New Wrinkles in the Running Game...Finally!

avicenna75

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Nov 5, 2011
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Props to the offensive staff for drawing up some new plays in the running game. All year, we have relied on basically two running plays -- the outsize zone read and the shotgun sweep with the 2 pulling lineman. Defenses were keyed in on those.

VT was not ready for the Inside Zone Read play. Instead of reading the DE, Rosier would read the unblocked defensive tackle. Perfect scheme to slowdown their interior rush. DTs were crashing on the RBs, leaving a nice running lane for Rosier. I wasn't able to convert the plays to GIFs, so I put the time stamp of the plays from the video below.

See the 19:01 mark.

We also finally saw some misdirection. This is another zone read play, but instead, we see Herndon with cross block action. His movement takes the outside linebacker (#49) with him. Tyree St. Louis does enough to get in front of the DT, and the rest of the line just walls off the left side.

See the 53:18 mark of the video.

We also saw different variations of the QB run game, including draws and sweeps. Another great scheme to slow down an aggressive defensive front.

See the 1:54:55 mark.
See the 2:03:14 mark.
See the 2:02:25 mark.

https://youtu.be/icr_wPPD4lY?t=2h2m25s
 
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There are a ton of zone reads I have been wondering why we haven't run as they are simple iterations of what we already do.. soo happy to see us pull out.. good stuff
 
What I found interesting is that we used some two back sets w/Herndon in the backfield, yet we did not run any traditional power run plays. I have to wonder if Richt wasn't trying to set something up for the ND game.

But to avicenna's point, we definitely has some wrinkles in the run game last night. There was one play in specific where Herndon lined up in the backfield, Berrios came in motion and we ran a power QB run off tackle behind both Berrios and Herndon. It gained a few yards, wasn't a big play but I really liked the play design.
 
So Richt really was saving the playbook?

giphy.gif
 
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When I saw the jet sweep the the throwback right after thought I had put it on the wrong channel
 
I been complaining about it for weeks. But it seems Richt wanted to save a bunch for VT because he realize it would be the key game for us this season. Our run game up to now was simple to defend and was forcing Rosier to throw too much and on too many long downs.

We could have ran for more yardage I feel. I also wanna see us use the wildcat, don't know if we have it but we have the personnel to do it. I'll say it again, if we run the ball effectively we are hard to stop.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
 
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We've run tons of inside zone this year.

yeah, that's what I thought. I believe this is the first time where Rosier kept it so much...
Rosier has made a lot of poor decisions this year but he was clicking last night

I give Malik credit, after his bad stretch at the end of the first half and the beginning of the 3rd quarter, IMO, he made a concerted effort to do whatever he could to move the chains and get first downs. He made several key runs on passing plays that kept UM ahead of the chains and the clock moving. I think moving forward that we'll see more of this type of game from him. He played a very tough, physical game of QB last night
 
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Yup. Pretty sure I saw some inverted veer. Finally a wrinkle in the zone red game. Hmmm saving plays???
 
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I remember in the spring game Richt said he saved a few plays for Manny that he hadn't shown to that point in practice. (a hitch n go that went for a big play)

Richt knows that you've got to hold little wrinkles for big games/moments. We were lucky enough to get to VT without showing our entire running playbook.

Next week I believe ND will see a heavy dose of 5 wide. I don't expect to see any new surprises at this point, but you never know (especially with the emergence of DeeJay)
 
I been complaining about it for weeks. But it seems Richt wanted to save a bunch for VT because he realize it would be the key game for us this season. Our run game up to now was simple to defend and was forcing Rosier to throw too much and on too many long downs.

We could have ran for more yardage I feel. I also wanna see us use the wildcat, don't know if we have it but we have the personnel to do it. I'll say it again, if we run the ball effectively we are hard to stop.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Wildcat with Deejay would be nasty
 
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We've run tons of inside zone this year.

yeah, that's what I thought. I believe this is the first time where Rosier kept it so much...
Rosier has made a lot of poor decisions this year but he was clicking last night

I give Malik credit, after his bad stretch at the end of the first half and the beginning of the 3rd quarter, IMO, he made a concerted effort to do whatever he could to move the chains and get first downs. He made several key runs on passing plays that kept UM ahead of the chains and the clock moving. I think moving forward that we'll see more of this type of game from him. He played a very tough, physical game of QB last night
Yep and I just want to clarify I was talking about his decisions this year on when to hand off and when to keep.

Obviously some of his throws weren’t the greatest decisions.
 
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