Utah Morgan Scalley Base Defense Part 1-1st and 2nd down

 Morgan Scalley runs a very effective scheme at Utah.

In his 15th year overall as a Utah assistant coach, Morgan Scalley is in his seventh season as the defensive coordinator in 2022. His best year was in 2019 as the defense was tremendous. This year they are #1 again. They are #1 in the pac 10 this year in points allowed. They have allowed 20 points per game. They won the pac 12 championship in 2021 and 2022, and his defense had a ton to do with it.

Here's some stats about his defense:

• Utah has led the Pac-12 five times in his six seasons as defensive coordinator in rushing defense (2016, '18, '19, ’20 and ‘21) —ranking third in the nation in 2019 after ranking fifth in in 2018.

• The Utes have finished in the top-three in the conference in sacks and tackles for loss three times under Scalley, leading the league in both in 2021 and 2016, while finishing the 2018 season ranked 11^th nationally and first in the Pac-12 in sacks.

• Utah has finished in the top-half of the Pac-12 in total defense five times in the past six seasons, ranking second nationally and first in the league in 2019.

• Over the past four seasons, Scalley's defense has held opponents to 15 points or fewer 20 times, third most in all of FBS.

I took a close look at his 2019 defense, breaking down a few games. Some of the schemes include some fire zone pressures and normal cover 2 as well as man free at time..

FRONTS

They bounce between their 4-2-5 and bear/odd front. They utilize both dependant on who they played and the situation they were int. 

Here they are in man coverage in the 4-2 front so you see the safeties down and alignment. But again they set the front to the side of the rb.  

The 3 technique is to the side of the back. Everyone has a primary gap based on the alignment. 

In odd, they played it 2 ways.  At times a 4i and others a 3. The LB will be to the side of the back if it's man coverage but opposite if it's zone. 

Here they are in man coverage vs Arizona, as the LB is to the side of the back and the stacked safety has #9 the h back.

zone again with the lb opposite the rb. The nose will play half man behind weakside A gap with the Mike #30 responsible for the playside a gap. 

Coverage schemes

Base Downs (1st and 2nd down)

Man Free

They are. my type of defense as they love to play press man free coverage and challenge offenses. They have had great success being a man free team on early downs. 

You will see Utah play man free  coverage vs various formations on early downs.

In the diagram below Arizona comes out in 12 personnel. They play man free with the LB's combo on the rb.(03)

They at times sprinkle in some man and bring the free safety into the box. He will play the rb man for man or get into the run fit. In the example below, they play it with their bear front.

vs Arizona 

Another example of bear cover 1 vs 11 personnel. The Safety comes down to play the h back with the Mike Lb responsible for the RB. Easy for him as he goes where the rb goes. They play press to the single side and on the #2 wr to the passing strength.

The one thing you will notice is the alignment of their db as they like to press the man on the line of scrimmage regardless of if he is the #1 or #2 wr. (see below)

Fire Zone pressures

Bear Strike Cover 3 , They send the sam to the field in the bear look and drop the olb to the boundary. They play cover 3 and slant the whole defensive front. 

Odd Pressure vs BYU

Similar concept 3 under 3 deep with a defensive lineman playing the hook. They will often have the de drop to the hook as opposed to the flat like several 3 under 3 deep teams when they blitz off the edge.

Another pressure from the bear front. They bring the cb to the bottom of the screen and the mike to the boundary vs the closed set. They get a 2x1 on the tackle as the tackle blocks the LB. In the rpo game that leaves the cb unblocked, qb does a nice job getting the throw off. 

You can  see here as the guard takes the blitzing inside linebacker the cb has a nice free run at the qb. Qb does a great job reading it and is well. coached to get the ball out. The safety does a nice job tackling the wr at 5 yards. 

Clip with it.

America's blitz

Here they run America's blitz to the field and get home except the qb Zach  Wilson avoids the rush. He does a nice job escaping a well designed pressure.

CHANGEUP

They did do some unique things when playing against Wash St who was air raid. They got away from their 4-2-5 and played a ton of odd. 

Utah run fits vs the Air Raid

In the run game, you can do a couple things. Utah liked to use the Safety as  a c gap player which makes things difficult. How do you account for him in the run game.

There are certain fits in the run game. It often depends on whether your ends are 4i  b gap players. In the example below, it looks like Utah has the de in 4i and the middle safety is responsible for c gap.

Utah run fit film

Utah

Utah runs it vs cover 2 with a 3 man rush on 1st down. Wash State is 2x2 and the back is strong. The mike opens to the side of the rb. Since it's 2x2 their is no carry so the 3rd safety just plays the deep middle hook.

The cb does a nice job getting under the post corner route so the qb checks it down to the spot route.

Here is the film with the clip

Cover 2 hole

Utah will run some cover 2 hole which is a cover 2 with a low hole and middle hole defender. It is very effective in taking away the middle of the field, dig and deep post routes. 

Utah version:

On 3rd and 15 Utah plays a soft cover 2 hole look. They use the safety in the middle of the field and take away all vertical routes and windows. They dare Washington state to check it down.

The left cb does an excellent job sinking and knowing where the sticks are. 

Here are the clips that go with it:

This is part 1 of his defensive scheme. Next up is his defense on 3rd down. Stay tuned for more!

Here's some additional clips of the game vs use last night.