Texas A&M 28, Nebraska 21
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14 Husker series
6 punts
3 TDs
1 A&M TD off fumble
1 interception
3 turned over on downs
Twins= 2 WRs to strength, TE away, I formation
Open= 2 WRs to strength, 1 WR away, I formation
Trips= 2 WR and TE to strength, TE away, one back (IB)
Tight= 1 WR and TE to strength, TE away, I formation
Ace= 1 WR and TE to each side, one back (IB)
Power= TE to each side, three backs in I formation
Spread= WR and TE to strength, 2 WRs away, one back (IB)
"WingTight"= Tight formation with WR moved in to WB slot.
"Wide"= 2 WRs to each side, 1 back
"Gun WIde"= wide with shot gun and one back moved to formation strength
(quotes indicate not Nebraska's terminology- I dont know what they call it)
Motion terms:
I don't know Nebraskas motion terminology (I know they have been tinkering
with it this year though). I use the following terms from my experience:
Zin= Flanker (z) motion into the formation
Zac= Flanker(z) motion across the formation
Wac= Wingback motion across the formation
Hag= Halfback (I back in this case) motion out of formation
Wag= Wingback motion out of formation (as when he is middle man in Power set)
Other terms:
PA= play action. I try to list the play fake.
Drop= dropback pass
I dont know much about Nebraskas passing calls so I am guessing the routes.
X= split end
Z= flanker
Y= tight end
(A)= apparent audible at line of scrimmage
(A-dir)= apparent audible to change direction of play
N35 1-10 Twins L Toss sweep R gain 1
N36 2-9 Open L Screen pass PENALTY-intentional grounding
N17 3-28 Trips L (Zin) Inside zone gain 8
N25 4-23 PUNT
T40 1-10 Twins R Belly option R loss 1
T41 2-11 Twins L PA-C.trap X-0ut gain 10
T31 3-1 Tight R Belly option R loss 1
T32 4-2 Open L Arc option L loss 3
TURNED OVER ON DOWNS
N19 1-10 Tight L (A) FB Dive R fumbled snap gain 1
N20 2-9 Tight L (A-dir) FB Dive R gain 3
N23 3-6 Open L Drop sack- loss 4
N19 4-10 PUNT
N4 1-10 Ace In zone R gain 1
N5 2-9 Power (wag L)Belly option L gain 3- Newcombe wrong way
N8 3-6 Tight L PA-dive opt. Z-out Incomplete
N8 4-6 PUNT
N28 1-10 Tight R FB Dive R gain 4
N32 2-6 Power Wall option L gain 5 (safety is option key)
N37 3-1 Wing Tight R In Iso L no gain
N37 4-1 PUNT
T48 1-10 Tight R (A-dir)FB Dive R gain 3
T45 2-7 Open R Wall option L gain 2
T43 3-5 Open R Drop Z curl gain 13
T30 1-10 Open L (A) Arc option L loss 1
T31 2-11 Open R PA-C.trap X out gain 17
T14 1-10 Power Wall option R gain 4 (short side)
T10 2-6 Power FB Trap R gain 3
T7 3-3 Power (A) Wall option R gain 7 TD (short side)
TOUCHDOWN
N44 1-10 Tight R Arc option R gain 1
N45 2-9 Trips L PA-C.trap Y seam PENALTY: offsetting
N45 2-9 Gun Wide R(A-dir) Drop X stop gain 7 (TAM in 4-3 defense)
T48 3-2 WingTight R (A-dir) Belly opt. R loss 2
-50 4-4 PUNT
N39 1-10 Twins L PA-C.trap Z sideline incomplete
N39 2-10 Trips L Rollout L X out gain 6
N45 3-4 Open R Wall option R gain 3
N48 4-1 PUNT
N10 1-10 Tight L Inside iso gain 1
N11 2-9 Ace PA-InZone Z out gain 8
N19 3-1 Tight L Belly opt. L gain 2
N21 1-10 Trips R PA-InZone sack loss 4
N17 2-14 Open R Drop sack loss 6
N 11 3-20 Gun Wide L Drop sack loss 9 fumble A&M TD
Texas A&M TD
N49 1-10 Open R Belly option R gain 11
T40 1-10 Open L (A-dir) FB Trap R gain 22
T18 1-10 Power (A-dir) Wall option L gain 4
T14 2-6 Open R Belly option R gain 3
T11 3-3 Open L FB Trap L gain 1
T10 4-2 Tight L Arc option WB reverse R loss 2
TURNED OVER ON DOWNS
N20 1-10 Open L Belly option L gain 3
N23 2-7 Pro R PA-draw X post gain 48
