Breakdown Sports

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT MAIZE N BREW Introduction There are many odd and unique things about Northwestern. They're the only team in the Big Ten that is private. They wear purple. Their home games are every other teams Chicago home game. These guys have been the most annoying team that hasn't been that good but somehow has been good over the past decade. They have two quarterbacks capable of starting... and they're nothing alike. I introduce to you: Kain Colter aka The Runner and Trevor Siemian aka The Passer. In the words of Vince Lombardi, "What the hell's goin' on out there?" Well, I guess I can at least try to explain some of their spread offense and how it starts to differ with their two QBs. The rest, well, not so much. The Run Game Bear with me, I just spent an hour thinking up bad section title puns from classic movies (‘Citizen Kain' anyone?) then spent the next hour trying to convince myself that they weren't as stupid as they seemed....

With a true freshman QB, Penn State has really simplified their offense to help him adjust to the speed of defenses. With these adjustments he has looked like a very good QB for such a young player. PSU looks to rely more on the inside zone than they did a year ago , and they’ll throw a tunnel or bubble screen on almost any down and distance to keep the defense honest against them, but what I want to discuss today is how they attack the short zones, and then when they catch defenses peaking, how they attack with 4 vertical receivers to keep the defense on their heals. Hitches This is perhaps the easiest play schematically that there is. However, execution is key to its success. The key is for the receiver to run at the defender’s leverage point. This is to get into his body in an attempt to turn him or continue to maintain cushion on you. At about 6 yards the receiver plants on his outside foot and works back to the ball. The ball is placed away from the defender, so if the de...