OSU v. Minnesota: OSU Offensive Review

OSU's victory over Minnesota Saturday may have been little more than a glorified scrimmage, but it nonetheless in my opinion may have represented the most unified, coordinated offensive effort in both scheme and execution of the Terrelle Pryor era.  In the last two games, the offense has come together where the coaching staff is providing the correct philosophy and play-calls, and every member of the offense is executing nearly flawlessly.  This demonstrates that the coaching staff now knows exactly what it has in this team, and that the players are confident in themselves and the plan, playing at a high level.  Perhaps I am too bullish given the defenses OSU has played, but yet I cannot help to imagine what would have happened if OSU used this game plan against Wisconsin.   The reality for any defense right now is that the OSU offense is a balanced, hard to stop unit.

Strumming the Chords...

In other words, the OSU game plan and execution are coming together in harmonic convergence.  Minnesota, not surprisingly, tried a little bit of everything against OSU.  Minnesota came out in a 4-3 stack with a 2 high shell, trying to keep both seven defenders in run support and four defensive backs.  OSU immediately exploited the soft-spot in Minnesota refusing to walk out a linebacker in twins, hitting Sanzenbacher on an easy pitch and catch bubble screen.

Once Minnesota was pulled horizontally, OSU began again hitting their two-high defense with the inside run game, featuring the same trio of plays that has made the OSU running game begin to go:  Inside Zone, Stretch, and ISO.   A more vertical, attacking running game has been a step forward for the OSU offense.  It fits the running style of Boom Herron.  Boom is at his best when he is able to attack aggressively downfield, make one cut, and go.  Then, the pounding inside run game sets up the stretch play, providing OSU a way to get to the edge and for Boom to take advantage of cut-back running.

Minnesota next tried to adjust by moving to a 4-3 under front, mixing and matching putting a safety in the box.  OSU turned to a potent balance of the inside run game above, and the drop back, sprint-draw play pass game, and bootleg passes.  In the first half,  of the 41 offensive plays, 33 featured OSU in the I formation or 'twins' or with '12' personnel (1 back, 2 TE).  OSU had 20 first down plays.  Of these 20, 9 were pass plays, or a nearly perfect 50-50 run pass balance.  OSU is thus using balanced run-pass formations to employ a balanced run-pass gameplan, threatening defenses across a variety of fronts.

Finally, Minnesota tried to blitz to create pressure.  But Terrelle Pryor amply demonstrated the futility that blitzing can have when he is plugged in.  First, he showed it with his legs.  On the second possession, Minnesota brought an overload blitz.  Pryor recognized it and immediately shot out the other side of the formation where Minnesota's pass defenders vacated, leading to a key 33 yard gain.  Second, just before half, Pryor also burned the blitz with his arm, beating a cover-0 defense on a touchdown ball to Devier Posey.

Though Minnesota is porous defensively, OSU nonetheless demonstrated how their balance can tie up a defense.  When OSU comes out prepared to either run or throw the football, and diagnose and respond to what the defense is giving them, they are a dangerous offense.  OSU has only hamstrung itself offensively this year when it tried to overcome an opposing defense's game plan by trying to overcome through sheer talent.

Ohio State Breaking Tendencies and Embrace of the 'Constraint Theory' of Offense

OSU not only had balance on the general level between their run and pass game.  Instead, it became obvious that OSU was seeking to break tendencies within the run game.  Most specifically, OSU sought to a) run weakside from the tight end, and b) run away from Zach Boren.  OSU not only re-set their tendencies by doing so, but clearly confused Minnesota's linebackers throughout the game. 

Attacking a defense's weaknesses not only involves running when a team has 7 in the box or vice versa.  It is also attacking in the run game to the side where the offense has a numbers' advantage.  OSU used their I formation looks to get Minnesota to play their under defense to the field.  They would try to play their safety to the field and the I's strength and leave their free safety in the middle of the field.  OSU was able to exploit by running away from the under front's strength, exploiting this weakness. 

Here you will see a perfect example.  Minnesota brings up their safety to the field.  But because of their concern about the passing game, Minnesota leaves their other safety deep (he's not even in the screen).  OSU runs right at this weakness.

OSU took advantage of this in several ways.  They lined up in the I formation and then inside zone away from Boren's backside block. 

