I just went back and rewatched the game. I charted formations and plays. A couple of things became clear.
We are not a power running team. We carry this label because we run the ball, chew clock, and have a couple of FBs on our roster. The truth is that we are a spread team that features a dual threat running QB. We were at least 3 wide on 87.5% of our plays. We only had a FB and RB together in the backfield on 7 of our 64 plays
If this is or identity then Barnes will need to do a better job of making reads (zone blocking) when he gets to carry the ball. He is not likely to get many pure dives with predetermined holes. That was probably the biggest difference between him and Silmon yesterday. Silmon could find the crease and make the cut. Barnes would continue to drift outside. The RBs also need to realize (especially since we have a committee) that they are not likely to get a ton of snaps (or carries) so they need to maximize their opportunities. We used one back sets most of the game. With that being the case the committee is really Dimel, Barnes, Silmon, and Warmack. I didn't chart it, but Dimel was frequently the sole back in the backfield.
On passing plays we seemed to be in "mass protect" much of the time. We kept in our RBs and TEs for most of the game. The TEs had 2 targets and our RBs had 2 targets, but they spent most the day blocking. This would typically only leave the 3 WRs running routes. With a spread field and a DT QB it would seem that you would want to utilize your RBs and TEs in the passing game to further spread the field. This will either lead to open dump offs or open running lanes for the QB if the LBs vacate. Do we not trust our OL to pass protect?
I thought it was interesting that we did not throw a single pass down the LOS to a receiver last night. The quick bubble screen is a feature piece of our passing game and it was non-existent last night. Vandy was not overly crowding our WRs, so I am not sure why we avoided it.
We are not a power running team. We carry this label because we run the ball, chew clock, and have a couple of FBs on our roster. The truth is that we are a spread team that features a dual threat running QB. We were at least 3 wide on 87.5% of our plays. We only had a FB and RB together in the backfield on 7 of our 64 plays
If this is or identity then Barnes will need to do a better job of making reads (zone blocking) when he gets to carry the ball. He is not likely to get many pure dives with predetermined holes. That was probably the biggest difference between him and Silmon yesterday. Silmon could find the crease and make the cut. Barnes would continue to drift outside. The RBs also need to realize (especially since we have a committee) that they are not likely to get a ton of snaps (or carries) so they need to maximize their opportunities. We used one back sets most of the game. With that being the case the committee is really Dimel, Barnes, Silmon, and Warmack. I didn't chart it, but Dimel was frequently the sole back in the backfield.
On passing plays we seemed to be in "mass protect" much of the time. We kept in our RBs and TEs for most of the game. The TEs had 2 targets and our RBs had 2 targets, but they spent most the day blocking. This would typically only leave the 3 WRs running routes. With a spread field and a DT QB it would seem that you would want to utilize your RBs and TEs in the passing game to further spread the field. This will either lead to open dump offs or open running lanes for the QB if the LBs vacate. Do we not trust our OL to pass protect?
I thought it was interesting that we did not throw a single pass down the LOS to a receiver last night. The quick bubble screen is a feature piece of our passing game and it was non-existent last night. Vandy was not overly crowding our WRs, so I am not sure why we avoided it.
