The OSU Defense v Purdue: A Clinic in How to Defend Spread Zone Read Teams

 

The OSU defense rebounded from a poor showing against Wisconsin to register a shutout against Purdue.  In so doing, the Buckeyes' defense put on a text book example of how to shut down a 'spread to run' offense.  OSU's continued dominance against spread teams demonstrates that the 'spread' is no longer an 'equalizer' that will benefit lesser- talented teams, but instead simply another offensive philosophy that has both strengths and weaknesses.

Background:  The 'Spread's' Evolution

The spread offense as one thinks of it today developed as a way to change a defense's arithmetic-.  Defenses have to account for the QB as a potential ball carrier, so it required the defense to either have insufficient numbers in the box to defend the running game, or bringing a safety up in the box, leaving the defense exposed to the pass game.  As Chris Brown stated: 

All this flows from the simple fact that there are eleven players on one side and eleven players on the other. Every ballcarrier necessarily has an unblocked counterpart: if you bunched up and tried to block everybody one guy is still unblocked. Maybe you can dictate who that is so he is too far away, but the defense will always have one guy.

In the NFL, the quarterback hands the ball off on a run play and stands there. The quarterback's counterpart is usually the deep safety -- he stays back in case there's a play action pass. The runningback's counterpart is still free to come up and make the tackle.

With the shotgun run game and great faking and reading, the quarterback can alter the assignments. He can occupy two defenders: the backside defensive end, who must watch him for a run, and the deep safety, who has to guard the post-pass. This opens up blocking in the run game. Note the two circled defenders.

Like anything else with football, however, defenses adapted and learned ways to defend spread teams.  One was simply a talent response.  Teams began to recruit hybrid athletes that could play pass coverage like a safety but also come up and play the run like a linebacker. Hence the rise of the 'star' position at OSU.  Relatedly, teams began to adapt schemes that utilized these hybrids and play against spread teams in space.  Perhaps the most famous in the TCU 4-2-5 over.

OSU plays a variation of this the vast majority of time against 'spread teams.'  This allows OSU to put their 'star' to the field, where he can work in the 'gray area' in between the tackle box and inside receiver.  A team can therefore use an athlete to play things such as zone read or bubble screens that take place in space.

  On a more granular level, defenses invented the 'scrape exchange': 

The purpose, as one can see, is to confuse the QB's reads.  If the QB is reading the end and sees him crashing, he will keep, running right into a backside linebacker.

The Chess Match Continues...

Spread coaches, in turn, created several concepts that attempt to render the scrape exchange irrelevant.  First, teams began running the zone read with a read of the backside defensive tackle. 

This renders a scrape exchange irrelevant and may catch a defensive tackle off-guard who is less athletic in space and not used to playing the option.  Oregon has made a living off this play.

The second variation is the 'inverted veer' play.   'Smart Football' titled it thusly because it is the same option read as on the old veer play--the playside defensive end--but the roles are inverted.  The HB runs the outside sweep action and the QB attacks inside the end (check out the clip above for examples of Auburn running this play).

The key here is variation.  The playside end does not expect to be the one optioned when the running back is away from him in the zone read game.  It also creates a 'true option,' whereby the QB is reading the defensive end and can make him wrong every time.  Inverted veer is also a quicker hitting play, particularly when you have a QB like Cam Newton that can attack directly up-field. 

Since the insertion of Purdue's Robert Henry at QB, Purdue has become a full-throated zone read team, running all the concepts described above.

Ohio State:  Defending the Read Offense

Ohio State's defense, however, has been at the vanguard at defending these concepts.  Purdue was bottled up the entire game.  Below is one such example.  OSU began running scrape exchanges to both sides of the offensive formation against Purdue.  For example, here, Purdue is running the inverted veer.  OSU responds by running a scrape exchange to the play side.

Ohio State ran numerous games like this.  OSU slants to the field to play the zone read.  Then, OSU had the scrape exchange to the boundary to play the inverted veer.  The Purdue QBs were continually flummoxed by the variety of scrape exchange and stunts OSU showed, sewing confusion, which is a key to slowing down the option.

Conclusion

Purdue once again demonstrated that the OSU defense is at the forefront of shutting down the spread option game.  Of course, it helps when you out-athlete a team like Purdue, where you can put a Jermale Hines at the Star who simultaneously forces the offensive line to account for him in their blocking schemes, and yet can drop out and play the bubble screen in space.  Or a Cameron Heyward, who can control the line of scrimmage and play both the QB run and zone play.  I was also impressed with Andrew Sweat, who is a more physical linebacker and hitter than OSU has had of late.

But more talent cannot explain it all, as OSU demonstrated against Oregon last year.  Instead, OSU remains at the forefront of schematically attacking the spread option game.