The Buckeyes ran outside zone away from the tight end and to the boundary--perhaps the first time they have done so. 

Finally, the Buckeyes truly exploited this through the lead zone play to the weak side behind Justin Boren and Mike Adams (see the first of these three clips above).  According to Jeff Amey, OSU ran lead zone or ISO to the formation's weak side 20 times  (btw, here's my rule of thumb for telling if its a lead zone or ISO play--on ISO the QB reverse pivots out to get the ball more quickly to the hard charging TB, on lead zone they generally front out, to get the ball deeper on a slower read play).  From a personnel standpoint, running lead zone weak accomplishes the best of both worlds.  It not only gets OSU this numbers advantage, but puts the defense's strategic weakness against OSU's strength-the blocking of Mike Adams and Justin and Zach Boren.

From this, OSU utilized an expanding bootleg pass game.  Importantly, OSU featured a bootleg pass for every inside run play describe above.  This hits what to me are the two crucial aspects of any offense: making plays like alike and constraint plays.  As Homer Smith said about the former:

Every primary backfield action needs to threaten all 11 defenders. What a primary play needs is good counter plays. Every defender needs to be worried about the ball coming to his area - on a throwback screen, a reverse, a play-action pass, or whatever - as a play begins.

What makes a defender good is something to read. If he can say to himself something like, "As soon as that quarterback makes that half-assed fake, I’m going to find the tightend coming across and try to get an interception," if he can read initially and react accurately, he can play over his head. Counters, not mirrored primary plays, keep defenders from reading and jumping on plays.

And as Chris Brown said about the latter:

At least in the most abstract sense, your "offense" is that bread and butter stuff you can draw on the whiteboard that should always work in a perfect world. It is the pass play that always works against Cover 3, it is the run that will always burst free against a "Bear" front. Yes, it is what works on paper. But we don’t live in a perfect world, right? Well the "constraint" plays are designed to make sure you live in one that is as close as possible.

For example, the safety might get tired of watching you break big gains up the middle, so he begins to cheat up. Now you go play action and make him pay for his impatience. The outside linebackers may cheat in for the same reason. You throw the bubble screen and the bootlegs to make them pay for their impatience. The defensive ends begin rushing hard upfield; you trap, draw, and screen them to make them pay for getting out of position. If that defensive end played honest your tackle could block him; if he flies upfield he cannot. So you have to do these "constraint plays" to keep them in check. Once they get back to playing honest football, you, in essence, go back to the whiteboard and beat them with your bread and butter.

These two aspects are the lifeblood of any offense.  They slow down and prevent a defense from overplaying your base plays.  It allows every play to build off one another, making each play better than it would be standing alone.  Constraint plays are crucial to punish a defense that wants to take away your run game by playing 8-in the box, or your pass game by playing 2-high safeties.  I have argued that the OSU offense is in a position where it is both necessary and beneficial for their entire offensive game plan to act as a constraint upon the defense in either scenario. 

Bootleg passes accomplish both goals.  Not only that but it puts their 6'6'' 240 lb QB that runs a 4.3 on the edge against defensive backs.  OSU's bootlegs take advantage of a defense overplaying the run game. 

It then puts force players to the backside edge in the difficult position of having to both contain Pryor and deal with flooding wide receivers, putting them in a no-win situation.  OSU takes advantage of this by running a 3-level out routes, putting the underneath defenders in a 3-way bind. 

OSU did a nice job running bootlegs off of every inside run play, showing how this becomes an increasing weapon.  For example, here OSU runs it off of the ISO-action:

Two Shout-Outs...

To Boom Herron and Mike Adams.  I must admit that I never imagined that Boom Herron could be this effective as a runner.  Boom has always ran north-south with velocity.  But now he is displaying great vision, making the correct cuts, and then delivering a blow at the end of plays.   He is clearly bringing an infectious intensity to running the football that spread like contagion through the offense line.  Linemen love blocking for a back that runs hard north and south and takes advantage of available holes, and it is clear that Boom and the offensive line are feeding off one another.

Mike Adams was a question mark coming into this season but has quietly developed into a top Big Ten tackle.   While his pass blocking continues to improve, his run blocking is where he is making a real mark.  He is dominating most defensive linemen he gets in one-on-one situations.  The left side of the offensive line with Adams and Justin Boren has become a dominant duo.