Dave Sez

Ranking The ACC - Week 4

I ranked 'em last week, and I'm feeling like doing it again. I can't say for certain if this will become a weekly feature, but I hope so. We'll see. It's always interesting to see how teams change throughout the season and this is one way to keep track.

1. Florida State - Yes the #2 Hokies were extremely impressive last week, but I'm not quite ready to drop the 'Noles. Their road win over BC looks a little better now that the Eagles won at Clemson. Miami has done well after losing to FSU as well.

This team is still a bit of a mystery. They clearly have talent, but it shows up inconsistently. They appeared to have problems passing, but a strong running game against Miami, but then couldn't run, but could pass against BC. The one constant is their defense. It may not be getting the press that the Hokie's D is, but I think they're probably just as good. We'll see, but probably not this weekend as the 'Noles host Syracuse. The Orange gave Virginia some troubles at home, but this ain't the Carrier Dome. I expect a blowout.

2. Virginia Tech - Number two with a bullet. They have a big, exciting rivalry game this weekend against a pretty good West Virginia team. There are a couple of good previews of that one at Fanblogs.

3. Miami - The Canes have three gimmes (yes, I consider South Florida a gimme despite what they did to Louisville) before they have to start playing football again. I expect that they'll continue to improve and will show up in Blacksburg on November 5 sporting a seven-game winning streak. Add in the Hokie victory at Miami last year, and it should be a hell of a game. John Swofford will need to towel himself off.

4. Boston College - Big jump by the Beantown Boys, but wins in Death Valley count a little more than most road wins. It's pretty amazing that they won in their first try. What is it with teams in their first year competing in the ACC?

The Eagles get a breather this week with a scrimmage against Ball State.

5. Virginia - I'm not so sure the Cavs are that good, but all three teams above them lost last weekend, Clemson for the second straight week. They have a big game this weekend at Maryland that will tell us more about both teams. If Ahmad Brooks (check this video) finally suits up for UVA, Maryland might have a really hard time moving the ball.

6. Georgia Tech - Yeah they took one on the chin last week. Took a couple actually, and a kick in the groin too, but I still think this is a pretty good squad. They're not so good that they can't lose to just about anyone, but I think they could take any team outside of VT and FSU and maybe Miami.

The Jackets get a well-deserved week off to find their jockstraps and replace their earpads.

7. Clemson - Back-to-back home overtime losses. Ouch. That has to smart.

It's hard to remember a team opening with four such close games. They may just be one of those teams that plays up or down to whomever they are playing. Wanna bet that their game in Winston-Salem this weekend is decided by less than a touchdown?

8. North Carolina - Some folks were surprised that I had the Heels as high as #9 last week. They backed it up - sorta. It wasn't pretty, but they did win a big road game. I don't think they are a terribly good squad, but like most of the ACC, they are good enough to play with just about anyone. Carolina also has a downside that I don't think we've seen exposed just yet. It'll happen though. Their defense is improved over last year, allowing about 100 fewer yards per game. Think that means they can hold Utah to only about 550 yards this weekend?

9. Maryland - Yeah, they won at Wake and that's good ... but something just doesn't smell right about this team. They remind me of last year's squad which consistently underwhelming. It's funny how Ralph Friedgen's career is sort of paralleling Charlatan Amato's, with the main difference being that Fridge actually did win early, while Amato mostly talked about it. Still, I wonder why they aren't better. They do have a big chance to show that maybe they aren't sliding back to obscurity with a win over Virginia this weekend. It wouldn't prove that they are back, but a loss would prove otherwise.

10. NC State - There's no question that this team should be better than #10. But as a wise man once said, "stupid is as stupid does." And they certainly stupid did last weekend. The players get this weekend off, while the fans keep busy burning up the radio call-in lines and Wolfpack message boards with venom not seen since ... well uh ... last basketball season?

11. Wake Forest - I should just name this spot the Wake Forest spot. "So Dave, which team do you have ranked Wake Forest this week?" Let's see, uh this week it's ... Wake Forest!

The Deacons get Clemson at home this week, a team they've made a habit of beating. Wouldn't it be fun if they beat the Tigers again? I don't know why, but seeing football-crazy Clemson lose to the preppy boys in Winston-Salem always makes me chuckle.

12. Duke - If this were a baseball scorecard, I could just print Duke's name in the 12 spot, just like the Orioles used to make lineup cards with Cal Ripken printed in as shortstop while all the other positions were blanks to be filled in by the manager.

The Blue Devils actually do have a chance for a win this week as Navy comes to town. Good seats available!

Weekend Review - Week 4

It's never too late to review the weekend's games is it?

Let's see now, what did we learn?

• The Hokies are better than I thought. They might just be a national-level elite team. I don't think they are quite as good as that 51-7 score over Georgia Tech indicated, but they are obviously very strong. I don't care who you are playing, giving up a total of seven points over three games is impressive. Still, I think that game was just one of those times when the better team played very well and the lesser team played poorly. The Hokies aren't quite that good and the Yellow Jackets aren't quite that bad.
• The Yellow Jackets are not a very good team. That's not to say that they aren't good. They just aren't very good. You couldn't really tell from their first few games. Winning them all, especially the road win over Auburn, said all good things, but it wasn't clear what their ceiling was. Well, now we have an idea. Very good teams don't lose 51-7.
• I didn't give Boston College enough credit. Last week, I said that I wasn't sold on them. Well, now I am. Winning in Death Valley is always impressive, especially against a pretty decent Clemson team.
• Wake might be headed for a really bad year. Yeah, that has been a possibility for a while now, but the Wake - Maryland game was kind of a Desperation Bowl. The winner had a chance for a middling, .500-type season, but the loser was in trouble. Well, the Deacons are in trouble.
• Chuck Amato is a fraud. More on that awful UNC - NC State game below.
• Miami is good. Duke is bad. Virginia might be good. We didn't really learn any of those things this weekend, but they were just reinforced.

Now a few more notes about the significant games.

First, how impressive was that Hokie-Yellow Jacket score? Man. I never would have guessed. In some ways, it was inflated because Tech (Virginia Tech has now earned the right to be the ACC school known as Tech for this year) scored three touchdowns off of special teams and defense. On the other hand, those three plays put Georgia Tech's offense back on the field three extra times and they still only managed six first downs. A truly impressive performance by the Turkey defense. I guess that's why they were all named the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week.

But before we all get too excited, as I said above, don't read too much into that result. We've all seen it before - one week, a team turns in a completely awesome (or awful) performance and everyone assumes that that is now their standard. They then fail to live up to that. Teams just don't play perfectly every week. Performance always goes up and down a bit. Clearly the Hokies are very good, but we probably won't know just how good until late October and November when they play BC, Miami and UVA in consecutive games.

OK. [Deep breath] Now we can talk about that North Carolina - NC State game.

I caught bits and pieces of the game on TV and the radio as I ran errands throughout the afternoon. I was recording it for later viewing, but decided to go ahead and keep up with how it was going. So when I watched the game on TiVo that night, I already knew the outcome and the general flow. Carolina would get the early lead and hold it through the first half. State would score twice early in the second half leading everyone to think that they'd seize control of the game and cruise to the win. Instead, the Heels scored right back and eventually took back the lead and won. It was a surprising outcome, but one that didn't shock me.

