In news that surprises nobody, Stan Brock is gonzo.
Category: football
WOOT
Thank God yesterday’s games were a lot better than the stinkers we got on Thanksgiving. Today should be as good. Virginia-Virginia Tech! Georgia-Georgia Tech! South Carolina-Clemson! Florida-Florida State! Bedlam! Civil War! And if you hate the very idea of defense, Houston-Rice!
What are you watching?
MAYHEM!
Clemson beat Virginia? NC State beat UNC? The bottom of the ACC is quite the mess.
INTERROGATIVE
Why are NIU and Kent State playing on a Tuesday night if it isn’t on TV?
THE MIDLINE OPTION
After a 5-game stretch that included games against two teams currently ranked in the top 25, three BCS teams, and a service academy rival (with 4 of those 5 games being on the road ), to be sitting at 4-2 right now is a pretty great feeling. That feeling is made even greater when you consider how banged up the Mids are. With more concussions and hamstring problems than we know what to do with, plus the emotional cyclone of a string of intense games, the bye week probably couldn’t come at a better time. That’s good for the team, but bad for bloggers. Bye weeks are pretty quiet, and even next week’s opponent, Pitt, is off on Saturday. Finding something to write about can be a challenge. “OMG LOOK AT THE AWESOME HEALING” probably wouldn’t be a very entertaining bye week blog post. So to fill the void, I thought I’d do the same thing I did before last year’s Pitt game and take a look at a particular element of the Navy offense. This time around, we’ll look at the midline option, with a couple of examples.
A couple of you have sent me notes asking how I can tell when a play is an option play or when it’s designed for a specific runner to carry the ball. Since most examples of the latter in Ivin Jasper’s playbook still show a triple option motion in the backfield, it can be a little confusing. But you don’t need to be in the huddle to know; you just need to look away from the ball. You can tell by watching the offensive line. On an option play, you always leave certain players unblocked for the quarterback to read. When you see linemen running past their counterparts in the trenches in order to lay a block on a linebacker, you know it’s an option play. On the other hand, if you see the offensive linemen pushing straight ahead and simply blocking whoever is lined up in front of them, then you know that the player carrying the ball is doing so by design. (In fact, in games where film on an opponent’s defense might be scarce, it’s common for Paul Johnson or Ivin Jasper to call a designed handoff to the fullback on the first play while showing option motion in the backfield. They use that play to see how the linebackers and secondary will be playing the option. Once the coaches see that, they have a better idea of how they will want to call their game.) On “regular” triple option plays, it’s the playside offensive tackle leaving a 4, 4i, or 5 technique (usually a defensive end) unblocked to make a play for the quarterback to read.
OK, so what’s the “midline” option, then? All the midline option means is that the quarterback reads an interior lineman instead– the first down lineman from the guard out, usually a defensive tackle. Let’s take a look at one of my favorite midline option plays of the last few years, from the Emerald Bowl after the 2004 season:
This is the most common midline option that we see Navy run. It’s a QB-FB option, with the tail motion slotback becoming a blocker after the snap. You can see the defensive tackle being unblocked by the guard and going for the fullback. The guard makes sure he releases inside the read key, then proceeds to block the closest linebacker to the play. Or in this case, he gets blown up by the linebacker. (It may be a fine in kangaroo court, but it’s still enough to get the job done.) The playside tackle blocks the first defender outside the quarterback’s read; here it’s the outside linebacker in New Mexico’s 3-3-5 scheme. The two slotbacks become lead blockers for the quarterback and take on the defensive backs coming up to play run support; you won’t find many examples of slotback blocking quite as good as this.
So how does the midline compliment the rest of the playbook? The spread formation stretches the defense from sideline to sideline, and having four potential downfield receiving threats stretches the defense vertically. The central theme of any spread offense is to force the other team to defend the whole field. The triple option is such a great play in part because it attacks three different areas at once, putting pressure on the defense. But what it doesn’t attack is the middle of the field, right up the gut. That’s where the midline fits in. Defenses that are a little too aggressive in flowing outside to stop the triple can find themselves a little soft up the middle. By optioning off of, say, a 3 tech instead of a 4 or 5 tech, you force the defense to cover different gaps.
