FullyERicht
Thunderdome
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2013
- Messages
- 5,591
Watching the team this year, and reading the AG Virginia playbook, coupled with watching how they operate Shayon Green, I think they simply run the Al Groh 3-4, with their own plays added born out of the system. My conclusion is that while guys like Spence are right, the reality is it's not the players fault they aren't executing (and they aren;t); it's that the system cannot be effectively taught to 95% of college teams.
What are we actually doing out there?
The formations begin with typical Okie fronts Cover-2 or 3, and then everything is installed on top of that. The problem is we clearly haven't been able to install the massive complex variations of the system, and have to resort to the base defense, which essentially is a 1970's creation. It's like operating the wishbone all game.
The biggest issue, is unless you can run the full iteration of the various formations, there is no natural pass rush at ALL in the base defense. In other words, when they run their "Okie Tony 2" stuff (as per the UVA playbook, this is a typical 3 man line playing 2-gap, with a tampa-2 zone behind it), there is zero built in pass rush whatsoever, as the only people "rushing the passer" are three large body bull rushers, being asked to simply bullrush or hold their gaps. The coverage is super simple....very little rerouting (none by CBs who essentially spot drop to the deep flats, and it's refered to as "soft zone technique"). It's basically the simplest zone coverage with no blitzing, and looks to us like prevent defense. The "gimmick" in it, is that it looks like a cover 2, but the Jack LB drops to a middle zone a la the tampa 2. Simple, easy to execute, and when run more than a few times a game absolutely easy to pick apart.
Their most basic, easy to teach 4 man DL zone coverage is the "Under 6".....It's basically what we see on a lot of 3rd downs. A four man single gap rush (in an under front) with a Cover-3 zone behind it. Simple, effective, easy to execute. But when your pass rush stinks by itself, and you repeatedly run this play on third and long, it is easy to prepare for, and easy to target the slowest players zone. Thats why 59 and 31 look even worse. They are mediocre players asked to cover athletes who are better than they are when in their zone, with an unimpeded QB throwing to them.
Their man 2 man packages are from what i can quickly tell are used only with blitzes. Unfortunately, not only does this involve a ton of stunts on the line, and more constant changing which gaps and how they are handled by the front, but it puts enormous pressure on the safeties and SAM linebacker, which unfortunately are our by far worst players. The result is still no pass rush, players confused on their coverage assignments, and guys like Ty Cornelius and AJ Highsmith just getting abused man to man.
So can't they call different players?
There are scores of offshoots of very complex plays. Truly hundreds of possibilities. Even the other basic stuff, has levels of complexity: "Cowboy" is a 3 man rush, Cover 3 look. But within that there are multiple checks and reroutes. Presnap movement. Lots of calls. And the permutations are endless. There is a fire zone blitz aspect, (which I have seen a few times and it always looks like crap), and dozens of blitzes out of man coverage. But they are all extremely detailed. The stuff is in the playbook, but not used very often, not b/c it isn't good stuff, but because:
College players aren't pros
Most of the kids on a given college team would have trouble reading the basic terminology of an NFL playbook. South Florida kids who are from the inner city programs that don't have world class coaching aren't going to be able to pick up stuff outside of basic simple formations and plays. There is a reason why only Stanford has run this stuff effectively: they have the ability to recruit nationally the very smartest football kids, who can learn the stuff and actually move into the deep part of the playbook. And no, Bama doesn't run this. Saban adapted his playbook for college kids. His pattern reading concept is proof of that. He found a way to translate it to kids, and he's one of the greatest coaches ever.
Our kids are like the other 100 or so schools who cannot learn the system, and there is no shame in that. Unfortunately, this system was built over several decades, going back to a time where offenses were comparatively dinosaurs. As such, the basic installments of the system are easily torched by modern QBs/OCs. It's what you see every week.
By comparison, the "Cover 2 Dog" (aka JJ's name for the Cover 2 Man under that Randy adopted as his base defense), has things inherent to it's base that can still be very effective: single gap penetration pass rushing, man to man coverage, spill and flow concepts in the run game. And so even if he had to strip things down to make it easy for the SoFla athlete, it still could assert itself against an offense in it's most basic form. And when he needed to add to it, he was able to, b/c a simple foundation was always there.
In our current systems most basic forms, there is no built in method of generating pressure. And clearly, in year three, the staff hasnt been able to move on to the significantly more and more complex variations that DO create pressure / confusion, b/c like 95% of college teams we can't pick it up. That's what happened to GT with Groh, and it's whats happening to us. If your defense is so complex that you can only play basics of the playbook, and the base package is strictly built for coverage, you are SOOL, and give up 1500 yards in three weeks.
