Credit Where Credit Is Due – Herman’s QB Power RPO Scheme Against TCU

[Katfid54 8635]

I haven’t seen anyone talking about this, so I wanted to mention something that I noticed during the game on Saturday and that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed on the rewatch.  Also, given the flack our offensive staff gets (and the “credit” Orlando gets for scheming), I thought it was only fair to give credit where credit is due.

Against TCU, Herman showed a great package that our offense has never shown before, and it resulted in a lot of positive yardage, helping to jump start our offense in several critical moments of the game.

 

Here’s the scenario:

Texas has a TD on the previous possession, taking our first lead over TCU since 2013.  TCU has just punted (a crappy punt), downed by TCU at their own 47 yard line.  Texas has a short field to march.  On first and ten, Watson gets 6 yards on inside zone with an insert lead block from Beck.  Now, it’s 2^nd and 4.

Here’s the scheme itself: 

Play #1:

We show 11 personnel (1 TE/1 RB), with trips one side.  But the look is actually unbalanced—two of the trips receivers are on the line of scrimmage, meaning only two of the trips receivers are eligible receivers.  Beck is playing TE off the line of scrimmage, and the RB is shaded to the TE side.

Here’s a screen cap of the initial formation:

 

In this formation, Beck (TE), Josh Moore (who is playing slot WR), Duvernay (farthest outside WR), and Tre Watson (RB) are eligible receivers.  Collin Johnson is not.

After showing that relatively simple set, the QB then sends the RB in motion to the field side (away from the trips receivers), leaving himself in an empty backfield.  Here’s the post-motion set:

 

TCU still has, effectively, seven men in the box at this point.  One of their overhand defenders is lined up, at linebacker depth, just outside the shoulder of Calvin Anderson, giving him the ability to defend a pass to Josh Moore or stop the run.  In addition to that defender, TCU still has their traditional 4-2 front in the box, as well.

After the ball is snapped, Sam fakes the bubble screen to Josh Moore.  Now, the overhang defender who was playing both run and pass is screaming towards Moore, thinking he needs to shut down the bubble screen.  Duvernay and Johnson are both stalking the men over them, showing bubble screen looks as well.  But that defender has guessed wrong—the play is actually a QB power.

Back at the line of scrimmage, it’s just carnage.  Anderson has escorted his pass rusher up the field, walling him off completely from the play (and further selling pass to the edge defender).  Cosmi and Kerstetter have delivered a crushing double team on the playside defensive tackle, allowing Cosmi to break off and block the backside linebacker.  Rodriguez mauls the nose guard, and Beck effectively shadowboxes Banogu.  Vahe pulls, his target is Wallow (LB #30).  Wallow actually takes himself out of the play, jumping outside Vahe’s block.  Vahe actually turns upfield, looking to take on another man, because Wallow has appeared to totally take himself out of the play.  But insanely, Wallow still able to get an arm inside on Sam’s hip, tripping him up.  If Wallow misses that tackle, Sam might have scored because there is no safety help over the middle of the field.  Sam ends up with a seven yard gain. 

Here’s the full clip of the play (starts at the 40:45 mark on the full length YouTube video):

 

 

Play #2:

The very next play, we come out in an identical formation—with two minor differences.  First, Ingram has replaced Watson at RB.  Second, Ingram’s initial shade is to the opposite side of the QB (i.e., on the trips side instead of the TE side).  The motion action and eligible receivers all remain the same as in the first play.

Looking at the defense though, you’ll see TCU has already adjusted.  Instead of heaving three men accounting for the trips receivers (along with an overhang defender), TCU now has three defenders isolated on that, with a safety over the top of the box for the play.  They’re no longer asking the overhang defender to play both run and pass. 

The final pre-snap defense looks like this:

 

Texas runs the exact same play.  But this time, the nose guard shoots the A gap (crossing Rodriguez’s face) before he can be blocked.  Vahe does a tremendous job of recognizing the stunt and picking up the nose guard during Vahe’s pull.  In the meantime, Rodriguez has recovered, and he is able to lay a hat on Wallow, who is playing backside linebacker this time.

