Sunday, July 3, 2022

football-playbook- top unbalanced plays for your offense

This article looks at some concepts at the college level from Unbalanced formations. Several teams will be looked at including Oregon, Iowa State, UCLA, Nebraska and more. You see teams take advantage if they get numbers they like to a side, or run passes to the weak side if teams over rotate in the secondary.

An example of an over rotation is below. 2 things you can run vs that in the pass game is wheel out of the backfield or bootleg away from the unbalanced side. Both are shown below.

Zone Read with Formation into the boundary

BYU runs a nice zone read to the field with formation into the boundary. The bubble component further widens the alley defender as they are in man coverage. They read the EMOL which causes a huge alley. Qb makes a nice read and they are off to the races.


Love the fact you are going one gap wider and making a SS be the read key. Most SS struggle with that responsibility.

SS takes the dive, they are in man so Safety widens causing a huge run lane.

Nice execution


Oregon RB Wheel Route

Unbalanced backside wheel. Joe Moorhead in 2020, gets the look he wants as Cal rolls to the unbalanced side and leaves the CB middle 1/3. The LB has to run with the wheel and the RB beats him in coverage.


If you over rotate vs Joe Moorhead he will run this route. 
Wheel is wide open as cb is in middle of the field.

Great route and concept by Coach Moorhead
Bootleg

Let's look at Ohio State as they always have an unbalanced component. Here he ran boot vs Nebraska and Penn State in 2020.

He comes out in 11 personnel  and runs boot to the field after going unbalanced to the boundary. Has the route design set up as Fields designs to run it. 


Ohio State bootleg away from unbalanced.

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. 
Excellent design by Day.

Boot works well for the TD

Sprint out to the Strength

Iowa State goes unbalanced 3x1 with a te. Then they run motion with the WR. Oklahoma state spins with motion. Runs sprint out to the unbalanced side with a nice sail route. Excellent design

Sail concept with Sprint to it.
They jump the flat and the sail route is open. 
Nice design by Iowa State


Nebraska 0ffense Scott Frost vs Wisconsin 

Unbalanced Gun Option with motion.

Nebraska runs option vs Wisconsin out of the gun. Both occasions they put the unbalanced  formation. The first the ball is in the middle of the field, the 2nd is  into the boundary. Both plays the use motion

The first time they run it with dive option after motioning the wr into the backfield.

They get numbers to run option and pitch the ball.
Great numbers the other way.
He gets boxed so he keeps it with the 2 lead blockers leading the way.


The 2nd time they run lead option to the boundary off the jet sweep fake to the field. The free safety tries to run the alley but is late  misses the tackle as the motion caused them to roll in the secondary.

They have number as they fake the jet and Wisc rolls the other way.
The DE fast plays it good blocking on the perimeter. Easy read
Both Clips below

 FSU vs Clemson- shovel pass

De works inside
Nice play call and execution.

Play Action Pass Weak
Short yardage Unbalanced out of 21

Iowa State vs Oklahoma State 

Iowa State come out in an unbalanced formation with 21 personnel on the field. They split the tight end out and the 2 wr to the same side. They take advantage of the the man coverage by Oklahoma State and run bootleg for the first down.Boot to the boundary.

Nice short yardage play. Boot back away from the run action.

Fake the wide zone and hit the FB in the flat. Nice easy design vs man coverage

full back wide open.


 unbalanced  jet sweep bc off vs pitt

BC runs a nice jet sweep on the edge with numbers.

Off the Jet sweep you can run the wheel route to that side with the Jet motion man or #2 wr that is eligible.  Both are nice concepts.

Unbalanced flea flicker off the jet sweep. 

Georgia runs the wheel off a flea flicker but you can do it off the jet/inside zone placation as well.

Georgia 12 personnel. Unbalanced into the boundary

Run jet motion with a flea flicker and hit the jet man down the sideline. Nice design that could also be run with simple play action. Nice scheme 

Great gadget play 

wheel is wide open 

beautiful play design.

Sequencing of plays is important.

Have answers running to and away from the unbalanced side and also answers in the pass game. 
Ryan Day Ohio State vs Penn State

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.

unbalanced jet
great angles on the perimeter
safety misses the tackle and a nice big gain after that.

