A look at Jay Johnson's Offense: 9/5/2015 vs. Kentucky

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BarnBoy

BarnBoy

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Here is ULL's first game this year (at Kentucky). Hostile crowd. They didn't get the win, but fought back nicely. They were something like 1-60 against the SEC prior to this, so a good showing. ULL goes down 21-0 (terrible defense) and claws back to tie game 33-33. ULL out-gained UK 479-435.

The isn't ever play and there is nothing scientific about the ones I chose. I'm just trying to show a mix of their runs, passes and situational thinking.

A few, overall thoughts:
  • They look a lot like the Gophers. The adjustment to Johnson's offense shouldn't be that overwhelming for the team.
  • Pistol formation, I think exclusively.
  • A handful of moving pockets.
  • Lots of jet sweep fakes, with an occasional handoff to keep D honest.
  • I saw less shifting than Gophers, but this was their first game. Lots of different H-Back sets.
  • A healthy dose of read-option. Not sure if UK was just bad at defending, or ULL executed better. Seemed to run it more judiciously and effectively than Gophers. Lots of 10+ yard gains by QB. Lots of faking the camera guy.
  • Ball control offense. Lots of short passes, underneath routes. A few big runs. Nothing "wide-open" about their passing game. Chip, chip, chip.
  • Down big, never panicked. Was running base run plays when down 21.
17:26
QB Run: Pistol formation, jet sweep fake, read option for a nice first down pickup.

19:26
Run: Base play, run-up-the-middle

Down 14-0

33:57
Run: 1st and 10 to start a drive. RUTM...

34:25
Pass: 2nd and 6. Moving pocket left. Nice pick-up for a 1st down.

35:23
Pass: 2nd and 8. Trips right. Tight left. Nice pickup for a 1st.

36:30
Pass: 2nd and 9. Motion right. Think "KJ Maye"...

37:03
Play action: Fake RUTM, roll out left.... deep down right sideline, incomplete.

39:54
Run: 4th down and 2. Wildcat. Nice pickup for a first down.

40:27
Play action: 1st and 10, nice pickup.

40:55
Run: 1st and 10: Sweep right. Pulling guard. Five-yard gain.

42:10
Pass: 3rd and 8, blitz pickup. Nice conversion.

Down 21-0

53:37
Run: 1st and 10, pistol, base run left. 6-yard gain.

54:42
Run: 3rd and 2. Off-tackle left, pulling guard. Converts.

56:21
Pass: 3rd and 2. Pistol, rolling pocket left. Picks up P.I. call for 1st.

57:34
Jet sweep right. Nice gain. 11-yard gain.

60:26
4th and 5. Underneath crossing route

61:04
Run: Off-tackle left, two pulling guards. 4-yard gain.

62:08
Run: 3rd and 3. Read-option perfection.

Down 21-7.

68:02
Run: 1st and 10. Misdirection. Fake jet sweep right. Hand off to RB going left. Nice wrinkle I haven't seen from Gophers.

Down 24-7

82:28
Pass: Straight drop back.

Down 27-7

107:28
Pass: WR screen.

108:49
Pass: Wheel route up sideline. Think Brooks.

109:43
Run: 2nd and goal: Read option, QB keeper for a nice gain.

Down 33-10

2:03:40
Run: 2nd and 4. Huge gain up middle. Great blocking. 56-yard TD.

Down 33-17

2:18:09
Run: 2nd and 5. Good look at their blocking. 26-yard TD up middle.

2:19:01
2-point conversion: Rolling pocket right. Conversion good.

Down 33-25

2:24:55
Run up middle: Nice lead block by HB.

2:27:26
Read option left. 23-yard touchdown. Watch the lead block by the HB coming across.

2:28:17
2-point conversion: Statue of liberty.
 

ULL got a punt blocked to lose 27-20 with :02 left at Florida in 2012. Florida was 8-1 going into the game.
 

Thanks for the effort Barnboy
 


Great analysis, thank you for putting this together!

I like the look of the creativity!!

Go Gophers!!
 



I like that the line actually pulls!
 


Wouldn't You like to Know said:
Great work. Thanks for putting the time into this.
Click to expand...
Thanks, everyone. At the in-laws house with insomnia. For me, the two things that stuck out for me were 1) lots of pulling and 2) rolling/moving pocket on some of their passing downs... Sounds like what we were hearing about more mobile lineman is spot on.
 



Thanks for doing that. I'm also wondering about personnel. It sounds like he has run more of a spread offense? So that would mean not a lot of two TE sets?
 

GophersInIowa said:
Thanks for doing that. I'm also wondering about personnel. It sounds like he has run more of a spread offense? So that would mean not a lot of two TE sets?
Click to expand...
Almost entirely three receiver sets in this game (1 data point).
 

