Feb. 20 - Western Carolina

[AstroDin]

I took this video with my iPhone at the game and was really impressed with the toughness of 170 lb Fr RB #17 Kendall Thomas on this play. He goes in motion and then cuts upfield at the snap and destroys the S dropping down into the box. Takes on a guy who looks to be 30lbs bigger, makes the key block, and shows toughness and tenacity.

another cool little nugget about Paul's video… who is the first man to check on KT locked up with a WCU defender?
#67 Anderson Tomlin. We're just one game into the 2021 season, and yet Mr. Tomlin looks like a difference-maker on the o-line.

[The Jackal]

When you talk about an experienced offensive line, I think this play sort of helps emphasize that.

It's a relatively simple design on a run play - LG pulls around, looks inside for a linebacker, fullback leads the tailback looking to kick out the next defender to show his face, tailback follows the caravan, breaks a tackle and accelerates to the outside.

WCU brings extra bodies against this run look. A lot of teams are going to do this to us. They send three guys to the center's left. After the LG pulls, there are only two guys there to block three rushers.

I'm sure Bear can give the specific terminology, but watch the backside - LT (Tomlin, I believe). He has to fill the hole vacated by the LG and steps near laterally inside. The center, Jumper, steps backside and seals both the DT and blitzing linebacker. Feeling that Jumper has sealed the inside, Tomlin peels back and gets a block on the DE - the only man yet to be blocked in this design.

Without that second block, the DE probably blows the play up in the backfield. Tomlin gets to him right before he gets his mitts on Wynn. Not sure if that's the design, but great awareness and athleticism to step that hard inside, block a man, and then peel back to one of the defense's most athletic players.

A lot of teams might fill the backside guard's with the fullback. Furman's coaches seem confident that their linemen can sort all of this out and can spare the fullback to get there "firstest with the mostest." The last thing any defensive backfield wants to see is 300 lbs Krober followed by 245 lbs Roberto followed by 216 lbs Wynn. Good night.

By the way, if you are looking for other wrinkles, watch Deluca bubble out at the bottom of the screen. If teams are going to crash that hard into the backfield, look for us to start quickly swinging the ball out to the edge.

I love the play, but it kinda looks like wretched defense. The DE played too wide and the DT kinda went towards the A gap, so the only defenders with a chance on this 46ish thing are those 2 lbs (or whatever they are) who stay 4 or 5 yards deep. Then one of them gets bulldozed while the other misses the tackle. But I’m hoping that is an example of the fact that nobody’s defense is set up to handle simple stuff like this anymore. The second level guys aren’t recruited to stop a bunch of big dudes running straight at them.

Every Football person should LOVE this play - it’s Power...old-school basic Football & unstoppable if executed properly.

Only ‘variation’ is TE blocking out on DE/OLB instead of blocking down to chip DT & go to b/s LB. Probably read WCU’s alignment OR this is more of an A-Gap Power design, made famous by NDSU.

I’d like to see Kroeber getting out his stance a little quicker and perhaps skip-pull vs. flat-pull, but I’ll defer to Coach Lusk on that...although being a kid from The ‘Well, I’ll still give him crap about his ‘get-off’ when I see him. Coach Caldwell woulda said he’s coming out of it “like an old washer-woman”...whatever that means.

The pick-up by the OT on the backside is unique & EXTRA. He recognized he had stopped the charge of the blitzing LB...who could have blown up the play...and, I guess, realized he was now ‘caught up on the trash’ and that the DE is the ‘most dangerous man’ - really nice - absolutely takes experience, brains, and athleticism for him to make that block. Give that man a STAR!

...and Kroeber got his pads squared up, stayed tight to the LoS, eyed up his man, and walked the dog with him ahead of the RB...so, despite the start, he gets a ++ on that play also. (was just funnin’ calling my Homeboy out like that)

Final comment - FB is actually ‘wrong’ here. He’s not ‘bad wrong,’ but his man shoulda been the Safety that makes 1st contact w/Wynn. FB ended up double-teaming p/s LB with Kroeber. That kinda problem is a good problem and easy to fix ...but it is the difference in an 18 yard run & sailin’ into the Enzyme untouched

I really think this play suggests a few things.

1. The coaching staff trusts in the OL. If they didn't trust Tomlin to make that block, they'd have sent Roberto to fill the backside gap.

2. The coaching staff trusts the TE (Page, here). As you note, a lot of teams would scheme the TE to come down and block the linebacker and let the pulling guard kick out the play side DE. Suggests to me that our coaching staff, again, trusts the TE to seal out the the guy that is most likely the dangerous defender.

3. I agree that Roberto attacked the wrong guy. It does give an opportunity, though, to highlight another point -- if a defender stops his feet against Devin Wynn, he's probably done. I don't think you are tackling that guy breaking down and hoping to grab him as he runs by.

Even with the arguably missed block, WCU doesn't get a hand on him until he's five yards downfield field. It also looks like Wynn gives the WCU safety a stiff arm at the 16 yard line and shoves him to the 7.

[AstroDin]

thank you, Jackal and Bear for the insights and breakdowns… my dumb question/thought.

