Ohio State Unbalanced formations and run game vs Nebraska and Penn State

Ryan Day is an excellent play caller. He is very disciplined in his approach and is a systematic play caller. He likes to set up his plays with one play usually feeding off an earlier play. As a defense you need to try to  stay one step ahead of him.
This is evident in his unbalanced package. He has a solid package he goes into each game with and usually runs 3-4 plays out of that unbalanced/endover package.

His unbalanced  sets usually involves his skill position players as he usually doesn't run any tackle over or end over.

Let's look at the plays he ran vs Nebraska and Penn State in 2020.

The first game is vs Nebraska in 2020. He ran 7 plays out of unbalanced. 

11 personnel 

The safety comes down to play the tight end which leaves the drag wide open. Nice design as Fields misses the drag and runs it for the TD. 

11 with H back motion

They bring the h back in motion. I think they do it to run wide zone at the 2i with slice blocking back. Just my gut that they had the flexibility to motion the h back to get the wide zone attacking the 2i with the slice block away from it. See the 2 clips below on the wide zone.

Here are the 2 wide zone clips from unbalanced 11 personnel.

12 personnel

Shifts from 12

They will put the unbalanced to the boundary and then shift out of it and become wing strong to the field and then motion the slot wr to the field.

They do this on 2 occasions. They run zone read off the shift. They get great numbers and would have been a big hitter if he kept it.

A nice design and 6 yard gain that could have been possibly more off the wide zone read play.

So this is what I will say about Day, he is a smart man. The First time, (photo above) they didn't line up to it. So they run the same play. He probably was on his qb about not giving the ball last time so Fields gives it. But the problem is, the 2nd time Nebraska lines up better to it. (In fairness if Wilson makes his block it's probably a 10 yard gain but you can see the play calling approach by Day. 

Here is some film of the 2 clips above.

Vs Penn State

He ran 8 plays out of unbalanced. 

Some of the plays he ran in this game included jet,  tight zone off the jet motion and jet motion play action pass. He faked the jet then the tight zone and threw the ball off it. Great sequential play calling.

But lets look at the sequencing of the 3 plays mentioned above:

#1 jet sweep

12 personnel

They go formation into the boundary but this game they put the Flanker off. They run Jet to the unbalanced side for a huge gain on the first play of the game. 

You see they have 2 tight ends on the  right side

The 2 tight ends are now on the left after trading. They flanker is off to the boundary.

The flanker comes in motion and gets the ball on the jet sweep.  Penn State stays 2 high and they find block it with the WR. He blocks the safety who becomes the run support in the alley. WR beats CB 1x1 for a big gain.

#2 Fake Jet Tight Zone  on the 2nd play of the game!

The next  play  in the same game, they come out in it and run the flanker in motion. They fake jet and run tight zone. Nice design and a 11 yard gain. 

Both clips are below:

Excellent design by Day to start the game off with a bang!

#3 Jet Pass

The 3rd play in the sequence is fake jet, fake tight zone and hit the wr on a wheel route. This is very hard defend as the Lions try to go cover 3 and that's a mismatch for the LB in zone coverage. This is a great play in college out of 12 because you often get some type of cover 3 vs 12 personnel. Even if you check to unbalanced it's usually some type of 3 look.  They slide the front to the unbalanced but go cover 3 weak with the secondary. This allows for the matchup and nice completion.

These are just some of Coach Day's unbalanced run game sets. He goes into each game with a set package and seems to execute the scheme well vs his opponents.