Breakdown Sports

This post features a series of tweets discussing OL technique on a north/south (veritical) double team. PSU Watch the C. Watch his 2nd step (left foot) His eyes are on LB. He knows he needs to check him. But as he opens with his right foot, he lunges forward with his left, and now is off balance. If he moves his left foot laterally or with depth, he can stay square and redirect pic.twitter.com/1MZ901ULQK — Space Coyote (@SpaceCoyoteBDS) February 10, 2022

As a defender, you are tasked with reading your keys in order to properly diagnose the play and fulfill your assignment. Gap responsibility and run fits and execution all start with properly seeing what is happening in front of you, and based on what the offensive line does, will change your path to success. But offenses know this. To a degree, and offense does what it does because that's the easiest and most efficient way of finding success. Other times, they find success with mind games, by showing something and doing another. This post is going to look at "False Blocks", the art of pass setting on runs and false pulls.

Twitter is a mean place. It's a place full of hot takes. It's a place, where if you mess up or are wrong, you're going to get killed for it. And on Saturday night, James Franklin and Ricky Rohne were wrong. They went against convention and decided to run the football on 4th and 5, and got stopped for a loss. So not only did they break convention and not succeed, they tried their best and failed miserably; the lesson is never try . But, here's the thing, it's not that there isn't logic to the PSU play call. There is.  And, in fact, I find it odd that if there wasn't logic to it, if it was so stupid to in fact be beyond reason and rationale, that Greg Schiano and the Ohio State Buckees would just go happen to dial up the perfect defense to stop it. "Huh?" you say. Yes, the RPO play call was in fact so logical, that OSU dialed up a play almost specifically to stop it. Better put: Schiano drank a delicious Penn State Berkey Creamery Milkshake . And...

Whoa boy is there some people given Franklin thee ole business for his call to go with an Inside Zone - Bubble RPO on 4th and 5 on his final possession last Saturday. I mean, his own fans were calling him out on the way to the locker room and he was ready to have a nice, pleasant, parliamentary debate about the grievance. So what were Franklin and offensive coordinator thinking Ricky Rahne thinking with that call? Let's at least try to give them the benefit of the doubt and take a look.

One of my favorite types of articles is discussing what one team does, and does well, and then seeing how other teams adjust to take advantage of that thing. I did it previously in the chess match between Wisconsin and Iowa that we saw in one game . In the future, I want to touch on Wisconsin's offensive gameplan against Iowa to see it from a scouting perspective. But this post is about the Michigan defense and how they tend to play a flat-back formation, and then the different responses we saw from it from OSU and Penn State. I love Don Brown. I want to run through a brick wall for Don Brown. THIS IS BETTER THAN THE FIRST. 🚨🚨🚨DON BROWN IS THE HYPE MAN OF THE YEAR🚨🚨🚨 (NSFW AT ALL) pic.twitter.com/mrPlA1yHoK — The Wolverine Lounge (@WolverineLounge) April 6, 2018 Ok, let's talk some football.

Against Michigan, Penn State pulled out a nice wrinkle to their run action. While most teams that run out of gun incorporate an inside zone read, the Nittany Lions prefer more of a belly read approach. In this post we are going to look at the difference between the more common Inside Zone run , the Belly Option that PSU prefers, and the counter action off of it with the utilization of a speed option . A couple weeks later Rutgers tried to utilize a similar strategy but had much less success. We're going to poke at the difference between teams in this post as well.

On Saturday, Penn State pulled out a direct snap offense, in which they lined up initially like a normal shotgun snap, and then shifted late such that the RB was behind the Center and the QB aligned off set. This sets up for an offense where the QB can still be utilized as a run threat, but the RB can get the ball into his hands immediately and take advantage of some of the interior run schemes while the fairly mobile QB can still threaten the edge. More specifically in this instance, it allows you to run Power O with your RB without being forced to block the "kickout" defender (he's blocked with the read). It's an interesting wrinkle that puts a lot of pressure on the play side of the defense, but it isn't without it's limitations. Now on film, defenses can react based on those limitations. So how can the Nittany Lions grow this package to take advantage of what defenses may show going forward? Let's speculate.

Larry Johnson Sr. has long been considered not only one of the best recruiters in the B1G and the nation, but one of the premier DL coaches as well. He came up at Penn St beginning in 1996, starting as a DE and Special Teams coach, before slightly changing his role to the coach of the entire DL from 2000-2013. While PSU continues to have a successful DL, they weren't able to retain Johnson on their staff with the hiring of Franklin, and Larry Johnson switched his allegiance to the Buckeyes in 2014. Sometimes the rich get richer. Ohio State had undeniable talent along the DL going into 2014, but their performance to begin the year was below their talent level. But there may not have been a single group in the B1G that improved over the course of the year and into the post-season as much as Johnson's defensive line. In this post, we're going to look at several DL drill that Larry Johnson incorporated at PSU, and how that makes his defensive lines so successful.

We talked previously about the variety of Cover 4 coverages that allow defenses to mix up their look and reaction to routes while still playing what is essentially the same basic scheme. This time, I’m going to move away a bit from what is done post snap and look at how a defense can be benefitted by pre-snap positioning; that is: leverage and depth. In this way, you can combat some of the offense’s strengths while still maintaining your base scheme. This article will focus on the position of the front 7 and what they can do to benefit the coverage scheme.