What did surprise me, somewhat, was just how poorly played the game was. Good lord was it ugly. I think it's safe to say that judging by the play of their teams, neither Charlatan Amato nor John Bunting are members of Mensa. The game was so bad that I decided to take notes. Ineptitude at level deserves notice. I couldn't stomach watching the second half, so this only runs through the first two quarters:

• Kickoff. Carolina gets the ball first.
• Nice 61-yard run by Barrington Edwards. Tell ya what though, he looks slow. I think Serge Zwicker could have gained at least 50 yards through that hole.
• And Matt Baker kills a great first drive with a horrible interception in the end zone. He threw it directly to the safety who was deviously standing still in the middle of the field.
• State's ball.
• Sack
• Punting out of the end zone ... bad snap .. seven yard punt ... nine yard return for a touchdown. That has to be some sort of record for shortest punt return for a touchdown. I see that they eventually ruled that a blocked punt, but I don't know. I don't think anyone hit it. Quite a start for the Wolfpack, huh?
• Kickoff to State.
• It looks like Bunting has sent in his wife to play middle linebacker for the Heels. She looks tough.
• Jay Davis fumbles the snap and it's UNC's ball. Wait ... nope, flag on the field. UNC had twelve men on the field. Nicely done fellas. Your incompetence trumped State's. The Pack keeps the ball.
• State celebrates their good fortune by committing back-to-back false starts.
• Some nice running by Toney Baker. Kid looks like a stud. State kicks a field goal.
• Carolina ball. They are opening HUGE holes in the Pack D-line. Where are all of those All-Americans?
• The Heels have to punt ... and they hike it over his head. Nice. Each team has screwed up a punt now.
• Did I mention that Toney Baker is a stud? TD, Wolfpack. Finally the red faithful can breathe and cheer a little. Surely the game's over now, right?
• Carolina is now playing their backup RB, Cooter. Love that name. Just like Barrington Edwards, who sound like he plays tennis at the club, Cooter's running through huge holes. You could fit Chuck Amato's ego through some of those things.
• State's John McCargo doesn't get enough attention. Not only is he a big fat guy, which I love, but he makes plays.
• Carolina to punt - another high snap, but he caught this one. Oops, a flag. Illegal formation.
• Try again - same formation. Same flag. Good work there, fellas. Someone toss the (very) special teams coach a rulebook.
• State's ball. Davis makes the awful decision to throw a swing pass with Shaquille O'Neal right in his face and it gets swatted down. Carolina jumps on the ball, and the refs say it was a lateral. After replay, they all agree - stupid play, fumble. Tar Heel football deep in Wolfpack territory.
• No worries though, the Heels give it right back. Barrington Edwards got popped and he coughed it up. Some game, huh?
• And that ends the first quarter.
• Second quarter. The Wolfpack celebrates by fumbling another center-QB exchange. Carolina ball at the 2. To rehash, Carolina got the ball deep after a State fumble. They pinned the Pack deep by fumbling it themselves back. Now the Heels have the ball again after State fumbled. Clever planning by the Tar Heel staff. I think that should be their game plan from now on. Fumble deep in enemy territory and then hope they fumble it back.
• Touchdown Tar Heels. Wait, there's a flag. Oh, nevermind. It's on State. Meanwhile, the line judge gets treatment for tennis elbow.
• State ball. Amato asks for a replay. Apparently there was a good shot of him on the sidelines with the sun glinting off his glasses and he just wants to see it again.
• Moving ahead to further action ... At this point, I can't chronicle every possession. It's too painful.
• Touchdown Heels. Nice pass by Baker to give the blue bellies the lead.
• The Heels are now playing their third-string tailback despite getting great production from their first two. Asked about this after the game, Bunting explains that it's just how they do things at Carolina.
• Carolina punts and Darrell Blackman is there to retrieve it. Clearly the coaches taught him some lessons after his embarrassing fair catch at the one yard line a few weeks ago. This time he catches a ball at the 6, while under pressure and running towards his own end zone. I'm guessing Blackman isn't in the Engineering school at State.
• Carolina driving ... TD! Wait it's a flag. Delay of game? Nice of the refs to let them go ahead and play the down, don't you think? The Heels settle for a FG attempt ... which they miss. The only thing this game is missing is a player taking a dump at midfield.
• State driving near end of half.
• Bunting removes his wife, who has two sacks, three tackles-for-loss and a fumble recovery, explaining that he doesn't like his best players to play too much. They get tired.
• As time runs down, State is in scoring range. They call their last timeout with less than 30 seconds left. They need to take one or two cracks at the end zone and if they don't score, kick a figgie. The only thing they can't do is run or throw a ball to the middle of the field short of a first down, because they can't stop the clock.
• Davis throws the ball to the tight end in the middle of the field where he is swarmed. The half ends with the ball on the four yard-line. A couple of short busses pull up to take the teams into the locker rooms for their halftime naps.

I think you can see why I didn't make it to the second half. Evidently the second wasn't quite as bad as the first, but that's not saying much. I honestly believed that with their stable of running back studs, a second-year starter at QB, an NFL-quality defensive line and some playmakers at receiver that NC State was a legit sleeper team - a squad that could sneak up on folks and maybe even get to the ACC Championship game. I was wrong. After that game the only thing I'm sure about is that both of those teams are very poorly coached. Carolina won, but only because their stupid mistakes added up to less failure than the Wolfpack's stupid mistakes. Big deal.

Remember when Amato said he was going to make the team more disciplined? That was before the season. Then, after their week one debacle against Virginia Tech, he said it again. What now? Well, now the Wolfpack Nation turns on him, that's what. And they should. He's been selling them a whole lotta swampland over the last few years and they're finally catching on.

Yesterday, in a press conference, Amato was faced with the task of addressing his criticism. Would he be a man and accept fault and admit that things aren't going well? Or would he show his true character and lash out at the messenger, deny the truth, claim that no one is really complaining and then refuse to talk any more? See for yourself.

Email Poker Tournament

Do you like poker? Are you very patient? Are you an inveterate geek?

Well, then this tournament is for you! It's an international online poker tournament played entirely via email. For us old geeks, this will likely remind you of the pre-web days when listservs were the really cool Internet (cough, cough ... BITNET) tools.

It looks like the tourney will take nearly a year to play. It's free and it has had a few pros in it in the past, including Chris Ferguson, who looks like the 35-year-old grad student who worked in the computer lab at your school.

And if you hadn't guessed, I'm in baby.

Eleven - 4 - Zone Blocking

The fourth chapter in Bobby P's playbook concerns zone blocking. You hear the term on the weekends and you nod your head, but you have no idea what they're talking about. In fairness, the talking heads probably don't know either. Read this and you will know.

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Eleven

Is there anything more beautiful than seeing an offensive line move in concert, washing a defensive front to one side, and then out of the mass of confusion, seeing a running back cut back against the grain through a massive hole that seems to appear out of nowhere? Most football purists would agree with you. Well if you ask me, I'd have to say seeing a wily free safety fill that cutback lane with some serious authority is a much prettier sight, but I am a little biased.

The running game in football used to be pretty simple. The most complex things you would see for line play were some pulling guards to run sweeps or traps. But then several years ago you began to hear the word zone get thrown around more and more frequently until it's about all you hear anymore. Now, I don't know all the ins and outs of how a zone should be blocked, so I won't pretend to be an expert, but I will try to go through the basics to simplify things a bit. In the offense you and I grew up in, most of the time the running back had a specific point to try to run through, and the OL tried to create a seam right in that spot. With zone, you don't tell the running back exactly where to go. You direct his first couple of steps, and the point at which he gets the hand-off from the QB, but from there it's his responsibility to find a seam.

There are a couple different kinds of zone, two of the most common being the inside zone and the zone stretch. The inside zone is more of a downhill attack, and is more likely to produce the cutback lane. The zone stretch does just what it sounds like - runs more towards the edge, trying to get defensive flow horizontally so a vertical seam can be created for the back to dart through.

