What was that?

Last week I highlighted good offensive playcalling and play design. This week is the opposite. This was only one play, but I feel it captures many of the problems of the day and is an example of what Addazio explained away as things getting too complicated.

In my opinion, the best college offenses keep things as simple as possible. Variations, counters and new wrinkles are built on the foundation of what works. Because of the relative inexperience of all college players, the limitation on practice reps, and the challenge of trying new things, being a different offense week to week is nearly impossible. That was my frustration last year. We kept trying all sorts of things and none of it worked. It is all more frustrating because of what Day (and Addazio) did in Daz's first two years at BC was so brilliant. But that is another post for another time.

Here is the play. BC just got the ball back and it is early in the 2nd Quarter. This is first down. It is an empty backfield. Once they realize the backfield is empty, VT crowds the line and shows blitz.

The leftside of the Oline are trying quick cutblocks. For this to work, they need to execute well and Towles has to get rid of the ball quickly. 

Both guys miss and Towles is waiting. For what, I don't know. It looks like he's looking to his left, however, there is no separation. He has options to the right, but either doesn't trust them or is so locked on getting it away to the pressure side that he doesn't even look. He probably sees the total cluster that the cut blocks were too. 

The cut blocks were terrible and two defenders are coming right at Towles. Although there is space to the right, he doesn't run. Instead he launches the ball right at the VT DLinemen. They swat it and the play is over. 2nd and 10.

Now this is just one play in a terrible game. Who cares? Well BC was already down at this point but there was plenty of time to play. Instead of trying something that worked earlier in the season or early in the game, BC comes out with an empty backfield. This is my first issue. Second there was the Pop Warner sloppy cut blocks. This is not something BC has done much this year or in recent years. That leads me to believe they don't spend a ton of time practicing it. So either two things happened for this play to make the gameplan. They either didn't practice enough so that the OL could cut blockin their sleep OR they did practice it a lot and the linemen still couldn't pull it off (therefore wasting valuable practice time). Neither answer is good. I hope they didn't practice it much and were just rolling the dice. If they did practice it well enough to make the gameplan and that is how the guys blocked, then we have bigger issues.

While Towles is a 5th year, he is still new to this Offense and facing Bud Foster. Why not keep things simple for him. Tell him to take off if the play breaks down or the cuts don't work.

Addazio mentioned getting back to basics. That's good, because we need to find what works. Save the cut blocking, five wide stuff once we can block, pass and run.

Michigan bloggers look at BC's Defense

While trying to better understand Don Brown, Mgoblog broke down BC's Defense from the Clemson game. It is really worth the read if you like Xs and Os (Part I and Part II). In Part II the writer also had this to say with regards to the plays made by Wujiack and Daniels: "The difference between a very good defense and an okay one is that small." It is a reminder that as much as we will miss Brown, we will also miss some of the players. There is plenty of talent returning, but the great Defense wasn't all about Brown. We also had some very, very good players.

The best thing you will read about Matt Ryan all summer

Although I don't let it creep onto the blog much, in my day-to-day and on twitter, I feel like I am always defending Matt Ryan. Even after last year's playoff run, there are those who say he can't and won't win the big one. I still believe and think this great feature on CBS Sports is a sign of how close Matt has been and that he knows what he needs to do to win it all.

The feature is heavy on Xs and Os, but Matt's knowledge of the game isn't what gives me hope. Most QBs should be able to breakdown a play. What stood out to me instead was Matt's defense and trust of his teammates and willingness to carry the blame. He doesn't call out his line or guys who dropped passes. He also explains his mentality within the game. Matt's looking for the big play but understands a lot of offense is taking what is given. If Matt keeps playing the percentages as well as he does, one day he will be on top.

All our problems captured in one play

Occasionally I will break down one play to show what I feel are bigger problems. No team is perfect so this can feel like I am cherry picking bad moments, but I picked this play because of when it happened, the breakdowns that happen and how it killed the game.

This is the situation. We just forced another Notre Dame turnover and are driving with the hope of making it 21-14. There is over 11 minutes left. We converted on the first series and are at the Notre Dame 38. Incomplete on 1st down. WE CALL A TIMEOUT! I understand. We are behind. We want to make sure everyone is on the same page and we a ready to roll out our best plays. Right? Right? Out of the timeout we come with one back (Finch), Two Tight Ends on either side (Pantale and Naples) and two wide receivers.

