Last week I talked about the Missouri run game. The Tigers needed to run the ball to win on the road, and Kansas State needed to stop the run to win at home. I thought this would be more of a fight, but despite my endless sunshine pumping, I fear I may have sold the Kansas State defense short. The Wildcats kept Missouri’s run game in check all game long. This was doubly important because of the weather. The Tigers rushed for 94 yards on 35 attempts, if you’re mathing at home, that averages out to 2.7 yards a carry. I don’t like making promises regarding sports, but I’m going to go out on a limb for this one. This Missouri team will not win a single game where they average under 3 yards a rush.

If you didn’t tune into my article last week, you may want to go back an give it a look, because it ties directly into this article.

Stopping the Read Option RPO

Key

Offense

White Circle - Quarterback

Blue Circle - Running back

Orange Circle - Fullback/Tight End

Green Circle - Wide Receiver

Defense

Purple Box -OLB/DE (Khalid Duke)

Yellow Box -Safety (Josh Hayes)

Offense

I showed y’all a similar play last week. Missouri gets into it differently, but it’s essentially the same look. The want the defense to flow to the boundary on the front side run (blue circle, orange circle), giving the quarterback (white circle) the option to stick with the front side run, pull the ball and run in the backside C-gap, or throw the bubble screen to the outside (green circle).

Defense

Kansas State is lined up in their 3-3-5 with OLB/DE Khalid Duke (purple box) serving as the backside end rusher. Josh Hayes (yellow box) is lined up as the backside safety. They are the two crucial defenders on this play.

Backside Read

Key

Offense

White Circle - Quarterback

Blue Circle - Running back

Orange Circle - Fullback/Tight End

Green Circle - Wide Receiver

Defense

Purple Box -OLB/DE (Khalid Duke)

Yellow Box -Safety (Josh Hayes)

Offense

Missouri pulls the backside guard around to the frontside C-gap, and brings the fullback (orange circle) across as a lead blocker on the front side. The running back (blue circle) gets to the mesh point on an angle to attack the front side of the defense. It’s up to the quarterback (white circle) to read the backside rusher (purple box) and decide if he wants to hand the ball off for the front side run, or pull the ball and explore other options.

Duke (purple box) is giving him a tough read. He’s inside, but not all the way inside (if that makes sense). He’s not chasing the play, but he’s far enough inside that the quarterback decides to pull the ball. When Missouri looks at this play, they will want the frontside run, which appears to be blocked up.

The field receiver (green circle) hasn’t moved out of his stance yet. His job is to hang out during the first part of the play.

Defense

As I mentioned above. Duke (purple box) is hard to read on this play. He moved far enough inside that the backside C-gap looks tantalizing for the quarterback, but he’s not so far inside that he can’t recover. Again, to me, the proper read on this play is the frontside run, but this is happening in fractions of a second. Hard to fault the young Missouri QB.

It’s hard to see in this shot, but Josh Hayes (yellow box) is carrying out his assignment on this play perfectly. He’s responsible for the backside C-gap and does stays with that assignment instead of chasing the frontside hand off. The angle he takes to attack this run is perfect.

I talked a little about this last week. “If they crash the end, either the backside linebacker or safety has to step up and fill the C-gap. If the end or linebacker crashes, but someone (either the backside linebacker or backside safety) steps up and fills the C-gap, all that’s left is the screen option.” Duke (purple box) doesn’t exactly crash, but moves down the line far enough to need support from the safety (yellow box), which is exactly what he receives.

QB Pull

Key

Offense

White Circle - Quarterback

Blue Circle - Running back

Green Circle - Wide Receiver

Defense

Purple Box -OLB/DE (Khalid Duke)

Yellow Box -Safety (Josh Hayes)

Offense

Kansas State has decent penetration, but the front side of this play looks well blocked. Fortunately, the quarterback (white circle) pulls the ball from the running back (blue circle) and moves on to the next options on this play. He can either attack the C-gap (black box, yellow stripes) or throw the screen outside to the receiver (green circle). He has to make the decision to pull up and throw the pass now.