It's been along time since we've seen the consistent ability in any game to pound the rock like the Dins did Saturday.
I'm excited to see this offense go against other defenses. With some of the SoCon's best defenses not being as big upfront as in years past (Wofford), I'm curious to see what we see from opponents this season? I feel like Furman has built some pieces that cause some issues for defenses. We have power backs and speedy slot-types…

[The Jackal]

thank you, Jackal and Bear for the insights and breakdowns… my dumb question/thought.

It's been along time since we've seen the consistent ability in any game to pound the rock like the Dins did Saturday.
I'm excited to see this offense go against other defenses. With some of the SoCon's best defenses not being as big upfront as in years past (Wofford), I'm curious to see what we see from opponents this season? I feel like Furman has built some pieces that cause some issues for defenses. We have power backs and speedy slot-types…

It's tough on a defense.

As a general proposition, a defense cannot let Furman (1) establish the run AND (2) open up chunk plays in the passing game. That's what Furman wants to do. The defense is going to try to take away one or the other of those things.

WCU attempted to take away the latter. They appeared, to me, to drop the CBs into a deeper zone. They looked to be pushing one of their safeties into the box on the snap towards the run action (i.e. attacking where the run looked like or was actually going). The other safety was trying to take away the deep third.

This is, I think, the standard way of attacking Furman (at least in 2019). To that point, we really couldn't make consistent throws to the edge - the weak spot against deeper zone coverage. We struggled to make those passes in 2019, and so teams would consistently try and force us to make them. I think you saw on Saturday that a lot of our completed passes, with the exception of the long toss to Miller, were to the edge. That is what the defense is going to give us in the passing game.

Some teams will probably do the opposite. They will try to throw as many bodies as they can into the box. I'd look for that sort of approach from teams with better defensive backs (UTC, ETSU). WCU couldn't afford to play much man coverage - they didn't have the personnel and could not afford to let their CBs turn their back to Furman's run game.

At the same time, some teams aren't going to have enough "lead in their pants" to withstand four quarters of what Furman did on Saturday. Sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and see who the better man is. If the defense shows they can't stop it, why do anything else?

[FUBeAR]

When you talk about an experienced offensive line, I think this play sort of helps emphasize that.

It's a relatively simple design on a run play - LG pulls around, looks inside for a linebacker, fullback leads the tailback looking to kick out the next defender to show his face, tailback follows the caravan, breaks a tackle and accelerates to the outside.

WCU brings extra bodies against this run look. A lot of teams are going to do this to us. They send three guys to the center's left. After the LG pulls, there are only two guys there to block three rushers.

I'm sure Bear can give the specific terminology, but watch the backside - LT (Tomlin, I believe). He has to fill the hole vacated by the LG and steps near laterally inside. The center, Jumper, steps backside and seals both the DT and blitzing linebacker. Feeling that Jumper has sealed the inside, Tomlin peels back and gets a block on the DE - the only man yet to be blocked in this design.

Without that second block, the DE probably blows the play up in the backfield. Tomlin gets to him right before he gets his mitts on Wynn. Not sure if that's the design, but great awareness and athleticism to step that hard inside, block a man, and then peel back to one of the defense's most athletic players.

A lot of teams might fill the backside guard's with the fullback. Furman's coaches seem confident that their linemen can sort all of this out and can spare the fullback to get there "firstest with the mostest." The last thing any defensive backfield wants to see is 300 lbs Krober followed by 245 lbs Roberto followed by 216 lbs Wynn. Good night.

By the way, if you are looking for other wrinkles, watch Deluca bubble out at the bottom of the screen. If teams are going to crash that hard into the backfield, look for us to start quickly swinging the ball out to the edge.

I love the play, but it kinda looks like wretched defense. The DE played too wide and the DT kinda went towards the A gap, so the only defenders with a chance on this 46ish thing are those 2 lbs (or whatever they are) who stay 4 or 5 yards deep. Then one of them gets bulldozed while the other misses the tackle. But I’m hoping that is an example of the fact that nobody’s defense is set up to handle simple stuff like this anymore. The second level guys aren’t recruited to stop a bunch of big dudes running straight at them.

Every Football person should LOVE this play - it’s Power...old-school basic Football & unstoppable if executed properly.

Only ‘variation’ is TE blocking out on DE/OLB instead of blocking down to chip DT & go to b/s LB. Probably read WCU’s alignment OR this is more of an A-Gap Power design, made famous by NDSU.

I’d like to see Kroeber getting out his stance a little quicker and perhaps skip-pull vs. flat-pull, but I’ll defer to Coach Lusk on that...although being a kid from The ‘Well, I’ll still give him crap about his ‘get-off’ when I see him. Coach Caldwell woulda said he’s coming out of it “like an old washer-woman”...whatever that means.

The pick-up by the OT on the backside is unique & EXTRA. He recognized he had stopped the charge of the blitzing LB...who could have blown up the play...and, I guess, realized he was now ‘caught up on the trash’ and that the DE is the ‘most dangerous man’ - really nice - absolutely takes experience, brains, and athleticism for him to make that block. Give that man a STAR!