Naples motions to the field side and we start the stretch play (zone blocking). This is a bread and butter play for most good offenses in college and pro football. At the snap there are no initial problems. Cleary and Pantale double their man, the middle of the line is losing the battle, but if Duece can get by them, he should have plenty of space to turn the corner and get a nice run.    

This is where things breakdown. Cleary releases to the second level to block Te'o (who is so overrated compare to Kuechly, BTW). The problem is Pantale is losing his battle. Clearly cannot release that early! We have to win upfront before trying the second level. You can also see Vardaro losing his battle. This is important because now Duece doesn't have a cutback if Pantale gets bowled over.

This is where it all blows up. Pantale loses his man. Te'o runs right by Cleary and the right side of the line collapses. It is now 3rd and 13. The drive is effectively dead and the game is over all because BC couldn't deliver on a simple stretch play out of a timeout!

Like I said, this is cherry picking. But one of the failures of Spaz's tenure is to ever establish an offensive identity. Maybe it was the guys he picked to run his offenses. Maybe it was the way the team prepared. I don't think it is talent. Cleary and Pantale are good ACC level players. They didn't play well Saturday, but they've certainly shown the ability to handle this play. But I don't know what goes on on a week to week basis, but this is a breakdown of communication and execution out of a timeout on a critical drive.

People love to rewrite history with regards to Dana Bible and Steve Logan. One things I will credit both with, is that they both had plays they could call on and deliver over and over again. Not home runs. Not game changers, but simple easy to execute plays that kept the ball moving and helped keep drives alive. In five coordinators we have never gotten to that place with Spaz.

All of our offensive issues captured on one drive

I know that we have many problems. But I think our issues on offense are more about coaching than talent and I think there was one series that captured all of BC's failings.

With 3:42 left in the 1st quarter, BC got the ball on their own 30 down seven. The first play was a designed end around for Spiffy Evans. This is actually a good call. The end around worked the week before. It helps take pressure off of Rettig and Finch. I also like giving it to Evans. He's shown good burst on kick returns. Plus FSU was probably keying on Amidon for the end arounds. The play was probably going to be successful (especially if you look at the open space in the image below). But of course BC had to shoot itself in the foot by having a terrible snap. Rettig had to fall on the ball and took an 11-yard loss. At the time Craig James yapped about BC being too excited or thinking too fast. That wasn't the issue. The real issue was that BC replaced Mark Spinney with Andy Gallik. Gallik screwed up the snap. Why was he in there? Spinney played later so he wasn't seriously hurt. Was it a plan? Maybe Spinney needed a breather or was being looked at. I don't know. But if you are starting a possession with a timing play that is dependent upon a good snap, you should probably have your starting SR center on the field!

Now if Spinney's issues were unknown then a good OC probably saves the play for later. If the plan was to bring in Gallik just for that play, then BC didn't work on it enough during the week. Either way it was either poor position coaching, poor sideline communication or poor planning in general.



That left BC at 2nd and 21. Now at this point BC has run the ball six times and Rettig is 3-3. You know you need to get some of the 21 back. So what does BC do? Run again. You can rationalize it a bunch of ways, but I assume that being down only 7, BC still wants to be careful deep in their own end. I would argue that you need to be aggressive against a team that is building momentum. You are 2-6. Why not air it out a bit? But no, BC runs. Then things got bad.

The play was a simple zone-option run. This is a college football staple and at times made Chris Crane-Montel Harris a deadly combo against Florida State in 2008. In this situation the line is blocking to their right. Florida State's R DE is left unblocked by design. He is who Rettig is supposed to read. If the DE crashes Finch, Rettig keeps it. If he waits on Rettig, Chase gives it to Finch. But we never even got that far because Wetzel and Vardaro did something that has me convinced our OL coaching is the worst in the ACC.

Take a look. Wetzel and Vardaro are supposed to double team the R DT (who is a true freshman BTW). It's a standard double team in a zone play. A good, well coached team drills this over and over. They should be able to execute it without problem. Not BC.




The image below is about a half second later. The DT used a simple swim move and went by both guys! How does this happen? Vardaro's head is down so he probably didn't even see the swim move. Wetzel is reaching but you can see he is slow getting off and his balance is terrible.

