Offensive Breakdown: Oklahoma Game

[volstopfan14]

I'll have some more posts once Freak posts the game video.

 

[Spartacavolus]

I wonder if we actually ended up averaging negative yards on first down, but can't recall which downs Hurds 2 big runs were on. For awhile, we avgd .8. Then Pig lost 7 yards soon thereafter.

 

[volstopfan14]

This is the play where Worley fumbled the ball early in the game.

The play run is a familiar concept. Tennessee called a packaged play with the back and line running inside zone with options for a quick out to the right and a spacing concept to the left. We lined up in a spread formation with 2 receivers split wide to either side of Worley.

Unfortunately, it appears that Worley pre-determined where he would go with the ball rather than going through his reads. This is the worst mistake the quarterback can make on a play like this. At the snap he immediately pulled the ball out to throw it to Josh Smith on the quick out. The defender lined up over Smith read Worley’s eyes and began to jump the route. Worley realized the route was no longer open, but instead of turning to throw to someone else, he froze.

Oklahoma sent the outside linebacker to the field on an edge blitz and he came unblocked, hit Worley, and forced a fumble. This wasn’t the lines fault as this player is not accounted for in the run scheme. Had Worley handed the ball to Lane, the linebacker would’ve been so far outside that he wouldn’t have been able to impact the play. The sack and fumble is all on Worley. He had to know that on a play like this where the line is not pass protecting that he must get rid of the ball fast. Instead he made a poor read, froze, and the result was a turnover.

We see here that had Worley made his reads correctly this likely would’ve been a big gain. Oklahoma only had 4 defenders in the box to stop the run to the offenses 5 linemen blocking. If Lane had received the ball he would’ve been able to run for a nice gain. To the field, both receivers are open on the quick hitch routes. The corner bailed into deep coverage and left the outside receiver open, although you can’t see him in this picture, and the flat defender got too far into the box and left the slot receiver open.

 

[Spartacavolus]

why not sight adjust that and hit the hash or sit down. a little angled seam is wide open

 

[volstopfan14]

why not sight adjust that and hit the hash or sit down. a little angled seam is wide open

If he had done that we probably would've scored. The middle was so wide open on that play. I hadn't thought about that before, but that is a pretty good idea. I've never seen it run that way before though.

Here's another angle that shows how wide open the middle of the field was. A seam from Smith or a handoff to Hurd could've scored or at least got big yards on this one.

 

[goldvol]

Yeah, I mean Worley is totally at fault for getting blind sided. I guess he should just have used the eyes in the back of his head.

 

[thomaseusin]

Always enjoy these posts for us non-schematic-minded fans.

Interesting how much jump the right side defender had on Josh Smith's route, perhaps a double move would've opened up the seams.

 

[MWAVolfan]

the offensive line simple got abused. Thats about it. I actually thought Worley played pretty well when the ball actually left his hand. Hurd and the running game in general was better in the second half, but the play of the offensive line was well..... offensive.

 

[Neyland Law Vol]

When you say Worley "froze" after he saw Josh smith was covered - do you mean he had less than a second before he was hit??? I generally think of "froze" to last longer than a blink of an eye.

Worley got hit in less than 2 seconds from the snap on that play.

 

[PapaBurgundy]

Yeah, I mean Worley is totally at fault for getting blind sided. I guess he should just have used the eyes in the back of his head.

Did you read the post? The outside linebacker is lined up out wide on the slot man clearly showing blitz. No offensive lineman in the country could get out that wide to pick him up, nor should he as the end would've been unblocked. Believe it or not it is Worley's job to pick up on things like that pre-snap.

Not a knock on Worley as I believe he's playing great and is a rock for this team right now. He just made a mistake that turned out to be a HUGE one. Live and learn, hopefully we burn uga on a similar play in two weeks.

 

[Spartacavolus]

Worley may have been waiting to see if Josh's head turned so they could make a play. A jab step to the out, but quickly get your head around for eye contact with the Qb and hold out your hand as you head for the hash is a play we should make down the road.

 

[bhuff_32]

Yeah, I mean Worley is totally at fault for getting blind sided. I guess he should just have used the eyes in the back of his head.

It is the QB's fault when he misses the pre-snap read. The correct read results in a big gain/TD rather than a turnover. These are the things that many of us "lay-fans" do not see until it is broken down for us.

 

[Spartacavolus]

And Hurd should've switched sides to pick up the blitz, then turned for the dump pass.

 

[Volnukem]

He missed the pre-snap read. He saw a linebacker split out wide on Smith and realized he had a mismatch and got over zealous. He never looked left to see the blitz coming.

 

[Rifleman]

When you say Worley "froze" after he saw Josh smith was covered - do you mean he had less than a second before he was hit??? I generally think of "froze" to last longer than a blink of an eye.

Worley got hit in less than 2 seconds from the snap on that play.

What he did was akin to having a screen play called and holding the football instead of throwing the screen.

Of course he was going to get murdered.

 

[goldvol]

You guys saying Worley "missed the pre-snap read" - you really think it's possible for every QB to anticipate where and how every blitz is coming? Saying that they are "clearly showing blitz" is just not accurate. Defenses disguise what their doing to get this very result. It's easy for armchair fans to say that it's clearly a blitz after the fact. It's not the QB's fault when someone gets through unblocked from his blind-side and clobbers him in less than 2 seconds. A QB shouldn't have to "look left" every play (or right for that matter), and there is a level of trust in the blocking call that the rest of the team will do their job to protect the quarteback, including Hurd stepping over to pick up the blitz. The bottom line is that their defensive line dominated us, and the best qb in the world would have been in the dirt throughout that game.