Because the nose guard has stunted, it has opened up a huge hole on the backside of the play, taking Banogu and the other backer out of the play completely.  Sam is able to get through the second level before he is brought down by the free safety (the additional defender who TCU brought into the box).  Sam ends up with a gain of eleven.

Here’s the full clip of the play:

 

Play #3:

Texas has now gained 18 yards on the same play, run twice in a row.  They hustle to the line, showing the same formation a third consecutive time.  In response, TCU devotes even more defenders to take away the run.  They’ve brought the overhang defender back in from his coverage of Moore, now requiring him to play both run and pass responsibilities.  And they’ve kept the safety over the top of the formation (on a pass play, it looks like he would have man coverage responsibility for Beck).  

Here’s the post-motion look shown by the 😧

On the snap, the players show the same look they have previously (other than Beck, who takes off the down the field on a vertical route).  Vahe’s pull is deeper, so that he can account for the DE who Beck is leaving unblocked.

This time, though, Sam does not fake the bubble screen, but he throws it to Moore.  But the two previous run plays have done their job:  Watch the hesitation shown by the overhang defender.  He doesn’t know if he should be playing run or pass.  He drifts closer to the line of scrimmage without actually committing to defend either play (compare this with the very first video, when the overhang defender screams toward Moore’s bubble screen).  As a result, the defender’s feet have almost completely stopped when he is locked up by Collin Johnson, who then rides him about seven yards upfield.

Jerrod Heard (who has replaced Duvernay as the outside eligible receiver) does almost nothing on this play other than shadow the cornerback from about five yards away.  If Jerrod Heard attacks that block, Moore has a lot to work with (and is basically one on one against the safety).  Instead, Moore has to take the route outside Heard and only gains five or six yards.

Here’s the full play:

 

 

New Scenario:

It’s the first play of the next offensive series for Texas.  Caden Sterns has just picked off the double-pass, giving Texas the ball back at Texas’s 38 yard line.

 

Play #4:

TCU has adjusted again.  After motioning out Watson, TCU still has seven men in the box itself—a four man line and two LBs and a strong safety who is playing over the top of Beck at linebacker depth (the strong safety likely has man coverage responsibilities for Beck).

But Texas has modified the look.  Now, instead of the trips receivers lining up to the boundary, they’re on the field side (wide side) of the formation.  TCU can no longer devote an edge player to having both run/pass responsibilities.  And when Watson motions out wide, he’s only about five yards split out from Calvin Anderson.  The cornerback covering Watson is playing off coverage at about 7 yards.

Here’s the post-motion defensive look:

After the snap, the offense shows a similar look.  But TCU has had enough of sitting around and letting Texas take the fight to them.  They’ve adjusted by bringing Banogu and the other DE hard off the edge.  They’ve also adjusted by having their LBs step up into the B gaps once the ball is snapped.

They guess wrong again.  And Herman has banked on an aggressive response from Patterson. 

Sam fakes the bubble screen to LJH, pulling the LBs toward the trips side of the field.  He then comes back and rifles the ball to Watson, who has run a stop route just behind the line of scrimmage.

Calvin Anderson ignores the playside DE and flies out to try to put a hat on the cornerback.  Beck is flying upfield, looking to block the free safety, who will be coming across the formation to tackle Watson (as a side note, although the strong safety over the top of Beck almost certainly has responsibility for him in the pass game, he totally lets Beck run by.  If the play had been a jump or pop pass to Beck, he would’ve had a 20+ yard gain.  Keep your eyes peeled, because that wrinkle is definitely coming in the future.).

Rodriguez’s block is a thing of beauty.  He makes it across the playside linebackers face, hooking up with him on the hash about two yards past the line of scrimmage.  He then rides him all the way to the numbers at the first down marker.  Kerstetter gets a decent piece of Wallow, but Wallow is able to wriggle free.

Unfortunately, much like Vahe’s near miss on Play #1, above, Anderson can’t quite seal the deal on the cornerback who dives outside the block, but is able to get a hand on Watson’s ankle.  If he doesn’t make that tackle, Watson would probably have gotten the first down (assuming Wallow would’ve been able to get to him).

Watson ends up with a gain of about six.

