Run Game

[RedRocks]

Yesterday was a great game with a thrilling ending. Vaki left me wondering how he could possibly do the things he does with the ball in his hands. Barnes played very well and showed tons of determination. I like that there were a few more throws to Vele. Fantastic win.

During the game, I couldn’t help but notice that we continue to stick with highly predictable runs up the middle (outside of the Vaki plays). I know the coaches would probably like to be able to simply ram it down everyone’s throat, but how long do you stick with something that hasn’t really worked well all season?

I know there were some productive plays up the middle against USC, but I feel like the predictable ‘running it up the middle’ really killed some drives and made USC’s terrible defense look better (easier to defend what you know is coming).

It seemed like we saw success on the few times the running backs would choose a different hole or run around the outside. However, they never really made that a point of emphasis (maybe USC shut it down?).

There must be a reason, right? Maybe I am missing something. If this trend continues, better defenses will almost certainly shut it down, much like Oregon State.

[2008 National Champ]

Oregon State was able to stack the box because Utah had such poor execution early. It’s the same theory that Scalley uses every week: take away the other team’s bread and butter runs and force them out of their comfort zone. When Utah’s pass game kept failing on even checkdown’s, Oregon State was able to load the box. Utah did the same to UCLA and CAL.

Being able to gash the other team between the tackles opens up everything. Look how successful SC was in the first quarter. Then when Utah started taking those plays away, SC struggled.

We as fans like to glamorize play calling but it really comes down to two things: 1) getting the defense to respect everything you might call, and 2) making them feel like even if they guess right it won’t matter because you will still be able to execute it. Each play caller has their “tweaks” but they want to force you to commit to stopping the inside run so that the outside run can be effective. And once they have you flat-footed trying to decide where you are going to run, the play action game becomes deadly.

That’s the Ludwig scheme in a nutshell.

[RedRocks]

This definitely makes sense and I am not trying to argue that they shouldn’t run between the tackles. I think the over-dependence on it and the predictability of it still makes me nervous. Specifically, the seeming lack of creativity on third and short. It worked well enough against USC, I am just concerned that better defenses will take that away from us again.

[Wes]

JJ quietly had 117 yards running it up the middle

[RedRocks]

Correct. I acknowledged the fact that Utah had “some productive plays up the middle against USC” and their not-so-good defense.

I just can’t shake the idea that this over-commitment to it will bite us in the rear again in the coming week(s).
I hope I am wrong.

[Utah]

It boils down to this:

We don’t have a dynamic throw game. If we can’t run up the middle, we can’t do anything. If we can run up the middle, it opens everything up for us.

We can play action, we can give our receivers enough time to get open, we can run predictable passing routes for Barnes.

If we can’t run up the middle, the defense spreads out and we can’t do anything throwing the ball.

Barnes hasn’t changed. What’s changed is Vaki can run and Jackson is healthy. That’s why our offense has found success.

[Author]

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