SB Nation - Peter Ullman

Anatomy Of A Scoring Drive: First Touchdown Drive Against OSU

GhostofBigRoy — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:33:08 -0000

Context

By deferring to the second half, the Buckeyes received the ball to start the game and the Longhorns found themselves struggling to possess the football after a three and out to start the game, followed by a stalled seven play drive on their next possessions. Down 6-3 at the start of the second half, a sustained drive became imperative, if only to keep the ball away from the Ohio State offense and give the Texas defense a rest.

Ignominious beginning

The Ohio State kicker put the ball well into the endzone on his kickoff, as Jordan Shipley stumbled backing up and found himself laying on his back with the ball in his hands, leaving Colt McCoy and the Longhorn offense 80 yards from paydirt.

1st and 10 on Texas 20

Longhorns come out in their base 11 personnel, with Fozzy Whittaker earning the starting nod for the second half. McCoy hands the ball off to Whittaker on the counter play with the guard pulling. Adam Ulatoski retreats, faking the pass block, but doesn't draw the defender far enough upfield to take him out of the play. Very strange. Whittaker gains two yards.

2nd and 8 on Texas 22

For the millionth time in this game, it's hard to determine what personnel grouping the Longhorns are in because the Fox crew misses the start of the play. Unbelievable. Not sure if I've ever seen such a big game produced so poorly. I think it's 11 personnel again, with McCoy rolling to his right and overthrowing Jordan Shipley on an out route. Considering the uncanny accuracy McCoy displayed throughout the season, missing on a relatively easy throw (for him) like this has been unusual.

3rd and 8 on Texas 22

Texas remains with its 11 personnel grouping, with Chris Ogbonnaya into the game and to the left of Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley and James Kirkendoll split right, along with the tight end. I have no idea why the Longhorns are in this grouping on third and long. In fact, I would never let any of the Texas tight ends see the field at this point in the season. Offensive line picks up an extra defender coming on the blitz and McCoy stands in the pocket to deliver a strike to Kirkendoll running an in. First down.

1st and 10 on Texas 31

The players rush to the line of scrimmage after the completion, snapping the ball within 10 seconds of previous play, likely meaning no change in the personnel grouping since Ohio State would have had a chance to respond with their own substitutions to any the Longhorns made. For one of the few times this season, McCoy goes under center and the Longhorn line gets a chance to drive block, with Cedric Dockery and Chris Hall blowing their defenders six to seven yards off the line of scrimmage. It absolutely warms the cockles of my heart to see offensive lineman finally have the ability to block downhill. What a novel concept! Ogbonnaya works through the gaping hole on the right side to get nine yards and close to the first down. Nice blocking downfield as well by Quan Cosby.

2nd and 1 on Texas 40

Longhorns substitute Ogbonnaya out of the game, slowing the tempo established on the previous play somewhat, but still snapping the ball around 12 seconds after the previous play. McCoy goes under center again out of the 11 personnel and hands out to Fozzy Whittaker, who trips turning the corner. Holding on Chris Hall.

2nd and 11 on Texas 30

Ogbonnaya enters the game again as the Longhorns remain in 11 personnel, with Shipley and Kirkendoll split left. The danger and ineptitude of the formation rears its head once again, as McCoy attempts to find Peter Ullman over the middle and it gets tipped up into the air, leaving the ball hanging in the air as Quan Cobsy and a Buckeye defender try to make a play on the ball. Similar to about the last time the Longhorns threw towards Ullman, a play that resulted in a tipped ball interception, this one hit Ullman in the hands, although McCoy, under little pressure, misfired slightly high and to Ullman's left.

3rd and 11 on Texas 30

Since 11 personnel has worked so well on this drive, picking up 10 net yards on six plays, Greg Davis sees no reason to change. Ogbonnaya on McCoy's right, with the tight end and Shipley and Kirkendoll split left. Buckeyes show blitz and bring two extra defenders on the left side of the line as the tight end stays in to block and provides a pocket for McCoy. The Longhorn quarterback tries to find Kirkendoll running another in, this time on the other side of the field, but the Ohio State defender interferes, giving the Longhorns a first down.