Now Wetzel has shown some good moments. He was recruited by BC, UConn, Pitt, some MAC schools and UNH (this will be important in a moment). He was evaluated by Jags and Bick JR (two guys who have good eyes for raw OL talent). Is he a future first rounder? No, but he could and should be much better than he is. Now you could say Sean Devine inherited him, but the problem is Devine recruited him when he was at UNH! Wetzel has been in our program three seasons. This isn't age or youth. It is about coaching and consistency.

That left BC at 3rd and 21. Now points have been an issue all year. Wasted possessions have been an issue all year. You need to win this game to keep alive any hope of any postseason alive. The home crowd is asleep and just hoping for any sign of life. What does BC do? Run again. Of course the crowd booed.

FSU knew a run was coming too. Just look at this clip below. Their Left DE is playing wide and tries to shoot past Anderson (who is getting no help). Meanwhile our left side is chop blocking. But they don't take their men down nor push them back. The right side guys are pulling but don't block anyone. Meanwhile FSU's right side didn't get faked or downblocked so they are crashing into the backfield ready to break things up.



Of course we punted next and it was the best play of the drive.

This may seem like cherry picking bad moments, but it is not. Roster management, execution, protection and ultra conservative play calling have been hallmarks of the Spaz offenses. This drive just happened to capture them all in three plays.

Pistol Offense 101

By late Sunday night you will probably never want to hear the term "Pistol Offense" again. In the simplest terms the Pistol is more a formation than an offense. Instead of standing seven yards back in the shotgun, the QB stands three or four yards back. The goal is to get the benefit of the shotgun (better vision, more space) and not lose the opportunity to have a power running game. Nevada was the birthplace of the Pistol and now, like other innovations in football, it has spread and variants are popping up all over.

BC has yet to face a true Pistol Offense but our staff is certainly familiar with it. We even used some Pistol during the season with Rettig. Of the teams we faced, the closest in style and philosophy to Nevada is Florida State. Both run similar zone blocking schemes. Both have mobile QBs and have explosive runners. The team's passing stats were very similar but a most would concede that a healthy Christian Ponder is a better passer than Kaepernick.

For BC the key will be winning the battle upfront. Most of Nevada's runs are inside Zone reads. This will put pressure on our DTs and LBs to clog holes and then play assignment football. If we can get Nevada out of a rhythm running, I like the matchup of our pass defense against their passing game.

Here is more background on the Scheme:

This is Nevada's former OLine coach discussing his line drills for the zone.

Indiana runs the Pistol with a passing focus (and uses man) but here is how the formation helps the run game.

Here is how dangerous Kaepernick can be when he gets a seem.

Smart Football has some great posts on the Pistol too.
-- Pistol Breakdown
-- Deconstructing the Pistol
-- The Pistol's Horn

Freshman mistakes

First let me say that Dave Shinskie has been a great addition to this team. I don't know if we'd be 5-3 without him. However, he still has a long way to go to be a great QB. I think his biggest problem is patience. It doesn't seem like he is working his progressions. The reason I say that is that the ball is not getting distributed. Obviously we want Gunnell to get the ball but I think it would serve him and the offense to spread the ball around a bit. Right now, even many of Shinskie's misses are headed towards Larmond and Gunnell. Take a look at Shinskie's first INT in the fourth quarter.


Situation: 2nd and 8. BC is down 4. Ball on the Notre Dame 42.

The running game has been stopped most of the day, so it makes sense to throw. Notre Dame is in base defense. Gunnell is in the slot. He's killed ND from there all day, so Shinskie's first inclination is to go to him. But ND is adjusting at this point too.


ND is sending pressure. They move one safety up. BC picks up the blitz. Pantale stays to block but Harris is able to release after chipping.

Jarvis is sitting in a short outlet. Gunnell is cutting towards the sideline and is bracketed.



Shinskie's better plays are to the right side of the field but he never looks off the left where Jarvis and Gunnell are well covered. If he wants to force something he could have gone to Larmond over the safety for a deep aggressive pass. If he wanted to be safe (it was second down), he could have dumped it off to Harris (who is next to the ref).

But before anyone can do anything Shinskie has already sent it towards Gunnell.


Shinskie forces it to Gunnell into double coverage. Easy INT for the Irish.




Shinskie has great potential and is learning more everyday. But now that BC has something to play for, we need him to make better decisions, look for his check downs and get others involved. The INT in this play wasn't the end but it was an example of what Shinskie needs to work on. Now just keep your fingers crossed for progress in his progressions.

