Kansas' offensive line all falling down at once was supposed to happen. The QB sack was not.

So, a weird looking thing that happened in the Kansas-Ohio game. The Jayhawks lost to the Bobcats, 42-30, but the final score isn’t what folks will remember from the contest.

Instead, they’ll think of this play in which all five Kansas offensive linemen hit the deck at once. It created quite the visual.

It’s even funnier from a different angle.

No, they didn’t forget what they were doing, but I understand that the play is easy to laugh at.

Pay closer attention, and you’ll see what actually happened.

At that angle we see that Kansas’ hosses executed a group cut block in unison, and it was actually pretty effective, for what it was meant to accomplish.

This is a tactic used for QBs to get the ball out quick on short routes, and you can see the receiver at the bottom of the screen was open for a quick hitter.

Kansas QB Peyton Bender doesn’t see his open wideout (or even look at that side of the field) and therein we see the downside of this blocking strategy on this play. If the ball’s not out quick, the QB’s done. He had time to make a throw thanks to the cuts, but Ohio blocked his initial reads well.

When it’s run correctly, here’s what it looks like.

The cut block is designed for an offensive line to put his shoulder pad on a defender’s thigh.

It’s kinda hard to practice because teams don’t like to put defenders’ lower bodies under undue duress, but here’s how teams to drill it from the offensive end. Option teams cut often, and it’s another reason the option is difficult to go against.

And here’s how defenders drill to defeat the block.

Also, for inquiring minds, the center and left guard were not flagged for a chop block because they both blocked below the waist. A chop block is when two offensive players engage a defender but one hits high and the other hits low.

The cut block’s also a bit of psychological warfare for defensive linemen who like to pin their ears back. The threat of the cut can make a defender hesitate ever-so-slightly, and fractions of seconds are vital in the trenches.

In the end, we ended up with a scene from Game of Thrones:

You know nothing, Peyton Bender.