Defense

Duke (purple box) is sucked slightly, but he’s still in good position to disengage and go after the quarterback (white circle). Josh Hayes (yellow circle) is moving down to protect against the backside run.

Backside C-Gap Run

Key

Offense

White Circle - Quarterback

Blue Circle - Running back

Green Circle - Wide Receiver

Defense

Purple Box -OLB/DE (Khalid Duke)

Yellow Box -Safety (Josh Hayes)

Offense

The quarterback (white circle) is committed now. Looking at this frame by frame, the front side run or the backside screen pass both look like better options than the C-gap (black box, yellow stripes) run. The Missouri QB is young, and gets baited into the C-gap. That’s the easiest option for him on this play, and Duke (purple box) is far enough inside to justify his choice.

He makes a reasonable first read (although I think Missouri would be happy with the front side run) but fails to make the second read. Hayes (yellow box) is in the C-gap (black box, yellow stripes). The outside screen (green circle) is wide open with a blocker in front. Hayes is the only defender in position to cover the pass, but it’s going to be hard for him to get outside before the receiver gets going.

Defense

The quarterback has a nice angle on Duke (purple box). Khalid is trying to get back outside, but it looks like the quarterback is going to beat him to the corner. I’m not sure of his assignment in the defense, or if he’s trying to bait the quarterback into taking the backside run, but in the future, I would prefer him to be all the way inside crashing, or all the way outside holding the edge.

Regardless of Duke moving further down the line than needed, Josh Hayes (yellow box) has his back. He showed no interest in the frontside run, and has stepped up to cover the C-gap (black box, yellow stripes) since Duke is stuck inside. If the quarterback throws the screen this could be trouble, but that’s the hardest option on this play for the quarterback to reach. I’m guessing K-State looked at Missouri’s tendencies on this play and noticed that the quarterback doesn’t use the receiver.

Make the Tackle

Offense

The quarterback (white circle) is surprised and disappointed to meet Mr. Hayes (yellow box) in the C-gap. He thought he was outside of containment when Duke was sucked inside, but did not make the second read on the safety (yellow box). The screen option (green circle) is still wide open, but it’s too late for him to make that play (although he could pitch it at this point, but that’s not in the design — I’ve seen teams use the wide receiver as a pitch man, like in the old triple option).

The quarterback still has a chance to turn this into a positive play, but he has to get outside of Hayes.

Defense

All eyes on Josh Hayes (yellow box). If he makes the open field tackle, the quarterback is down around the line of scrimmage. If he misses the open field tackle, the quarterback continues outside and it’s a footrace to the side.

By Any Means Necessary

Offense

If the quarterback (yellow box) breaks this tackle, he has room to the outside. He may even bring the outside receiver (green circle) into the play as a pitch man (you can see the receiver asking for the ball). The outside receiver (green circle) is dreaming about all the space outside, but all he can do is dream.

Defense

In the perfect defensive world, Josh Hayes gets further outside to prevent the quarterback from bouncing this play. You’ll notice in the first pic in section that his head is behind the quarterback, you kinda want that out in front of the quarterbacks body. Never-the-less, Josh has played a ton of football, and even though the tackling form isn’t textbook (you won’t see the prone-on-your-back position featured in the how-to tackle video) he gets enough of the quarterback to trip him up and let his help coming from the inside clean things up.

Mission accomplished, even if the execution is slightly unorthodox.

Overall

The K-State defense did an excellent job of containing the run on Saturday. Missouri’s run game was impressive their first game, and the Wildcat’s defense kept it from controlling the game.

Missouri’s read option/RPO puts pressure on a defense to stay fundamentally sound. In this situation, Duke may have come too far inside, but Hayes in the second level covered up any mistake and got the quarterback on the ground for minimal gain. This Tigers offense should thrive against poorly coached, overly aggressive defenses.

If you haven’t looked at my article from last week, please take a look. You’ll see the difference between a poor run defense and a good/great run defense on this play. I’ll have more for y’all later in the week.

This is fun game film to breakdown.