 

[bhuff_32]

You guys saying Worley "missed the pre-snap read" - you really think it's possible for every QB to anticipate where and how every blitz is coming? Saying that they are "clearly showing blitz" is just not accurate. Defenses disguise what their doing to get this very result. It's easy for armchair fans to say that it's clearly a blitz after the fact. It's not the QB's fault when someone gets through unblocked from his blind-side and clobbers him in less than 2 seconds. A QB shouldn't have to "look left" every play (or right for that matter), and there is a level of trust in the blocking call that the rest of the team will do their job to protect the quarteback, including Hurd stepping over to pick up the blitz. The bottom line is that their defensive line dominated us, and the best qb in the world would have been in the dirt throughout that game.

I get what you're saying. But take a look at the photo. what I see is two guys covering Josh Smith, which either indicates they feel the need to double him, or one of them is a least giving the impression of blitzing. Since it was unlikely OU was going to double Smith, it was a least likely that a blitz was coming. QBs miss presnap reads all the time, it's just a part of the game. I'm not dogging Worley at all.

 

[PapaBurgundy]

You guys saying Worley "missed the pre-snap read" - you really think it's possible for every QB to anticipate where and how every blitz is coming? Saying that they are "clearly showing blitz" is just not accurate. Defenses disguise what their doing to get this very result. It's easy for armchair fans to say that it's clearly a blitz after the fact. It's not the QB's fault when someone gets through unblocked from his blind-side and clobbers him in less than 2 seconds. A QB shouldn't have to "look left" every play (or right for that matter), and there is a level of trust in the blocking call that the rest of the team will do their job to protect the quarteback, including Hurd stepping over to pick up the blitz. The bottom line is that their defensive line dominated us, and the best qb in the world would have been in the dirt throughout that game.

The fact of the matter is he is showing blitz. Yes, defenses do disguise the blitz and he very well could've dropped into coverage. He has to at least acknowledge that he's showing it and prepare accordingly.

And yes, I think it is possible for a quarterback to anticipate where and how blitzes are coming but not all do. That's what makes the great ones great and the average ones average. See Peyton Manning, he's made a healthy living off of it. Again, not an indictment on Worley - here's to hoping he picks it up next time. :hi:

 

[FLVOL_79]

Does anyone have a video of Hurds 2 runs? I saw the screen pass, I saw the long 40ish yard run but I must have passed out on the couch because I don't remember seeing any other long run..

 

[YorkVol]

If he missed this read, and I think you are correct in that, I'm betting he will remember it and learn from it so as not to miss it again.

 

[volstopfan14]

You've got to understand, this is not being blocked as a pass play. It's being blocked as a run play. Worley absolutely has to get rid of the ball fast or he's gonna get crushed. This is why it is on Worley not the line. The line did their job. The hole was open for Hurd if he had been running the ball. This is the risk you run when you combine pass plays with run plays. If the QB chooses to pass, the ball has to come out quickly because no one is pass protecting for him.

I don't know for sure, but it appeared that Worley tried to make his decision pre-snap instead of post-snap and got burnt. Instead of reading the OLB to decide if he should throw to Smith or handoff, he just decided to throw. And then when it got snapped he realized that Smith wasn't open and by then it was too late to do anything else.

 

[volstopfan14]

Here's Hurd's big run in the 3rd quarter.

The first thing to notice is that we are in the "King Stack" formation that 8188 detailed in the Utah State thread. We are unbalanced because both receivers to the left are on the line of scrimmage and Malone is in the backfield.

Obviously Oklahoma had seen this formation on film before and they shifted to defend the jet sweep. This is a great example of using a constraint play to have success. We've shown this formation and the jet sweep so Oklahoma thought that was what we'd run here. Instead, we hit them with a counter back to the right side and the Sooners were heavily outnumbered. At the time of the snap there was shockingly only 2 defenders to the right of the center.

Counter is a fantastic play to use as a constraint to zone. The playside of the offensive line (RT, RG, and C in this case) all block "down" which means they just block the next down lineman away from the play (left in this case). The backside guard is going to pull through and kick out the playside end. The H-Back is going to pull through and lead through the hole and block the first linebacker. Here, Hurd takes a jab step towards the swing screen then comes back and takes the handoff from Worley. (Pic #1)

Worley is making a read on this play. He has the option to throw the swing screen to Malone if the defense does not rush out to cover him. In this case they are clearly worried about him as the CB (#15) rotates back to the deep middle and the safety (#13) comes down hard to take away the swing pass. (Pic #2)

In the last picture we see just how wide open this was. Jackson gets an outstanding kickout block, Helm puts a good hit on the linebacker and the rest of our linemen did a good job blocking down to create the hole. The defense has so heavily overreacted that the FS is the only player anywhere near position to make a play and he is unable to get Hurd down. Hurd ends up with 43 yards on the play before someone finally chases him down. (Pic #3)

This is a really good example of what happens when you combine great playcalling and great execution.

 

[ShowSomePride]

That stiff arm by Hurd wasn't too bad either.

 

[Chuckie]

I agree completely that Worley missed the read and held the ball too long. However, should Hurd be expected to see that:

(a) the right guard and tackle only have a total of one man to block AND
(b) neither of the LBs on that side are showing blitz (although the ILB on that side does end up blitzing),

And if he should be expected to see/know those things, would it then be his responsibility (if he doesn't get the handoff) to get his hindparts over to the left side to block someone?

 

[thomaseusin]

The fake step left by Hurd jumped 3 guys waiting to blow up the jet sweep. OU were obviously scouting the play and got faked big time. Thing of beauty.