Game Plan Wrinkles for the Miss St. Game

[BlueRattie]

With the bye week, and the must-win nature of the MSU game, it's a forgone conclusion that Stoops, Gran, and Eliot will be working on new wrinkles on offense and defense in an attempt to gain an advantage over a team that just made a cross-country trip. With that in mind, don't be surprised if you see UK pulls some proverbial rabbits from the 'ol hat next Saturday.

OFFENSE:

The Screen Game: UK has all the elements of a screen team: speed at WR and RB, a QB that doesn't throw the ball well downfield, and a desire to mitigate a overaggressive pass rush from MSU. Getting screen passes to Boom and Badet seems like no brainers, but I'd wouldn't be surprised if we also saw Conrad get some screen passes (similar with what South Carolina runs).

More Options on the Option: To this point we've used a fairly vanilla version of the zone read with an occasional RPO for Johnson. This makes sense, of course, since you're breaking in a new QB. With the off weak, though, Gran has the opportunity to explore a myriad of option attacks that lots of teams are employing. Now, my dream triple option team of Boom and Benny (aka, Benny and the Jet, aka the Hammer and the Razor) will most likely never come to pass, but the veer option (yes, the veer option) out of the pistol isn't out of the question. What's more, MSU has been burned by the veer before.

Tempo Variance: Unlike Mullen teams in the past, this version of MSU is not a very disciplined lot. At BYU, personal fouls, over pursuit, and dumb penalties became the norm. One way to take a young, undisciplined defense off its game is to vary the tempo and cadence at the line of scrimmage. Note, they will not go totally "up tempo", as that would put too much strain on our defense and would allow MSU's defense to play fast and loose. Look for occasional tempo shifts, like the no huddle (milk the clock variety) for a series or two.

DEFENSE:

Make the Old Look New: I strongly doubt we'll see a bevy of exotic blitz and coverage packages; this team improved when things got more simple, not the other way around. However, running the same plays from new formations and alignments is a smart way of getting variety of the the defense "on the cheap". You give MSU a new look, but you basically run the same zones and man to man schemes you've always run. There are some obvious limitations to this strategy (i.e. you can't run the prevent out of the 46), but you can run Cover 2 Man out of damn near anything.

For God's Sake: Plan for the read option! Mullen has run the QB everywhere he's been. The current MSU QB is not Dak Prescott (who the hell is?), but he can and will run. Do whatever you have to do, but stop the read first; force them into becoming a passing team.

Rotate More Players: It's mid-season, and those true freshmen aren't babies anymore. If MSU goes ground and pound, which I think they will, don't make the mistake of leaving the first string out there to wither on the vine. Time to get the kids out there for some meaningful minutes.

 

[Oldtrainer]

^^^Solid synopsis.^^^

 

[adolph rollingover]

Single biggest mistake every coach admits to, is trying to add to the playbook during a bye week.

There is a reason week 1 of the season is so ragged, yet coaches think a bye week is the time to add to the playbook with the belief that 3 days of reps will have it ready for live action. Thus, team comes out of bye week playing slow, making alignment errors and giving up chunk plays and going backward on O.

I hope they knuckled down this week and worked the death out of their zone combos, pressure pick ups, run fits and tackling angles.

 

[EliteBlue]

Bluerattie for coach 2017. Solid post

 

[kydan64]

Good OP.

A couple of things I'd be interested in seeing are:
(1) some sort of wrinkle added to the wildcat. Considering we never give to the jet or throw, the wildcat has been surprisingly successful. I'd love to see us show something new from the alignment, just to give the defense something else to account for.
(2) I'd like to see the Cats try the RPO where the wide-side receiver initially blocks, but then sort of hangs around the side line to become a late pass option. This looks to me like a good option to employ against an aggressive, run-supporting corner-back, and it's a relatively short, safe pass. Even if you don't complete the pass, showing it one time would slow down the CB pursuit for the rest of the game.

 

[BlueRattie]

Single biggest mistake every coach admits to, is trying to add to the playbook during a bye week.

There is a reason week 1 of the season is so ragged, yet coaches think a bye week is the time to add to the playbook with the belief that 3 days of reps will have it ready for live action. Thus, team comes out of bye week playing slow, making alignment errors and giving up chunk plays and going backward on O.

I hope they knuckled down this week and worked the death out of their zone combos, pressure pick ups, run fits and tackling angles.

