- First play: JBB and Mike double on DT and drive him back 5 yards. JBB needed to come off the double team and pick up a LB but he stayed engaged too long on the DT. Gentry blocks down on the DE but gets pushed back in the hole. Bredeson traps helps Gentry before picking up a LB. LB that JBB should’ve picked up eventually makes the tackle on Evans after a 6 yard gain. Looked okay overall but it would’ve made more sense for Gentry to go find the OLB and let Bredeson take the DE.
- On 3rd & 1 they try to run an off tackle trap to the left. Runyan and Bredeson crush down the DT but Mason beats Onwenu to the hole and the two both engage the unblocked DE. Gentry fell off his LB who fills the hole and makes the tackle. SMU brought everybody so we were never going to bust this for a big gain, but we should’ve been able to pick up the first down. Mike being slow on the trap isn’t a new thing but if he’s late he’s got to lead up. It’s actually Gentry’s terrible block that dooms the play however. Not a great start for Zach.
- On 1st down on the second series SMU brings a safety blitz from 8 yards deep. Protection is perfect but somehow Ruiz misses the S and turns his head to the right just as the S rushes through the gap between Bredeson and Ruiz. The S rushes Patterson’s throw. Very strange how perfectly timed it was for Ruiz to turn his head at the absolute wrong moment.
- On 2nd down SMU runs a stunt on JBB and Mike. Mike gets too far outside and is completely out of position in order to slide back inside to pick up the DE. Evans comes down and stops him in his tracks until Onwenu can recover. Patterson throws what should’ve been a pick but goes through the defenders hands and is caught by Perry.
- On the next play we run back to the right. JBB and Mike combo on the DT and drive him back 5 yards and pancake him. Gentry once again takes the DE; Bredeson traps and is confused as he tries to pick up the DE that Gentry is now on. McKeon, who was lined up off the line in an outside shade of Runyan comes all the way around and tries to lead up. Unfortunately there’s a LB established in the hole waiting for he and Evans. That LB should’ve been uprooted by Gentry or Bredeson before he got that far. As it is McKeon takes him but the LB does a nice job and makes a pile and prevents Evans from gaining more than a yard. This play was there and should’ve popped. Communication issues between our TE’s and OL.
- On the third possession Thomas took a jet sweep and got the edge. Nice job by Gentry and DPJ getting blocks in space to open it up.
- Next play we go back to the left but this time we cross block it with Bredeson instead of trapping Mike. Runyan blocks down while Bredeson pulls and blows out the DE and a nice hole opens. Gentry again whiffs on the LB but Evans makes him miss in the hole and picks up 7.
- Next play we try to go left again only we trap Mike across. It doesn’t look great but we wouldn’t at least picked up the first down had Ruiz not allowed his DT to shed him and meet Evans in the hole.
- On 3rd & 1 we run what looks like the same play as Mike again traps left, but this time JBB and Gentry are wedge blocking on the backside. When Mike leaves all the LB’s follow him to the left; Ruiz comes down to help JBB with the DT and a nice wedge opens between Ruiz and Bredeson with no LB’s home. The sucker trap works for an easy first down. Bredeson had the toughest block to execute as he had to attack the inside shoulder of the DT who was lined up inside of him and turn him back. Tough block but he did well with it.
- On the long completion to Gentry SMU brings a LB on a blitz. Protection is good but the LB finds a gap before Wilson comes across and levels him. Nice blitz pickup by the RB.
- Next play is run to perfection; Evans runs right while JBB blocks down on the DT. Onwenu pulls out on the DE and turns him inside. Gentry works down and seals off the LB; DPJ comes inside and pins the S. Evans gets the ball and by the time he reaches the edge there’s only he and the CB outside the hashmark. If he makes him miss it’s a TD but instead he’s tackled after a gain of 9.
- Next we try an inside zone play to the right but Gentry and Ruiz are pushed back into Evans and he loses a yard.
- On 3rd & 2 Ruiz and JBB both give up penetration and Evans cuts back left and is a half yard short of the first down.
- On 4th & short it was well blocked but Mason missed a block on a LB. If he makes the block it’s a TD; instead Evans gets 3 yards.
- On 1st down we run left. Mike traps across while Bredeson blocks down on the DT. Bredeson is tossed aside by the DT, which was pretty impressive actually. McKeon slides off his LB and the two make the tackle after a gain of 2.
