Breakdown Sports

Upon hiring Chris Ash away from Iowa State, OSU switched from primarily a Cover 6 look to a press Cover 4 base. The change was part of a plan to put more pressure on the offense, from the front 7 to the back 4. And there is no bigger push in college football than the implementation of press coverage. All coaches have their tweaks to the technique based on leverage, offensive formation, play call, and player abilities. After the jump, Chris Ash goes into detail from his ISU days about Man Press technique.

Originally posted at Maize n Brew on 5/29/2014 Associated Press Minnesota is one of the most run heavy teams not only in the B1G, but in all of college football. And not only are they just heavy in terms of how much they run the football, but they are the true essence of a team that wants to be a powerful running force. The majority of their runs come between the tackles in the form of inside zone, Power O to the RB, or Power O from the QB. With so much power on the field though, they tend to lack the speed to threaten the edges. Their way of getting the football to the edge then, isn't by subbing in different personnel or by running WR screens, but utilizing in a variety of ways their WRs to run sweeps. Not only has this become prevalent in their offense, but they have used it very well to set up other runs as well. In this article, we will look quickly at the Golden Gophers base run game, and more how they work off of that to set up the rest of their playbook.

M.P. KING, ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP Base O - 12 or 21 personnel; Inside Zone and Power O base runs. Base D - One-Gap 3-4; Cover 1 with a SS robber Also, check out the PODCAST

Comes up when you Google Search "Buck Around" Had the opportunity to join the guys at Buck Around  for another podcast, this time to discuss Wisconsin's 2015 spring game and preview the 2015 season. Always fun to talk football, and discussing it in mid-June with others is always a joy. LINK

Associated Press Now that I've watched all the Spring Games that I could DVR, I wanted to go through and give people a look at players that I think could breakout in 2015. In order to determine a "breakout" player, I went through and did a few things: If you were on an All-B1G Media or Coaches team, I took you out Honestly, people know Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliot, Darren Lee, those guys are out There are a few players I don't think get the mention they deserve but are on an All-B1G team, I put them on the ineligible list just to bring them up, but they aren't on my 1st or 2nd team If you're a former 5-star recruit, people probably know you. Christian Hackenberg, Malik McDowell, Lawrence Thomas, Jabrill Peppers, and all you other 5-stars, you're out. Alrighty, so that took out a lot of players actually. So how do I determine who is the 1st team and who's 2nd team, and who's honorable mention? I don't really know, this was a poo...

A new trend is taking over football in the form of a tackling technique known as "the rugby tackle". Popularized initially by Pete Carroll out in Seattle, it was recently adapted by Ohio State's Defensive Coordinator Chris Ash prior to the Buckeye's 2014 run to the national title. EAMON QUEENEY | DISPATCH In this article, I want to discuss the techniques of what I term "form tackling" and "rugby tackling". I am of the opinion that form tackling is a sound, safe, an efficient form of playing defensive football. I also believe rugby tackling to be highly effective. So what is my preference? Between the two, I personally don't have one; my preference is for safe, technically sound tackling that prevents the ball carrier from picking up yards and getting my defense off the field. It is my conviction that the importance lies in the technique and the ability to get your players to buy into that importance. So let's start tackling this subje...

All images from  Amanda Marzullo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Base O - Mostly 21 personnel, off-set I. A bit of 11 personnel from gun. Mix of zone runs with Power O to counter. Base D - 4-3 Under was the standard, but they played a bit of 3-4 as well is certain situations. Mostly a two-high safety look, lots of Cover 2 and Cover 6; passive defense.

Apparently I missed this blogs birthday. I am not a good father to my blog. Anyway, the blog is now over two years old and has steadily been getting more and more readers, which I really appreciate. Dog happy for cupcake, unhappy he has to wear a stupid hat Thank you to all the blogs that have linked me along the way; as well as the radio interviews and podcasts. A few I'd like to thank personally: Illinois The Champaign Room Indiana The Crimson Quarry Punt John Punt Michigan MGoBlog Maize n Brew GBM Wolverine 247 Michigan Board Michigan State The Only Colors Red Cedar Message Board Minnesota The Daily Gopher Nebraska huskermax.com Corn Nation Husker Board Unsportsmanlike Conduct  (Nebraska Radio) Northwestern Inside NU Ohio State Land-Grant Holy Land Eleven Warriors Wisconsin Bucky's 5th Quarter Buck Around All-Around Football James Light Blog As always, if you have requests for things you'd like to see, I'm all ears. I...