Geeky Stuff

Patrick Browne asked me about new plays this year. You may be surprised to know that I've been thinking about that.  (That was a joke of course. I know that you know that I've been thinking about little else.)

We will add a spread formation and a Midline version of the option. And we want to try to accomplish a true fullback dive option with a mesh, and have our play-side linemen block at the second level. All of this is rather ambitious, but I thought that running the outside option at all last year was ambitious and the boys did it very well. These are just the next steps in the progression to becoming a true 'triple' option team.

The mesh by the way, is the hand-off part of an option where the quarterback determines whether or not a hand-off is going to happen. It might happen, and it might not. The quarterback reads the defense during the play and then he and he alone decides what will happen. One of the coolest things about the triple option, from either the wishbone or the spread formation, is that executing that part of the option correctly means we don't have to block the big giant defensive tackle that we're running toward. He will take himself out of the play by committing to either the fullback or the quarterback.

For those of you like me that get all geeked up about football, here are three different examples of what we will call the Spread Midline option that will be in our playbook.

Credit where credit is due - I saw this series originally last year on a Navy fan blog site called http://thebirddog.wordpress.com/

Below is a video of the Midline option. The quarterback sees that the "hand-off key" (an arrow points him out) is turning inside to tackle the fullback. So he keeps the ball and could have even pitched it somewhere down field if he'd wanted to run that risk. This is a great read by this quarterback, because even though the defender goes to the outside initially to the B gap, he still turns his shoulders inside toward the fullback, which causes the fake and pull. I think the fullback would have been past the defender even if he'd been given the ball, but it is still a fabulous read. We would call this play Spread, Midline Option Left
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6udfx_rutgers-midline2_sport

Here is the same play.  But this time, once the quarterback sees that the handoff key 'floats' - stays outside to tackle him - the quarterback just goes ahead and hands the ball to the fullback. So again, Spread, Midline Option Left, but with a different outcome
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6udiq_rutgers-midline4_sport

Finally, in this example, they do something a little different. They KNOW in the huddle that they want the QB to keep the ball, so they cut the motion A back (#28 I think, equal to our 2 back) immediately up the field as an extra blocker. I think he is supposed to block the hand-off key, but since that guy has taken himself out of the play by chasing the fullback, he just gets up field and cuts a safety. The lead A back (#34, would be our 3 back) looks for an inside linebacker first, but since the guard got in that guy's way and no one is there early for him to block, he goes ahead and jumps out to the other safety and absolutely destroys him. We would call this one Spread, Midline 15 Keep
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6udrh_oldmid_sport

In addition to the Midline, we'll add a Belly series and a greater, more deceptive variety of counter plays. 

If you don't love this stuff, you're just not geeky enough.