Read Option

[alexava 6,973]

13 hours ago, AUBwins said:

I would say DCs except Oregon.  Leaving Fairley to run free was an epic fail! 

We rushed for 296 yards in the '13 iron bowl. 545 I think in the sec championship and about 295 vs Florida st.(this one might be wrong maybe more). Led the nation in rushing in 13. Led the sec again in 14........  nobody figured it out.Certain  Players ran out of eligibility. 

[Tiger 8,822]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Greg Robinson yet as being a huge reason, if not the main reason, our 2013 offense was so dominant. Between him and Prosch they were absolutely demolishing people giving Tre and Nick alllll kinds of room to operate.

[icanthearyou 4,462]

17 hours ago, bigbird said:

4 ways to defend ZR

1. Gap exchange or Scrape exchange with the DE and LB

2. Attack the mesh (think Myles Garrett)

3. Bring a safety down and run Cvr 3 behind 

4. Blitz 

I think you are correct.  However, there should be a counter move.  Something that keeps the defense "honest".  Since 2013, we don't seem to consistently have the ability to exploit a defense that is defending the read option.  

This is my only real disappointment with our coach.  Trick plays, deep ball, wheel route, and the worst WR screen in all of football, seem to be the only things we have as a counter.  I don't care what CCL does as long as,,,we don't continue to beat our heads against this same wall, the same way,over and over again.

I don't believe the problem lies in DCs figuring out the read option.  The problem lies in not having a scheme with effective counters.  Some of the ridiculous play calls and blocking schemes were hard to watch last year.

[Guest WarEagleSteve]

On 4/3/2017 at 4:22 PM, bigbird said:

Its not hard. Its all about alignment and assignment. There is a reason why no one really runs it anymore.  Same way no one runs the triple option. Its been figured out.

I don't think this is entirely true (the no one runs it part) but I think it's primarily because the triple option is an offensive system whereas the read option is a specific play design. Alabama and Louisville definitely ran some read option concepts last year and had success. If you have the athletes and you execute the concept well within an already existing offense, you can absolutely make it work. However, I don't think you could design an entire offense around it anymore the way we did in 2013 and 2014. 

[bigbird 60,512]

6 minutes ago, WarEagleSteve said:

However, I don't think you could design an entire offense around it anymore the way we did in 2013 and 2014. 

I completely agree. It can be effective as a situational play, but as an entire offense it is now defunct

[Guest WarEagleSteve]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

I completely agree. It can be effective as a situational play, but as an entire offense it is now defunct

Honestly, did anyone other than us ever actually make that their offense? I know a lot of teams went read heavy in the running game around the same time but I can't remember anyone making it the focal point of their entire system the way we did. 

[oracle79 3,569]

It would still work now, IF... 

You have a QB that can run like NM

You have a QB that can take the hits like Cam (in college - not even Superman can last more that a couple years taking NFL hits when the refs are NOT going to do anything to prevent it)

You have a QB that can read a defense and make adjustments (it's actually called an audible and used to be a required talent to be a QB before most of you were born) at the line of scrimmage to make defenses pay for adjusting to compensate for something they can't stop in their base defense.

You have a QB that can complete big pass plays like NM/Cam often enough to make the defenses pay for their adjustments.

You don't expect your QB to be functional more than 2 - 4 years after taking all the hits he will take.

You have an offensive line physically talented/intellectually smart enough to know how to exchange block and recognize defensive adjustments.

You got a receiver that can take the top off the defense.

 

We had those things in 2010 and 2013 and somewhat in 2014, and were pretty much unstoppable by pretty much any defense we played. The exception being that Cam ran inside more effectively, and whoever called the keep/give in 2013 was on a hot streak, because I don't believe NM read the zone very often.  And, that is probably the key to stopping the offense - once the DC's figured out how to line up and disguise things, the OC could no longer call the give/keep correctly from the MEERKAT look to the sideline, and without a QB that can read it, it's gonna fall apart.  Too many if's to make a living off of it nowdays.