The truth about the blitz

I am not trying to pick on the defense here. We lost this game because we were bad on both sides of the ball. I wanted to show this play though to address one of the myths floated that Spaz/McGovern don't blitz. We actually blitz a decent amount. We just don't design or execute it particularly well. Sure, part is personnel. If you are blitzing with Herzy and with a front four that has Raji and Brace, your blitzes look good. But the past few weeks our blitzes have been ineffective and that was just one of the reasons we lost today. Take a look at this example.

Virginia Tech's second possession. 3rd and 8. VT leads 3-0.


It makes sense to blitz here. It is a crucial down and a stop here keeps VT from scoring. Taylor is still not a natural passer. Let him (and VT) beat us in the air. We set up in our base.

This is where the problem starts. LeGrande tips off his blitz well before the snap. Taylor is ready and so is the VT OLine and RB.


The element of surprise is gone. But we stay with the blitz. Why not? It is 3rd and long and LeGrande has been playing well. McLaughlin is now covering the slot receiver. Now this is why I say VT is good, but not that good. A good QB and well coached passing offense would see McLaughlin on the slot, make an adjustment and throw the quick out or slant and burn McLaughlin. VT didn't.


The ball is snapped and LeGrande does in fact blitz. However, he is swallowed by the tackle (but his containish play makes me wonder if he was not there to spy Taylor). Regardless there is no pressure on the VT QB...yet another anemic blitz. Taylor doesn't go to the slot. In fact the slot guy goes away from Taylor. But his movement draws McLaughlin.


Now McLaughlin is out of position to cover the RB releasing from the backfield. I don't know if it is his man or if Kuechly should have moved over, but regardless, it is a blown assignment. The RB runs free and Taylor has an outlet. (Because it is a little blurry, the VT RB is the guy by the ref in the middle of the field.)



Easy catch. Easy first down. VT would go on to score and open the floodgates.




This play wasn't a disaster and certainly wasn't the biggest error of the day. But it illustrates some of the struggles of the defense the past few weeks. Poor design, poor execution and a blown assignment. Let's get it fixed soon.

How to ruin the best OLine in the ACC part 2

As you will see the offensive line was not the only problem yesterday, but the breakdowns up front and the failure of our coordinator to react all come back to confusion and execution on the offensive line. These shots are all from Shinskie's second and thankfully final series.

1st and 10
-- At this point Clemson has no respect for our passing game and has put 8 in the box. We will see this all year until we prove we can exploit it.

-- We run a trap with the three interior guys moving. Ricky Sapp -- the guy Doc Walker circled is unaccounted for. In theory the play is going away from him. The hope is he will be too late or someone will rub him and keep him from the play. This is tougher to do when there are 8 in the box and the Tigers were smelling blood.

-- Here is where it starts to breakdown. Cleary (77) is ready to clear a hole. The right side is okay. Claiborne is a little behind but has a position on his man. Tennant and Castonzo are doubling the DE and letting Sapp run free. Is that the design? I don't know. I would hope Tennant would occupy his man and Castonzo would jump out on Sapp. Why aren't they reading and adjusting?

-- At this point Sapp is through. Claiborne has lost his man and the right side is losing.
-- Harris is toast.


2nd and 13
-- Clemson is loading the box again. We have two TEs which should offer extra protection if needed.

-- Clemson drops one of their 8 back. This takes away some of the big play.

-- Good straight forward pass blocking. It can be done! Now the problem is Shinskie. He never looks off Anderson.

-- This pass is completed. It is positive. Put enough of these together and you actually have an offense. But no, we used many more slow to develop plays.

3rd and 10
-- This is the final play of Shinskie's day. It had a breakdown in protection and in QB play. It is an obvious passing down and Clemson has 7 in the box.

-- The right side of the line is fine. The first mistake though is Cleary looks to his right and starts to get out of position to the uncoming defenders. To make it worse, Clemson is overloading and sending three guys at the gap between Cleary and Castonzo. Ugh.
-- Hope is not lost. Castonzo makes a strong move to fill the hole. Clearly recovers to get the trailing guy. Our receivers start to get open. The ball needs to start coming out.
-- Harris makes a huge block to give Shinskie that much more time. (BTW, our running backs have been great pass blockers under Sirmans.) Yet the ball is not out!!! Look, guys were open.
-- We had a breakdown. We had a two seperate saves from two of our best (Harris and Castonzo) yet Shinskie takes the sack. As I said, multiple problems but it started with protection.