Blocking the zone is where it really helps to have linemen who can move horizontally. In fact, the OL must be able to move horizontally, all while keeping their shoulders square to the LOS (line of scrimmage) and while engaging the defense. If they open up their shoulders at all, at can create a seam for the defense to get penetration and disrupt the play before it starts. Their first step (the coaches I worked with called it a bucket step) is incredibly important. In most instances it's going to be a very short (6 inches), very quick step directly to the side in which the play is running (in a zone to the right it will to the right with the right foot and vise versa). It should be almost directly horizontal. The reason the first step is so important is it allows them to keep a solid base, and ensures they stay squared to the line.

To start off we'll talk about the inside zone to the strong side against a basic 4-3 front out of an I set with one TE:

In a traditional iso play, everyone would block the man in front of them while the fullback picked up the Mike and the TB followed him through the hole. This works fine, but if the defense runs any twists or slants, it can really affect the results of the play. That's the primary reason for running a zone type scheme; instead of being responsible for an individual, you have to work with the guy next to you to block whoever shows. I'll draw it below, blown up a little more than usual to make it a little bit easier:

As you can see, I've drawn them blocking in pairs, with a bold line denoting the first responsibility and the dotted line denoting second level responsibility. There is only one dotted line for each second level player because the two blockers have to work together and pick him up depending on which side he shows. You can see why the first step would be very important for them. If the Center takes too big of a step, he'll leave a large gap allowing the Nose to crash down on him, disrupting the entire play. If he takes too little of a step, he can't induce any flow (LBs read the OL's steps and will slide the same direction to maintain their position) from the Mike making it much more difficult for him and the guard to pick him up. Looking at this, is it clear why guys who are good in the 3 technique are so valuable to a defense? He's going to be facing an immediate double team on almost any running play, and if he can force his hand on those offensive linemen, his LBs are going to LOVE him as they will make a TFL (tackle for loss) after TFL. It's also very clear to see why and where that cutback lane is going to be (right off the left hip of the left guard). It's very important that the left guard and center don't lose any ground to the nose - if he gets any penetration whatsoever, the potential cutback lane disappears. You should also be able to visualize why you don't need to cutback all the time. There should be running space in both the A and B gaps on the strong side. In fact, we tried to work with our RBs to pound it on the strong side a couple of times to try and develop quicker defensive flow to the strong side, thusly making the cutback an even better option later.

For the QB, it's very important that he gets the ball the running back as deep and as quickly as possible. Again, the quicker and deeper you get the tailback the ball, the better angle he has at the cutback lane. In my eyes, the best thing to do with the QB after a play like this where he didn't have to get too lateral to make the handoff is to boot back to the weak side (fake the handoff and then turn his back to the LOS and loop back to the opposite side). The boot does two things here that a straight drop won't do for you: A) helps hold the defensive end from crashing down, B) keeps the Will LB honest for the same reasons, and C) it gives you more options offensively for the play action.

What about in a different set though? What if you don't have the FB? Well a lot of that depends on what formation are you in, and how the defense generally lines up against that formation. I'll show you one case below:

In this situation, Will should widen out a bit (as explained in a previous article) pre-snap for pass reasons. Because his position is a bit different, Mike and Sam have to adjust a bit as well. This does two things to the offense, it makes the block on Will much more difficult, thus making the cutback a bit of a riskier proposition (unless you've done your job as an OC and made him nervous about the boot and passes into the flat, thus making him a little slow on his run fills). And it also changes the route to the Mike, again making the cutback seam a little tougher to create. As a benefit though, it should make the defense much softer on the strong side of the ball. You can clearly see how some times a ball carrier will take the inside zone and, rather than cutting back, bounce the play outside to the strong side. These are the kind of things a RB should come to recognize through repetition in practice.

Now for the stretch zone:

The stretch is obviously much different, and has entirely different aims than the inside zone. Rather than trying to get flow that you can seal off and cut behind, you're trying to force the defensive front to flow and to stretch horizontally so you can create seams. There are options with what you want to do blocking as well. If you have a speedy tailback, you don't always even have to block the weak side end, letting the tackle go immediately to the second level. However, if that end is good, you may want to keep the tackle on him, hoping that congestion will make it tough for the Will to make a play (it usually does). Again, the bulk of the OL is going to be working as a team trying to get a body onto the defenders in the second level. This time, the fullback is working as a lead blocker, hopefully picking up the first body that shows, and chipping the outside shoulder of the bull end if he needs to help the Y seal that edge. The tailback is taking a much more aggressive outside path, forcing the QB to hustle to get him the ball. Again, you want the hand-off as deep as possible so the tailback has better angles on any potential lanes. Since the Bull is taught to keep his outside free, he will often press upfield as much as he can. In this instance, a lot of teams will teach the Y to let him go that way, but force him WELL outside. That way the FB and TB can cut underneath him and run right off the block of the RT on Sam. As the QB has to work so hard to get the TB the ball, it makes much more sense to have the QB plant his right foot after the hand-off and sink into a pocket behind the original strong B gap.

Here's how it looks in the other formation:

In this situation, a lot hinges on the ability of both the Bull and your Y. If the Bull is quick, the Y should try and get him to commit up field and then seal off a lane for the TB to run through. If he's strong, just try and keep him in the same place and let the TB bounce the play outside. The H/FB shouldn't worry too much about getting to Will. He should try, but if Will disappears quickly then he needs to work to the secondary and hope to get a body on the FS.

It's always very important for the TB to stay patient and let the zone develop, but it's also necessary that as soon as he sees a crease - accelerate through it. These types of plays take a lot of repetition in practice to run well, and the reps will help the TBs understand when and where to expect those creases to open up. The zone is a fantastic play, but can be greatly disrupted by one or two talented defensive linemen. Inside penetration kills the play, as does a failure to communicate among the offensive line.

Well, that's that. Next week I'll talk about the play action look off of the zone, and explain why the boot is my favorite play of all time.

- Bob Pentland

Eleven Archives
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Eleven - 1 - Introduction
Eleven - 2 - The Zone Blitz
Eleven - 3 - The Cover Two
Eleven - 4 - Zone Blocking
Eleven - 5 - The Bootleg
Eleven - 6 - Extra Points And Field Goals

Ringing Your Bell

I'm not above a little juvenile humor. Hell, I'm almost below it.

So here's your little slice of cheap humor heaven, courtesy of The Airing Of Grievances.

Ranking The ACC

I confess that this is not an original idea, but I'm doing it anyway. I've had all sorts of thoughts about teams and games in my head that I just haven't been able to put down on paper ... er computer screen ... so, they can all go here instead.

1. Florida State - They have not looked pretty, but they've played by far the toughest schedule and are undefeated. I have to admit that despite years of hatred, I was pulling hard for the Seminoles against Boston College on Saturday. After the way they kicked sand in the faces of the whole ACC for most of the nineties, I'd be damned if some Johnnie-come-lately carpetbagger was going to come in and beat them in their first try. No, BC needed to experience the same crushing defeat of so many promising ACC teams that came before them.

The Seminoles are a fairly shaky #1 though. I'm still not impressed with Weatherford, and what happened to their running game in Boston?

2. Virginia Tech - They haven't given up a point in two consecutive games, but then again, it was Duke and Ohio. In fairness, I guess Ohio did beat Pittsburgh (aside: how funny has it been to watch Dave Wannstedt screw up? I mean, he sucked as the Bears coach and then he sucked as the Dolphins coach. What was Pitt thinking? Did they figure that Pete Carroll wasn't a good NFL coach and look how he turned out? Or maybe they thought that that mustache just had to be in Pittsburgh? Either way, I'm giggling at the fact that they were actually talked about as a darkhorse national champion squad, because their schedule looked easy enough to allow them to go undefeated. Well, I guess a perfect record is still possible ...).

