How UT/SDSU defended Nebraska

[Hercules]

Football question here. I'm trying to figure out exactly how UT/SDSU defended the zone read.

 

I have limited football knowledge, but watching the game yesterday, it seemed Texas was normally selling out to stop the zone read. The zone read, by design, leaves a man unblocked. I've read several different times that both Texas and SDSU designated two players to take Martinez on each play. I'm assuming this means that each time we ran the zone read, the unblocked defender covered the running back while the two spies took Martinez. Is this correct?

[GMoose]

With Texas, they played assignment football on D as well as I've seen since Iowa stymied Georgia Tech last year in the Orange Bowl. When you have 2 weeks to prepare, and one of the fastest and most athletically gifted defenses in the country, there's going to be problems when your offense is built around deceiving defenders.

[JOEY]

With Texas, they played assignment football on D as well as I've seen since Iowa stymied Georgia Tech last year in the Orange Bowl. When you have 2 weeks to prepare, and one of the fastest and most athletically gifted defenses in the country, there's going to be problems when your offense is built around deceiving defenders.

Was it just me or was sirles getting whooped by his guy alot?

[Count 'Bility]

I think we tried to be too cute with these plays as well, trying to do too much lateral action. When we used the quick hitting north-south type zones, they were more successful at picking up 3-4 yards.

[Blackshirt316]

With Texas, they played assignment football on D as well as I've seen since Iowa stymied Georgia Tech last year in the Orange Bowl. When you have 2 weeks to prepare, and one of the fastest and most athletically gifted defenses in the country, there's going to be problems when your offense is built around deceiving defenders.

Was it just me or was sirles getting whooped by his guy alot?

 

 

Yes. But he was going against Sam Acho, an All-American and one of the best DE's in the nation.

[JOEY]

With Texas, they played assignment football on D as well as I've seen since Iowa stymied Georgia Tech last year in the Orange Bowl. When you have 2 weeks to prepare, and one of the fastest and most athletically gifted defenses in the country, there's going to be problems when your offense is built around deceiving defenders.

Was it just me or was sirles getting whooped by his guy alot?

 

 

Yes. But he was going against Sam Acho, an All-American and one of the best DE's in the nation.

It was so painful to watch,I would hate to be him on that Day!

[Hercules]

Ok, nobody's really answered my question yet, so I'm gonna try to go back to the dvr. I hope I make it back alive. Wish me luck.

[Hercules]

I feel like we speculate on what happened a lot on this board, and while some of that speculation is true, I wanted to take a closer look at the offensive performance throughout the game and try to decipher as well as I could what happened. There's nothing really surprising, but I wanted to look at specifics rather than generalities.

 

Through the first half, especially on 1st and 2nd down, Texas sold out on the zone read. The target would always stay home and wait for the play to come to him. Meanwhile, the linebackers attacked the gaps at the line of scrimmage, and the safeties crashed down. This especially happened a lot on 1st and 2nd down. On a couple read plays, Martinez made the wrong read. On another couple, Martinez made the correct read but the offensive line/TE/Slot receiver missed their blocks and the play blew up. On a few more, Martinez made the correct read, but the ballcarrier was still victimized by Texas bringing more guys than we could block. On a couple others, Martinez appeared to make the correct read while Texas was crashing down, and thanks to a slick move by Burkhead or Helu, we'd get 3-4 yards.

 

On the zone read, it seemed like we executed the play only about 50% of the time. We missed a couple reads, and on a few others we missed blocks. However, out of the plays we appeared to execute correctly, we only achieved real positive yardage about 20% of the time, simply because of Texas crashing down to stop the run. There were more Longhorns at the line of scrimmage than there were Huskers to block them.

 

In the first half, success on first and second down came almost exclusively through the air. Some of these balls were caught, while 6 were dropped. Taylor's good throws that were dropped included the one to Burkhead to start the second quarter, and another to Niles on the next drive which would have put us inside the 5. We actually did execute on a number of throws/catches, but the throw from Martinez to Niles over the middle was behind, while another one in the 2nd quarter over the middle to Niles was too far ahead (Niles made the catch on this one, but fell with no one around him). Another pass was behind Brandon Kinnie, but Martinez put it in the only place he could, and Kinnie kept going instead of settling into the open spot in the zone coverage. Our execution in the passing game was about 50-50, just about like in our zone read game.

 

In the second half, with Martinez in, Texas continued to play the zone read the same way, and we had the same results.

 

As soon as Lee entered the game, Texas stopped crashing down with their linebackers and safeties to stop the zone read. Lee read his target correctly just about every time, but the gains those reads resulted in were a result of better execution by the blockers, and by the fact that Texas was playing softer against the run. Safeties and linebackers were no longer crashing down.

 

In the passing game, the WR screens were both (1st half and 2nd half) poorly executed by the blockers. Lee was victimized by another drop by Niles in the endzone, and on the same drive, another one at the 10 yard line that would've gone for a touchdown and maybe a first down, as well as the one in the 4th quarter by Kinnie. However, with Texas playing softer against the run, the passing game was much less available with Lee in the game than with Martinez.

