The following two pictures are back-to-back plays from Texas’ Cotton Bowl Classic loss to Ohio State in January. [Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!] Both are taken just after the snap when the ball is in Will Howard‘s hands. The picture above sees Ohio State in 11 personnel with […]
The following two pictures are back-to-back plays from Texas’ Cotton Bowl Classic loss to Ohio State in January.
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Both are taken just after the snap when the ball is in Will Howard‘s hands.
The picture above sees Ohio State in 11 personnel with Jahdae Barron lined up across from Jeremiah Smith. On the Cotton Bowl logo is Jelani McDonald with Andrew Mukuba to his right. Ohio State has their formation into the boundary, meaning the nickel is at the top of the screen.
As you can maybe tell, McDonald is moving down toward the line of scrimmage. Based off a quick review, McDonald is responsible for a lot of the green grass on his side of the field. Barron’s hip turn is to keep Smith inside of him, funneling him toward McDonald while making sure Smith doesn’t run past him deep.
The important part is that ahead of the snap, the Longhorns are in a two-high shell with their safeties but running a coverage that might not be plain Cover 2 or Cover 4, or even quarters.
And the next play?
Texas is again in a two-high shell but this time the Longhorn defense actually stays in a two-high coverage. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening considering Barron stays on Carnell Tate, Malik Muhammad passes Smith off to McDonald, and Bill Norton and Trey Moore start bearing down on Howard.
The important part is, Texas stays in a similar look pre-snap to make a read as difficult as possible not just for the quarterback, but also the receivers. Though they come from different offensive backgrounds, Ryan Day, like Steve Sarkisian, gives his receivers a lot of option routes. Wideouts need to make the right read of what’s going on to run the right route. The quarterback needs to make the right read, too. Then, they need to connect. Disguising makes all this difficult.
There are some occasions when there isn’t much to disguise. Texas may show a blitz and then actually blitz. Texas may get into position to play a single-high defense. Texas may just play off on passing downs and dare Ohio State to take what it can on the ground or else try to put a pass through 7-8 sets of hands for a first down.
But when it is time to disguise, it’s important to do it right.
“You don’t want to give a quarterback, whether they’re a vet or a rookie, a clear picture of what coverage you’re in,” Michael Taaffe said Monday. “They’ve got offensive coaches, too. They’ve got great coaches, too. You don’t ever want to give a look away.”
Aside from the one, debilitating explosive play surrendered to the Buckeyes last season, the Longhorns didn’t give up but two pass plays of over 15 yards to Ohio State. Howard was an efficient 24-for-33 for 289 yards, but take away the 75-yard pass to TreVeyon Henderson and Howard’s yards per attempt was just 6.7. The 75-yarder happened, but on the 32 other pass attempts Texas wasn’t getting beat over the top.
As mentioned, disguising coverages is just as important for confusing the receivers as it is for confusing the quarterback. Muhammad, who intercepted Howard during the one attempt where Smith was targeted with Muhammad guarding him, also emphasized how important it is to make sure corners aren’t tipping their hands when it comes to coverages.
“We don’t want the quarterback to see what we’re in because they’ve got really good coaches and they’ve got a really good quarterback, a couple of talented quarterbacks,” Muhammad said. “Obviously, they’ve got really good threats on the outside. When he knows or has a chance to know ‘this is what I saw against practice on scout team, this is what I’m going to go to,’ you make it a lot easier for them.”
Quality fundamental play is key, of course. Mess up one part of the process against a receiver like Smith or lose eyes against an offense like Day’s and the next thing the Longhorn defense will hear is the Ohio State band.
Making sure the picture is as murky as possible for Smith, Tate, Julian Sayin, and Max Klare is a critical step for Texas if the Longhorns want to leave Columbus with a win.
“Our job is to make it hard on them, make them earn every yard that they get,” Taaffe said.
Category: General Sports