1st and 10 on Texas 45

Hey, a new personnel grouping--one that actually worked when the Longhorns were playing well this season! Shipley lines up in the slot close to the lineman, as he did with great success against Oklahoma, in the 10 personnel package with Brandon Collins and James Kirkendoll split right with Shipley and Fozzy Whitaker in the backfield. Fozzy dropped for three yards loss out of our joker-ass zone running play.

2nd and 13 on Texas 42

Same personnel grouping with Ogbonnaya back in the game and on the left of Colt McCoy. McCoy flushed to the right as he sets up a block that Shipley fails to provide, although he does get in the way of two players, but McCoy picks up 12 yards on the play as Brandon Collins does do a good job blocking downfield.

3rd and 1 on Ohio State 46

Back to 11 personnel, with Cody Johnson to the right of McCoy and the tight end on the wide side of the field with Shipley and Kirkendoll. Zone play to Johnson as the middle of the Texas line gets blown off the ball and Charlie Tanner and David Snow fail to block anyone and Johnson has to carry a defender a yard just to get close to the original line of scrimmage. Absolutely horrible. Where is the jumbo package here? Can't we let our lineman drive block on third and short?

4th and 2 on Ohio State 47

The Longhorn lines gets to drive block for Rashad Bobino on the fake punt to the upman and picks up the first down. I'm starting to think that this play is the only thing that Bobino has been good for in his career, as I believe it has been successful every time Texas has ran it in the last few years. Tough running for the last half yard by Bobino.

1st and 10 on Ohio State 45

Back to the same 11 personnel, with Shipley and Kirkendoll split left with the tight end. Playaction to OG, who McCoy hits over the middle after the pocket holds well until McCoy gets hit delivering the pass. Notice none of the Terrelle Pryor stepping in the bucket crap with McCoy. Kid's tough as nails.

2nd and 5 on Ohio State 40

Once again with the 11 personnel, this time lining the tight end up on the short side of the field with Quan Cosby and Shipley and Collins to the left and Ogbonnaya on McCoy's left. Surprise, surprise. The Longhorns run the ball with OG, which Ohio State surely wasn't expecting. Nope, the run blitzing must have been a miscommunication or accident. It's the counter play, as Kyle Hix whiffs on Lauranaitis in the hole and OG only picks up two.

3rd and 3 on Ohio State 38

Davis sticks with the 11 personnel, with the tight end on the wide side once again and Ogbonnaya on McCoy's right. Ohio State blitzes and Texas shows off its vaunted horizontal passing game. Instead of trying to hit Greg Smith in the flat, since it's absolutely moronic to try to do that, McCoy instead throws the ball too early to Shipley and the corner who just let Brandon Collins run by (the only receiver not to run a three-yard pattern) makes the tackle short of the first down. That's right folks, the Texas passing game picks up two yards when it needs three. Ever heard of such a thing? A pump fake by McCoy to Shipley might open up Brandon Collins down the field, but then it wouldn't do to throw it down the field. Would it? And, wait a minute, if it's moronic to try to hit the converted offensive lineman moving laterally in the flat, why is the converted offensive lineman moving laterally in the flat one of the three options on the play? Why does Greg Davis insist on running nearly every route to exactly the first down marker? Having seen that on every game film, don't you think that Ohio State would expect that?

4th and 1 on Ohio State 36

Hey! The jumbo package. And it works, as Johnson picks up the first down and another yard easily. Amazing, this concept of lining up and punching the other team in the mouth when you need a yard or two. Personally, I would prefer to run the ball sideways as our offensive lineman wander aimlessly, unsure of whether or not they should block someone. Hint: yes, please, anyone. Note the sarcasm.

1st and 10 on Ohio State 34

Lined up in Oklahoma special, 10 personnel, with Shipley in the slot right and Ogbonnaya on McCoy's left. Playaction fake as Thaddeus Gibson clubs Ulatoski in the head to get around him before committing another personal foul on McCoy, Gibson's second of the game for hitting McCoy in the head. McCoy completed the pass to Ogbonnaya over the middle, who picked up eight yards.