Here’s the full gif of the play:

 

Takeaway:

All in all, we ran this set three times in a row in the second quarter and gained 23+ yards, getting us into the red zone (ultimately resulting in Dicker’s one made FG).  We ran it again the next series and got another six yards.  These are solid if not very good results against a fundamentally sound TCU defense.  Against a defense less in “control” of their keys, one or more of these plays could’ve broken the D wide open.  Even so, they resulted in huge gains that were basically "free yards" resulting solely from scheme and decent execution of the scheme.  The plays' success are also almost entirely set up by the fact that we were able to run block effectively on the first two plays out of the package, requiring TCU to respect the run possibility each subsequent time we showed the formation.

If my memory serves, we ran the same set once or twice more in the second half, gaining positive yardage but showed no different wrinkles than those above.

This set is something very similar to a scheme that OU liked to run with Baker Mayfield and that they’ve continued with Kyler Murray.  Empty out the box and run RPOs or RPO “looks” that spread the defense out and force it to defend three things:  Space, the run, and the pass.  The defense has to guess the play correctly to beat you.  Even with TCU’s great pattern-matching scheme and technical soundness, they couldn’t stop it from being effective on Saturday.

Credit to Herman and Co. for unleashing this very effective wrinkle against TCU.  Because of the pressure it puts on the defense on all sides of the field, this package should continue to pay dividends down the road.

[gurt 749]

I noticed these as well, and it further led me to believe Beck isn't calling plays any more.

[Katfid54 8635]

2 minutes ago, gurt said:

I noticed these as well, and it further led me to believe Beck isn't calling plays any more.

This isn't really a "play calling" issue.  This is a scheme that they obviously worked on during the week.  Frankly, it's something they probably saw/liked during the offseason and started implementing in fall camp.

Also, running the first play two times in a row may actually be an indicator of Beck playcalling.  He loves to do that and did that numerous times last year (see, e.g., Sam fumbling on our second straight QB power in overtime against USC).

Edited September 25, 2018 by Katfid54

[Machinator 32099]

2 minutes ago, Katfid54 said:

This isn't really a "play calling" issue.  This is a scheme that they obviously worked on during the week.  Frankly, it's something they probably saw/liked during the offseason and started implementing in fall camp.

Also, running the first play two times in a row may actually be an indicator of Beck playcalling.  He loves to do that and did that numerous times last year (see, e.g., Sam fumbling on our second straight QB power in overtime against USC).

There's nothing wrong with running something that works repeatedly, especially if you build in constraints or wrinkles to counter potential adjustments.

Pretty sure people were begging for us to do that last season.

[SA-KC_Horn 1295]

Beck is filling the tubs up with ice. So he has a purpose. 

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, Machinator said:

There's nothing wrong with running something that works repeatedly, especially if you build in constraints or wrinkles to counter potential adjustments.

Pretty sure people were begging for us to do that last season.

Agree, and I'm all for it.  We got 18 yards on the back-to-back QB power, and it set up our ability to use that formation for the rest of the game.  Earlier this year, we ran zone read against Tulsa something like 8 or 9 times in a row.

My only point was that we can't say these four play calls show that Beck is no longer calling plays.  They don't actually provide useful data points one way or the other.  It's more likely that this was a script of plays that they wanted to run at a certain point.

[hacker 184]

Play #1 - outside receiver looks like Heard and I'm about 95% positive Johnson is eligible.  They give the receivers some leeway nowadays.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, hacker said:

Play #1 - outside receiver looks like Heard and I'm about 95% positive Johnson is eligible.  They give the receivers some leeway nowadays.

You're right it is Heard.

If Johnson is off the line of scrimmage (and I agree that it's close), then that play should've resulted in an illegal formation penalty, because we would only have 6 men on the line of scrimmage.  If he's on the line of scrimmage (which he has to be for it not to be a penalty), then he's covered up and inelligible.

[LTtxfan 49332]

Think the final play posted with Anderson flying out to block is sometimes called a Tunnel Screen..... Definitely like the concept

[JBJ 3664]

Just now, Katfid54 said:

Agree, and I'm all for it.  We got 18 yards on the back-to-back QB power, and it set up our ability to use that formation for the rest of the game.  Earlier this year, we ran zone read against Tulsa something like 8 or 9 times in a row.

