An example of a guy who actually knows what the heck he is talking about in regards to X's and O's believe it or not is Any Staples. He had a great breakdown of the first touchdown play in SI today. Including some things that I didn't see until he pointed them out. For example, Bates dropped into a pass blocking stance which sent Gary upfield and opened the seam for barkley to run.
https://www.si.com/college-football/2017/10/23/penn-state-offense-michigan-ohio-state
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — They began working the play in camp, but it sat on the shelf for the first half of the season. Finally, on the second play of the game against one of the nation’s top defenses, Penn State coach James Franklin and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead unleashed it.
The basic description—a Wildcat play for star tailback Saquon Barkley—doesn’t sound like anything special. Barkley is one of the nation’s best backs and a likely Heisman Trophy contender. Of course the coaching staff would find a way to snap the ball to him directly and run something simple like QB Power or inside zone. But it wasn’t the play itself that shocked Michigan. It was the way the Nittany Lions set it up.
On a typical Wildcat play, the quarterback splits out wide while the tailback takes his place behind the center. A defender has to remain near the quarterback on the off chance he may be used as a receiver, but the quarterback rarely does much except serve as a decoy. This was
taken to hilarious extremes a few weeks ago by Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler.
But why use Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley as a decoy? He can run as well as most tailbacks. So instead of splitting McSorley out wide, Moorhead decided to simply swap McSorley and Barkley’s roles in the read option. This didn’t change anything for Penn State’s blockers and didn’t change much—other than offering a refreshing change of pace—for Barkley and McSorley. But it did accomplish two things:
1. The Nittany Lions could get into the formation much more quickly than if they’d sent McSorley to the edge of the field, and this kept Michigan from adjusting. All McSorley and Barkley did was trade places and run the play. “That was pretty fun to see it from that point of view,” said McSorley, who took a handoff from that formation later in the game.
2. It really messed with the Wolverines’ heads.
Michigan players spent all week practicing to defend read option plays in which McSorley puts the ball in the belly of Barkley and reads an unblocked defender. Repetition taught Michigan defenders that the guy holding the ball first is the less dangerous runner and the one who might take the ball is the more dangerous runner. Plus, the action of the blockers told the Wolverines that the play was designed to go to the player who might take the ball. The quarterback will only pull if he has an obvious running lane.
Barkley took the snap and placed the ball in the belly of McSorley, who ran from left to right toward the short side of the field. (That was on purpose as well, leaving more field open to the left.) Michigan defenders flowed with Penn State’s linemen as they blocked an inside zone to the right. They left one defender (linebacker Mike McCray) unblocked on the right, suggesting that’s where the play would go. Everything they’d been trained to do told them to favor the runner who might take the ball (McSorley) rather than the player who took the snap (Barkley).
And that’s exactly what they did. The only detail remaining was to leave a crease for Barkley to escape through when he pulled the ball back from McSorley’s belly. That was achieved by having left tackle Ryan Bates pass set instead of run block. That drew defensive end Rashan Gary on an upfield rush and opened a seam to the left for Barkley. You probably already know what happened next.
Barkley outran Michigan’s entire secondary and scored the first of his three touchdowns: two rushing, one receiving. Penn State set a tone that no matter how stingy Michigan’s defense had been before, it would not limit an offense that had better players than Michigan had previously seen and had saved several new wrinkles just for the Wolverines.
“That offense is ridiculous,” Penn State linebacker Jason Cabinda said. “Joe Moorhead’s a genius.” And Penn State’s willingness to break out new wrinkles early in games has contributed to a 90–0 advantage in first quarters this season. “If you can get a lead, it changes how people have to play,” Franklin said. “So we play with an aggressive mindset.”
That Wildcat formation was the most obvious, but the Nittany Lions unveiled several new formations and motions Saturday just for Michigan. They had practiced all of these earlier, but they didn’t want them on video, so they avoided using them in games. This included starting with an empty backfield and staying empty through the snap of the ball. (Previously, someone had motioned into the backfield from an empty set, or someone had motioned out of the backfield to create an empty set.)
Barkley’s juggling 42-yard touchdown catch came out of one of these formations.
It also included the occasional game of skill player monte, using pre-snap motion to disguise Barkley’s location at the snap for as long as possible. The less time the Wolverines had to adjust after determining where Barkley would start each play, the better for Penn State. But while the Nittany Lions had saved some scheme specifically for Michigan, the Wolverines had opted to stick mostly with what they’d already shown Penn State on film. “They stayed true to themselves,” Barkley said. “They changed a little bit of stuff, but they played us how they played a lot of other teams.”
This is an eternal debate in football. When faced with a dynamic opponent, how much should a coach change or add? Or should he dance with the date who got him to this particular party? Penn State didn’t unveil a new offense for Michigan.
Moorhead added on to concepts the Nittany Lions use frequently. Even the most extreme example—the Wildcat read option—isn’t that much of a stretch. Barkley and McSorley run the read option routinely. Each knows who should get the ball when based on what the defense shows. All they needed to hone was Barkley’s ability to hand off (or not) and McSorley’s sense for when to clamp down on the ball if he was going to take a handoff.
They built their catalogue of skills with a practice ethic created from the ashes of last season’s 49–10 disaster at Michigan. “That was rock bottom for this team,” McSorley said. “Everyone was embarrassed. We thought we’d been working hard the entire time. … We had to swallow our pride and realize we weren’t working to the standard we needed to compete at the highest level of the Big Ten.”
They learned their day-in, day-out preparation needed to be better, to be more like Michigan’s disciplined, veteran 2016 team. They also learned that they needed to have something special for special opponents. They’ll need something especially special this week when they go to Columbus to face Ohio State in a game that likely will decide the Big Ten East title.
After the Michigan win, James Franklin picked up a reporter’s phone and checked the time. Seeing it was 11:23 pm, he made a declaration. “We’ve got 37 minutes to enjoy this win,” he said. “I’m not going to talk about the next opponent. I’m going to enjoy the heck out of this win for 37 minutes.”
By now, the Nittany Lions have fully immersed themselves in preparation for the Buckeyes. This includes something they might have shown Saturday had Michigan kept the score a little closer. “We had another play that Joe wanted to call,” Franklin said. “I just said, ‘I would prefer that you not.’”
What could it be? Will it be as fun as Barkley’s Wildcat formation?
We’ll find out when the Buckeyes do.
Sports Illustrated is celebrating Penn State’s last quarter-century of Big Ten play with a special issue, honoring the school’s greatest players and games from the era. You can get your copy at newsstands now, or order it online here.
