I’m not the first who has said it, and I won’t be the last, Saturday at The Jones felt different. The “buzz “or “excitement” for the 2022 football season has been discussed quite a bit this offseason, but there was almost some kind of communal cathartic release from the entire fanbase once the pregame festivities began. The analogy is almost overused at this point, but it really did feel like we (the entire fanbase and players themselves) completed the Andy Dufresne sewage crawl and we stood there, collectively, with our arms outstretched, staring into the football heavens, basking in the glow of running a flea flicker on your first play from inside your own ten yard line.
Who knows what next week, or this season will bring, but I think we can all agree, Saturday felt good.
So, the first thing I noticed from Saturday actually ended up being much more impactful than I really considered. Notice in the clip below (sorry for the skip, thanks ESPN+) the first person, not on the field, to celebrate with Loic after he scores. Donovan Smith. That says a lot to me about a guy who finished last season as the MVP of a bowl win over an SEC opponent but lost his job anyway. He played so well coming in unexpectedly because he wasn’t sulking over on the bench, but he was actively engaged and celebrating his teammates’ success.
This next clip, the announcers touched on it a few times during the game, but I was a big fan of the different looks the defense was giving the Murray State offense. Now, these aren’t drastically different (I wouldn’t want to show that against Murray State anyway), but they are different enough to make the Oline and QB think a little longer about their assignment. Mixing up looks, while keeping assignments simple, is something that DeRuyter is known for and I’m glad to see that already working its way into the scheme. As for the plays themselves, I mean c’mon, when was the last time we’ve seen the defensive line and linebackers that aggressive? There will be times that it backfires, but I’ll live and die by that.
This clip has the most frustrating, of the several, secondary blunders. I slowed them down to help spot the problems. The Red Raiders are playing Cover 1 or Man Free in the first two plays. Basically, everyone is manned up except for a deep safety who is playing centerfield. You see this coverage a lot when the defense is sending pressure, which Tech did a lot of on Saturday. In the first clip, Malik Dunlap is lined up over the #2 receiver and they are running a Slot Fade, which is a great play and a difficult cover. Even though the pressure is impacting the quarterback, Dunlap is slightly slow to react while providing very little resistance in allowing the receiver to go exactly where he wants, away from the safety. That negates the pressure because the QB can essentially just throw it up. Tyler Owens, the deep safety may garner some criticism, but watch the #1 receiver on the right, he gets a free release and is running right at him, I don’t blame him for being slow to the sideline.
Next play is a lot less defensible; it is just very badly played by Frye and Rabbit. Not only is Frye too easily beaten off the line, Rabbit is too slow to help considering there is not another deep threat. To compound the mistakes, I don’t think the ball could’ve been played any worse by those two and Frye was injured. As the great Pete Campbell exclaimed, “Not great, Bob!”
In the final play, the Red Raiders are playing Cover 0, straight man across the board, and Murray State runs that damn slot fade again. This time Rabbit has the slot, and does a solid job disrupting the route, unfortunately, again, plays the ball about as bad as possible. I sit very close to where this play took place, I was already celebrating an interception when the ball was caught, so you could probably hear me on the broadcast express my displeasure for the actual result.
I would have lost any TE prop bet heading into week one. Who plays the most snaps, who catches the first pass, any of them. The more I think about it though, Teeter’s role makes sense, and I should have seen it. We are going to need him to effectively run the football, which means he will play a lot, which also means Kittley will keep the defense honest with his usage. This play is everything I love about what Kittley does, get the defenses’ eyes moving, their body weight shifting with the motion, and then throw it up the seam to the vacated space. He’s like a boxer the way he sets up his opponent just to throw a haymaker.
This next clip has a couple of the RPOs I liked from Saturday. I’m a big fan of these because they are free yards, if the offense executes, the defense cannot be right. In the first play, Shough is reading the play side safety, the moment he moves forward to help with the run, Shough pulls the ball and throws it to that vacated space. Easy money.
This is how effective RPOs are, this play isn’t really even executed that well (throw behind Price, bad block by Sparkman), but it still results in a good play. Donovan reads the outside linebacker over Price, the moment he is stagnant, while Price runs the bubble, Donovan gets it to Price in space. Kittley gets his dudes the ball in space, that’s all you need in an OC.
I’m going to be honest; I’m worried about the run game. The offensive line generated very little push against this Murray State unit which, I would guess, is going to be the weakest one we see all season. Take a look at the first play in this clip, just zone read, who’s winning their block?
Next clip, the offense is running Dart, backside tackle pulls around and leads for the back. Great adjustment by Thompson, but he has to do that because of Tharpe’s “block.” I really hope this area of his game does not keep him from playing. Otherwise, this is blocked pretty well, not counting Rodgers grabbing a chicken sandwich from Chic-fil-a on his roundabout pull to playside.
The last play in this clip is how Tech is going to have to run the ball. Block down and kick out, I’m not sure they are good enough to win blocking zone schemes. This is a counter variation or GY, where everyone blocks down, leaving the end man on the line of scrimmage. The backside guard kicks him out, and the Y, in this case, leads to playside linebacker. This is a thing of beauty, and I bet we see more zone schemes like this moving forward. Especially considering, with Donovan, the guard can leave the EMOL to read. Then if Donovan pulls it, he has a lead blocker around the outside.