Anyway ... the Hokies are solid, well-coached and have a pretty favorable schedule, but I'm not yet convinced that they have the explosive talent to beat both Miami and FSU.

3. Miami - Yes, they were very nearly 0-2, but I still like their talent and I think Wright can be a solid QB.

4. Clemson - Charlie Whitehurst is playing like he should have last year. A win over Miami would have been huge. I don't really see a huge difference between teams 4-8 in my rankings, but Clemson has the best wins of that group so far.

5. NC State - They have a lot of talent, but does it add up to a great team? It's very hard to tell so far. They nearly beat the Hokies, my #2 team, but killed themselves with mistakes. The scrimmage this past Saturday told me nothing. The Carolina game coming up may not tell us too much either, depending on which Heels team shows up.

6. Georgia Tech - They need Reggie Ball healthy. When he is playing, the Yellow Jackets have the best QB/RB/WR combination in the league. Their defense has also been much better this year. We'll learn a lot about this team Saturday when they pay a visit to Blacksburg.

7. Virginia - Against Syracuse, they looked dominant at times, but turnovers killed them and almost cost them the game. I just can't tell if this is a really good team or not. Like the Hokies, they look well-coached, but is there enough talent at the key positions?

8. Boston College - Count me as a disbeliever, although I was very impressed with Mathias Kiwanuka - he made several huge plays against Florida State. We'll know more after their trip to Death Valley this weekend.

9. North Carolina - I had a couple of Tar Heel fans come by yesterday and tell me that there was no way they'd beat State this weekend and that Carolina would be lucky to win a game all year. I think that's a bit dramatic. Yes, they are 0-2, but they've lost narrowly to two pretty good teams. Their defense played quite well against Wisconsin. Like with all of Bunting's teams, you just can never really tell with this team. They have players, but can they execute?

10. Maryland - What has happened to this program? This is the second year in a row where their offense appears completely inept. Isn't that Friedgen's special gift? I suspect they are still good enough to beat any of the teams ahead of them, and they will get some, but they're probably gonna have a losing record.

11. Wake Forest - This is another school whose fans are pissed, but probably not fairly. Yes, they started 0-2, but take a look at those games. Vanderbilt is now 3-0 and 2-0 in the SEC. The other loss was at Nebraska. I'm sorry, but Wake Forest just does not win in Nebraska, I don't care who's coaching the Cornhuskers. I'm just not so sure that this is a really a bad team.

12. Duke - Now this is a bad team. And that's just the way it should be, isn't it? They'll get their revenge when they win the NCAA championship in basketball.

NBDL Getting Better

The NBDL announced yesterday that starting next season, there will be official ties between NBA and NBDL teams that will allow NBA teams to send players down to play in the minors.

Now, some folks will say that this is yet another blow against college basketball, but I disagree. I think the damage has already been done - the best players want to go pro and they will. What this helps is the NBA, which no longer has to pay talented but unskilled players to sit on their bench. They can send those kids down where they can actually play against other pros. Those NBA roster spots can then be filled by veterans who may not be able to jump as high, but who can hit an open jumper and set a proper screen.

I don't really see this affecting college in any way. If anything, there's an outside shot that some players might stay in college to avoid the stigma of playing in the minor leagues. It's unlikely, but possible.

One potential hitch is that with only eight NBDL teams, NBA clubs will have to share teams. If four NBA teams send two players each down to an NBDL team, will there be arguments over playing time? I doubt teams will be too happy about sending LaQuan Nojumper down to play in Fayetteville and having him ride the pine behind Sven Bigwhitestiff and Parshall Qualifier.

Still it sounds like a no-brainer to me. I'm just shocked at how long it's taken to happen.

Big Week For The Chest

Caulton Tudor has a well-written piece today on how big this weekend's game with Carolina is for Chuck Amato.

Often, newspaper columnists, Tudor included, go to extremes in an effort to get attention and sell papers. This article offered plenty of opportunity for hyperbole, but I don't think Tudor crossed that line. He plainly pointed out that Amato's job will not be in jeopardy if he loses this game. The fans will be quite upset though, and there will likely be some boos mingled in with the wolf calls in Carter-Finley.

For several years now, NC State fans have loved the feeling that they've finally gotten a leg up on the "Blue Bellies" from Chapel Hill. Chuck Amato very quickly built up a strong program in Raleigh while John Bunting has muddled around with a program that Carl Torbush torpedoed.

But here's the thing - for as much excitement as Amato has brought to Raleigh, he hasn't really distanced NC State far from Carolina, at least not in their head-to-head games. Bunting is 2-2 against the Pack and won last year. You might recall that Carolina went on to go to a bowl game while State stayed home.

So yes, this is a big game. The Wolfpack has a better team and a better coaching staff. They should win. But if they don't, if they lose to the Heels for a second consecutive season, I wonder if much of that hype and promise will whoosh out of the big red balloon.

TiVo Tips?

I upgraded to DirecTV a few months ago largely because I wanted a TiVo. Great decision; I love it and I only spend about $5 more per month than I did before. With two little boys, I don't get to watch nearly as much live sports as I'd like, so watching them later is damn handy.

However...

I need help figuring out a way to record all of the games I want. I already set up a rule to record all Virginia football and basketball games. That's fine and it works pretty well, although it does also record West Virginia and Virginia Tech games (and shows about football or basketball).

What I'd really love though is an easy way to have it record, or at least find, all live football games (and eventually, basketball) involving ACC teams. Is this possible? Hell, is it even possible to have it find all live football games in a Wishlist? Then I could just pick through that list for the ones I really want. I can't seem to find the magic incantation. I noticed that all games have the keywords of "event" and "live", so I tried putting those words in a Wishlist, but it only found shows with those words in the title, which is pretty much worthless. If I just get everything that's tagged with Football, it's way too much stuff.

I know I can create a Wishlist for every team, but man, what a pain in the ass that would be. Not to mention messy. I'd have games in all sorts of different folders.

So, I ask you all, how do you use TiVo to record live sporting events (and yes, I've checked with google)? Who has tips? Leave them in comments. If I get some good advice, I'll publish a new article with all the details.

Links For The Weekend

I hope to get a weekend preview up at some point today - afterall, this is the only weekend all year when every ACC team plays - but meanwhile, you can check out these links for plenty o' good readin'.

The guys at ACC Basketblog have a smorgasbord of fantastic ACC football links today. Start there. Hell, you can probably finish there too.

The ACC's weekly football release is always good reading. They really do a great job with these.

Fanblogs.com has a nice preview of the big national games, including two ACC tilts. Oh, and there's a rather nice pic in there as well (Go Beavers!).

And in case you missed it - I did post it at a crappy time - don't forget to read Bobby P's article on the Cover Two. Then see if you can spot it in use on Saturday and Sunday.

1001 Uses

Next time you hear someone say that soccer players are pussies, tell them this story. Bundesliga (that's the German league) player Chavdar Yankow (of Hanover) took a cleat to the jimmie early in a recent match. The kick opened a nearly two inch gash in his penis which he noticed when his shorts filled with blood (gotta love the painkilling effects of adrenaline!). Yankow rushed to the lockerroom to address his, uh situation, and patched things up with some glue and plaster.

Yankow then finished the match and eventually scored a goal. Now that's a man.

I heard this story on the radio and got the link from 850 The Blog.

These Are Not The Droids You're Looking For

Chuck Amato says that his Wolfpack "is not an undisciplined football team."

OK, Chuck. If you say so. We'll just ignore the twelve penalties, including several personal fouls. And that running into the kicker that turned a field goal into a touchdown. Oh and that fair catch inside the one yard line.

