Dana Holgorsen West Virginia/ Houston Counter RPO Game

 Dana Holgorsen Counter Run Game With RPO Principles.

Dan Holgorsen was the head coach at West Virginia in 2018. Below are some variations of his counter run game with RPO principles.  Later in this article, I look at some of his counter options including running same side counter.  It's a great play against odd fronts out of 3x1 who like to play the 4i to the side of the back. You get an easy down block from the Tackle on the 4i and usually there is no edge defender vs these odd front defenses you see. 

West Virginia runs it's RPO game with counter blocking and has a few variations. The bottom line is if they get a light box they will run the football. If the qb likes the options in the passing game they will throw the screen or route progression.

Let's look at the options they ran vs. Kansas in 2018. Here we will look at the counter blocking 1st. They ran it 2 times for 65 yards vs Kansas.

The 1st time they run it they get a 4-3 but a 4-1 box. They run it and get good down blocks. A nice 46 yard gain and excellent execution.

The 2nd time they run it the get an odd bear type look with a 3 tech to the left side and a 4i to the right side. Nice blocking again for a good 19 yard gain. This time a 6 man box.

Below is the film that goes with the top 2 plays.

RPO Options. On both runs above they had the following rpo options. 

1) At times they will run a wr screen option from a stack set  to the side of the back.

run #2 Below again he has the screen option to the side of the rb. He feels he has an advantage in the run game and gives the football

Here is a 3rd route with the quick out by the  h back and the #1 and #2 wr blocking. 

Nice design and 25 yard gain but it's called back on a holding penalty.

After the penalty they run it again for 8 yards.

You can see both plays below:

11 personnel.

The other way they block it is with the h back pulling it's a change up but they still have the RPO option on the outside. The guard kicks out and the Tackle leads up. Here's 1 they ran vs Kansas.

In 2019 He brought his offense to Houston when he became the head coach. He ran some interesting variations with the H back. Here is some cut ups vs UCF.

In the 1st clip it's just straight counter. tite front below! disregard the 4-2 mistake!

In the 2nd clip they motion the h back out and have the screen option. If the DE widens give the ball on the counter. They read the give and it's a 12 yard gain. The other nice part of this play is they run counter to the same side of the back. The back does a nice job with his footwork and reads the play nicely. Good play with no edge defender vs odd fronts. Usually get a 4i and no edge defender. Good scheme.

Here are 2 clips that go with the pictures above.

The Same play variation they run vs Texas who plays a 3 man front often. It is an excellent play against teams that run 3-3 stack. 

Here are some additional clips of the counter play they ran throughout the year. 

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Screen off the Counter 

They fake counter left , pulling the rt guard and run the h screen back to the right. Great design by Holgorsen and staff.

They get the Center and RT out on the screen on the excellent screen design. 

Holgorsen does an excellent job with his counter game. He adds an rpo component, uses the same side counter and it is an integral part of his run game. I hope you enjoyed this article 

Broncos run game attacking the Bear front/odd fronts vs Dolphins and using motions vs Steelers

I analyzed the Broncos run game against the Dolphins and Steelers.

The Broncos used some good schemes to rush for 189 yards on 33 carries vs the Dolphins. They primarily did it against 2 fronts, the bear front and the 4-2 front with 2 2i (inside techniques). They also played some man free which allowed the Broncos wr to crack on the SS and block 2 for 1 because their was no crack replace with the cb. 

The Dolphins love the bear front on run downs.  The Bear front has been used throughout the year by the dolphins. It has been effective for them in the run game, playing dividends vs teams in the last few games.

The trouble with the Bear front is usually in the passing game as you are forced to play cover 1(man free) or  cover 3 with some 1/4, 1/4 half coverages sprinkled in. The Dolphins play alot of man free with it.

The Broncos changed some of their traditional zone schemes and went to some more power gap schemes in this game. They ran outside trap and some power and had various plays in which different players pulled and it worked out very succesfully.  When they went to their 4-2 with 2 , inside 2i techniques, the Broncos attacked that and got 2 big runs for 40 yards. 

BEAR FRONT

Lets look at some of the bear runs. 

Here they run a nice 3x2 double team scheme with the guard tackle and tight end. They seal the right side, the h back kicks out and they get a nice 9 yard gain.

 Here on 1st and 10 the Broncos run the outside trap scheme pulling the guard and the backside tackle for 5 yards 

After the 5 yard gain they come back to the power scheme on 2nd and 5. The dolphins are in man free(outside leverage by the sam lb gives it away) They run power with the left guard kicking out the olb.

The Broncos get a nice 25 yard gain on the play. wr does enough to block the SS and set up the big run.

The 

On another 1st and 10 vs bear, they pull the guard and he logs the de and it allows the tackle to turn it outside for a nice 9 yard gain. The tackle sees the guard log the de and stays outside, the rb follows and its a nice gain.

Vs. 42 front

Dolphins play both dt in 2i's, inside shade in their 4-2 look. They get hit for 2 big runs vs this.

They run to the right side for 20 yards with Lindsay on the scheme below. Great job by the center getting out and blocking the SS.

Here they pull the center and tackle and run outside trap concept. The defensive end works up field so the tackle kicks out and the back cuts up. 

They run a similar scheme but pull the backside tackle and he kicks out for a 20 yard touchdown, nice check and scheme design for another 20 yard gain and touchdown. 2 big plays vs the dt and nose being in 2i fronts. 

These were some of the successful runs the Broncos had on the day. They did a nice job scheming things up and running effective schemes vs the Dolphins bear and 4-2 front.

Vs The Steelers

Some of the best runs they had is when they motioned as the Steelers play man free quite a bit. 

By motioning, you sometimes get a secondary/lb displaced and allow cutback lanes. Especially since Dupree can be vulnerable in the run games because he loves to rush the passer.

Below, the Steelers have safety blitz which looks like changed with the change of strength. They usually send the sam but here send the weak free safety. The Broncos go jet motion and the lb has to cover it and it creates a huge cutback lane on inside zone. The LB leaves the box and it causes issues.

A nice 8 yard gain

On 2nd and 3,

They run inside zone off jet motion, the Steelers have a sam blitz on and this time don't check the blitz. The sam blitzes and the lb takes the jet motion. This leaves a huge cutback lane on the inside zone. Broncos get 17 on the play.

Later on the Steelers try to adjust with the safety as they blitz the mike with the motion. The Broncos get the same effect as the Steelers leave yet another cutback lane. 3 carries for 42 yards using motion early in the game. Nice scheme by the Broncos.

The Steelers defense can be vulnerable at times when you go 3x1 to 2x2 and motion when in man free and  the Broncos took advantage of that in the run game.

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