T29 1-10 Open R (A-dir) FB Trap L gain 5
T24 2-5 Twins R (A-dir) Arc option LR? gain 1
T23 3-4 Open R PA-belly opt X out incomplete
T23 4-4 Tight R PA-In zone Z hitch incomplete
TURNED OVER ON DOWNS
N24 1-10 Wide (Hag R) Screen pass R incomplete
N24 2-10 Gun Wide R Drop-scramble gain 14
N38 1-10 Pro R PA-In iso X go gain 40
T22 1-10 Wide Speed option R gain 8
T14 2-2 Open L Belly option L gain 3
T11 1-10 Wide (Hag R) QB Trap R gain 11 TD
TOUCHDOWN at 8:08 4th qtr
N34 1-10 Gun Wide R Drop X out gain 7
N41 2-3 Gun Wide L Drop X hitch gain 9
-50 1-10 Gun Wide R Drop X out? incomplete
-50 2-10 Gun Wide R Drop (Rollout R?) incolmplete
-50 3-10 Gun Wide L QB counter sweep gain 20
T30 1-10 Gun Wide R Drop Z out gain 5
T25 2-5 Gun Wide L Drop X out gain 7
T18 1-10 Wide IB shovel pass L gain 9 (blocked like counter trap)
T9 2-1 Gun Wide L Drop X in Z corner incomplete
T9 3-1 Open R TB off-tackle trap R gain 9 TD
TOUCHDOWN 4:38 4th qtr
N20 1-10 Wide Drop X out incomplete
PENALTY: offsidesTAM
N25 1-5 Gun Wide L Drop Z in incolmplete
N25 2-5 Gun Wide L Drop X stop gain 9
N34 1-10 Wide PA-IN Zone loss 1
N33 2-11 Gun Wide R Drop X out gain 12
N45 1-10 Gun Wide L Drop X quick out gain 5 PENALTY: holding NU
N32 1-23 Spread R (Zac) Inside Zone gain 8
N40 2-15 Gun Wide R Drop ? incomplete
N40 3-15 Gun Wide L Drop Z post X post INTERCEPTION
INTERCEPTION
I scripted the Husker and Aggie offensive plays, also, though they are not displayed here. A few things that struck me:
1.It looks to me like A&M was very prepared for the Husker cut blocking technique. They were jumping over cut blocks everywhere all day: in the interior, at the perimeter, et al. I think this has become part of the 'book' on the Huskers. A lot of the time it is this technique and not the vaunted steamroller block that produces Husker pancakes.
2. It looked to me like A&M was playing things pretty straight in the defensive front, but using their safeties to overloaded one side or another at times. I'm just guessing, but I wondered if part of their defensive plan wasn't to bait young QB Newcombe into some audibles and then alter their alignment.
3. The A&M offense was very conservative..... and effective. The Aggies ran 71 plays. Only 17 passes. Of those 54 runs, well over half (35) were three plays: inside zone, toss sweep or trap. Part of that conservatism was playing from ahead, but most of it was game plan: don't beat ourselves, don't let Nebraska's defense score. Frustrate them. Of course, the other part of it was that these plays were producing yards.
I think that Texas used a lot of this philosophy to beat us in Austin. Be patient, don't do anything to help the Red Sea to drown you, and hope that you get the big plays. This philosophy has been testing out pretty well.
Funny that Kansas kind of took the opposite tact and went to a more aggressive offense than they had used against Mizzou.
4. A&M's option defense was different from UTs. The color man in the Texas game (Daniels?) kept emphasizing that they were trying to take Crouch out the the offense by making him pitch it. But the Texas coach explained just the opposite. He said that they would try to anticipate the option key NU would use and send that man to pitch, actually forcing keep read. They then attcked QB with everyone else they could get there.
They were successful in large part because their DTs were able to become part of this with penetration. They attacked the QB inside-out with DTs and MLBs.
