Welcome to this week's Football 101, students. I hope you enjoyed your Saturday Night – I know I did! Some other teachers and I celebrated the victory by doing hard drugs with strippers at Omar's. The Teachers' Lounge smells like bad decisions now. After a brief absence to recover from his hospital stint, Coach Dantonio will be back coaching the team this Saturday at Wisconsin. Since Offensive Coordinator Don Treadwell has been running the show recently, I thought we’d go with that theme and examine the offense.
As you can imagine, there are approximately 4.5 billion different combinations of plays that can be used to keep a defense off-balance, give or take a few. Throw in some balance of running plays and passing plays and you've got yourself an offense. You run the play that will give you a good chance to gain yardage, based on what you think the defense will do, right? Well....for the most part. Here's a few select (popular) plays and when they're best utilized.
Quick Definitions: LT = Left Tackle, LG = Left Guard, C = Center, RG = Right Guard, RT = Right Tackle
1. Up-the-middle/Off-tackle
Okay, so, here's our team. ROOOOOOUNNNDDD. I know there's only 10 guys on the field, but we don't need the 11th right now. Being able to run up the middle and off-tackle is the bread and butter of pro-style offenses, like MSU's. Generally, a run up the middle is any play where Baker runs between his linemen (left path). Off-tackle means he runs outside the Left or Right Tackle - on the right path, Baker runs between Charlie Gantt and the RT.
2. Sweep
Baker takes the ball around his offensive line to the outside. When heavy pressure is present on the inside, going to the outside gives you more room to work. Usually the RB can beat the bigger defensive guys to the sideline, so he ends up in open space. Danger of this is he might get tackled for a loss if even one defensive player gets by his blocker. MSU doesn't run this play often, but it's in the playbook.
3. Play-action Pass
Captain Kirk will fake a hand-off to Baker. Defensive players see a run play developing, so they chase the running back. However, now there are less people to defend against the pass, so Cousins throws to BJ/Dell/Gantt for a completion. Even if the defense takes one step towards the RB before realizing it's a pass, that may be enough for the play to succeed.
4. Screen Pass
Captain Kirk will take the snap and immediately throw it to a player in the backfield - in this case, BJ Cunningham. Charlie Gantt will then block for BJ as he tries to run up the sideline. MSU uses this play mostly with Keshawn Martin catching the ball, but I didn't want to put another head in there. A Screen also works better if you have two WR's and a TE on one side.
5. Slant
A WR will start by running straight ahead, then turn slightly to the inside to catch a pass. In order to defend this, an opposing DB has to anticipate it and move in front of the WR, or just make an NFL-level play to break up the pass. In the picture below, Mark Dell is running this route.
6. Hook
A WR goes out, then “hooks” back to face QB. Like the slant, this route is hard to defend if the timing is right. Timing meaning that the ball has to hit the receiver's hands within about a half-second of him turning around. It follows that Cousins has to actually throw the ball before his WR (In this case Cunningham) turns around. If he doesn't turn or Kirk doesn't throw at the right time, pass will be intercepted.
Right now, you're probably asking yourself “Self, that doesn't seem THAT complicated, why do coordinators get paid more than doctors?” The answer is 2 parts: 1. Because you're stupid enough to pay 70 bucks to go to a football game and 2. Because there's more than X's and O's in the strategy.
The number one goal of an offense is to put points on the board – some coaches like to make this a long-term goal as well as an immediate one. This is very evident in the “Treadwell Ball” that many in East Lansing have become accustomed too (also known as Tressel Ball to the national media). It gets frustrating to watch the offense do the same thing....a ton. 1st down: run up the middle, 2nd down: Run off-tackle, 3rd down: short slant to Mark Dell, 4th down: time to punt.
One side-effect of this boring offense that often runs up the gut is that it requires the defensive line and linebackers to work and work hard for an extended period of time. If the defense isn't conditioned as well as your team, by the time the second half comes, they're going to be tired and unable to keep up with having to go into the trenches over and over on every down. The RB's will start gaining an extra yard when they carry the ball, the tackles are a little less precise, and the overall discipline of the defense takes a hit. Second side-effect is that this scheme lulls the defense to sleep - well, not just the defense, but the opposing coaches as well. The defense is going to see this repetition so often that the idea of the opposing offense running a ridiculous trick play doesn't even pop into their heads (like, maybe....a fake FG).
Well, there's an intro on what goes into the offense, from a design standpoint. Feel free to comment if you have questions or suggestions on future Football 101 articles. Big Ten play starts on October 2nd so I'll be doing a Big Ten conference preview on Thursday. Next week's class will be a little shorter and will cover strength and conditioning – be sure to bring plenty of chocolate milk. Go Green!
