This season my goal is to show a sample of the good and the bad from K-State's offensive schemes for each game through GIFs. This week we'll look at 9 plays that weren't great and 9 that were pretty good in looking back at K-State's big win in Norman. There are a few themes this week, notably that K-State had some pretty good schemes that simply weren't executed well, Messingham and his staff liked unbalanced formations against OU's defense, and K-State eventually was able to make big plays based on favorable match ups and individual playmaking the in the passing game.
First, some of the struggled from the running game.
First, my definition of unbalanced formations focuses on multiple eligible receivers on the line of scrimmage to one side of the formation and usually an uncovered (and inelgible) offensive tackle to the other side. When used at the right time, they often can go unrecognized by the defense or they can get a defense misaligned, which gives the offense a numbers advantage. I counted at least 8 unbalanced formations against Oklahoma.
On this play, K-State has a TE/H aligned with a WR to the top of the formation. The WR and TE are both on the LOS (making the TE ineligible), but this allows Knowles to go in motion from his WR spot to the bottom of the formation. K-State tries to use the jet sweep action from Knowles here to confuse the eyes of the defense while running inside zone behind it with Vaughn. OU is able to defend it well and get penetration at the point of attack, knocking the play down for a short gain. While not successful, I appreciate trying to find ways to make the inside running game successful with a different look than we saw last week.
Here is another unique look, running a quick toss behind a tight trips with two H backs and a WR. Initially K-State has a numbers advantage and should have a big play, but a) Vaughn drops the pitch and b) Wheeler completely whiffs on his block at the point of attack. Still, this is a nice scheme to get the ball to the edge quickly and get Vaughn the ball in space, but K-State must do a much better job blocking in space.
K-State ran this scheme a couple of times against OU, so clearly they saw something on film they thought they could exploit. Messingham likes to get his playmaking WRs the ball on jet sweeps, here it is Youngblood. The Cats are running jet sweep behind a TE/H set to the top of the formation with Moore and Wheeler, but with the additional scheme of pulling OT and OG away from the jet sweep. In theory, there could be a read here and Thompson could keep the ball behind the pullers, but again this is mainly eye candy to confuse the OU LBs and secondary. Initially K-State looks to have numbers for a nice gain, but the backside safety is able to make the play coming downhill from all the way across the formation.
Here is the other version of the same scheme, this time with Knowles running jet to an unbalanced trips formation after the H shift from Moore. Again, the scheme is sound and the numbers seem to be there at the point of attack, but Knowles isn't able to get to the outside for a bigger gain.
Here K-State motions Moore at the H back spot to an unbalanced Quads formation to the top. K-State is trying another way to run inside zone, now with a lead from the H back. The Cats aren't able to get much of a gain and in this case Moore gets his body in the running lane after a decent cut block. K-State would later have better success running to the weak side in unbalanced formations, plus I think this look helped set up K-State later in the game for Thompson's TD run on QB power.
Finally, here is a broken WR reverse, something fans have been wanting to see more and that Messingham said in an interview he wanted to utilize this year in this type of situation. The split back gun formation with twins to the top and a single WR to the bottom of the formation is something K-State has used quite a bit this year. The stretch sweep with QB power read is also a play used several times with success against Arkansas State, so it would seem to be set up by a previous tendency. However, OU seems to read it, plus the defender is helped by a missed block from the RT and blows up the play for a loss. Again, I think in most cases this is a solid play call and something I hope Messingham continues to utilize in these situations.
First, some of the struggled from the running game.
First, my definition of unbalanced formations focuses on multiple eligible receivers on the line of scrimmage to one side of the formation and usually an uncovered (and inelgible) offensive tackle to the other side. When used at the right time, they often can go unrecognized by the defense or they can get a defense misaligned, which gives the offense a numbers advantage. I counted at least 8 unbalanced formations against Oklahoma.
On this play, K-State has a TE/H aligned with a WR to the top of the formation. The WR and TE are both on the LOS (making the TE ineligible), but this allows Knowles to go in motion from his WR spot to the bottom of the formation. K-State tries to use the jet sweep action from Knowles here to confuse the eyes of the defense while running inside zone behind it with Vaughn. OU is able to defend it well and get penetration at the point of attack, knocking the play down for a short gain. While not successful, I appreciate trying to find ways to make the inside running game successful with a different look than we saw last week.
Here is another unique look, running a quick toss behind a tight trips with two H backs and a WR. Initially K-State has a numbers advantage and should have a big play, but a) Vaughn drops the pitch and b) Wheeler completely whiffs on his block at the point of attack. Still, this is a nice scheme to get the ball to the edge quickly and get Vaughn the ball in space, but K-State must do a much better job blocking in space.
K-State ran this scheme a couple of times against OU, so clearly they saw something on film they thought they could exploit. Messingham likes to get his playmaking WRs the ball on jet sweeps, here it is Youngblood. The Cats are running jet sweep behind a TE/H set to the top of the formation with Moore and Wheeler, but with the additional scheme of pulling OT and OG away from the jet sweep. In theory, there could be a read here and Thompson could keep the ball behind the pullers, but again this is mainly eye candy to confuse the OU LBs and secondary. Initially K-State looks to have numbers for a nice gain, but the backside safety is able to make the play coming downhill from all the way across the formation.
Here is the other version of the same scheme, this time with Knowles running jet to an unbalanced trips formation after the H shift from Moore. Again, the scheme is sound and the numbers seem to be there at the point of attack, but Knowles isn't able to get to the outside for a bigger gain.
Here K-State motions Moore at the H back spot to an unbalanced Quads formation to the top. K-State is trying another way to run inside zone, now with a lead from the H back. The Cats aren't able to get much of a gain and in this case Moore gets his body in the running lane after a decent cut block. K-State would later have better success running to the weak side in unbalanced formations, plus I think this look helped set up K-State later in the game for Thompson's TD run on QB power.
Finally, here is a broken WR reverse, something fans have been wanting to see more and that Messingham said in an interview he wanted to utilize this year in this type of situation. The split back gun formation with twins to the top and a single WR to the bottom of the formation is something K-State has used quite a bit this year. The stretch sweep with QB power read is also a play used several times with success against Arkansas State, so it would seem to be set up by a previous tendency. However, OU seems to read it, plus the defender is helped by a missed block from the RT and blows up the play for a loss. Again, I think in most cases this is a solid play call and something I hope Messingham continues to utilize in these situations.
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