My only point was that we can't say these four play calls show that Beck is no longer calling plays.  They don't actually provide useful data points one way or the other.  It's more likely that this was a script of plays that they wanted to run at a certain point.

People think that playcalling works like Madden.  Like you have a list of plays in a playbook, and you point to one and hope you are right.

[hacker 184]

you are right - didn't think about illegal formation.

[Dbeasy 15084]

Finomenal post. It also reinforces the notion that to play winning football you can’t just put in a particular offensive system and count on it to score points. You have to be able to think about what is going on with the opponent and develop a twist to your scheme to address it. When Saban said Texas now has an X’s and O’s coach, this is what I’ve hoped we’d see. I’ve been willing to overlook Herman’s peculiar personality because of this. It’s nice to finally see some progress.

[Katfid54 8635]

2 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Think the final play posted with Anderson flying out to block is sometimes called a Tunnel Screen..... Definitely like the concept

Yep. That's what it is.  Also sometimes called a "middle screen," because the receiver often ends up running back across the middle of the field.

[Machinator 32099]

6 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Think the final play posted with Anderson flying out to block is sometimes called a Tunnel Screen..... Definitely like the concept

Right, and it aligns with the type of guys Herman is recruiting at OT, big-framed guys like Christian Jones and Reese Moore who are extremely athletic on the move. Kerstetter as well, to a lesser extent.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Machinator

[tbone_ 14147]

Solid post op

[Tired of Lurking 637]

Cool post. Thanks for this.

[Spawn of Cthulhu 2241]

Katfid with some solid gifs.

[Katfid54 8635]

6 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Finomenal post. It also reinforces the notion that to play winning football you can’t just put in a particular offensive system and count on it to score points. You have to be able to think about what is going on with the opponent and develop a twist to your scheme to address it. When Saban said Texas now has an X’s and O’s coach, this is what I’ve hoped we’d see. I’ve been willing to overlook Herman’s peculiar personality because of this. It’s nice to finally see some progress.

Agree.  I wonder if/when there may be some Auburn-esque run game wrinkles that we see from Hand.  We're definitely seeing blocking improvement, and we've blocked the power so much better this year than we did last year.  But I think there is more coming that we haven't shown yet.

And, yes, I definitely hope Herman and Co. continue to roll out these fun/interesting wrinkles that give me the opportunity to keep doing posts like these because our offense continues to show new, interesting concepts and packages.

[LTtxfan 49332]

6 minutes ago, Machinator said:

Right, and it aligns with the type of guys Herman is recruiting at OT, big-framed guys like Christian Jones and Reese Moore who are extremely athletic on the move. Kerstetter as well, to a lesser extent.

I've seen other teams run a Tunnel Screen to the short side with a wide receiver instead of RB like Texas did.  Hopefully we'll see Horns run this at some point with Duvernay or LJH... just think those guys could bust a long gain on this play.

Edited September 25, 2018 by LTtxfan

[Katfid54 8635]

1 minute ago, Spawn of Cthulhu said:

Katfid with some solid gifs.

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13119]

54 minutes ago, Katfid54 said:

Jerrod Heard (who has replaced Duvernay as the outside eligible receiver) does almost nothing on this play other than shadow the cornerback from about five yards away.  If Jerrod Heard attacks that block, Moore has a lot to work with (and is basically one on one against the safety).  Instead, Moore has to take the route outside Heard and only gains five or six yards.

I honestly don’t know why Heard ever steps on the field at this point. His lack of effort on that play pisses me off.

[Katfid54 8635]

1 minute ago, Casual Encounter said:

I honestly don’t know why Heard ever steps on the field at this point. His lack of effort on that play pisses me off.

Easily the worst effort of any player on those four clips.

[Huckleberry 33072]

Great post, I noticed the formation during the game and rewound to watch the sequence. Drives me nuts when defenses treat an ineligible receiver like an eligible receiver, but when it works for us it's great. This formation (with an inside receiver covered up) is something that Malzahn uses at Auburn dozens of times a game it seems like.