The midline brings some other things to the table too. One of the advantages that you get from running the option is the somewhat counterintuitive ability to neutralize a defense’s best player by not blocking him. If you execute properly, the play goes wherever the read doesn’t. It’s kind of like sending the defender on a wild goose chase; no matter who he chooses to cover, he’ll never make a play on the ball carrier if the QB makes the right read. By adding the midline option on top of existing triple option plays, the offensive coordinator has the ability to option off of any down lineman.
Against Rutgers, the midline option was the offense’s most effective play. But in that game, we saw a different wrinkle– the midline triple option. Instead of the tail motion slotback becoming a blocker, he becomes the pitch man. In the “heavy” formation, the wide receiver filled in for the extra tackle that was moved to one side of the formation. The defensive line shifted to match the new alignment, lining the DE up across from the guard in a 3 technique. The midline would option off of him. The DB “covering” the wide receiver became the first player lined up outside the read, making him the WR-turned-tackle’s responsibility. Even though personnel are shifted around, the play is run the same way you’d run any other midline option:
One thing about the midline is that it’s a very fast read for the quarterback. The good news, though, is that the defender has to commit just as quickly. The sooner a defender commits on an option play, the easier it usually is to read. On this play, the read turned his shoulders to the fullback, so Kaipo kept the ball.
Ivin Jasper called the exact same thing on the next play. The read didn’t want to get fooled again, so he stepped upfield and played the quarterback:
(If you want to see the midline triple where Kaipo pitches to the slotback, go back to the clips in the Rutgers recap post. Just ignore the arrows this time.)
Craig Candeto used to call the QB-FB midline his favorite play because he only had one read, and the DT tends to take the fullback most of the time. In fact, you’ll frequently hear this play mistakenly called a designed QB keeper by TV analysts, since the quarterback usually does end up keeping the ball. Sometimes you do see designed keepers, especially in short yardage situations. But more often than not, it’s the midline option. Hopefully now you know how to tell the difference!
The Science and The Art
Ivin Jasper has some big shoes to fill.
Not that he really needs anyone to remind him. The future of Navy’s offense in the post-Paul Johnson world has been on everyone’s mind since the former head coach in Annapolis moved on to face new challenges at Georgia Tech. The offense has been Navy’s calling card; it’s what made Navy, Navy. Under Johnson, the Mids never finished lower than third in the country in rushing, and they became the first team to lead the country in that category for three consecutive years. So far, Ken Niumatalolo has fielded most of the questions from the press about the future of the offense. But when Towson comes to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on August 30 it’ll be Jasper that’s under the microscope. The new offensive coordinator is, after all, carrying out the gameday duties Navy’s former offensive messiah. Paul Johnson was a master of both the science of designing plays for his offense, and the art of knowing just how to unleash those plays at the right time. Fortunately, while Jasper might not have been calling the plays, he was already a significant factor in Navy’s recent offensive success– both as the quarterbacks coach and as Paul Johnson’s gameday eyes in the booth. Jasper would relay what he was seeing from his perch above the stadium to Johnson, who called plays based on that input. Jasper was part of the decision-making process. That, plus his experience as a player in this offense (at two different positions), makes Coach Jasper about as prepared as one can be to get behind the wheel of Paul Johnson’s offensive machine. So it will be both nerve-wracking and exciting to see where the similarities and differences will be with Jasper running the show on game day. His X & O mastery is without question. But what about his style? His creativity? How will he make this offense his own?
Some people don’t think it’s possible to have much style or creativity in such a “boring” option offense, but style is something that sets Paul Johnson apart. One of the more fascinating things about the way Paul Johnson calls games is seeing how far ahead he thinks. He’ll spend an entire game– hell, sometimes an entire season– setting up one play. He is very conscious of what he puts on film, and knows what his own tendencies are. He uses that to his advantage. I remember reading one of his press conference transcripts after the Notre Dame game a few years ago, talking about a play he called on third & short. He commented that he made a point to do repeat one particular play in that down & distance situation all year in order to give the Irish coaches something to pick up on in the film room… Just so he could call something different on that day and hopefully catch them off guard. It didn’t work in that case, but sometimes it works to absolute perfection. Perhaps the most easily illustrated example of this is the 2006 game at Connecticut.
