to throw the ball to a receiver on the play side, usually a slant or bubble screen if that LB commits to the run, thus vacating space to throw into. The backside receivers will sometimes block and sometimes have route patterns depending on the variation. At times, the run or pass can be predetermined, though the action of the play will remain the same.
We ran a Zone Read or Inside Zone play three times on the opening drive against Umass. Here is one example (click spoiler button). Here we see the inside backer jump on the action and move right to Lindsay. Liufau rifles one out wide to Fields. As the clip plays through a few times, watch the OL. This is not typical pass blocking technique, and in fact it's run blocking. Look at the crease the OL creates that LB must fill. Later in the game, the LB is late or reads pass and we break off longer runs.
The Power (or its close relative The Counter) have become the preferred running plays of most power running football teams in the College or NFL ranks. Different offensive systems disguise the play differently, and we actually ran it out of four or five different formations yesterday, but the execution is basically the same. Here is a longer article on the Power from Grantland, in case people want a full breakdown and history of the play. Essentially, what happens on the power is that a FB or TE (depending on the personnel) kicks out the first defender (tends to be an OLB) outside the other TE on the down line. Then the guard from the backside simultaneously pulls and as he turns up field he tries to flatten the first defender he sees, usually an LB or DE. With the exception of the backside tackle, the remainder of the OL finds their assignment by checking for a defender inside, head up and then last outside. This creates a system that allows the OL to block the defenders down to the backside of the play while usually creating a double team somewhere. The backside tackle seals of the back defenders to prevent penetration. The ball carrier then looks for his hole inside out from gaps A to D. Next time we're playing, when you see a heavier personnel packages and it's a running play, look for the guard and FB/TE action. Regardless of formation, if they move liked described above, we're running Power.
On the opening drive, we ran the Power three times, out of three different formations. Here are two examples. Watch the backside guard and the TE/FB as the play starts. This tell us it's a Power. As you rewatch the clip, notice the pre-snap motion along with the different formation.
There has been a lot of motion with Ross the first two weeks but he has not yet received the hand off. As the offense evolves this year, do not be surprised to start seeing Ross, Lee, Walker and even Fields receive the hand off from after motion across the formation pre-snap. I would surmise we'll break this wrinkle out for conference play or perhaps CSU.
On the first drive, we ran Inside Zone or Power a combine six times out of nine or ten plays. I knew right then, if we could execute, we were coming for Umass. As we saw, we had to pull the dogs off of Umass. They couldn't stand up to these two plays, in part because they were so concern about getting beaten by the pass and in part because this year we have three maulers at guard. Last year, we tried to run the power a lot early in the year and we got stuffed a fair amount of the time. While the guards need to continue to sure up their pass blocking, they are much stronger run blockers than we've had since Dan Sanders and Ryan Miller era days back in the early Hawkins era
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