Defensive Playcall from Sideline

[MojoUte]

Wanted to get some observation from people who may know football better than me – I noticed (as well as many Ute fans around me) that TDS offense was getting the ball off before the Utah defense was ready / had the play call from Scalley on the sidelines. Multiple times the D-Lineman weren’t even in their stance when the ball was snapped – everyone’s head were turned toward the sideline.

That’s gotta be frustrating and a few of us were shaking our heads wondering why this kept happening. I get Scalley wants to see the offensive formation and make a call or even confuse the QB, but seems to me you gotta be quicker at that to give your guys time (especially the D-Line) to setup / get in position / 3 point stance so they at least have a chance to use their power to pressure the QB or fill the gaps.

Curious if anyone else noticed that and if you had any insight.

[Tony (admin)]

Yes I noticed it, especially right at the end of the game around the time of the mythical timeout and holding calls. Definitely a problem. Players not set, or knowing what the play call is and the offense already snapped it.

[MojoUte]

Yep – we saw it the most in the 4th Q

[hbUte]

Oh yeah, couldn’t missed it. Seemed to get worse as the game went on.
Also, definitely not the first game it has occurred.

[highlandute7]

I don’t have issues with that specifically.

What I do have issue with the defense is that after the mythical holding call, Scalley didn’t blitz again after that. I don’t understand why we stopped. Retzlaff was terrible when we blitzed. I don’t have stats but would be surprised to know if he even completed a pass when we blitzed. So why stop doing it? We certainly would have gotten a few more sacks on that last drive had we blitzed and with no timeouts left for TSPP, could have made a big impact.

[Rick Walker]

This! This frustrated me so much, especially with so many backup lineman in for byu. Reid was constantly getting by with almost no resistance every time he came up the middle.

[NashvilleUteFan]

This is a Morgan Scalley special. Happens every single game, but definitely even more noticeable in the 4th quarter on Saturday. Seems like something any decent team could quickly pick up on and take advantage of.

[2008 National Champ]

The late calls have been going on for at least the last two seasons. Most offenses will stick with their own plan since it can really screw up your tempo switching your own timing to take advantage of that.

I’m sure ARod has been planning for the late calls since this game was announced. He did a couple of things that I really liked. They used the fake quick toss, play action to good effect early in the game until Utah stopped biting. Then they ran speed option off the same look for good gains. ARod also varied his quick snaps so that he could catch the D waiting for the play call in high leverage situations.

One of my biggest complaints about both of Utah’s coordinators (Scalley & Ludwig) is that they never seem to do a good job of self scouting. Granted, I’m looking from 1,000 miles away and not seeing what goes on in practice. But how many times do we see Utah get beat on a play because they run the same thing they’ve been running for years in the same situation? And Utah’s D, for as good as they’ve been statistically has been turrible in the 4th quarter this year which is when other teams will typically take advantage of everything they’ve learned on film and during the game.

[2008 National Champ]

follow up: 4th quarter scoring defense since the Baylor game

Oklahoma State – 16 of 19 points allowed
Arizona – 7 of 23
Arizona State – 7 of 27
Texas Christian – 0 of 13
Houston – 10 of 17
parochial school – 9 of 22

49 out of 121 (40%) points allowed in the 4th quarter and only the first TD against Oklahoma State could be considered garbage time. That’s not winning football or getting it done when the game is on the line.

[UteBaron89]

See 89-yard TD run vs. Penn St. in Rose Bowl. They scouted it and purposefully reset and looked to the sideline to cause Utah to do the same, then quickly got back to line of scrimmage and snapped it. It was totally by design. Caught the front seven standing looking for call. They must see this as the type of thing were they risk getting caught on occasion for the benefit they get throughout the game by doing it.

[Author]

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