I'm pretty sure in a previous game we had Beck in that position, but that doesn't make nearly as much sense. The defense likely isn't going to treat him like a serious receiving threat anyway.

[Machinator 32099]

4 minutes ago, Casual Encounter said:

I honestly don’t know why Heard ever steps on the field at this point. His lack of effort on that play pisses me off.

I don't know if they're trying to redshirt Burt, but I'm hoping he soaks up whatever snaps  at Z Duvernay doesn't get now that he's healthy.

Edited September 25, 2018 by Machinator

[Rockethorn1978 6102]

We need to be running the ball 80% of the time so it opens up the pass, I was saying this after the first two games and if we continue this I think we win at k st and ou. Loving the formation.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, Huckleberry said:

Great post, I noticed the formation during the game and rewound to watch the sequence. Drives me nuts when defenses treat an ineligible receiver like an eligible receiver, but when it works for us it's great. This formation (with an inside receiver covered up) is something that Malzahn uses at Auburn dozens of times a game it seems like.

I'm pretty sure in a previous game we had Beck in that position, but that doesn't make nearly as much sense. The defense likely isn't going to treat him like a serious receiving threat anyway.

I know exactly what you're talking about. A similar formation that we've used in the past (although never motioning out into an empty set like this), we have used Beck split out.  Our tendency in that formation has consistently been that we then run the slot receiver from the opposite side of the play on a jet sweep toward the side with the ineligible receiver.

Here's a quick draw up of what I recall seeing:

[Sejjr 3246]

Agree this formation has a lot of potential, and outside of Heard, it suits our personnel. That "block" by Heard is a fucking travesty though. With Ingram and maybe Eagles in there, I expect it could be even more successful. Great post OP.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, Sejjr said:

Agree this formation has a lot of potential, and outside of Heard, it suits our personnel. That "block" by Heard is a fucking travesty though. With Ingram and maybe Eagles in there, I expect it could be even more successful. Great post OP.

Duvernay has done a nice job of downfield blocking this year.  I wish we could've seen him in the game to attempt that block.

[orange dream 1256]

Awesome post. " Post motion set" photos for play 1 and play 2 are the same photo unless my eyes are playing tricks on me.

Thank you for taking the time to put this all together.  Definitely encouraging to see the offense appear as if they not only have a plan, but can make adjustments based on what is actually happening. 

Thanks,!!

[Katfid54 8635]

1 minute ago, orange dream said:

Awesome post. " Post motion set" photos for play 1 and play 2 are the same photo unless my eyes are playing tricks on me.

Thank you for taking the time to put this all together.  Definitely encouraging to see the offense appear as if they not only have a plan, but can make adjustments based on what is actually happening. 

Thanks,!!

Fuck. You're right.  Here's what should be "post motion" for play 2:

[Enchubben 5510]

Why did we go away from this at all?  Did they adjust to this formation at all, or did we just stop running this?

I remember watching live and thinking this is working, then thinking where the hell did those plays go?

[HtownHorn 14763]

49 minutes ago, gurt said:

I noticed these as well, and it further led me to believe Beck isn't calling plays any more.

It also goes to show the need for more athletic OL. Ehlinger's 1st run and Watson's screen pass would have been huge gains had the OL been able to get out faster and engage defenders while they were on their feet, instead of watching them make plays while diving past them.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, Enchubben said:

Why did we go away from this at all?  Did they adjust to this formation at all, or did we just stop running this?

I remember watching live and thinking this is working, then thinking where the hell did those plays go?

We ran it a few more times in the second half.  Probably could've run it more, but we had a lot of stuff on offense that was getting us 4-6 yards (which is what we got on most of these plays).  The look would've been a nice set to get a look in for the 3rd & 1 and 4th & 1 where Danny Young got stuffed on back-to-back plays, though.

I can see Herman not wanting to run it out of the gates in the 2nd half, when we were pinned in the shadow of our goalposts on our two initial drives, in case Patterson had come up with a defensive adjustment at halftime that would've resulted in a big time negative play.

[po elvis 2076]

the thing i remembered at the time was we got a 1st and 10 at the TCU 47 and we did not have LJH in the game. I don't get it. These are the type of possessions that we have to make the most of, and having your best players in the game is making the most of. At least make the defense have to focus on LJH.

