Southern Pigskin: Jacket Talk 2012

Originally Posted by stylee

Leach really doesn't have much in his arsenal. I don't think he'd call it evolving.

The concepts are based mostly off the same passing plays he was running out of the pro/split backs set earlier. He's been doing the same basic 9-13 plays in the shotgun since the early 2000s.

Mike Leach's offense will always make its hay off the four verticals concepts he popularized, but he has added new wrinkles to help his offense "evolve":

Washington State’s Spring Game: The Return of the Pirate | Smart Football

As expected, one answer is simple: Not much, nor should it be much different. The offense got lots of mileage early out of four verticals and the mesh concept, for example. But there’s some somewhat new stuff here, primarily in the use of pistol sets from the backs, some multiple running back sets and motion with those guys in the backfield, and even some play-action and “pop” passes. Much of it is familiar to offenses run by other Airraid graduates, but is somewhat new to Coach Leach’s more traditional attack. I expect Washington State to have a few struggles in the fall, but it should be fun to see how quickly the offense comes together and what new wrinkles Leach adds in.

Evolving doesn't have to be a total makeover, it can be little things or concepts that helps "push" along the offense to counter how defenses play you. Even the "master" of the Air Raid has taken some wrinkles from his disciples to help his offense give the defense unfamiliar looks.

Here's some more on Mike Leach and possible new wrinkles to his offense:

Mike Leach Has A Pistol, But How Will He Use It? - CougCenter

Originally Posted by AllGT

One of the reasons I'm optimistic about our defense last year is because of what I saw during the spring game: our linebackers.

I was shocked at how much faster and physically dominating they looked compared to last year. When our first team LBs were in, the offense couldn't do anything positive. Lots of disruptive plays, and lots of negative plays in the backfield. Absolutely SCARY speed from our LB group.

We've already got two NFL caliber cornerbacks, and now we've got a set of LBs that are extremely important to our defensive scheme. As I said in other places, I'm actually more excited to see how our defense develops this season than what our offense does.

All,
A LOT of what you saw was due to the GREAT LACK of competent Offensive linemen in the game.We had what 4? schollie guys out. Zero capability or exp on that 2nd unit OL.
Without Burnett the interior tackling WILL suffer-for sure at first. for ex: for all the buzz about the "monster" H-Days is,the one play I remember was TW! breaking a tackle by him on a tackle from the side,a direct hit! bounced off-- hmmm- not good

Originally Posted by stylee

Some of our biggest wins have come because of a *threat* of a deep pass, that only materializes once or twice a game.
It's about forcing defensive alignments that are favorable to you.

I think CPJ would agree that throwing short passes doesn't do much to put the defense back on its heels.


This is mostly a constraint thing, and there's a lot of nuances (for instances, the smoke that we ran with Bebe was a constraint to a constraint, because he was such an explosive player - defenses would sit wayyyy back on him, giving us room underneath for the run AND for the Smoke route)

All I can say is that we're in deep, deep trouble if defenses are more worried about our short passing game than our long passing game; that means they're going to come UP rather than sit BACK and they'll be in a better position to stop us. I love to see a hitch or slant break for big yardage.... but, for us, that's a bigger deal if we've already established a deep passing threat.

This is what worries me so much about the WR corp this year. If none of those guys can establish himself as a true danger to catch a 60 yard bomb, the fact that they can all catch 5 yard hitches means very little for us.

S, you nailed it.
If we can't get a DOWNFIELD threat our outside run game will suffer BIGTIME and everybody will wonder--- who missed a block or bad pitch or bad play/decision,when it is a EXTRA defender coming up with impunity.Hard to run with 190 lbs of Safety dragging you down.

Originally Posted by alagold

All,
A LOT of what you saw was due to the GREAT LACK of competent Offensive linemen in the game.We had what 4? schollie guys out. Zero capability or exp on that 2nd unit OL.
Without Burnett the interior tackling WILL suffer-for sure at first. for ex: for all the buzz about the "monster" H-Days is,the one play I remember was TW! breaking a tackle by him on a tackle from the side,a direct hit! bounced off-- hmmm- not good

There's a degree of truth in what you're saying, Ala. At the same time, those LB's can't worry about who was or wasn't playing, they still have to perform. From what I saw it was a group that was immensely improved from the group last year. JHD made some plays JB could only dream of...the play where he came out of nowhere and almost picked off his brother on the flats is one. JB was a great leader, and had the most "want to" that GT has seen in a while, but he had a lot of physical shortcomings (pardon the word choice) and we saw it in pass coverage, or when the OL made it to the next level and he would get caught in "the wash".

They may turn out to be duds, but like I said earlier, I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform against other teams.

Hmmm, I'm not paying enough attention to Leach.
Thanks for the links.

I don't believe in "evolution" in football schemes, as it usually has some sort of weird normative content, generally fueled by ESPN talking heads. I do believe in being less predictable, but I think that can be just as well accomplished through methods that many here would not consider "evolution."

The spread option is predicated on stretching the defense from sideline to sideline AND from front to back. We need the deep threat more than the short stuff for the front to back. We don't need defenses creeping into short zones trying to cover the pass. The only exception to this would be passing in the 2 min drill when we need both.

I'm sure we can find a way to take advantage of safeties and LB's crowding the LOS. We've got some pretty damn fast Abacks who can get behind those guys in a hurry on a go route.

Originally Posted by dressedcheeseside

I'm sure we can find a way to take advantage of safeties and LB's crowding the LOS. We've got some pretty damn fast Abacks who can get behind those guys in a hurry on a go route.

I made a post that evaporated I guess. The gist was that I hope we are always so good running it that we don't ever have to pass out of necessity. From a clock and game management standpoint I want to have lots of time of possession, lots of first downs, lots of points and very few turnovers. Johnson's version of the OBS creates several chances each game to hit a big pass--and we have the video of many of those big plays. The frustration has been that the scheme has often delivered the perfect opportunity and then we have botched it with bad execution. When and if we start hitting those open receivers a few more times per game the pressure on opposing LB's and DB's will be ratcheted up.