#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. 

fake the jet and run tight zone.

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.

great fake and have a wheel run by the jet man.
wheels open off the jet motion great levels concept



Georgia 22 personnel
They go from unbalanced rt to unbalanced left and run pin and pull.

22 personnel end up going to bunch left with 2 rb.

Get the crack block from the on the line tight end and pull the tackle with the h back and rb leading the way. They do a great job of sealing the edge.
catches the defense  off guard and gets numbers.

great play design and hit it for a big gain.

Heres the clip.





These are just some unbalanced plays for your playbook.








Friday, July 1, 2022

Wisconsin Defense -Jim Leonhard

 Jim Leonhard is one of the best defensive minds in college football. His defenses are also very efficient. 

2021 #1 defense in the country in yards per play

2021 #4 defense in scoring 16 ppg

2021 #3 defense in 3rd down % 27.8 efficiency

2021 #1 in rushing 1st downs allowed 55, next closest team was 69, and #1 overall in 1st downs allowed

Coach Leonhard did  an outstanding job at Wisconsin and has worked with some of the best minds in football.

As a player, Leonard has some of his roots from Rex Ryan, being a standout with Rex with the Jets, Bills and Ravens, as Leonhard seemed to be someone that went with Rex wherever he ended up coaching. Much of his 3-4 comes from the Pettine and Rex Defense with the Ravens and Jets. 

As a coach he ended up working with Dave Aranda for 2 years at Wisconsin and Justin Wilcox. Wilcox is not as big a name as Aranda but left after 1 year to take the job at Cal. Both of these guys led great defenses at Wisconsin before moving on. I see various similarities between Leonard and Aranda in their scheme as both love zone 4 man simulated & creeper pressures with often bringing a LB and dropping a Defensive end as part of his base package. 

The reason he does this it is a safe way of blitzing.  It gives the allusion of more pressure, but often forces an offense to keep a RB in protection. He will not give up coverage on the back end to recklessly blitz and rarely plays cover 0. Most of his pressures are 4 or 5 man for the most part.  It has been very effective for Coach Leonhard at Wisconsin.


VS Notre Dame

The score was no where near indicative of the game. Notre Dame struggled offensively throughout the game, only rushing for 3 yards on the day. They scored 21 points in other areas, 2 on defense and 1 on a kickoff return. The Wisconsin defense played very well, giving up 20 points on the day. 

Coach Leonhard ran 30/34  pressures vs Notre Dame on Early Downs. That is only on 1st and 2nd down. That is an awful lot of creeper/sim pressures with bringing a LB from depth and dropping DE. But is a big part of what he does and makes him successful. It forced Notre Dame to keep their RB in pass protection as they only released him 4x. That may not seem like a big deal, but it kept the RB in against 7 man coverages which was a key factor in holding Notre Dame and Coen to 5.4 yards per reception and 15/29 passing for 158 yards.

Drew Pyne actually came in was 8/10 and moved the offense efficiently after Coen was injured in the 3rd quarter. 

Fronts on Early downs

vs 21/12 

You will often see him play a 3-4 on early downs vs 12 personnel. Often from 2 4i's 

Here are 2 examples vs Notre Dame vs 12.

The first is vs 12 balanced formation. They play it straight as Notre Dame is balanced with 1 te on each side and are 2x2. They bring the safety down to the passing strength h off and play cover 3.


In example #2, Leonhard goes 3-4 vs Notre Dame but walk one outside LB out vs the twins set. Still no change as they are still 3-4

Here it is again vs 12

Sometimes with 12 you will see them shift the Linebackers. vs 3x1 they will sometime shift the linebackers like they did vs Michigan. Here's the front with a few examples. They bring the safety down and play a stack look. Michigan is in 12 balanced.


In the next example, its 12 personnel with twins opposite the tight end wing.

You can see them slide the lb's to a stack look to the tight end side with the ss playing off #2 to the twins side. They have every gap covered.

They end up bringing the mike linebacker and dropping the de opposite the pressure. The drop end is a flat defender with the ss playing curl. They are in cover 1 with the cb over to the twins side with the safety in run support to the te wing side.