What are we actually doing out there?
The formations begin with typical Okie fronts Cover-2 or 3, and then everything is installed on top of that. The problem is we clearly haven't been able to install the massive complex variations of the system, and have to resort to the base defense, which essentially is a 1970's creation. It's like operating the wishbone all game.
The biggest issue, is unless you can run the full iteration of the various formations, there is no natural pass rush at ALL in the base defense. In other words, when they run their "Okie Tony 2" stuff (as per the UVA playbook, this is a typical 3 man line playing 2-gap, with a tampa-2 zone behind it), there is zero built in pass rush whatsoever, as the only people "rushing the passer" are three large body bull rushers, being asked to simply bullrush or hold their gaps. The coverage is super simple....very little rerouting (none by CBs who essentially spot drop to the deep flats, and it's refered to as "soft zone technique"). It's basically the simplest zone coverage with no blitzing, and looks to us like prevent defense. The "gimmick" in it, is that it looks like a cover 2, but the Jack LB drops to a middle zone a la the tampa 2. Simple, easy to execute, and when run more than a few times a game absolutely easy to pick apart.
Their most basic, easy to teach 4 man DL zone coverage is the "Under 6".....It's basically what we see on a lot of 3rd downs. A four man single gap rush (in an under front) with a Cover-3 zone behind it. Simple, effective, easy to execute. But when your pass rush stinks by itself, and you repeatedly run this play on third and long, it is easy to prepare for, and easy to target the slowest players zone. Thats why 59 and 31 look even worse. They are mediocre players asked to cover athletes who are better than they are when in their zone, with an unimpeded QB throwing to them.
Their man 2 man packages are from what i can quickly tell are used only with blitzes. Unfortunately, not only does this involve a ton of stunts on the line, and more constant changing which gaps and how they are handled by the front, but it puts enormous pressure on the safeties and SAM linebacker, which unfortunately are our by far worst players. The result is still no pass rush, players confused on their coverage assignments, and guys like Ty Cornelius and AJ Highsmith just getting abused man to man.
So can't they call different players?
There are scores of offshoots of very complex plays. Truly hundreds of possibilities. Even the other basic stuff, has levels of complexity: "Cowboy" is a 3 man rush, Cover 3 look. But within that there are multiple checks and reroutes. Presnap movement. Lots of calls. And the permutations are endless. There is a fire zone blitz aspect, (which I have seen a few times and it always looks like crap), and dozens of blitzes out of man coverage. But they are all extremely detailed. The stuff is in the playbook, but not used very often, not b/c it isn't good stuff, but because:
College players aren't pros
Most of the kids on a given college team would have trouble reading the basic terminology of an NFL playbook. South Florida kids who are from the inner city programs that don't have world class coaching aren't going to be able to pick up stuff outside of basic simple formations and plays. There is a reason why only Stanford has run this stuff effectively: they have the ability to recruit nationally the very smartest football kids, who can learn the stuff and actually move into the deep part of the playbook. And no, Bama doesn't run this. Saban adapted his playbook for college kids. His pattern reading concept is proof of that. He found a way to translate it to kids, and he's one of the greatest coaches ever.
Our kids are like the other 100 or so schools who cannot learn the system, and there is no shame in that. Unfortunately, this system was built over several decades, going back to a time where offenses were comparatively dinosaurs. As such, the basic installments of the system are easily torched by modern QBs/OCs. It's what you see every week.
By comparison, the "Cover 2 Dog" (aka JJ's name for the Cover 2 Man under that Randy adopted as his base defense), has things inherent to it's base that can still be very effective: single gap penetration pass rushing, man to man coverage, spill and flow concepts in the run game. And so even if he had to strip things down to make it easy for the SoFla athlete, it still could assert itself against an offense in it's most basic form. And when he needed to add to it, he was able to, b/c a simple foundation was always there.
In our current systems most basic forms, there is no built in method of generating pressure. And clearly, in year three, the staff hasnt been able to move on to the significantly more and more complex variations that DO create pressure / confusion, b/c like 95% of college teams we can't pick it up. That's what happened to GT with Groh, and it's whats happening to us. If your defense is so complex that you can only play basics of the playbook, and the base package is strictly built for coverage, you are SOOL, and give up 1500 yards in three weeks.