[TtomTerrific 200]

45 minutes ago, JBJ said:

People think that playcalling works like Madden.  Like you have a list of plays in a playbook, and you point to one and hope you are right.

so much this.

that fucking video game has ruined the real game for an entire generation of fans.

thank you for the post, OP.

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

After watching this I have to wonder if Shack will be an upgrade at C when he comes back.  

[UncleBuck 6455]

7 minutes ago, Katfid54 said:

in case Patterson had come up with a defensive adjustment at halftime that would've resulted in a big time negative play.

You mean other coaches adjust to what you're doing well and you might not wanna play into that? Who the hell'd a'thought...

 

Good work here

[Zavala 1384]

Anyway, thank God for Herb Hand because the ball moves when the OL does their fucking jobs. Great work by the OL as well. They really should always be the leaders of the team. As a position group, they must work together to be successful, and we ain't gonna win without em.

 

[Katfid54 8635]

18 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

It also goes to show the need for more athletic OL. Ehlinger's 1st run and Watson's screen pass would have been huge gains had the OL been able to get out faster and engage defenders while they were on their feet, instead of watching them make plays while diving past them.

Imagine Tyler Johnson running this scheme.  Here's a clip from his high school film:

 

[HuntinHorn 986]

42 minutes ago, Casual Encounter said:

I honestly don’t know why Heard ever steps on the field at this point. His lack of effort on that play pisses me off.

 

Agree..I was cussing Heard watching that play.   Between the dropped balls that hit him in the hands to the piss poor effort like we see here, it's time he just stay on the sideline.

Great post OP....pos rep

Edited September 25, 2018 by HuntinHorn

[HtownHorn 14763]

13 minutes ago, po elvis said:

the thing i remembered at the time was we got a 1st and 10 at the TCU 47 and we did not have LJH in the game. I don't get it. These are the type of possessions that we have to make the most of, and having your best players in the game is making the most of. At least make the defense have to focus on LJH.

This isn't a computer game where players don't get tired and need a rest. Maybe he wasn't in the game, because the personnel groupings for this formation called for Josh Moore in the slot especially since TCU was bracketing Humphrey almost the entire game.

Edited September 25, 2018 by HtownHorn

[54_Strat 34]

Awesome post OP. It makes me realize how much I am missing while watching a game. 

[HtownHorn 14763]

1 minute ago, Katfid54 said:

Imagine Tyler Johnson running this scheme.  Here's a clip from his high school film:

 

Holy crap, please tell me he's the skinny huge OL that completely obliterates the DB.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, HtownHorn said:

Holy crap, please tell me he's the skinny huge OL that completely obliterates the DB.

[Zavala 1384]

3 minutes ago, 54_Strat said:

Awesome post OP. It makes me realize how much I am missing while watching a game. 

Watching the OL/DL is my favorite. It's easier to do live at the game, as the telecast usually focuses on the ball. These adjustments and motions are sweet, but for me the entire game happens in the trenches. If you watch our DL/LB play you can see why our DBs are doing so well on the back end. Takes all 11.

[Coelenterate Fuccboi 13119]

9 minutes ago, Katfid54 said:

I picture your computer setup like the matrix, and you’re just able to mentally pluck gifs from the web like it’s part of your brain.

[Katfid54 8635]

Just now, Casual Encounter said:

I picture your computer setup like the matrix, and you’re just able to mentally pluck gifs from the web like it’s part of your brain.

[1leggedduck 443]

It is really nice to see a discussion of our offense utilizing  good scheme and execution 

[Dennis Taylor 18853]

10 minutes ago, Zavala said:

Watching the OL/DL is my favorite. 

[LTtxfan 49332]

6 minutes ago, Zavala said:

Watching the OL/DL is my favorite. It's easier to do live at the game, as the telecast usually focuses on the ball. These adjustments and motions are sweet, but for me the entire game happens in the trenches. If you watch our DL/LB play you can see why our DBs are doing so well on the back end. Takes all 11.

I wish replays of an All22 view of College FB Games (like coaches get) were made available on YouTube..... Would be interesting to study not only TEXAS , but also Bama and BlowU 's games.....