 

Ok, that was an interesting exercise for me, even though my analysis is pretty amateur... And it actually helped me get over this game, too. Hope it works the same for anyone else who reads it.

[shyndy]

One thing I noticed with texas versus some of the other teams, when the guy was unblocked he knew he was unblocked and ran straight to a certain point, taking an angle that kind of disrupted the whole play, made it hard to read because he's gonna get the inside guy, but also force the outside guy to loop out a bit and slow it down, also the read itself was slower because the end wasn't really committing one way or the other but closing down the space as fast as possible. i just think the unblocked tackle or end type was not working at all bc those guys were fast enough to close down the gap. later when lee was in I think we changed it up. without looking at tape it looked different, like we were reading a backer or safety or something.

[Hercules]

One thing I noticed with texas versus some of the other teams, when the guy was unblocked he knew he was unblocked and ran straight to a certain point, taking an angle that kind of disrupted the whole play, made it hard to read because he's gonna get the inside guy, but also force the outside guy to loop out a bit and slow it down, also the read itself was slower because the end wasn't really committing one way or the other but closing down the space as fast as possible. i just think the unblocked tackle or end type was not working at all bc those guys were fast enough to close down the gap. later when lee was in I think we changed it up. without looking at tape it looked different, like we were reading a backer or safety or something.

 

A lot of the time the target was committing to the running back or the quarterback. He did close down space, but he was still committing one way or the other just about every time. Martinez messed a couple of these reads up, and a couple of them he nailed, but with the safeties and linebackers crashing down there was still no place for the ballcarrier to go, even after the target was out of the play. Lee made the correct read just about every time, I think, but the linebackers and safeties had backed off, and there was more room for the ball carrier.

 

I actually think Muschamp adjusted his scheme a little during Lee's first or second drive, can't remember which. We had been getting a number of decent gains with the running backs off the zone read, with the defense playing softer, and at some point, the read target started just committing to the running back on every zone read play we called. Lee always read it right, but it resulted in 2-3 yard gains for Lee, rather than 5-6 yard gains for Helu/Burkhead. I'm pretty sure it was an adjustment Muschamp made to force Lee to carry it.

[shyndy]

One thing I noticed with texas versus some of the other teams, when the guy was unblocked he knew he was unblocked and ran straight to a certain point, taking an angle that kind of disrupted the whole play, made it hard to read because he's gonna get the inside guy, but also force the outside guy to loop out a bit and slow it down, also the read itself was slower because the end wasn't really committing one way or the other but closing down the space as fast as possible. i just think the unblocked tackle or end type was not working at all bc those guys were fast enough to close down the gap. later when lee was in I think we changed it up. without looking at tape it looked different, like we were reading a backer or safety or something.

 

A lot of the time the target was committing to the running back or the quarterback. He did close down space, but he was still committing one way or the other just about every time. Martinez messed a couple of these reads up, and a couple of them he nailed, but with the safeties and linebackers crashing down there was still no place for the ballcarrier to go, even after the target was out of the play. Lee made the correct read just about every time, I think, but the linebackers and safeties had backed off, and there was more room for the ball carrier.

 

I actually think Muschamp adjusted his scheme a little during Lee's first or second drive, can't remember which. We had been getting a number of decent gains with the running backs off the zone read, with the defense playing softer, and at some point, the read target started just committing to the running back on every zone read play we called. Lee always read it right, but it resulted in 2-3 yard gains for Lee, rather than 5-6 yard gains for Helu/Burkhead. I'm pretty sure it was an adjustment Muschamp made to force Lee to carry it.

and probably also to keep more support against the pass since we were down and time was ticking. thinking make us earn it in gashes and burn the clock.

[NUance]

The D-line of UT was a LOT faster than anyone we’ve seen yet. There’s no way the timing of our read option could work against that defense. But we knew that going into the game. We just didn’t do enough to adjust for the extra speed of the Whorns.

[knapplc]

Great stuff, Hercules. Those were some good analyses you put forth up there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The D-line of UT was a LOT faster than anyone we’ve seen yet. There’s no way the timing of our read option could work against that defense. But we knew that going into the game. We just didn’t do enough to adjust for the extra speed of the Whorns.

 

To me, this was the crux of this game. Our offense seems hide-bound to do a certain thing. All this talk of "multiple" blah-blah-blah is nice to say, but it seems when we NEED to be multiple, we are unwilling or unable to be so. The big play for this offense has been the Zone Read. We've run it all season, and by gum we're going to run it the rest of the season, too. Which then begs the question - what's the point of having a huge playbook when you don't use those plays?

 

We came into this game with a single-minded focus - do what we do, and do it well. The problem is, we changed nothing from what we'd been doing the previous five games. Texas had more film to watch on us than a Cecil B. DeMille epic, and everything they spent two weeks planning for, we did. Contrast that with Texas' plan of letting Gilbert run loose, something we very clearly were not prepared for, and you have a recipe for a disaster.