- On 2nd down they go back to trying to cross block it where Runyan blocks down and Bredeson pulls to the DE; the DE however shoots the inside gap and runs right past Bredeson and Mason. Bredeson then makes it worse by standing there and looking back while Wilson runs past him and gets pummeled by a couple LB’s and a S. SMU guesses right and overloaded the left side. We were counting on the DE having contain responsibility but instead he pushed hard inside and we didn’t have our eyes up in order to adjust. Patterson is intercepted on the next play.
- I have no idea what JBB is doing on the second play of the next series. SMU brings 4 and slants to our left. The DE moves to JBB’s inside gap and he just lets him go. Mike is already engaged with the DT so there’s nobody left to take the DE, who rushes right into Patterson’s face. You should protect inside-out, meaning you first eliminate the shortest route to the QB. No idea why JBB would let him go when there’s nobody left outside.
- Later in the drive on 1st down from the SMU 15 we run to the right edge. JBB and Ruiz pull in front. We seal the edge and JBB pancakes a LB as Wilson runs for 7 yards.
- On both 2nd & 3rd down Mike falls off the DT who makes the tackle on Mason. We still pick up the first down as Mason drives him back a couple yards each time.
- First possession of the second half we come out in the shotgun with 3 WR’s and run a zone play to the right. This spreads out the SMU LB’s and keeps them from clogging the middle with run blitzes. Evans runs straight ahead for 6 yards but if he’d cut outside of McKeon’s block he probably picks up a first down.
- On 3rd & 5 Evans whiffs on the A gap blitz but Patterson keeps it alive and finds Gentry for a first down.
- We stay in a 3 wide set but this time we zone block a counter play to the right. McKeon is lined up on that side and leads up the hole and Wilson picks up 8.
- On 3rd & 2 we run right and JBB and Mike destroy the left side of their DL while crushing it down. I don’t know what our TE’s are doing sometimes though as McKeon has a LB and a S over there but he doesn’t really do anything. The hole was big enough where we picked up the 1st down anyway but it looked like he couldn’t decide who to block so he took no one.
- Into the 4th quarter now on 1st down and UM ahead 35 - 20, UM runs another inside zone to the right and a huge hole opens right up the middle behind Mike. Gentry does a nice job of sealing the DE and Evans runs for 35. We faked the jet sweep to Nico on this and it held the backside LB and S for just a moment and that helped to open up the middle for Evans.
- Next play we go back to the right where JBB blocks down and Mike pulls around and seals the DE inside. Ruiz leads up and Wilson runs for a first down. Mike’s doing a nice job out of this play.
Anyhow, the OL actually played pretty well. There were some bumps along the way and they were far from perfect but this was probably their best game of the season. A lot of the problems we had were the result of our TE’s and RB’s.
We made some adjustments this week and we did a lot less trapping and instead more quick pulls (or cross blocks). This helped Mike, as he has a shorter distance to travel to make his block. Bredeson also did a nice job. Still errors to clean up and this game really says nothing about our OL play (specifically our T’s) as SMU didn’t have a lot of talent on the edges.
When we were in sets with a FB and multiple TE’s it was easier for SMU to be super aggressive with their LB’s and overload our OL. Once we made the adjustment in the second half where we went with 3 WR and put Shea back in the shotgun...it was absolutely over for SMU. I kinda liked their DT (#10) but other than that they just couldn’t handle us at any level in space. Nice adjustment by the offensive coaches that lead to a dominant second half.
Defensively...my God. The pass interference penalties kept two TD drives alive. One was on Hill near the end zone and Lavert had what looked to me like text book coverage. I’d that’s interference than I don’t know what a CB’s supposed to do.
I thought the one on Ross was terrible as well. Yes he was reaching and trying to grab the receiver but he never actually got his hands on him. I didn’t see any semblance of interference there. But on a larger note, I found it disturbing that all you have to do to isolate a LB is to motion somebody out of the backfield. There is no way it should be that simple. Teams can simply line up their best WR in the backfield and then motion him out to the sideline and just like that he’s now 1 on 1 with a LB?
Secondly, other than the bogus call on Hill, the rest of the PI’s came against our S’s and LB’s who were isolated in coverage and left to defend jump balls. This was a MAJOR problem last season and it sure didn’t look any better yesterday. I didn’t see any type of adjustment at all, SMU got the matchups they wanted. I was really hoping to see some schematic tweaks to cover slot receivers but I sure didn’t notice anything yesterday. PSU and OSU were probably really happy to see that.
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