Those things aren't real evidence of lack of discipline. Certainly not compared to the compelling fact that Wolfpack players are ordered to shave.

Duke Doesn't Count

Florida State's Travis Johnson was a dominant defensive lineman last year in the ACC. And from the way he's starting out, he's going to be a dominant pro too - at least in the postgame interviews. Check out his choice memories of playing college ball:

My first college start was against Duke, but that doesn't count. I don't know if we even put in our mouthpieces and taped our ankles. I think we just played in our practice shoes.

Ouch. He followed that up with this:

The Duke players told us, 'It doesn't matter what happens today because y'all are going to be working for us in a few years, anyway. What's your SAT score?'

You think the Duke players really talk like that during games? I'd love to hear that line chatter.

Johnson followed up his Blue Devil bashing with this last nugget:

Man, our coach was so mad that they scored a touchdown, he made us run gassers. I mean, the only way Duke's supposed to score is on a test.

That's awesome.

Thanks to the guys at StateFansNation for the link.

Week Two In Review

I never got around to discussing the first week's games. Then, I never got around to previewing the second week's games! I guess I suck.

To avoid that happening again this week, I'm going to do my review first thing. Here goes...

Boston College 44 - Army 7 - You know, I really have a lot of respect for Bobby Ross. He's a great coach who's achieved success at both the college and pro levels. And hell, he just looks like a football coach with that crooked mug. But he ain't building anything at Army. I'm sorry, it's just not going to happen. But I think it's cool that they have him.

For BC though, a big win over the Black Knights doesn't really say a whole lot. It's better than a close one, I suppose. We'll learn a whole lot more about the newest ACC team next weekend when they host the Seminoles.

Clemson 28 - Maryland 24 - Another nice (and close) win by the Tigers. Great start to the season! This was one of those critical games for both teams. In the ACC this year (and probably for years to come), you have Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech fighting it out for the conference and national title. Then, you have a group of teams who are all good enough to step up to that level as well, but they have to get through each other. This year that includes most of the league - BC, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia, NC State and Georgia Tech. Wake and Duke never qualify, and I'm just not sold on the Tar Heels yet. So with all of those middle teams fighting for room at the top, it's critical that they step on each other to get up there. Clemson's win over the Terrapins was important.

On the flip side, what has happened to Ralph Friedgen's rising program? Is he losing IQ points like Charlie in Flowers For Algernon? Remember when Fridge was a genius? At this rate, he'll be working for ESPN's GameDay crew in a couple of years.

Virginia Tech 45 - Duke 0 - Wow. I knew the Hokies would beat the Blue Devils, but did you see the stats from this game? They held Duke to 35 totals yards! 53 plays for 35 yards. Incredible. And I thought Ted Roof was building something in Durham. I guess maybe he is, something very familiar - a horrible Duke football team. I really didn't think the Hokies looked that great against NC State in week 1 - good and very solid, but not spectacular. This blowout was spectacular. Yeah, it's just Duke, but still. If you shutout a conference opponent and hold them to 35 yards, you have a hell of a team.

Florida State 62 - Citadel 10 - Yawn. How did this game get on the schedule? The Citadel? Are you kidding me? Florida State should never play a 1-AA school, especially a tiny military school like The Citadel! I would bet that there's not one player on the Bulldog's roster who could earn a spot on Florida State. I don't mean earn playing time, but just a spot at the end of the bench. It might even be a reasonable guess that they've never in their history had a player would could start for the Seminoles.

But here's the thing - this game was close for a half! In fact, the Citadel had a 10-7 lead late in the first half. FSU didn't take the lead until a field goal on the last play of the half made it 13-10. Sure, the 'Noles erupted in the second half, but shouldn't that slow start be worrisome? Has Florida State really been so good in recent years that they think that they don't need to try to beat teams? It shouldn't take any fiery halftime oratory to get a win against the freaking Citadel!

I don't know what's going in that Florida State program.

Georgia Tech 27 - North Carolina 21 - This was a nice win by the Yellow Jackets. Sure they were at home and they are ranked, but despite my running down of the Tar Heels, they do have some talent. Remember, they beat Miami last year as well as these Yellow Jackets.

This was the only conference game that I watched much of this weekend and I thought both teams showed some promise. It was kind of weird though. Georgia Tech definitely appeared to be the better team. They had a better rushing attack, better passing and better defense. The stats reflected that. Also, Tech never turned the ball over, while the Heels coughed it up three times. Yet, the Heels had four dangerous fourth quarter drives that could have won the game. Three of the four ended with interceptions when quarterback Matt Baker forced passes and the other went for a touchdown. If any of those other three drives had gone slightly differently, Carolina could have won. It was just one of those games where neither the score nor the raw stats tell the whole story.

ps. Someone needs to tell Chan Gailey that you probably shouldn't pass on nearly every play late in a game when he has a lead. Each of Tech's last four possessions consisted of three plays - mostly incomplete passes - and took about a minute off the clock. You think he had the Heels and the points?

Wake Forest 3 - Nebraska 31 - Now for almost all of college football history, if Wake Forest were to travel to Nebraska for a game, you'd expect them to return with a nice paycheck and a 70-0 loss. No hard feelings. Recently though, the Cornhusker empire has crumbled while Jim Grobe has built a fairly frisky program in Winston-Salem. This game had the makings of a big upset, but alas it was not to be. Wake actually played them pretty tough, but Nebraska got three - three! - defensive touchdowns. I'm sorry, but you just can win if the other team is scoring on you at will when you have the ball.

In the postgame analysis, there was some criticism of Nebraska's offensive production, pointing out that they only scored 10 points on the Deacons. But in fairness, it's kinda tough to pile up the yards and points when you never get on the field. Nebraska's defense took away three offensive drives by scoring themselves.

All in all, it was a fairly uneventful weekend for the conference. There were no big non-conference tilts to help measure the ACC's strength. There were a couple of blowouts over patsies and an ACC doormat was unable to win on the road against a traditional power. Ho hum. Things get a bit more interesting next weekend when the ACC takes on a good hunk of the Big East, with games against Connecticut, West Virginia and Syracuse and Carolina hosts Wisconsin of the Big Ten. Also, there are two big conference games with FSU visiting Beantown and Miami paying a visit to Death Valley.

Should be a good one.

Name That Site 2

It's time for a second round of Name That Site. Since the game's still new, I'm keeping it fairly easy. Just take a look at the pic below (click for a larger version) and tell me what ACC-significant site it is (I've airbrushed over the really obvious clues).

First one to get it right wins an absolutely fabulous (and worthless) prize! After a day or two, when everyone's had a chance, I'll reveal the correct answer. I suspect there will be very little suspense by then.

Eleven - 3 - The Cover Two

This week's edition of Eleven concerns the Cover Two, a base defense that was mentioned in last week's zone blitz article. Once again, Bob has a lot of great information for you, so read slowly (something that should come easily for you Virginia Tech fans... I keed, I keed!)

By the way, if you have any suggestions for future articles, leave a comment. Bob knows all.

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Eleven

Last week, we talked a bit about the zone blitz, and as an example I used a collection of routes that I called a cover three beater. Well, that's well and good, but why would you call it a cover three beater? Would the zone blitz not work as well against a cover two? What about cover four? Really, what's the difference between cover two and cover four? What? Why? ? ? ?

OK, I hope you get the point. Lots of questions to be asked about different coverages. Due to the difficulty in drawing this stuff in Word, and in fitting it into a manageable space, I'm going to focus on only one - Cover two. Now, I hope everyone knows what a cover two is, but to make sure, I'll draw it up and explain it below. For diversity's sake, I'll use a different formation from last week. For simplicity's sake as well, we'll forget about field position, assume the ball is in the middle of the field, and assume a vanilla front (no twists, slants, blitzes - just a straight up 4-3 cover two).