Navy fans remember the game, but I’ll give a quick recap for the Georgia Tech fans that will inevitably find their way to this post. The Mids had over 600 yards of offense against the Huskies in their 2006 meeting. Quarterback Brian Hampton and slotback Reggie Campbell both had over 100 rushing yards, with Campbell’s yardage coming on only 5 carries. Navy was plagued by penalties, but still rolled to a 41-17 win thanks to big plays. The Mids’ first play from scrimmage was a 77-yard TD pass from Hampton to Campbell. Reggie followed up on that play with a 68-yard TD run on the first play of the second half. (WARNING: GRATUITOUS HIGHLIGHT)
Fullback Adam Ballard had an 81-yard run. Shun White caught a pitch and took it 27 yards. Brian Hampton had three touchdown runs, the longest coming on a counter option in the 4th quarter that went for 52 yards.
It’s that last play that is the subject of this post. Paul Johnson spent an entire quarter setting up that play. How did he do it? Let’s begin with breaking down a basic Navy counter option play to find out.
The Science
Before every game, opposing coaches and players are asked about what it takes to stop Navy’s option offense. The answer is always the same: “discipline.” But if that was the case, shouldn’t Navy’s offense get shut down more often? How hard is it to teach defenses a little bit of discipline? The truth is that it’s a lot easier said than done. To demonstrate this, we’ll start with Navy’s bread & butter, the triple option:
So here’s your basic triple option play against an even front, being run to the left (my apologies for the crude diagram). The backside slotback begins his tail motion based on the quarterback’s cadence, usually a second or so before the snap. This happens right in front of the face of the backside 5 technique, in this case a defensive end. When the 5-tech sees the slotback go in motion, he knows that the play is going to go in the same direction. So what does he do? He starts to cheat that way, especially if the fullback keeps getting the ball. It’s hard not to when you see the same thing happening over and over and over again. This is why disciplined defense is so challenging. You can preach it to death in practice, but during the game, when you’re on the field for 5-6 minute drives as the offense in front of you is gaining 3-4 yards on every play, you start thinking that maybe it’s up to you to do something to force a 4th down. Or maybe you just get tired from being out there for so long and lose your concentration. Either way, that DE starts cheating inside, sometimes without even realizing it. And when that happens, Ivin Jasper sees it from his press box perch. Enter, the counter option:
Once that 5 technique starts cheating inside, he becomes an easy target for a pulling guard to seal off and trap. And that’s the heart of the counter option play. The numbering for reads is done the same way as with the triple option (if you haven’t already, I suggest reading this post from last year for an explanation on the numbers). The same A-back goes into tail motion just as he did on the triple option play. But this time, he pivots and reverses direction on the snap. Instead of being the pitch man, he carries out an arc block to the run support (#3). The playside 5 technique sees the tail motion before the snap and cheats inside. When he realizes that the play is going the other way and changes direction to pursue, he’s met by a pulling guard that traps him. This leaves the quarterback free to get upfield and read his pitch key.
The quarterback has his own set of concerns. At the snap, he turns in the same direction as the tail motion to carry out the triple option look. At this point, he has his back to the pitch key. This makes him vulnerable; the pitch key is unblocked and can uncork a monster hit on the quarterback if he comes in on a blitz. Because of this, the quarterback should find a “soft” #2 to run the play towards. “Soft” meaning that before the snap, he doesn’t look like he’s going to blitz (speaking of easier said than done). If the pitch key does come in and attack the quarterback, the QB will pitch the ball to the backside slotback.
