How Did They Do It: Auburn Offense vs Georgia 2013

Play is from 8:15-8:23

In the first running play of the game for Auburn vs Georgia in 2013, we will look at what made this simple looking play successful, especially left tackle Greg Robinson and what he will tell us this play that symbolizes Auburn's run game.

This is one of Auburn's basic runs (one we do not run although our veer play is essentially of the same mindset) the inside zone read.  In this trips formation to the field, Georgia covers down every receiver and stays in their base 2 high look.  Of course this leaves favorable numbers in the box for Auburn with 5v5.  Marshall decides to keep off of his backside end read and gains a good 8 yards.  Notice if the corner or safety is well-blocked by the playside receiver and Marshall makes the first man miss in the ample amount of space (what usually happens in this occurrence) it would have been a huge gain.

Left tackle Greg Robinson, number 73 for Auburn and number two pick in the 2013 NFL draft, double teams with his guard on the 3 technique to the only linebacker left in the box.  Notice when he makes contact with the DL, a split second after his guard does, the movement on their DL is enormous.  This is due to Robinson's power and technique.  He is a flat out strong dude and strikes his man near the hip, which is exactly what we preach on our delta double teams.  He even comes off on the LB with a great amount of movement.  This is the key to Auburn's success and why we teach our Delta blocks and veer run the way we do.  

West Virginia Offense vs Texas A&M 2014 Liberty Bowl

West Virginia scored 20 first half offensive points on their way to a 45-37 loss to Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl.  The Mountaineers used only a couple of different packages and concepts to get their playmakers in space and give easy decisions to their new starting quarterback Skyler Howard.  While WVU only scored 3 second half points, many yards were gained in the process of their game plan that involved quick, easy throws and decisions for Howard and Head Coach Dana Holgorsen.  West Virginia dropped back to pass 69 times to only 26 handoffs in the Liberty Bowl while using only six formations and packaging a few couple concepts together in different looks.  Below is a look at Holgorsen’s Bowl game plan:

Base Game plan

Whether it was due to a new starting quarterback or something he saw in A&M’s relatively soft defensive scheme, Dana Holgorsen used only six formations in the Liberty Bowl, three of them (trio, doubles, five wide’s) compromised about 90% of WVU’s bowl offense(Diagram 1).  It may surprise some to know that what we think of as classic “Air Raid” drop back concepts only combined for 11 plays of West Virginia’s offense in this game, three were used in the first half and most during the Mountaineer’s 4th quarter comeback attempt.  Their power run game consisted on only inside zone, split zone (inside zone with a kick out block on the back side defensive end), and the classic power “O” scheme in 21 personnel(Diagram 2).  Screen attachments were a big part of Holgorsen’s game plan coming into the bowl game.  Tunnel screens with pulling linemen, runs, QB draws, and quick game concepts were always tagged with a bubble or “now” screen and its counter deep play “go” concept to the opposite side (Diagram 3).  Many of WVU’s big play offense in the first half, and overall play calls, came from these option packages.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

Diagram 3

Base Game plan Part 1- Trio Package

This formation was used early and often as a way for WVU to package inside zone and their now screen and its deep play counter- the “go” screen.  In the first quarter, A&M responded with a 2 high look, with 4 DB’s over 3 WR’s, to give the QB a handoff read to the inside zone (diagram 4).  WVU put their receivers to the boundary and the field to mix what they wanted out of the run part of the play or the attached bubble or now screen.  Once, WVU moved their TE to the trio side and covered him up, A&M responded with a 6 over 4 look and left five in the box to be blocked by the Mountaineer’s six blockers.  Naturally, Howard handed to his back on the inside zone.  This unique but small change could have made for some easy and quick yards but was not gone back to again.

In the second quarter and beyond, A&M changed to a 1 high look vs. this formation and added an extra man in between the box and the inner most receiver as an overhang defender, although this defender mostly stayed near the box leaving a favorable matchup for the receivers.  This is when WVU and Howard responded by throwing their now and go attached screens.  Kevin White was used as both the now receiver on the outside and the wheel route vertical.  Howard connected missed on several touchdown opportunities with the wheel route on the “go” concept as the 1 high safety carried the inside vertical and corner bit on the now fake.  A lot of yards were gained in the second quarter when A&M shifted to this new coverage and front.  First WVU hit the outside receiver on now screens, leaving him 1v1 with the deep safety when blocked properly (diagram 5).  Even better was the go screen off of the now, a play hit for big yards more than a  few times this game for WVU (diagram 6).

Diagram 4

Diagram 5

Diagram 6

Base Game plan Part 2- Doubles

WVU used this package as an inside zone/jet sweep/go concept constraint.  Almost half of the plays in this formation was a fake jet from the slot and give to the RB on the inside zone to the TE side.  Most of these handoffs were unsuccessful as the jet motion was not effective due to this option never been called by the Mountaineer’s.  Whether it was the defensive alignment or lack of playmakers (#5 seemed very capable of big plays on jet sweeps) Holgorsen never gave the ball to the jet man.  Rather than hitting the jet sweep, West Virginia wanted to fake the inside zone and look to the go concept we saw before as the jet man would be the flat screen option replacing the now, and #1 and #2 to the same side would execute the two verticals just as before.  Again a couple of big plays were missed by the new starting quarterback with this concept.

Base Game Plan Part 3- Empty

Early in the Liberty Bowl, Holgorsen showed his confidence in Howard’s decision making by using a lot of five WR formations.  Every empty play save one drop back pass relied on a now screen attached to a quick game concept, tunnel screen, or QB draw to the opposite side.  Howard was very successful in this package in his decision-making.  The numbers to each side would tell him whether to throw the now screen or opposite tag.  One 50+ yard touchdown came on an empty now screen to the field with a 3v3 matchup (Diagram 7).  Early in the game A&M evacuated all linebackers and left only four defensive linemen in the box for an easy first down run on a QB draw (Diagram 8).  Howard was also able to hit White and his other playmakers on tunnel screens and quick game concepts in the first half.  This package was not used at all in the second half.  

Diagram 7

Diagram 8

Kevin White

Kevin White is West Virginia’s best player, at 6”3 210 lbs. he is one of the most explosive, big play receivers in the country and a projected first round pick.  In the Liberty Bowl White caught 7 passes for 129 yards and a TD and was seemingly the Mountaineer’s only hope for a big play off of broken tackles.  In this game he was used inside and outside, for all three routes in Holgorsen’s “Go” concept, tunnel screens, and the security go-to man on four verticals and 3rd and long drop backs.  His big play came off of doubles play action where the jet man motioned away from White and took the deep middle safety with him, leaving the corner 1v1 with White on a vertical route and a very easy TD (Diagram 9).  This same exact play was used the next series and resulted in a questionable out of bounds call on another White catch.  Much of Holgorsen’s game plan revolved around his star player at receiver.

Diagram 9

Run game

As one could infer from WVU’s 69-26 drop back to handoff ratio, the run game was secondary to the pass in the Liberty Bowl.  Holgorsen used only inside zone, split zone (inside zone with a kick out on the backside end), and power “O” in 21 personnel.  Most handoffs were a matter of favored numbers in the box and short yard situations.  Even 21 personnel runs seemed to set-up deep shot plays down the field off of play action.

Diagram 10

Classic Air Raid Drop Back Concepts

WVU was light in this area, maybe to a surprise of some.  I counted only 11 of these categorized plays; every one except one came on a 3rd or 4th and long.  Curl/Flat combinations, Y Shallow, and four verticals (5 of the 11) were the most common. Diagram 11