Basic Rundown:
E: Run responsibility - outside contain, Pass - outside contain of QB
N: Run - weak A gap (between G and C), Pass - collapse the pocket
3: Run - strong B, Pass - collapse the pocket
B: Run - C gap (T and Y), Pass - contain
W: Run - weak B, Pass - Hook to curl
M: Run - Strong A, Pass - hole
S: Run - Contain, Pass - hook to curl
C: Run - strong outside force (i.e. force any outside run play to have to turn back up field. Anyone gets outside of you - you die), Pass - Flats, support deep
FS/SS: Run - support late, Pass - deep outside halves

OK, 3 things about alignment -

1) Which safety is where is kind of a toss-up against this formation. Your SS is normally stronger against the run, while the FS is normally a better coverage guy, but the pass strength and run strength are the same in this formation. When I played, I preferred to align as above for two reasons: A) With only one real threat for the weak side corner (X), he can give a lot of support in coverage to the SS and he can play the run a little tougher, and B) you will see a lot of LB flow to the strong side, often leaving you vulnerable to the cutback - therefore it's nice to have a SS filling that cutback lane to rattle some teeth.

2) As we talked about zone blitzes and sight adjusted routes last week, if S doesn't widen (he stays inside or right on top of the Y) the H is gonna catch a lot of balls. Therefore he needs to adjust his alignment to take away the immediate throw to the H. Furthermore, since he has quite a few immediate threats to his zone (Y, H and Z) it makes more sense to get to where he can cover any of the three when they come to his area. Really though, you shouldn't have to tell him to get there more than once, because if he doesn't on the first outside run play he's gonna get crack-backed so hard by the H that his mom will shit her pants. Both M and W should bump a little to balance the formation.

3) Notice the alignment of the corners. They should always be outside of the WR's, and should never let them get a clean release outside of them. A lot of coaches even have them play at a tilt with their ass to the sideline. I'll explain why later.

OK, OK, we got that cleared up, and hopefully understand where everyone should be aligned, and roughly what their responsibility is. So the question now is, why? Why run a cover two?

First things first - if you have corners that can play, it can be very tough against the run. For teams that like to try and get the ball to the edge on a toss or stretch, a good run-support corner in two can wreak havoc. If he plays it right, it essentially eliminates the edge, as he should always make the ball carrier turn up field, or right back into the pursuit. Also, when the corners take away the edge, it constricts the amount of space that the DL and LBs are responsible for, making things much easier for them. When you condense that space, it makes it much harder for the offensive line to generate seams for the ball carrier to slip through. Having the corners wide does take away some support from the safeties, but you still have quite a few men in the box.

Secondly - a well run cover two is very strong against a short- to mid-range passing attack. You have five men, all responsible for underneath coverage, and since the LBs don't have to try and get to the flats, they don't have to turn and run nearly as much as they will in a cover 3 or any man. Since they don't have to run as much horizontally, it's more likely they will get good depth on their pass drops and help clog up some of the mid-range passing lanes. It gives them a good chance to sit on crossing routes and light up anybody who tries to come across the middle. Another benefit - if you have safeties who can run, it should make you less vulnerable to the BIG passing play; they only have one responsibility in the passing game - don't let anyone deeper than you.
So then, how do you beat a cover two?

As I said earlier, the corner can never let the WR in front of him get an outside release. Here's why:

OK, the corner on the left has done his job and forced X to an inside release, making it easy for the SS to get on top. The corner on the right though let his guy get outside of him, which makes FS have to cover a lot of ground in getting on top of both H and Z. A good QB, when he reads two, will be looking to get the ball to Z in what's called the void. The void is the no-man's land just behind the corner along the sideline (about twelve to twenty yards down field). Too deep and the FS can get there, too shallow and the corner might still be able to break on the ball and make a play. Also, as soon as that Z gets behind the corner, he has no idea where Z is, as his eyes should be towards the field. Therefore he needs to learn from his buddy on the other side and keep Z in front of him so he can see him along with the rest of his threats. Let's assume he DID his job this time:

Makes a huge difference. Can Z still get to the void? Yes, but that's as difficult of a timing throw as there is, even on a clean release. By doing what he did, he forced that receiver to change his timing, and he also squeezed down the spot that the QB can throw to. OK, now that we got people doing their jobs, let's talk responsibilities:

Left Corner: Pre-Snap threats - X, T. Assignment - force X into an inside release, if X sits in zone, stay on him, if he runs, stay on his hip, but get eyes on number 2 (T), if 2 shows (which he does in this case), release X to SS (Talking to him as you do), and rally up to the tailback.

SS: Pre-Snap threats - X, Y, T. Assignment - Need to be wide enough to stay on top of X, but not so wide that you can't help the FS down the middle of the field. Get depth and then break on the ball when it's thrown.

FS: Pre-Snap threats - Z, Y, and H are all immediate threats, so the FS needs to be in a position to get on top of all three. This does NOT mean right in the middle of all three. It takes the ball a lot longer to get to Z down the sideline then it does to get to Y right down the seam, so play accordingly. Since he has three threats, at the snap he should get immediate depth, keep his eyes on the QB, all while talking with his SS and C. Must be very vocal to not only help himself, but to allow his underneath coverage to help him.

Right Corner: Pre-Snap threats - Z, H, Y. Assignment - force Z into an inside release, if he sits you sit, if he runs you keep on his outside hip but eyes go immediately to number 2 (H). If 2 breaks outside, asshole him or take the pick for six, if 2 disappears (meaning he goes deep or crosses the formation), eyes go right to three (Y), where the same rules apply. If all three disappear, keep sinking to help the FS on anything in the void.

W: Pre-Snap threats - X, Y, T. Assignment - get into a zone drop and get some width to get in the passing lane if X tries come inside. Look for the crossing route from Y, or a hook from the tailback.

M: Pre-Snap threats - Y, H, T. Assignment - Get a little depth, look to cause a collision with any crossing routes. The longer the QB holds the ball, the deeper you should sink.

S: Pre-Snap threats - H, Y, Z, T, Assignment - Look to clog passing lanes to both H and Z, and if Y shows in his face, collision him.

When I say collision, I mean collision. LBs should never let a man get across their face or the formation without any contact. Not only does it create confusion, but it changes timing and doesn't let the routes get as deep. This is very important. The corners can also adjust the way they play. What if the WRs for the opposing team are pretty speedy? Maybe get right up in their face so they don't get a clean release, or maybe sit back a bit and try and bait the QB to throw a quick one (think Deion before people wised up), but what ever you do, don't let him get outside of you. If he tries to go outside, you push him all the way out of bounds.

Clear as water? Clear as mud? Sorry, it's tough to describe this stuff without being on the field. When I prioritize threats above, that's just what each player should do before the snap, in his head. In all reality, defenses don't really care what positions are called. They care about eligible receivers, and that's about it. You do have to communicate though, so I'll explain the systems I grew up in, which should clarify what I mean by 1, 2, and 3. We always counted from the outside in, so the formation above would look like this in defensive jargon (minus the big boys, no offense meant):

For the left corner his number 2 is T, but the tailback is not really an immediate threat. That's why he should give the SS solid support on the X. For the SS, his number 2 will be the Y, but like for the corner, Y isn't an immediate threat. On the flip side, the FS really needs to be chatting up his corner about numbers 2 and 3, especially if 1 is going deep. The corner should really stay on 1 until either 2 or 3 show in the flats.