...and Kroeber got his pads squared up, stayed tight to the LoS, eyed up his man, and walked the dog with him ahead of the RB...so, despite the start, he gets a ++ on that play also. (was just funnin’ calling my Homeboy out like that)

Final comment - FB is actually ‘wrong’ here. He’s not ‘bad wrong,’ but his man shoulda been the Safety that makes 1st contact w/Wynn. FB ended up double-teaming p/s LB with Kroeber. That kinda problem is a good problem and easy to fix ...but it is the difference in an 18 yard run & sailin’ into the Enzyme untouched

I really think this play suggests a few things.

1. The coaching staff trusts in the OL. If they didn't trust Tomlin to make that block, they'd have sent Roberto to fill the backside gap.

2. The coaching staff trusts the TE (Page, here). As you note, a lot of teams would scheme the TE to come down and block the linebacker and let the pulling guard kick out the play side DE. Suggests to me that our coaching staff, again, trusts the TE to seal out the the guy that is most likely the dangerous defender.

3. I agree that Roberto attacked the wrong guy. It does give an opportunity, though, to highlight another point -- if a defender stops his feet against Devin Wynn, he's probably done. I don't think you are tackling that guy breaking down and hoping to grab him as he runs by.

Even with the arguably missed block, WCU doesn't get a hand on him until he's five yards downfield field. It also looks like Wynn gives the WCU safety a stiff arm at the 16 yard line and shoves him to the 7.

Not exactly on #2 - the way they ran it the FB & TE are swapping blocks...and we must have known / expected the b/s LB to fill for pulling OG vs. scrape over top...where the TE or FB would block him. As the FB never even ‘checked’ for him, I doubt that was the scheme. When TE is blocking out, you expect this to hit tighter (A or Tight B gap). With DT in a 3 or 4i, it hit exactly where it needed to hit. If DT had been in a 5, we may have seen the p/s OT block out also...and then you have A-Gap Power. The scheme you described is not Power. We used to call it Rip...and it had a counter motion. You are right about using the FB to seal the b/s DE...and it makes it less of a ‘we got more than you’ at the point of attack play...unless you ‘block’ the DE with the QB as a run threat..which is Power-O.

Ain’t Feetsball FUN!

[Furmanoid]

It’s fun breaking down this play to death. If the play develops fast and your linemen have big splits the b/s DE shouldn’t be able to run down your RB should he? Of course the potential issue is that it can’t develop too fast while you’re waiting for the washer woman to get out of his stance. So it’s good that our left tackle seems to have really good feet so he could move one way then turn back the other way to block a whole other guy.

But wouldn’t this play have been just as effective without the pulling guard? It would then be Ram from the NAHS playbook (Lion goes left). I think we combo blocked the 3 technique to the Mike. The TE just let the DE stay outside. The FB got the Sam who was trying to cover a huge gap. Our RB just threw that other guy in the dirt. After all the complicated ballet, the pulling guy just helped out the FB.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for developing these linemen to do all sorts of pulling and stuff. It gives them a chance at some glory. I’d even like to see a Packer Sweep which is the ultimate glory play for linemen.

[FUBeAR]

It’s fun breaking down this play to death. If the play develops fast and your linemen have big splits the b/s DE shouldn’t be able to run down your RB should he? Of course the potential issue is that it can’t develop too fast while you’re waiting for the washer woman to get out of his stance. So it’s good that our left tackle seems to have really good feet so he could move one way then turn back the other way to block a whole other guy.

But wouldn’t this play have been just as effective without the pulling guard? It would then be Ram from the NAHS playbook (Lion goes left). I think we combo blocked the 3 technique to the Mike. The TE just let the DE stay outside. The FB got the Sam who was trying to cover a huge gap. Our RB just threw that other guy in the dirt. After all the complicated ballet, the pulling guy just helped out the FB.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for developing these linemen to do all sorts of pulling and stuff. It gives them a chance at some glory. I’d even like to see a Packer Sweep which is the ultimate glory play for linemen.

Oooooohhhh .... we gonna get into Line Splits??? .... a FUBeAR favorite...Split ‘em out...bigger...Bigger...BIGGER! Requires all your OLmen to be ATHLETES, so they can perform in space instead of a phone booth, but opens up so much in the running game!!

And...no Ram or Lion is not unstoppable, as Power is. You don’t have the angles of attack & the number at the PoA that Power provides. You ain’t supposed to end up with a double team on that LB...that’s what I said about the FB being wrong. Because p/s OT & OG caved in DT, OT could have chipped up to b/s LB...but he was up in line...so he should go a to b/s Safety or b/s OLB if ‘shows.’ He didn’t, so we could gotten on that b/s Safety, who I think was involved in the tackle. And if the FB picks up p/s Safety...nothing but scrawny CB’s left to tackle 0 ... if they get off any Retrievers blocking them. That, b/s OG on p/s LB is THE unique feature of Power...which turns nice gains into ‘TO THE HOUSE’ Parties!!

[cavedweller2]

Dnag. Tell it.