I am worried about our secondary, although I think we will see more zone moving forward. And I am worried about our running game, even though, Hamby really is a pass pro savant. The protection was immaculate, and Kittely is so good at what he does, do we even need to run the ball?
Even with those worries, I think it’s safe to say our excitement was warranted, and I cannot wait until 3 on Saturday.
Who knows what next week, or this season will bring, but I think we can all agree, Saturday felt good.
So, the first thing I noticed from Saturday actually ended up being much more impactful than I really considered. Notice in the clip below (sorry for the skip, thanks ESPN+) the first person, not on the field, to celebrate with Loic after he scores. Donovan Smith. That says a lot to me about a guy who finished last season as the MVP of a bowl win over an SEC opponent but lost his job anyway. He played so well coming in unexpectedly because he wasn’t sulking over on the bench, but he was actively engaged and celebrating his teammates’ success.
This next clip, the announcers touched on it a few times during the game, but I was a big fan of the different looks the defense was giving the Murray State offense. Now, these aren’t drastically different (I wouldn’t want to show that against Murray State anyway), but they are different enough to make the Oline and QB think a little longer about their assignment. Mixing up looks, while keeping assignments simple, is something that DeRuyter is known for and I’m glad to see that already working its way into the scheme. As for the plays themselves, I mean c’mon, when was the last time we’ve seen the defensive line and linebackers that aggressive? There will be times that it backfires, but I’ll live and die by that.
This clip has the most frustrating, of the several, secondary blunders. I slowed them down to help spot the problems. The Red Raiders are playing Cover 1 or Man Free in the first two plays. Basically, everyone is manned up except for a deep safety who is playing centerfield. You see this coverage a lot when the defense is sending pressure, which Tech did a lot of on Saturday. In the first clip, Malik Dunlap is lined up over the #2 receiver and they are running a Slot Fade, which is a great play and a difficult cover. Even though the pressure is impacting the quarterback, Dunlap is slightly slow to react while providing very little resistance in allowing the receiver to go exactly where he wants, away from the safety. That negates the pressure because the QB can essentially just throw it up. Tyler Owens, the deep safety may garner some criticism, but watch the #1 receiver on the right, he gets a free release and is running right at him, I don’t blame him for being slow to the sideline.
Next play is a lot less defensible; it is just very badly played by Frye and Rabbit. Not only is Frye too easily beaten off the line, Rabbit is too slow to help considering there is not another deep threat. To compound the mistakes, I don’t think the ball could’ve been played any worse by those two and Frye was injured. As the great Pete Campbell exclaimed, “Not great, Bob!”
In the final play, the Red Raiders are playing Cover 0, straight man across the board, and Murray State runs that damn slot fade again. This time Rabbit has the slot, and does a solid job disrupting the route, unfortunately, again, plays the ball about as bad as possible. I sit very close to where this play took place, I was already celebrating an interception when the ball was caught, so you could probably hear me on the broadcast express my displeasure for the actual result.
I would have lost any TE prop bet heading into week one. Who plays the most snaps, who catches the first pass, any of them. The more I think about it though, Teeter’s role makes sense, and I should have seen it. We are going to need him to effectively run the football, which means he will play a lot, which also means Kittley will keep the defense honest with his usage. This play is everything I love about what Kittley does, get the defenses’ eyes moving, their body weight shifting with the motion, and then throw it up the seam to the vacated space. He’s like a boxer the way he sets up his opponent just to throw a haymaker.
This next clip has a couple of the RPOs I liked from Saturday. I’m a big fan of these because they are free yards, if the offense executes, the defense cannot be right. In the first play, Shough is reading the play side safety, the moment he moves forward to help with the run, Shough pulls the ball and throws it to that vacated space. Easy money.
This is how effective RPOs are, this play isn’t really even executed that well (throw behind Price, bad block by Sparkman), but it still results in a good play. Donovan reads the outside linebacker over Price, the moment he is stagnant, while Price runs the bubble, Donovan gets it to Price in space. Kittley gets his dudes the ball in space, that’s all you need in an OC.
I’m going to be honest; I’m worried about the run game. The offensive line generated very little push against this Murray State unit which, I would guess, is going to be the weakest one we see all season. Take a look at the first play in this clip, just zone read, who’s winning their block?
Next clip, the offense is running Dart, backside tackle pulls around and leads for the back. Great adjustment by Thompson, but he has to do that because of Tharpe’s “block.” I really hope this area of his game does not keep him from playing. Otherwise, this is blocked pretty well, not counting Rodgers grabbing a chicken sandwich from Chic-fil-a on his roundabout pull to playside.
The last play in this clip is how Tech is going to have to run the ball. Block down and kick out, I’m not sure they are good enough to win blocking zone schemes. This is a counter variation or GY, where everyone blocks down, leaving the end man on the line of scrimmage. The backside guard kicks him out, and the Y, in this case, leads to playside linebacker. This is a thing of beauty, and I bet we see more zone schemes like this moving forward. Especially considering, with Donovan, the guard can leave the EMOL to read. Then if Donovan pulls it, he has a lead blocker around the outside.
I am worried about our secondary, although I think we will see more zone moving forward. And I am worried about our running game, even though, Hamby really is a pass pro savant. The protection was immaculate, and Kittely is so good at what he does, do we even need to run the ball?
Even with those worries, I think it’s safe to say our excitement was warranted, and I cannot wait until 3 on Saturday.