Depending on the call the nose will play a gap either to the side of the play or half man behind vs zone. Here they send the mike to the tight end wing. You can see the olb drop underneath and they play cover 3.
The olb does a nice job getting in the passing lane. 
From the endzone view but you see the DE get right in the passing lane on the right.

The qb wants to throw the rpo to #2 but it is defended and he ends up forcing it to #1 and it is nicely defended and incomplete. See it below.


Another example vs Michigan, Michigan goes x over again, this time both wr are eligible. They adjust play man to the 2wr side and bring the cb over again. Nice defensive scheme and alignment is sound. They adjust their lb in the 3-4 to matchup vs certain formations.

On the snap unbalanced zone

Gao responsibilities are solid
Do a great job with the DE boxing it hard and not much run lanes on the front side.
LB keeps leverage for the cutback.
Example #2 




vs 11 

They will often go nickel and play their 4-2-5 front vs it. They can still play a 3-4 vs it but seem more comfortable in their nickel alignment.

In the picture below

It appears they are single gap with the D Line and 2 gap with the LB.  

LDE D Gap.     LILB-Ball to-C Gap, ball away, near A,  RILB-B gap to, off a way and RDE play C Gap.

vs 11 you see the 4-2 2 shell pre snap.

Simulated Pressures



A simulated pressure is when you send a LB and drop a DE into coverage from a basic defensive front that isn't showing pressure. These are easy to recognize on film vs pass as the DE drops. They are less obvious against the run because the DE won't drop and will play the run.
This is a staple of the Wisconsin Defense. They can play it with zone coverage, man coverage or combination coverage.

2 coverages you will see quite often with the sim 4 man pressures:

3 weak

Only 4 rushers

Mike Coming with the OLB 41 dropping.
Nose beats the Double LB comes clean


3 strong

Becomes 3 under 3 deep
OLB plays the flat
Pressure gets home and forces bad throw. Wheel doesn't get a chance to develop.
Here is the pressure from the endzone view.
Empty check LB weak .Center slides to the nose #91 iin the 2 i.


On 3rd down
You will see a ton of man free and cover 3 with simulated pressures on this down.
We will cover this more in our next segment but here's one example.

they run a sim pressure and lock the backside with the CB on #1, They play cover 3 and send 5. If the back releases the LB would pick him up. He blocks so he adds in.Cb to the single wr side has man on #1. They play zone to the field Cover 3 with the weak safety rolling down. 
nice job with the coverage 3  with a solo call backside.

Nice job and execution. 

4 man sim pressure bringing both inside LB
3rd and 8
Coverage: 3 weak
Variation: FS/SS  are middle hook/curl defender (down and distance)

This time they put the LB over the center send the 4 and play cover 3

Nice job playing cover 3 

Excellent blitz and again a relatively safe coverage call. 


Heres how effective the sim pressure is vs the run game.
They run it vs Penn State on 1st down.
Nice job by the blitzing LB coming clean. Both DE engage and play run,
LB comes clean on the run pressure.

Good scheme against a very good offense.


4 man sim pressure with man free coverage
Vs Penn State, you see some man free concepts with the DE and LB acting as rat(underneath zone defenders)They ran the same scheme 2x and got sacks both times. The DE disrupted the throw on both occasions by getting in the throwing lane.
De gets in the throwing lane on the sim pressure. 

Film below


2nd time they ran the concept, they got the same result.
This was a key 4th down in the 1st quarter.
Again man/free, mike pressure DE drops to the boundary.
Field pressure with 3 to a side.

DE gets in the slant window. RB plays the hook.
Rat defender does a great job


These are just some of the defenses you will see from when Jim Leonhard was at Wisconsin, a very well coached defensive team. 
They were solid in their approach, often bringing simulated pressures but playing safe coverages and being sound behind them.


6 man Zone Pressure: 2 under 3 deep coverage NFL and College, Pitt Clemson, Syracuse and More!

 6 man Zone Pressure:  2 under 3 deep coverage NFL and College, Pitt Clemson, Syracuse and More!   6 man pressures with 2 under 3 deep cover...