So that's roughly how a cover two works. Now the question is how do we beat it? As always in football, there are a number of ways, but they aren't guaranteed. It's all about putting your guys in a position where they can make a play, and if a defender screws up, they can make a big play. I already demonstrated one route package that makes it very tough on the FS. But in the following I'll show a couple of different things. One thing you will often hear people talk about is combination routes. Combos can be effective against any coverage, but I'll just show a couple that can cause problems for a cover two. Combo routes can be any number of receivers, but to keep things simple I'm just going to use 2 v 2:

1 runs a short stop route to hold the corner while 2 runs a corner route over the top. This combo will often include a number 3 receiver attacking the middle of the field to hold the FS. A good free should always be able to get there, but it can be a long run at times. A good corner should be ready to sag and break on the ball as well.

2 runs off the FS while 1 runs a square in. Yes, you should have LBs to clog the passing lane to 1, but since 2 disappeared, the corner has to stay with 1 unless another receiver shows in the flat. Very tough cover. If you watched the South Carolina - Central Florida game the other day, you may have seen this particular combo as Spurrier runs it a bunch. They actually missed a big play when the FS got confused and let 2 run right by him.

The 1 blocks the corner while the 2 takes one step and then gets a quick pass. It's plays like this that require the LB on that side to widen out. A good variation to run off of this, if you've completed the quick screen once or twice is to have the 1 block for a second, and then run up the sideline. Hopefully the FS will be rallying up to help on the screen, while the corner is trying to fight off the pseudo block.

Those are just a few combo routes that I remember disliking in my DB cover two days. The trick in beating any zone (in any sport, really) is to stretch it and then create seams. With a cover two, you try to stretch the safeties horizontally. With a cover three you try to stretch it vertically and attack underneath. Route running is very important in doing any of this. OCs send receivers to certain spots for a reason, namely to occupy certain defenders. A good receiver should also be able to recognize a hole in a zone and know when to sit in one and when to keep stretching, but that's something that takes a long time to learn. Some people, including coaches, never learn it. One staff I worked on coached the WRs to always sit in holes and never had people that kept running. They could never understand why we weren't able to open things up like they expected. But that's a story for another time. Check back with ya next week.

-- Bob Pentland

Eleven Archives
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Eleven - 1 - Introduction
Eleven - 2 - The Zone Blitz
Eleven - 3 - The Cover Two
Eleven - 4 - Zone Blocking
Eleven - 5 - The Bootleg
Eleven - 6 - Extra Points And Field Goals

Freakin' Deacon Yeah Whatever

Though kickoff isn't scheduled until 3:30, they start coming early - 15 minutes, 30 minutes, even an hour. The line of cars on Deacon Boulevard is backed up for an entire quarter of a mile in two directions. Traffic is snarled everywhere within a two-block radius of the stadium. Any driver who happens to find himself on this side of town on game day might be mildly inconvenienced.

... and so begins a hilarious tribute to Wake Forest football - an institution that's under attack by Jim Grobe's unhealthy winning ways.

Funny, funny stuff. A good find by semi-frequent poster and chuckling NC State fan badknees.

Tudor: No Elite ACC Teams

Caulton Tudor's article today puts forth the claim that the ACC has no elite football teams this year. He says that while there are several good teams, none look great.

I actually tend to agree with him, but it's too early to really be sure. Teams grow. Miami and FSU looked pretty bad on Monday night, but they showed a lot of talent. Both could become excellent teams. Virginia Tech, NC State, Virginia, Boston College, Clemson and Georgia Tech all started pretty well too. Some looked better than others, but if you assume that they'll all improve then one or two could become top-ten quality. Actually, the Hokies might already be there, but I feel they are a bit overrated at this point.

So, while there may not be a national champion in the mix, there may well be more depth than the ACC has ever had.

Bizarre Transfer

This is not the time of year when you normally read lacrosse news, but this item is just too weird to ignore. Two former Virginia lacrosse players, including 2003 All-American Joe Yevoli will play next season for Syracuse. Evidently both players have graduated from UVA and have enrolled in graduate programs at Syracuse.

I've never heard of similar transfers in major college sports before. In case you don't know, Syracuse and Virginia are pretty serious rivals. They are two of the top programs and they play each other every year. Usually when the play, one of the two teams is ranked #1.

Could you imagine something similar happening in basketball or football? Sean May suiting up for one year at Kentucky? Or maybe Ernie Sims playing his final season at Notre Dame?

Wonder how their former teammates will treat them when the Orange travel to Charlottesville next year?

Chuck Dynamite

I haven't gotten around to putting together a weekend roundup yet, but hope to later today. Meanwhile, you can watch this cartoon put out by the News & Observer. It's a Napolean Dynamite-inspired parody of NC State coach Chuck Amato.

It's surprisingly well done. Of course, if you've never seen the movie, it might just seem dumb. So go see the movie then. Geez.

Opening Weekend

I can't believe opening weekend of college football is here! Normally, I would have been getting fired up all week and would have put out a decent preview. Instead, I've been watching and reading about the troubles in New Orleans and Mississippi. Kind of makes football seem insignificant, huh?

That distraction led to my completely missing that Wake's opener was not this weekend, but last night. Fortunately, regular poster Deacon chimed in with his displeasure with coach Jim Grobe.

A quick run through of the other games (trusting the handy helmet schedule hanging on my wall):

Boston College @ BYU - Tricky opener for the team that many pick as a sleeper in the Atlantic division this year. Or is it the Coastal? The Conference Division, maybe? Anyway, BYU is always a tough team and that's a long way to travel.

Clemson vs. Texas A&M - A pretty juicy inter-conference matchup! The #17 Aggies are slight favorites, but Clemson can beat anyone in Death Valley. This would be a great early win for the ACC (and perennially beleaguered Tommy Bowden).

Duke @ East Carolina - The battle for champion of the state!!!! Or something. I don't think this is the matchup the Pirates were looking for when they strong armed the state legislature.

Florida State @ Miami (Monday) - Already? Damn, that's early. It should be a hell of a game, but honestly I don't know what to expect from either team. Both mildly underachieved last year and both have critical new pieces, including their quarterbacks. If I had to guess, I'd go with the Canes at home. On a missed field goal.

Georgia Tech @ Auburn - Actually, this is a pretty good weekend of football, huh? Nice opportunity for the Yellow Jackets, but I have a hard time seeing them pull this one out. Keep in mind though that they may have the best QB, RB, WR combo in the ACC with Reggie Ball, P.J. Daniels and Calvin Johnson

Maryland vs. Navy - The boys on boats are still upset about an egregious middle finger flipped by an angry Terp forty years ago. I guess those midshipmen are a bit more sensitive than I would have guessed from the "cuss like a sailor" cliche. Something tells me that the rallying cry of avenging that bird isn't going to be enough against Fridge's boys.

NC State vs. Virginia Tech (Sunday) - The second-best intraconference game of the weekend. Tech is getting a lot of national and regional love, largely because of the surprising success last year and the return of Marcus Vick. I guess those pundits forget that Vick wasn't very good when he last played two seasons ago. If he didn't learn something during his one-year hiatus for impersonating R Kelly, he's gonna eat a lot of dirt courtesy of State's NFL-quality D-line. Don't be surprised if the Wolfpack makes it two wins in a row over the Hokies.

Virginia vs. Western Michigan - Something tells me that you won't be seeing the full offensive and defensive packages from Al Groh this weekend.

Wake Forest vs. Vanderbilt - This should be a competitive game and I see Wake pulling it out in the end. What's that? Oh yeah, they already played and the Commodores won. Oh well. Maybe Wake should find the bottom feeder of a weaker conference to play.

Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy your football! And if you have a second, head over the Network For Good and send a donation for Katrina relief.