 

You cannot give enough credit to Texas for this win. They outschemed us, they outplanned us, they outprepared us, and they outhustled us, all game long. I tip my cap to Mack Brown and Will Muschamp - they showed why, even when the chips are down, they are two of the best coaches out there. But here's the problem Nebraska faces - extra time to prepare for an opponent is only valuable if you use it. We had an extra two days to prep for Texas. Clearly we did not use it. Clearly we rested on our laurels and did nothing to prepare for our opponent - or at least, we did nothing different.

 

 

 

I'm probably more bitter about this loss than any of the other upcoming losses we're going to have simply because this was Texas. This was the one single game all season where we had to put everything on the table, and we simply did not.

 

You do not put a focus on a game like this and come out and play like that. Not unless you want to be the laughingstock of college football for a day.

 

 

The one single saving grace of this day was that Ohio State lost as well. Had the #1 team not also lost today, taking a huge measure of attention away from this game, we would be hearing about this all season long.

[NUance]

Great stuff, Hercules. Those were some good analyses you put forth up there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The D-line of UT was a LOT faster than anyone we’ve seen yet. There’s no way the timing of our read option could work against that defense. But we knew that going into the game. We just didn’t do enough to adjust for the extra speed of the Whorns.

 

To me, this was the crux of this game. Our offense seems hide-bound to do a certain thing. All this talk of "multiple" blah-blah-blah is nice to say, but it seems when we NEED to be multiple, we are unwilling or unable to be so. The big play for this offense has been the Zone Read. We've run it all season, and by gum we're going to run it the rest of the season, too. Which then begs the question - what's the point of having a huge playbook when you don't use those plays?

 

We came into this game with a single-minded focus - do what we do, and do it well. The problem is, we changed nothing from what we'd been doing the previous five games. Texas had more film to watch on us than a Cecil B. DeMille epic, and everything they spent two weeks planning for, we did. Contrast that with Texas' plan of letting Gilbert run loose, something we very clearly were not prepared for, and you have a recipe for a disaster.

 

You cannot give enough credit to Texas for this win. They outschemed us, they outplanned us, they outprepared us, and they outhustled us, all game long. I tip my cap to Mack Brown and Will Muschamp - they showed why, even when the chips are down, they are two of the best coaches out there. But here's the problem Nebraska faces - extra time to prepare for an opponent is only valuable if you use it. We had an extra two days to prep for Texas. Clearly we did not use it. Clearly we rested on our laurels and did nothing to prepare for our opponent - or at least, we did nothing different.

 

 

 

I'm probably more bitter about this loss than any of the other upcoming losses we're going to have simply because this was Texas. This was the one single game all season where we had to put everything on the table, and we simply did not.

 

You do not put a focus on a game like this and come out and play like that. Not unless you want to be the laughingstock of college football for a day.

 

 

The one single saving grace of this day was that Ohio State lost as well. Had the #1 team not also lost today, taking a huge measure of attention away from this game, we would be hearing about this all season long.

+1

You make good points: We did a poor job of adjusting to UT when they showed a new wrinkle on offense. And we didn’t adjust well when our own offense couldn’t move the ball.

 

 

During our 90s dominant run that’s one thing you could always count on. NU would make adjustments during the game against tough teams. We always looked better in the 2nd half when we played somebody good. I hope we can figure out how to do this again. Someday.

[Hercules]

The D-line of UT was a LOT faster than anyone we’ve seen yet. There’s no way the timing of our read option could work against that defense. But we knew that going into the game. We just didn’t do enough to adjust for the extra speed of the Whorns.

 

This is true. However, to me it appeared that we knew about their speed (after all, Pelini did talk about it all week). Even with that speed on the d-line, Martinez on several plays showed the speed to get past them or get around them, when he scrambled. The reason they shut down the zone read was because of the extra help from the linebackers and safeties.

 

I have to think Watson anticipated this is what would happen, but wanted to test the waters early on in the game and make sure he knew how Texas would play us. Starting around our 3rd or 4th series, we finally made the adjustment that needed to be made, which was play action on 1st and 2nd down, and we had guys running wide open down field. We missed a throw or two, but the drops absolutely killed us. Texas didn't have to adjust their scheme because we never really made them pay in the passing game.

 

If we make those catches, UT, at one point or another would have to back off of the run game, and play us more like they played Lee in the second half, and that opens up more holes for Martinez.

 

Anyways, I don't think there was anything wrong with the read option scheme we brought in. I'm not sure there was anything wrong with the gameplan, though I'd say that Watson should've anticipated from the get-go how Texas would play us, and start the game off by throwing on 1st and 2nd down. Maybe he wanted to get Taylor comfortable first by staying conservative, but I think it'd have been smarter to play aggressive and get Texas to stop creeping up to stop the run. Of course, we probably would've just dropped the ball.