The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Georgia vs. Ohio State Drives 3 & 4
A ghastly interception, sneaking a WR into the blocking scheme, and freak athleticism and human will.
Today is about turnovers and then a quick turnaround on the next four play drive full of explosives. We’ll see good and ugly and we’ll see the particular nature of winning start to shape.
Reminder that my purpose in looking at this game drive by drive is not to find cool plays or scheme but rather look at the “rules” of the game play out in the context of a game. It’s a testing of a hypothesis, if you will — all the talk on numbers, space and leverage being put to the test. I’m making the argument those are not only the clearest lenses to see the game but should be the primary lenses we use to analyze any scheme — look closely and judge for yourself if you see the same.
Drive 3
1st & 10 at the -25 (12:20 2Q)
We saw good and bad yesterday, and today we finally see ugly: protection finally breaks down for the Dawgs and an interception ensues.
Georgia combines the bunch formations and motions they’ve made a habit of using so far with their trusted Post-Wheel concept. And again, the wheel route has issues and again, they are running a post into a MOFC structure.
Instead of collision, which we saw twice in Drives 1 & 2, the wheel route gets a free release since it comes from the RB out of the backfield. The weak inside linebacker that has to cover the wheel maintains good over the top leverage but he looks like he’s in a blender turning all about trying to figure out how best to cover this route. The RB does his darndest to try to figure out this leverage problem but ultimately the pressure is too much for Bennett to make the right type of throw.
Georgia is running the play off gap-scheme play action and Ohio State’s outside man in their five-man pressure is coming full speed off the edge — too much for the pulling guard to take care of. It was never going to work. So a big fundamental of the game showing up: not having a plan for pressure. When you don’t have a plan for pressure, bad things like this happen.
Bennett has a good reaction to the pressure and moves up to get in a position to make a throw. But he can’t get his base right (another fundamental of the QB position) and shorts the throw. Really just throws it right to the defender right as the RB had figured out how to get by him.
One design concern on this play: why is the check down going opposite the concept? Regardless of the pressure, if the concept was covered, asking the QB to work to the opposite side is a tough ask.
Drive Summary:
1 play, 0 yards, INT (0:10)
Score:
OSU 14 - UGA 7
Drive 4
1st & 10 at the -25 (10:49 2Q)
This play is a great example of figuring out the numbers problem without running an RPO — and the result: an explosive run. The seventh defender makes the tackle but only after 22 yards since he was the cornerback and was playing from depth (offensive has the space advantage). Ohio State is once again playing MOFC. This means that they should be +1 in the run box — and they are. However, Georgia does a neat little shift that allows them to steal a blocker in the run scheme from their solo WR in the boundary.
The TE is aligned outside at first, and then shifts to be the sniffer. The cornerback was over him, but upon the shift he covers deep, over, and outside the new number one WR. This puts him too deep to be effective in the run game, and this allows the WR to block the seventh defender. So Georgia sneaks their WR into the blocking scheme to fix the numbers problem getting the ever-sought after “hat-for-a-hat.” The Bulldogs’ OL does a great job figuring out the defensive line and linebacker movement and all that’s left is the poor cornerback to make the tackle.
So this play works because of the fundamental rule we’ve been following most closely: fixing the numbers problem in the run game gives the offense the most probably success in the run game.
1st & 10 at the -47 (10:07 2Q)
Georgia goes back to the slot fade concept they hit an explosive on earlier against another MOFC Man look. However, the fundamental concept that shows up here is space. The defensive back over the slot WR running the fade is playing 10 yards off. This depth makes it difficult for the slot to break cushion and get deep.
When the overhang is deep and carrying the vertical, the QB needs an answer underneath to replace that open space. The Bulldogs do not have this answer for him (they have a hitch by the number one receiver). Instead, they have a deep dig being run — however, there is a six-man pressure going on that forces Bennett to get out the pocket. So besides the space issue, we have another issue that we’ve seen before — the QB is lacking answers in the scheme.
Important to note, however, is that Bennett appears to set the protection wrong. He makes the adjustment after he takes a look at the defense, and perhaps he did exactly like he was coached. The result, however, is that Georgia slides to the right and has five blockers over there. Meanwhile the backside is outnumbers three to two and the three technique gets free through the B gap. Big problem. To make it worse, Bennett throws the ball beyond the line of scrimmage and gets a five yard penalty. No worries though, the Bulldogs have an answer on the next play.
2nd & 15 at the -42 (9:59 2Q)
This next play was the deep clear post over the middle against Tampa 2. I went over this play in detail in the article below. It was a huge explosive with a wonderful throw from Bennett that set up the touchdown on the next play.
1st & 10 at the +11 (9:16 2Q)
Georgia gains the numbers advantage on this play because Ohio State is MOFC Man and the TE to the boundary takes someone out the box. Therefore, the end is the seventh man Bennett needs to account for and he does with the fake. After that, the play is a demonstration of speed and determination by the RB to speed by the one technique run through and then barrel through three Ohio State defenders.
The result is a touchdown due to extreme athleticism and an indomitable will but we can’t ignore the good offensive design that fixed the potential numbers problem that put the odds in Georgia’s favor from the get go.
Drive Summary:
4 plays, 75 yards, TD (1:40)
Score:
OSU 21 - UGA 14
Where Do They Stand
At this point in the game the Buckeyes are rolling on offense and the Bulldogs made a critical turnover on the third drive. But they’re rolling too — it’s shaping up to be a classic Big 12 shootout. And as we’re watching this game, we’re being beat over the head with the fundamentals of numbers, space, and leverage in every clip — whether it’s good, bad or ugly.
Drives 5 & 6 tomorrow.
Until then,
Emory Wilhite
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