The Art
It’s one thing to just take what the defense gives you. On this day, Paul Johnson pulled a playcalling rope-a-dope that made the defense give him what he wanted, and then delivered the knockout blow. After Reggie’s touchdown run to open up the second half, the Mids began mixing in plays on from a new formation on their next couple of posessions, with twin wide receivers on one side. Like so:
Other than a couple of pass attempts, Navy almost exclusively ran option plays out of this formation. And on every single option play, they ran the play towards the side of the field where the wide receivers were lined up:
This went on for a whole quarter. But on Navy’s first full 4th quarter drive, PJ dropped the bomb. The Mids ran the counter option, faking towards the wide receivers then turning around and running the play the other way. You’re going to have to watch this clip a few times. The first time, watch the playside defensive end (towards the top of the screen) bite hard on the fake and charge towards the fullback. Antron Harper is the pulling guard and completely cuts him off. The second time you watch the video, notice how the linebackers and safety also completely buy into the fake. It leaves them so off balance that the outside linebacker gets blown away by a beastly block from the left tackle, while the safety panics and overruns the play, whiffing on the tackle.
The fake was so good that even though the play wasn’t perfectly executed (Zach Gallion couldn’t maintain his block and Matt Hall couldn’t get through the line of scrimmage to block the backside linebacker), it still went the distance. With a little bit of speed and the ability to make people miss, that’s the sort of thing that can happen in this offense when a play is set up so beautifully.
And that was PJ’s style. In his best games, he didn’t just take what the defense gave him. He found ways to indirectly control the defense. We saw games where PJ liked to grind it out, and games where PJ would swing for the fences. Now it’s Coach Jasper’s turn in the lab, and we’ll probably see the same thing– at least on a macro scale. But the beauty lies in the details of just how to set up for that home run, and that’s where style comes in. Coach Jasper finding his style– his way of dictating the game–will be the story of the offense in 2008.
MELTING?
There was quite a bit happening while I was gone. I-Day and the subsequent official recruit lists were the big news. The 2009 schedule evolved a bit more, too, as Rice now is scheduled for the date once reserved for Rutgers. And we also had this bit announcing that former Army punter Owen Tolson’s pursuit of an NFL contract has come to an end.
“Football is a thing of the past, I’m told,” said Tolson, who signed with the Giants in May but was cut after rookie mini-camp.
Really? So does this mean that the Army has thrown a bucket of water on the ASO witch?
Don’t get your hopes up. Caleb Campbell is still a Detroit Lion, isn’t he? And none of the Army baseball players filling the ranks of the minor leagues have been whisked away, have they? No. The Alternative “Service” Option hasn’t gone anywhere. It would appear to me that this is nothing more than housekeeping, with the goal being to simply save face by limiting the time that players have to pursue a pro contract.
That puts the Army in a rather ironic position. The best thing for them would be if Caleb Campbell was cut by the Lions. That way, the Army gets to say “See? They’re going off to serve now. No harm, no foul!” Sure, that means that they won’t get any good PR out of Campbell. But they would still get to sell the ASO to recruits (which is all they really care about), while OSD stays off their backs since there’s nobody violating the DOD policy. Well, other than baseball and hockey players, but Army’s been getting away with that for a few years now. The Army’s policy would simply be under perpetual “review.”
In a twist that everyone could see coming except for the Army, the worst part is that by possibly being called back into actual service, Campbell is generating negative PR. The headlines tell the story: “Campbell’s career could be in jeopardy.” “Campbell might have to forgo NFL career for Army.” The tone is one of disappointment. “Oh no, he’s going to have to serve now.” And that not only doesn’t help Army recruiting efforts… It harms them by painting the Army as a letdown. Talk of Campbell’s future is nothing but speculation now, but just watch. If he gets cut, the collective response will be, “oh no! Now he has to go be in the Army!”
Anyway, the drama continues.
While I was sleeping
A lot of stuff on the ol’ radar that I haven’t addressed:
Chet gets a new contract. Navy’s athletic director and 2005 Bobby Dodd AD of the Year was inked through 2015. The Birddog Expert Analysis: Woot! I assume that there’s no explanation necessary for why this is a good thing.
The latest in the Caleb Campbell mess includes a Boston Globe piece that doesn’t include anything you haven’t already heard, except for the latest in ridiculous Caleb Campbell quotes:
“We all fight for freedom in different ways. Each in our own way.”
Someone please put a muzzle on this guy.