Eleven - 2 - The Zone Blitz

Bob Pentland is back for his first lengthy football piece, where he discusses the trendy zone blitz. As expected, Bob is dropping some serious knowledge here. Your assignment is to read this and see if you can't spot the real thing this weekend as the college season kicks off. Maybe you can impress your buddies with some insider knowledge!

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Eleven

It happens so often in blitzing situations anymore that we don't even flinch when a 300 pound defensive lineman drops into pass coverage. It often seems silly to take a guy who normally on passing downs has underwear stained dreams of unprotected QB spines, only to flip things and make him do something he has practiced only a handful of times. How has the game evolved to a point that the sharpest defensive minds will try to execute something that seems so askew to traditional thought? In the following morass, I'm going to try and explain exactly what a zone blitz is, and why teams are so willing to use the concept.

My knowledge of football history is not as strong as others, so I won't claim to know who did what first and when. I do, however, have a good working understanding of hot routes, how and why teams use them, and how the zone blitz is a natural evolutionary concept to counter offensive pre-snap reads.

To make this whole thing easier I'm going to create a standard situation in which to expect a passing situation. Let's say it's third and six on the +45 and the ball is on the left hash. Normal time to expect either a pass or something else based off of a pass look (screen/draw). For simplicities sake we'll use the following formation and routes, which are both packages that every college team in the country runs and I will probably use frequently for examples:

This is a standard cover three beater, as it tries to high low the free safety, and simple crossing routes are used to try and widen out the LB's to create a passing seam to the dig route (X) or post (Z). It's also an effective play against a cover 1 as the dig is one of the toughest covers 1 on 1. Depending on protection schemes, the TB's responsibility will change, for this example, we will assume he flares to the right (more field, and more likely a Sam LB if we are expecting cover three). We're assuming from the start by our play selection that the defense is running a cover three, so that's what kind of look we'll use for this example. Basically, the offensive coordinator has reason to expect the D to run a cover three in this situation. We'll also assume a standard 4-3 to keep it simple:

OK, as I said in the last segment, terminology changes wherever you go, so I'll give a quick run-down of the one I'm using today:

E - Quick-side/weak-side end
N - Nose guard. Normally plays a shade on the center or even head up
3 - 3 technique. Key guy in stopping the run as he's double-teamed a ton
B - Bull end, just another name for strong side end
W - Will/weak-side LB
M - Mike/middle LB
S - Sam/strong-side LB
DB's are same as always, Corners and then strong and free safeties

As this discussion is about zone blitzes, I should explain a bit about them before we get too far. Defense is all about numbers. You want things to be balanced on both sides of the ball for run protection, and you always want to have enough guys around to cover all of the eligible receivers. Used to be, if an offense was getting killed by the blitz they'd just keep as many guys in for protection as possible, and count on their receivers ability to beat the defenses DB's. Fortunately, someone realized that if a defender was blitzing, then we know for a fact that there is going to be a hole in the spot he vacated. So they started coaching QB's and WR's that when they see an LB blitzing, instead of running the route planned, make a sight adjust and run to the empty spot. So rather than keeping extra guys in for protection, the new thought was to spread the D out as far as possible, and then if they tried to blitz with someone and you could recognize it, you could exploit that open spot in a defense with the nearest receiver. I'll never forget the first time we got this to work in high school and I hit our running back on a quick release as two LB's ran by him on the blitz. Ten yard pass that went for sixty and six on the board; yes I got laid later that night, and no, it didn't feel as good as that play.

As I said earlier, defense is all about numbers. Therefore, conventional wisdom dictated that it was very dangerous to run a zone behind a 6 man pass rush. It would leave you with five men covering five potential receivers in a lot of open shared space. It was considered better to run cover zero, where your remaining defenders would all be manned up on a receiver. If you have the athletes, you can roll the dice like this, but if the pass rush doesn't get to the QB, you're asking for trouble. At some point, some brilliant DC realized that the threat of a DL's rush could occupy an OL, and still allow a rushing LB the space needed to get serious pressure. After the development of the hot route, another DQ realized that if you could trick a QB into reading the blitz in one area, even though that LB does come, you could drop a DL into that same vacated area, hopefully taking away that option, while still getting pressure on the QB. It then became possible to still run zone coverage behind a pass rush involving two athletic and fast LB's. I'll draw a scenario up below:

This is still a 4-3 with a cover 3 look, but it obviously looks as if the W and M are coming. We also see that the FS is walked up and covering up our H a bit, but we know that if we get the ball to the H immediately, we should have 5 yards, with the possibility of more. In a perfect world, the H will recognize the blitz and realize that instead of running the short drag the play calls for, he should look for the ball quickly and expect it in the spot vacated by the W and M. If you look at the way the DB's are aligned, it's easy to imagine a cover zero - C on X, FS on H, S on the TB, SS on Y, and the other corner on Z. This is well and good, if you can get to the QB quickly. But there is a lot of space out there, and a decent WR should always be able to get a bit of space quickly, against even good man coverage. But what if we just drop the E into the spot we expect that H to look for the hot route? At the snap it will look like the same as above, but imagine a cover 3 behind it and see how it changes right after the snap (I'll leave the original position in parentheses):

Looks a little confusing, but with some imagination, you can imagine how it will look real-time. Responsibilities being:

E - hook to flats - meaning he drops looking for an immediate threat behind him (H on a hot route) and then looks for a man moving towards the flats (outside of the T to the sideline)
N - rushing lane
3 - rushing lane
B - rushing lane
W - rush/outside contain (no one out of the back field gets wider than him)
M - rushing lane
S - middle of the formation pass drop
SS - hook to flats on the strong side
C's - outside thirds
FS - deep middle third

The trick is to convince the QB and WR's that both W and M are coming, which shouldn't be hard as they ARE coming. It's also important the that the DL doesn't tip things off by being in a different stance, or lined up further from the LOS than normal. Then you should be able to expect the O to sight adjust their routes. As far as pass protection goes, you make it very hard on the left tackle and left guard. As far as they are concerned, they have to respect the immediate threat. Meaning, if the D aligns like above, the guard is expecting center help on the Nose and the right guard to pick up the Mike so he can take care of the End and the Tackle can get the Will. That's expecting a lot of communication to be executed properly, and expecting tough blocks out of both the center and right guard (in this situation you would expect the right tackle to step down and get the three technique while the tailback should either stay in and block the Bull, or hold him with his swing route). Even though the end doesn't come, it's likely the o-line will lose a step on one of the rushers before they react to the end not coming, and everyone from the left guard right has to switch their responsibilities a man to right. Seeing stuff like this will make you understand why those in the know feel that offensive line is one of the toughest positions in all of sports.

It's much like chess or war, feints on feints on feints. Convince the other guy beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are doing A, so you expect him to do B, all the while really running C. This is the stuff that I truly love about the sport, and is why coaches that can read their opponents are tremendously successful.

So that's a real quick and extremely dirty look at the zone blitz. As always, you got questions, drop 'em and I'll give them my best.

-- Bob Pentland

Eleven Archives
-----------------------
Eleven - 1 - Introduction
Eleven - 2 - The Zone Blitz
Eleven - 3 - The Cover Two
Eleven - 4 - Zone Blocking
Eleven - 5 - The Bootleg
Eleven - 6 - Extra Points And Field Goals

Fantasy Football League?

Is there any interest in being in a free Dave Sez fantasy football league? I've "run" one for my office for years, but there aren't really enough avid sports fans here to do that anymore. I'm in one league, but could handle another.

If you are interested (and I'm thinking of using this new site), leave a quick comment. If I get enough positive response, I'll create it later today or tomorrow.