USC Trojan Passing Game by Norm Chow

#1
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WA_Vol

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#1
Here is Norm Chow passing philosophy in his words at USC in 2001 when Lane Kiffin was WR coach. I'm expecting UT's offense to look a lot like USC's.

<big><big><small><small>As far as putting the passing game together here at USC we have a couple of rules. First is pass protection.

</small></small></big></big><big><big><small><small>The second rule as far as putting the passing game together is this: We are going to try to control the football with the forward pass. What does this mean in our terms? Check downs! The QB looks for the number one receiver, then the number two receiver, and if they are not open he looks for the three-yard pass. </small></small></big></big>

<big><big><small><small>The third aspect of the passing game is this: We want to kiss it. Keep It Simple Stupid. </small></small></big></big>

<big><big><small><small>With that in mind at USC on the dropback passing game we will only have nine passes. We have nine basic pass patterns. We teach four in one day and five the next day at the start of camp. That is all we have. I feel very strongly about this. </small></small></big></big>

<big><big><small><small>I am assuming everyone knows how to break down the passing zones. We figure that there are eight defensive zones on the football field. If the defense rushes three men, then they can defend with eight men against the pass. If the defense elects to cover all eight zones well we are going to run the football. If the defense rushes four and covers seven of the zones it is our responsibility to find the zone that is not covered and that is where we are going to attack. If you only cover seven zones we will eventually find it and that is where we are going to throw the football.
USCSlide2.jpg


</small></small></big></big>
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USC Passing Game - 2001 | Trojan Football Analysis
 
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#2
#2
WOW!! This is new to UT fans. How do you say it....check down. You mean our QB will actually look for an open target. Holy crap. Too much for one day.
 
#3
#3
The fourth rule is this: Always throw the football to the receiver. Throw the ball straight ahead. Think about how easy that is. If the receiver is over there, then throw the ball to him. If he is over there, then throw the ball to him. Basically what we are saying is for the QB to move his feet and get the body in position so that you are throwing the ball to the receiver. Always throw the ball straight ahead. Step and throw the ball to the receiver.
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I'm not sure Crompton is capable of doing this.
 
#4
#4
VolsFan05 said:
WOW!! This is new to UT fans. How do you say it....check down. You mean our QB will actually look for an open target. Holy crap. Too much for one day.
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You might want to actually go look at the article, its quite detailed:


<big><big><small><small>Now we tag this route as well. It is probably our favorite play. We call it a 69 weak. We tag it with a get-a-way route for the halfback. It is an option route. It is a free release for the halfback. He is not going to block the weak side line backer. It is our 69 H option play. As I said we block big on big. Our backs block linebackers. The halfback has the WLB and the fullback has the SLB. The front five have the four down lineman and the MLB.</small></small></big></big> <big><big><small><small>If we split the halfback out of if we are not going to block the WLB and we still want to throw the dropback pass we call the play 69 Will. We can not block the WLB. The WLB could be in a different area and we can not block him. If the WLB comes on the blitz then the halfback is the hot read. As the WLB comes across the line of scrimmage, the halfback must turn and look for the ball. We dump the ball to the halfback.
</small></small></big></big>
<big><big><small><small>If we want to free the fullback on the other side we call it 69 Sam. The Sam call tag tells us we can not block the SLB. Everyone knows who is assigned to block the SLB. If he comes on the blitz we throw the ball to the fullback on the hot read.</small></small></big></big>
<big><big><small><small>We call the play 69 Halfback Option - Will. We played Michigan years ago when I was still at BYU. We ran this single play 17 times that game. For some reason they were trying to defend the halfback with the MLB. We try for a free release on the halfback. If the WLB comes on a blitz then we throw it hot.</small></small></big></big>
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#5
#5
Another favorite route:

One of our favorite routes is the horizontal stretch route. I have showed you the three vertical routes. Now, I am talking about the horizontal stretch route. We run 14 yard curl routes with the wide receivers. The fullback runs a four to six yard arrow route. The tight end runs 8 to 10 yards deep in the middle. We start with movement keys. Let me show you what we do against the basic Cover 3 with a basic 4-3 defense. On the first step the QB takes he is reading the MLB. The MLB will give the QB direction. If the MLB goes weakside it means the WLB has taken the flat away. If the MLB has taken the curl route away the read now becomes inside-out to the defenders on that side. We have three underneath receivers and the defense has only two defenders on that side. If the strong safety hangs on the curl and runs to the flat we throw the ball to curl inside. If the SLB takes away the curl by the tight end and the strong side safety takes the curl by the Flanker the QB throws the ball to the flat. If the SLB goes to the middle and the strong safety goes to the flat we throw the curl with the Flanker.
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#8
#8
<<Always throw the ball straight ahead. Step and throw the ball to the receiver.>>

Can Crompton can master that concept? He never did it last year.
 
#10
#10
If we use this same system it will work a lot better with the team. I coach youth league we run 6 plays but we run them well. I see a lot of coaches trying to put way to much in and it goes over the kids heads. If your thinking you can't be physical.
 
#11
#11
We don’t run the 7 step drop game when we can not protect the passer. We run the football. We throw the ball on timed routes, we throw the screen and draws, and we are going to run some gimmick plays just to slow the game down a bit. This is our game plan every week. When you formulate your offense and decide you are going to throw the ball, these are things you should consider. Let me show you how we go about doing that
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Looks like we may be doing a lot of this in the next couple of years.
 
#12
#12
This is good stuff oklavol, thanks for posting.

This seems simple enough for the most part, but I am still not convinced Crompton can grasp it mentally. If not, I do believe the other two can, and at that point I guess it will come down to who is the best passer and manages the offense the best.
 
#13
#13
Does this mean we won't be seeing as much of:
1st down --run up the middle
2nd down --run off tackle strong side
3rd down --incomplete pass
4th down--punt
 
#14
#14
"We played Michigan years ago when I was still at BYU. We ran this single play 17 times that game. For some reason they were trying to defend the halfback with the MLB. We try for a free release on the halfback. If the WLB comes on a blitz then we throw it hot."

That's exactly what Chow did to us in the UCLA game. Once he figured out that we either could not stop the quick slant or for whatever reason refused to adjust to stop it, he just ran that same play down our throats.
 
#15
#15
I was fixing to say the same thing volindawgland.. This is exactly how they beat our D. Hopefully CLK can stop this when we play UCLA this year.
 
#16
#16
"We are going to try to control the football with the forward pass."

I hope this doesn't mean that the famous Randy Sanders swing pass or receiver screen for two yard gains are going to be a thing of the past.:lolabove:
 
#17
#17
Hudro said:
Does this mean we won't be seeing as much of:
1st down --run up the middle for 2 yards
2nd down --run off tackle strong side for 2 yards
3rd down --run a play that starts 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage
4th down--punt
Click to expand...

Fyp
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