We also have an Examiner piece that calls Campbell “the anti-Tillman.” I said at the beginning of all this that comparisons to Pat Tillman were inevitable, and Bob Frantz’s column was only the latest in a long line articles that did so. Despite the headline, the column is fairly middle-of-the-road. At least until you get to a subtle dig at the end:
The merits of those arguments can be debated in perpetuity, and I will not attempt to bolster nor condemn any of them here. Rather, I prefer to let this story serve as a reminder to us all, on this solemn Memorial Day, of the extraordinary sacrifices made by so many men who either delayed or interrupted their professional careers in service to the greatest nation on earth.
Apparently Frantz doesn’t buy the idea that “we all fight for freedom in different ways.”
In contrast, ESPN’s Ivan Maisel writes about how former Navy football players are applying the lessons they learned on the gridiron to situations they face in the fleet. It’s a great illustration of the value of intercollegiate athletics at service* academies. And while one Ivan Maisel column won’t bring the sheer exposure that a season in the NFL would, in this instance it certainly provides a hell of a lot more substance.
Millen, who answers to the nickname “Moon,” said he relishes working with other former Midshipmen players.
“Most of the players I’ve seen tend to get along with each other, not just football players, but with other folks,” Millen said. “They interact well with others and play well as a team. I know that when I work with those guys, they’ve been through the same training I have. They’re competent in what they do. It’s sort of a litmus test, I guess, certainly for those of us that played. I know if I pull Ensign Diggs out to help me with something, I know what comes with that. … As a fellow ballplayer, there’s certainly more to him, and he walks in with a certain resume.”
That, dear readers, is what they call it the Brotherhood.
UNC fired John Haus, their head men’s lacrosse coach. Naturally, initial speculation as to who will replace him has centered around those with North Carolina ties… And one of the most successful lacrosse coaches who fits the bill is UNC alum Richie Meade. Fortunately, he doesn’t appear to be interested in leaving Annapolis:
Meade said yesterday he has not been contacted by North Carolina about the vacancy and was content at Navy.
“I’m very happy to be the head coach at the Naval Academy and hope to remain so,” Meade said. “I have no idea what direction North Carolina is going to go. I’m sure they will get a quality head coach because it’s a great school and a great program.”
Good news, because I don’t think my stomach can take another coaching change this year.
The MAC might expand to 14 teams by adding Western Kentucky and Temple in all sports. OK.
Army and Notre Dame might start playing again, according to the Times Herald-Record. OK.
And finally, in the realm of the absurd, we have the news that the Toronto Argonauts have signed Ross Weaver. As in the 2006 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Ross Weaver. Weaver has spent the last two years playing arena ball with the Colorado Ice. Now with the Argos, Weaver is serving the Air Force by tapping into previously untouched recruiting territory: Canada! It’s amazing nobody’s thought of this before!
Two years of arena football, and now Canada. We all fight for freedom in different ways!
Sometimes I think I’m the only sane person left.
You can get dizzy from this much spin
The Air Force Times did an article on the Army’s Alternative Service (lol) Option over the weekend. It’s mostly the same ol’ stuff, with the twist of some quotes and background on Bryce Fisher, Air Force class of 1999 and current Tennessee Titans defensive end. It’s mostly stuff you’ve already seen, but there were a couple things worth mentioning.
We’ll start with the news that the Army is reviewing its policy, with findings due by the end of the month. At least, that’s the way it’s being spun:
An Army spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, said she couldn’t explain why the Army interprets the Defense Department’s policy differently from the Air Force and Navy. Army officials are reviewing this policy with a ruling due by the end of May, she said.
“We are currently conducting an internal review to ensure we are operating within the intent of DoD’s policy and will determine if any adjustments are appropriate,” Edgecomb wrote in an e-mail to Air Force Times.