(Aside: I want to give credit to the color guy from the A&M game- Gary Danielson?- for taking to time to point out that Toomes big 71-yard run was astraight dive, not a trap as they had been running all day and as hadfirst been said. Most color guys would not have bothered.)
A&M attacked more from the outside. They tried to string Newcombe out byslow-playing him, then taking him to force pitch. In the mean time, the safeties and other DBs attacked the pitch. And man, did they attack.
Very agressive and did a great job of avoiding cut blocks. Mak looked silly several times trying to block a safety who was attacking the pitch man. At the time I remember thinking that Joel wasn't looking too good, but now I think the safeties for A&M just attacked so hard that they beat the timing of our arc and belly options.
Newcombe got strung out a few times and maybe even tricked into keeping by a slow play LB. That is TOTAL CONJECTURE by me (even moreso than the rest of this post) because I can't know for sure who the pitch key was, I'm guessing by who wasn't blocked on the corner. I think Crouch at this point is more experienced that Newcombe at that point, and I think that'll help.
5. I'm glad this one's in Lincoln.
6. One part of A&Ms scheme that I don't have any insight on is how they contained out TEs. I think it had something to do with how soft they were playing the SEs on the out. I know the CBs were playing very deep, often deeper than the safeties. The safeties were creeping up, but not going overboard. Maybe they just did a great job of reading when the TE was blocking and when he was trying to slip out. I couldn't tell how much NU ran things looking for play action to the TE. I would want to try option action passes to the TEs. Of course, I always want to try that!
7. A&M is maximum pass protect almost exclusively, keeping the TEs and RBs in to help protect for one and two man patterns. They've had more pass success this year, but I think their philosophy against NU will remain conservative. Texas also used the TEs to protect a lot, until they slipped him out and slid a figurative knife blade between our collective shoulder blades.
8. Some tendancies to watch:
When they use the off-set fullback (21 of 71 plays) watch for inside zone run and fullback trap. The fullback trap came often when they had twin recievers on the same side as the FB (4 of 6). If they offset the FB in a pro set, inside zone is the best bet (10 of 15). If they happen to offset the FB to the TE instead of away from him, watch toss sweep that side (2 of3).
When they have a pro foramation and bring the flanker in motion into theformation (but not across) think toss sweep toward the motion (5 of 7). Though beware of the exception! Fullback dive with this formation/motion went for 71 yards.
When they went shotgun, they passed (3 for 3), but when they showed other pass-like sets (3-wide trips sets) with QB under center, it was more often than not a ruse (3 runs including QB draw, 1 pass).
Like NU they were a very-strong side running team (only 7 runs to the weakside of formation). A play that wasn't successful for them last year, but they seemed to want to establish is the counter trap lead, where they counter trap with the I-back and guard like NU, but lead with the fullback instead of faking away to him. We don't want them to establish that this year.
Remember the I-back motion to the weakside that beat K-State in the conference title game? They didn't use it against NU much, but when they did, it was all pass (2 of 2).
They ran one option for a first down. With the QBs shoulder banged up, I don't think they use it more this year. It was the only play besides toss sweep they ran with the FB off-set to the TE side.
9. They didn't do a lot of reducing of their defensive tackles (moving them from our tackles to our guards). When they did, we didn't run that way. I wondered if that was an adjustment their d-coordinator had made to dictate some things to us. I know there are certain plays we don't like to run into reductions and others we do. He seemed to reduce against certain formations rather than in certain situations. The reductions were almost always to the weak side of the formation. We did have some second-half success trapping that reduced tackle on the weak side.
10. Texas A&M ran their base 5-2 defense until the endgame when they switched to a 4-3. That's the defense we had a lot of our success against.
11. Our trap game and wall option (the one that looks like inside trap to start) were our most successful runs in College Station. Both second half TDs were traps. Newcombe scored on QB trap out of our four-wide set and Mak scored on the outside off-tackle trap. Wall option was the first TD of the game for NU. Wall option was the most successful option.
Option breakdown:
Belly option- 9 plays, 18 yards (2.0), 3 losses, 1 10+ yard gain
Wall option- 6 plays, 21 yards (3.5), 0 losses, 0 10+ yard gains
Arc option- 3 plays, 1 yard (0.3), 2 losses
Speed option- 1 play, 8 yards
Our only option play action was off belly option and was incomplete.
Wall option is the option we run most out of Double Wing, which we did not run at all last year against A&M.