Abby Drey / McClatchy-Tribune Base O: Mostly 11 and 12 personnel; Zone Run Schemes Base D: A lot of 4-3 Under with a Loose alignment from the SAM; some Apex; some Over on passing downs

Joe Hermitt - The Patriot News This is intended to be a look at the B1G players participating in the NFL combine (and a couple others that I think may get drafted). I include combine results, though that is only a small part of the equation for me. I put much more value into what I've seen on film rather than by how well someone has been taught to run the 40 yard dash. I try to give a basic overview of strengths, weaknesses, fit, and where I'd expect them to be drafted based on "norms". What that means is that I'm not really looking at mock drafts, I don't have my ear to the ground for what Mel Kiper is saying about a guy. It's just based on what I've seen on film. This will be five parts long, with teams coming in alphabetical order. Part I Part II Part III

Normal day for PSU defense. Maryland had 17 real drives, 12 went four plays or fewer, three went more than 5 plays. Only three drives longer than 17 yards. 11 Punts, three fumbles A normal day for the PSU Offense. 16 real drives (really 17, because they tried to gain yards before getting sacked before halftime). 11 drives went five plays or fewer, six went more than five plays. Went longer than 50 yards once. 8 punts, three turnovers. Moderate success early, leading to consistent lack of success late. After first six drives, 7/8 went three plays or less, 9/11 went four plays or less. Maryland O: Mostly 11 personnel from Gun PSU D: 4-3 Over or Nickel Over; mix of coverage, lots of Cover 6 PSU O: Mostly gun, 12 personnel. Lots of man blocking schemes in 1st half, zone in 2nd Maryland D: 3-4 Under

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images PSU O: Mostly 12 and 11 personnel. Split TEs out a lot. Zone based run scheme. Michigan D: 4-3 Over with some Under mixed in. UM O: Mostly 11 personnel. PSU D: 4-3 Over or Nickel with an Over Front

Steve Flynn/USA TODAY Sports  Offense: Mostly 12 personnel, single back offense. Pass Heavy Defense: 4-3

All coaches will admit that differentiating and controlling tempo are benefits of any modern offense. But then why are not all offenses running it in this day and age? In the modern B1G, you see some teams that utlize it heavily, others marginally, and others not at all. Why such a difference if it's known as an advantage for any offense using it. In this piece, we will discuss just that. Chris Howell - Herald-Times  [Indiana is known as being one of the fastest teams  in college football and have had a very successful offense in recent years. Some would say their struggles on defense are an effect of practicing with up-tempo offense, though]

Originally published at Maize n Brew Note This information is applied to the Bill O'Brien PSU teams, but the concepts are familiar throughout the Big Ten. Many teams, such as Iowa, Wisconsins, etc, will utilize zone running schemes. And the mesh concept described below will apply to many teams with young QBs, and will be utilized by coordinators throughout the Big Ten. Introduction This piece will be a bit shorter today, but hopefully it will still be informative. Penn State has given me absolutely no full game footage, making it very difficult to grasp a whole lot about scheme and patterns. But they do have some pretty good game highlights, and for whatever reason some guy from Nebraska has some all 11 footage from when they played Penn State, so I got some nice stuff coming your way (thanks Alonzo Whaley ). Anyway, Bill O'Brien has done a great job in a short time taking many of the offensive philosophies from the Patriots, very much simplifying them, and then teachin...

Previously we looked at how MSU began adjusting their routes and advancing their pass game with the “Switch Concept” . This time, we’ll look more closely at Cook’s progression as a QB, and his ability to read safeties in order to determine where he decides to take the ball. In this case we’ll look at a play that incorporates two triangles, one based off of a Mesh concept, and the other off of a China concept. The Play What’s interesting about this play is that it incorporates two common pass concepts in an effort to defeat either both single-high and two-high defenses. While either concept within itself can be adjusted to beat either coverage, here, the concepts will only be used for their optimal coverage beater. It just so happens that by combining the two concepts, two triangles are formed, giving Cook three options in each of his progressions. More after the jump

Link to  1st Quarter and  2nd Quarter PSU Drive 10 - 15:00 3rd 10-21 Play 1 - 1st and 10 - Black is very quick to get penetration, gets a little too deep but realizes it and really squeezes the play. Ross, in the process of wrapping up (this is why you wrap up) rakes down right on the football and it kicks to Clark, who returns it for a TD. PSU Drive 11 - 14:44 3rd 17-21 Play 1 - 1st and 10 - PSU in a mirrored solo set and Michigan in a 4-3 Under with Clark standing up on the near side. Michigan runs a double A gap twist with their LBs, Heck scrambles and throws right at Clark, who almost makes an eerily similar INT as Zettel did on his zone blitz drop. This is a great job by Clark, who had originally started chasing the QB, seeing that someone was leaking behind him and regaining depth to get underneath the route and break it up. This play is a nice way of getting 7 guys in pretty much every gap and making the zone blocks difficult for the OL. The drops from SAM and W...

This is note intended to serve the same purpose as Brian's UFR over at MGoBlog. This is intended to look at things from a coach's perspective, namely, the two Michigan coordinators and why they are doing what they're doing. I will have one for each quarter and OT. Michigan Drive 1 - 15:00 1st 0-0 Play 1 - 1st and 10 - Tackle over Power. Glasgow missed assignment and didn't down block (instead deciding to triple the playside DT when that wasn't his job against this front). Butt didn't hold block anyway. Absolutely no problem running this here. It's first play, you see what the defense is giving. CB 6 yards off. Only 8 in box from PSU. PSU was set up to give up yards on the run, missed assignments killed the play. But you see what PSU is giving you early and it should set up things for later. Need to be executed better. 3 on 1 eh? Welp, see ya later. Play 2 - 2nd and 14 - Designed QB Power off read option look. Kalis needs to do better in the hole on...

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...