But let’s be serious here. You don’t need to conduct an internal review “to ensure we are operating within the intent of DoD’s policy.” When the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness sends a memo to service secretaries three days after the NFL draft, reminding them what the DoD policy is and stating that “constructs for ‘active duty’ service should not include arrangements typically unavailable to others in uniform,” any literate person without an agenda already knows that the Army isn’t even coming close to complying with the intent of the DoD policy. So why the review? To figure out another way to circumvent the DoD directive, of course. It’s the only explanation. You don’t need any kind of review to simply say “Yes, sir!” and carry out your orders. So I’m not optimistic that the end of the Alternative Service (lol) Option is imminent, although after Chu’s memo it’d take some serious spinning and loophole-crafting to be able to weasel out of it. We’ll see if the Army can come up with anything.
Meanwhile, the Air Force has used the DoD policy to send a player to the Arena League:
First Lt. Brett Huyser, an Air Force Academy ‘04 grad who started two years on the football team and now plays guard for the Colorado Crush in the Arena Football League might have had a shot in the NFL if the Army’s policy applied to him back then.
“NFL teams called my agent, but once they found out that I would have to sit out for two years they lost interest,” he said.
Huyser transferred out of active duty two years ago and now splits his time in the Reserves working at the Air Force Academy and playing arena football for the Crush, from whom he earned $36,000 a year in his second season.
Wow… Arena football? Really? Good thing nobody’s abusing the DoD policy! I can only assume that Huyser just wasn’t cut out for the elite Combat Coach program. But spending reserve time at the Air Force Academy probably still gives him a chance to provide valuable mentorship, so clearly his education was money well spent by the American taxpayer.
Finally, we have this:
Last June, Air Force Academy baseball star Karl Bolt was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 15th round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft after he graduated with his class in May.
Bolt is on active duty at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., but he saves his leave all year so he can break off and play in the Phillies’ minor league farm system over the summer. He is lining up at first base this summer for their Single-A minor league team, the Lakewood BlueClaws in New Jersey.
Man, I had a hard time squeezing in 5 days of leave on active duty. I’m not sure what Bolt’s job is, but I imagine it isn’t exactly a vital one if the command can get by without him for 30 straight days… Assuming that’s all he’s getting.
Opportunity Knocks
It’s a fact of life as a football independent that bowl games are hard to come by. Most bowl games have conference affiliations that make it hard for an independent like Navy to carve out a spot, even with the ever-growing roster of games. So when a conference and a bowl game split up, it’s big news for Navy fans. And that’s what we have today, as the ACC has decided to part ways with the Humanitarian Bowl.
“We will be leaving the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise,” ACC commissioner John Swofford told ESPN.com Wednesday. “They provided some excellent experiences for our teams. I think if you talk with our teams they’ve enjoyed being there. It’s a little different kind of bowl experience than a lot of places but our schools, coaches and athletic directors have wanted to move that particular game back more in our geographic footprint.”
Might the ACC’s departure create an opportunity for Navy to swoop in? It sounds like it:
“We’re working on two fronts — we want a one-year deal for 2009, and also are looking for someone to sign a longer-term deal with from 2010 and on,” McDonald said.
McDonald would not say who the bowl was speaking with for the future deals, though he did add that “we’re not just going to try and keep it geographical.”
That one-year 2009 deal sounds perfect, with the Congressional Bowl being locked up for 2008 and the Poinsettia Bowl’s at-large bid opening up again in 2010. And I think that the director’s comment about not necessarily limiting their selection to schools and conferences in close proximity to Boise is a clear signal to teams like Navy that they are in play. I have no doubt that Chet Gladchuk was on the phone the moment this news hit the wire.
I know what half of you are thinking. I can already hear the groaning. Boise? Yes, Boise. I know that the game is sort treated like the gag prize of the bowl season, but that’s just among the message board crowd. The Humanitarian Bowl Committee has a very good reputation around college football for treating their teams well. The main complaint about Boise is the cold, and yes, Boise is cold in December. But they put their cold to work for them. The Humanitarian Bowl is a sort of winter wonderland bowl game, with all the skiing and winter sports you can handle. It might not appeal to everybody, but spending New Year’s Eve skiing and watching football sounds like fun to me. It’s a unique bowl experience, and I’m all for it.
If you’re waiting for the Cotton Bowl to open up, you’re going to be waiting for a long time. I say we make the most of these opportunities when they present themselves.
The Birddog 