1st and 10 on Ohio State 14

Oklahoma special, 10 personnel, with Ogbonnaya on McCoy's right to the short side of the field. Straight quarterback draw, the first running play of the game to McCoy and it catches the Ohio State defense off guard. OG and Quan Cosby both make great blocks on the play and McCoy spins off a defender to get himself into the end zone.

Final totals

15 plays, 80 yards in 6:31. The Longhorns needed help from the Buckeyes to pick up one third down on the pass interference, with Buckeye penalty yardage standing at 27 for the drive. Two fourth down conversions aided the cause, but second down playcalling hamstrung the drive, gaining only 14 yards on the drive, with 12 of those coming on a McCoy scramble and the two-yard Ogbonnaya run gaining the other two. The other three second down plays were two incomplete passes, including the one that could have been intercepted off of Ullman's hands and the Chris Hall holding penalty on 2nd and 1.

Verdict

As a time consuming drive that stressed the Ohio State defense and momentum-changer out of halftime, the drive was enormously successful. However, I will proceed to rant about the continued use of 11 personnel by Greg Davis after a season during which it became abundantly clear to everyone except Davis that Peter Ullman and Greg Smith had no business being on the field. The best run of the drive, McCoy's touchdown run, came out of the 10 personnel grouping I've called the Oklahoma special and the other good running play did come from 11 personnel, albeit under center and quick-snapped rather than out of the shotgun, zone blocking scheme. I do think the 11 personnel aids run blocking a little bit, but hurts the passing game significantly. The switch of the tight end from the wide side of the field to the short side telegraphed a running play and brought an Ohio State run blitz, so that was entirely unsuccessful.

McCoy also looked as out-of-sync on this drive as he did in the first half, missing an open Shipley on the second play and nearly causing an interception with his poor throw to Ullman. As much as anything, though, it was the playcalling that slowed the drive and McCoy did make two nice plays with his feet, as well as the third down strike early in the drive to Kirkendoll to keep the chains moving and the Longhorns on the field

Morning Coffee Gets Long-Winded

GhostofBigRoy — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:57:33 -0000

Greg Davis sings "Kumbaya." While all of Longhorn Nation wrings their collective hands and begins to enter into mass hysteria about the lack of production from the running backs, Greg Davis thinks he has a handle on the running back situation:

Coach Bum Phillips once said the two types of players that you don't want to have are the ones that never do what you ask them to do and the ones that only do what you ask them to do. They need to get to the point where they are in the zone and if they need to bounce the ball to the outside they will do it regardless of what the coaches told them to do. I also think they'll get better in the second half of the season as they get more carries because that's what happened last year.

I imagine there is some truth to what Davis is saying. But it doesn't capture the reality of the situation for two reasons: 1) the offensive line missed some blocks for him on Saturday, and 2) McGee just hasn't demonstrated good feet at Texas.

While the offensive line has been excellent in pass blocking this year, only giving up three sacks, it hasn't been as impressive in the running game. In fact, I would say it's nothing close to a strong run blocking defense. How many big holes have you seen opened up for McGee this year even against defenses that are physically outmatched? On one play Saturday, lined up in the I-formation with two tight ends, fullback Luke Tiemann was left with three Arkansas players to block. On another, McGee was almost tackled in the end zone on a pitch play when Buck Burnette (who played a poor game) and Michael Huey (missed some blocks as well), both whiffed on their assignments. So the final numbers for McGee reflect more on his blockers than they do on him.

The other problem, besides the blocking for McGee, is his feet. It may be that Davis is right and he will eventually become more comfortable in the zone blocking scheme Texas runs, but it doesn't seem likely because of his feet. When watching a running back, notice their feet first. Watching Cody Johnson, he has much better lateral movement than McGee, with the ability to plant his foot and hit the hole explosively, the main requisite for a running back in a zone blocking scheme. McGee hasn't demonstrated that ability at all, which bodes poorly for any future success at Texas. I'm not willing to write him off already, but the first four games haven't been impressive.