Agreed. That's why I use the term "wrinkle". Hopefully they don't try to reinvent the wheel; if any team is not equipped for that tact it is this one. I see it more as game-planning on steroids. From one week to the next, every team uses practice time to hone in on next Saturday's opponent. In this case, we have two weeks instead of one, giving the coaches more time (and thus more options) to turn to against MSU.

 

[BlueRattie]

Bluerattie for coach 2017. Solid post

1) Bluerattie was a coach--albeit a track coach. LOL Hung it up this year.
2) You couldn't pay me enough to be a college football coach. At that level, your life is not your own. In my current life I have the two things I want: a wonderful family and time by myself. There is no amount of money that would make me give that up.

 

[mrschwump]

Hope they come up with something that resembles a passing game.

 

[BlueRattie]

I find it especially odd that we have virtually no screen game. Every team in football has screens built into their system, even if it's the old HB Middle Screen, as a safety valve against blitz heavy teams, or as a safe option for 3rd and forever. We have the WR bubble screen and. . .that's it!

What's more, we are actually in a situation where screens are a dire necessity. I love Gran's aggressive, hard-nosed running attack, but how long can you survive on five plays before they start blitzing like crazy? We have to do something to keep them honest.

 

[EliteBlue]

1) Bluerattie was a coach--albeit a track coach. LOL Hung it up this year.
2) You couldn't pay me enough to be a college football coach. At that level, your life is not your own. In my current life I have the two things I want: a wonderful family and time by myself. There is no amount of money that would make me give that up.

"C'mon Man!" Talk about selfish. Take one for the well being of the program lol.

Can't wait until I have the means to kick back and only spend time with the family, golf, and surf. That'll be the life. Kudos to that.

 

[truebluewildcat]

I'd like to see some PA Bootleg and Waggle. Defenses are no doubt going to really start keying on our run game and that is going to open up some opportunity through the air.

SJ is not extremely confident or comfortable in the pocket going through reads and passing down field, but the offensive staff still needs to keep the D honest with some passing. They can take advantage of SJ's mobility and confidence outside the pocket by rolling him out on some waggles/bootlegs where he will have the option to run if the first or second read is not available, as opposed to standing in a collapsing pocket.

Would agree with implementing some more traditional option offense. We actually have the personnel to run it with a mobile QB and very capable/productive backfield.

 

[docholiday51]

I agree with most of your take with the exception of the blitz/pressure part.I think we will see people coming from different places with probably some different looks on a regular basis.i think we will come after maybe even spy the QB all night.

 

[southindycat]

I can't see Johnson cast as a veer QB, even part-time. Guy is not going to last long playing into the outside containment for the pitch, or diving inside it only to meet a scraping ILB or crashing S. Just doesn't look that durable. Veer QB is 6-3 220, not 6-3 180.

 

[southindycat]

I find it especially odd that we have virtually no screen game. Every team in football has screens built into their system, even if it's the old HB Middle Screen, as a safety valve against blitz heavy teams, or as a safe option for 3rd and forever. We have the WR bubble screen and. . .that's it!

What's more, we are actually in a situation where screens are a dire necessity. I love Gran's aggressive, hard-nosed running attack, but how long can you survive on five plays before they start blitzing like crazy? We have to do something to keep them honest.

Well, I hear you, but Gran is no fool. I am left to conclude the offense struggles with execution.

In the alternative, maybe he had just been holding that card as much as possible.

 

[southindycat]

I'd like to see some PA Bootleg and Waggle. Defenses are no doubt going to really start keying on our run game and that is going to open up some opportunity through the air.

SJ is not extremely confident or comfortable in the pocket going through reads and passing down field, but the offensive staff still needs to keep the D honest with some passing. They can take advantage of SJ's mobility and confidence outside the pocket by rolling him out on some waggles/bootlegs where he will have the option to run if the first or second read is not available, as opposed to standing in a collapsing pocket.

Would agree with implementing some more traditional option offense. We actually have the personnel to run it with a mobile QB and very capable/productive backfield.

I do expect to see more RPO the rest of the way. It won't test Johnson's durability like the option run game, and does frustrate defenses.

 

[reflaine]

Screens are hard to run when teams stack the box to stop the run. That puts 8-10 guys at the line of scrimmage waiting on a handoff. Screens work best to slow down blitzes. And when teams know you ain't gonna pass, makes those ineffective. If we could develope something of a passing game, then screens would be a major part of this offense (look at first three weeks).

The key to the screen is to get the slime past your oline. That allows you lineman to start finding backers who have dropped back into coverage. While other receivers are looking for safeties. But if teams are not coming after qb, makes screens very hard to succeed.