Lincoln Riley Offense Part 4-red zone and goal line playbook

This is part 4 of my Lincoln Riley Offensive Series.

This section looks at some of his red zone & short yardage concepts. He does a nice job with his red zone package and has some staple concepts on the goal line.

#1 is a run pass option.

He runs a simple play where it is very similar to triple option. He reads the DE for the dive and will throw the ball to the h back or #3 wr off the fake if the OLB is leveraged. It seems to be  a staple for him. 

He loves to leak a wr or h back away from the action often in the red zone! 

This is shown below!

2 back bootleg

Now, this may be an Rpo and has some zone read elements, with the Qb reading the DE, the nice part about this it is a designed pass to the HB and the wr are blocking downfield, which makes me thing it's an RPO. If the DE Takes QB I assume he gives it.

Nice job on the boot

Here's the same play at USC in the red zone when they played Utah. The difference is really just the formation.

Another short yardage play when they go tempo on 1st and goal on the 2 yard line. The only difference is they do it with the wr on the los in the h back spot but is essentially the same play.

Nice Run pass option.

hits the h coming across the formation

Another great play on the goal line is displayed below:

12 personnel

Play action-fake to the back throw to the back

Excellent design vs man coverage.

The back gets a nice pick route by the wr.

He's wide open off of the fake.

Easy catch and throw.

Trips bunch right, back weak with TE 

Fake the Jet left , fake tight zone rt  and hit the TE on the TE dump.

Nice concept vs Man coverage

Tons of window dressing on this play.

nice fake on the jet, nice fake wide zone the other way and the TE is wide open on the dump on the left hand side.

see the DB chasing the jet man

LB loses the tight end.

Jet man draws the defense TE wide open.

3x1 bunch.

They ran this play 2 times vs Tulane.

Nice route concept

Hit it both times 1st time was the wr on the line.

The 2nd time was the wr trailing the endline.

Nice design

WR is wide open

Easy completion in the bunch route.

What Makes Lincoln Riley's Offense So Good? Part 3 Play Action Passing and RPO Game

Part 3: Lincoln Riley Study,  Play action and RPO Game

Play Action Passing Game

There play action game is very good. Here they run an out with #1 and a vertical with #2 as Baylor looks like they are playing trap coverage.

1145 Baylor 2018

The Oklahoma play action game is very good as they run it on early downs off their various run actions.

Protection:

Out of 2 back you will see different variations and plays.

#1 Boot

#2 Play action vertical game with full slide 7 man protection

2 back bootleg

Now, this may be an Rpo and has some zone read elements, with the Qb reading the DE, the nice part about this it is a designed pass to the HB and the wr are blocking downfield, which makes me thing it's an RPO. If the DE Takes QB I assume he gives it.

T

#2 Play action with full slide protection

Here's some examples of some full slide with both backs picking up off the egde from 2 different sets, both pistol and split back.

Vs Iowa State in 2020

Here they go full slide off the run action vs Iowa State. They get some nice double teams on every Def Lineman, even  the left DE with the 2 RB. They run a go route and comeback vs cover 3.

RPO Game

RPo vs UCLA

Split zone with QB

motion #27 who often lines up as a tight end into the backfield. They have two arrow routes with the slots vs man coverage.

Crack Screen Game

3rd and 1 vs Oklahoma State

They Jet motion and throw it to the jet man off play action. Still trying to determine if this is an rpo and because it is man coverage they throw it to him or a predesigned throw. Nice design, could be an rpo as it looks like the QB was reading the OLB. That's my guess, If man they give the ball. The ball is thrown behind the LOS so they can block downfield.

2nd and 10 vs Oklahoma State

Another crack screen against Oklahoma State.  The #1 wr runs off and they crack with the #2 on the LB and the Tackle blocks the Alley defender. Again the ball is thrown behind the LOS so it's legal to block downfield. 

Nice 45 yard gain.

at USC vs Arizona

They run a great play action with the fake crack and go with the h back running a wheel off ISO action. Great design off the fake to the RB

Safety bites on the play action and the wr fakes the crack/find block and beats him vertically.

THE H back on the wheel after faking iso hold the corner back.

These are just some of the play action and rpo game you will see from Lincoln Riley. More to come!

What Makes Lincoln Riley's Offense so good? Part 2 Variations in the Zone Read, G Wrap Run Game

Lincoln Riley Part 2 Variations in the Zone Read Game

In 2018, The Sooners rushed for 247 yards per game and a 6.6 yards per carry. They did it with some different concepts, which includes some various zone read concepts. 

The Sooners  have different variations of their zone read game and often have different options where they read different defenders. In all honesty, they did more with it in 2018 and 2019 with Murray and Hurts than the do with Rattner but it was very fun and tough to defend during those years. Trying to teach your DT how to play the zone read is no easy task and practicing against the different variations isn't easy, especially  with their play action game. 

Here are some of the variations:

They run traditional zone read with some slice components

DT Zone Read

2nd Level LB Zone Read

Same Side DE/LB Zone Read

Wrap run read game

They mix up the people they are going to read in the run game and with Hurts and Murray, were extremely hard to defend in 2018 and 2019.

Traditional Zone Read with Slice to 2nd level

Zone Read Slice

Oklahoma runs Zone Read Slice with the Back coming across. They get a nice gap as the OLB has to play the Jet and get a good lateral movement up front. Nice design for a 15 yard gain. Looks like H is trying to get to the 2nd level and take the LB if the QB reads pull. Either way, look at the running lane.

DT Zone Read

Vs Houston Cougars in 2019.

The Cougars played a 2i and shade look for a good portion of the game. The Sooners still run the zone read off the shade. The shade read defender attacks Hurts and Hurts gives it for a nice 50 yard gain. A Gap is vacated on the read and a nice run by the RB.

Oklahoma vs Baylor Defense

Here's another example: 

30 yard TD Vs FAU. DT takes the QB and look at the running lane it creates.

2nd Level Zone Read

They have different zone read options but here is one they run against a stack look. The Tackle blocks solid and the overhang LB is read. You see this often when they get a 4i.

In this example they are reading the 2nd level LB. They block the 1st level but decide to read the stack OLB in the run game.

Same Side 2nd Level  Read with G Wrap

The Dakota defense plays a 4i. Oklahoma runs an outside zone variation with the Guard wrapping for the LB. It is successful as the LB takes the QB and gives the QB a give read.

Guard Wrap Read

Similar play to above except when their is a 5 tech end they will read the 5 and wrap to the LB

Oklahoma runs G Wrap and reads the DE vs a shade look. Nice design, excellent angles and good execution in scheme. 

Vs. Houston 2019 

The same play with a nice read vs Houston. Houston attacks the mesh but the DE takes the RB, Hurts pulls if for a nice 15 yard gain.

Here are just some of the run concepts you will see from Lincoln Riley. I will add some more down the road but am starting to work on Part 3.

Part 3 gets into his play action and RPO Game

Part 4 Air Raid components