Paging the Longhorn tight ends. Last week's game provided some insight into the tight end situation sans Blaine Irby. None of it was particularly positive. The Longhorns showed Arkansas some two tight-looks, but didn't block well out of them and failed to run the ball effectively. Neither Greg Smith nor Peter Ullman, supposedly the two blocking tight ends, justified descriptions as such. Nor did they look anything close to explosive in the passing game.

Ian Harris blocked even more poorly, missing three blocks in a limited period of time, an unacceptable performance. Harris caught a pass, but decided to slow down to juke a defender near the first down maker and barely picked it up, something that drives me crazy. The Longhorns didn't show any four or five wide receivers looks, but it seems likely they will as the season progresses, particularly since the receivers have been excellent blocking downfield. Overall, the performance of the tight ends Saturday left much to be desired, which is unacceptable going forward.

Mack Brown mum on Fozzy. No word on whether Fozzy Whittaker will play this weekend against Colorado. The Longhorn coaches decided not to play him after watching him in warmups in each of the last two games, so he must not be too far off. Anointed savior for the Texas running game, there are stories told of Foswhitt Whittaker that say he scored every time he touched the ball in high school, often making all 11 opposing players miss. Other rumors, spread by certain writers of prominent Longhorn blogs, insist that Whittaker is a robot controlled by a PlayStation 3 controller located in the press box, making him incapable of being tackled (except occasionally to avoid suspicion).

It's not the size of the dog in the fight...Yeah, I'm throwing cliches at you now. Better duck. Sorry about that. Now that I have your attention, I'd like to make the announcement that it's officially time to re-evaluate the evaluation process for high school running backs. Small backs are all the rage after 'Quizz Rodgers' performance against USC last week, which Orson deals with using his typical wit:

The quick search for an iBack Nano will continue in local middle schools and circuses throughout the remainder of the week and through Saturday morning.

Rather than being a problem, short running backs with good feet have advantages against the defense. This Denver Post article mentions that Rodney "Speedy" Stewart didn't even get looks from some MAC teams near his home state of Ohio. Which boggles my mind after watching him play this season. I don't know how much he improved during his redshirt season, but he has such incredible feet and explosive quickness, it's hard to understand what turned off coaches scouting him in high school.

Back to those advantages. Short running backs have several: 1) they are generally short striders, which allows them to stop, cut, and explode quickly (think Noel Devine), 2) they have a low center of gravity, which causes problems for taller defenders who have trouble getting low enough to tackle them (think 'Quizz Rodgers against SC), 3) their size allows them to fit through holes larger running backs don't even notice, and 4) they can hide behind their large offensive lineman, slowing down the defense and increasing their relative speed. I've become convinced in the last several years that a prototypical running back looks like Maurice Jones-Drew--short, fast, and thick. Think about how force acts on a lever and you realize how easily good defenders can use a tall running back's center of gravity as the axis against him--not so easy against the shorter guys. So stop discriminatin', yo.

The Colt/Shipley bromance goes national. Longhorn BFF's forever, Colt and Jordan, have been getting a lot of press in the last two weeks for their lifelong bromance. It's clear on the football field the two have the chemistry and connection needed for a successful, fulfilling, and long-lasting relationship. Already has been, really, even though they ended up moving in together at UT instead of Abilene Christian. And since they have been throwing and catching together for years.

Seriously, though, the first touchdown pass on Saturday was extremely impressive. Shipley made one of his trademark double moves (his second touchdown was as well) and had some open space in the front corner of the end zone. McCoy, realizing the safety was closing over the top, put the ball softly just wide of the sideline as Shipley turned his hips and body and caught the ball, all while keeping both feet inbounds.

Incredible stuff. Such poetry in motion, each operating on the same wavelength of consciousness that pervades all of human existence. Yes, not acting on the moment, but allowing it to act on them. Not thinking, their bodies merely vessels of the moment, acted upon by the moment in perfect harmony. The result, kinesthetic excellence and transcendence of the kind that makes athletic competition so richly compelling and beautiful, so worthwhile. As fans of these transcendent athletic endeavors, remember to step back occasionally from your fanaticism and truly revel in the fluidity and grace of those moments.