Definitely run heavy. QB needs to be very athletic. May not be a perfect fit for Leidner but he's pretty much all we have. Definitely could see Demry or Seth running this offense in two years.
 

This should be an easy transition. I felt like I was watching the Gophers' offense watching those. Thanks!
 



The offense appeared to be exclusively no huddle. It will be interesting to see if it remains that way here.
 

BarnBoy said:
Here is ULL's first game this year (at Kentucky). Hostile crowd. They didn't get the win, but fought back nicely. They were something like 1-60 against the SEC prior to this, so a good showing. ULL goes down 21-0 (terrible defense) and claws back to tie game 33-33. ULL out-gained UK 479-435.

The isn't ever play and there is nothing scientific about the ones I chose. I'm just trying to show a mix of their runs, passes and situational thinking.

A few, overall thoughts:
  • They look a lot like the Gophers. The adjustment to Johnson's offense shouldn't be that overwhelming for the team.
  • Pistol formation, I think exclusively.
  • A handful of moving pockets.
  • Lots of jet sweep fakes, with an occasional handoff to keep D honest.
  • I saw less shifting than Gophers, but this was their first game. Lots of different H-Back sets.
  • A healthy dose of read-option. Not sure if UK was just bad at defending, or ULL executed better. Seemed to run it more judiciously and effectively than Gophers. Lots of 10+ yard gains by QB. Lots of faking the camera guy.
  • Ball control offense. Lots of short passes, underneath routes. A few big runs. Nothing "wide-open" about their passing game. Chip, chip, chip.
  • Down big, never panicked. Was running base run plays when down 21.
Down 33-25

2:24:55
Run up middle: Nice lead block by HB.

2:27:26
Read option left. 23-yard touchdown. Watch the lead block by the HB coming across.

2:28:17
2-point conversion: Statue of liberty.
Click to expand...

Thanks for putting this together. ULL's last drive of the game was absolutely disgusting.
 


Thank you for all the work you put in to this! Certainly a lot of creativity from ULL/Johnson at least in the run game. My question would be whether this was a "kitchen sink" game (playing an SEC school, have to try everything) or indicative of how ULL played on a week to week basis.
 

Thanks for putting this together, actually looks a lot like what Reeves was running
on Monday. I'm guessing that was by design by Claeys to get the players to add
the new wrinkles. One thing I noticed on Monday was on the jet-sweep, Leidner
no longer handed off the ball, rather did the lil quick drop into the runner's hands.
Using Brooks on that play a lot like I've seen in these vids.
 

Awesome Barnboy. Thanks for the reprisal of a Jay Johnson look offense.

No huddle with pulling guards/spread offense can be lethal. Just what the Gopher masses have been screaming for, an exciting brand of football.

Let's hope Snelson and Daniels twin decide to stay with their commitment and Jim Johannesson stays. We need to stock up in defense. We will need multiple combo backs and a killer threat WR or two.

Looking down the road after Leidner, we have two QBs in Demry Croft and Seth Green that can possibly take the Gophers offense to new heights.

Maybe the reason why Sean Foster was encouraged to look elsewhere was that Claeys did not see him fitting in the new offensive blocking scheme (heard Claeys didn't like it when Amir Watts was manhandling Sean Foster with his speed/strength during a HS recruiting visit).

I was disappointed at first seeing a four star lineman go. But, I look for the Gophers coaching staff to load up on their type of blockers.

Vanilla won't be the flavor of the month/year anymore (unless it is a DQ Dilly Bar).

It is possible JJ already has some recruiting visits lined up. I expect him to be very busy travelling to see current recruits and prospects.

There may be different wrinkles to this offense & defense depending on which opponent we play.

My biggest worries are: Can we effectively replace the likes of Murray and others in the defensive side, and is Jay Johnson an effective recruiter?

Does anyone smell high octane fuel burning or is it just me (ahem, f@rt)? :cool02:
 

EG#9 said:
Thank you for all the work you put in to this! Certainly a lot of creativity from ULL/Johnson at least in the run game. My question would be whether this was a "kitchen sink" game (playing an SEC school, have to try everything) or indicative of how ULL played on a week to week basis.
Click to expand...
Have no idea. But this was there first game of the year. unlikely they had every wrinkle installed by September...
 

Additional thought on the offense. SEC defense, even Kentucky is probably going to handle ULL's O-Line. Plus Kentucky DB's cover well. So deeper drops and deep or double move routes really wouldn't be in the game plan. Better OC's use their tools best to expose the defense. Run when you can, play action when they load up and get athletes in one on one positions to take advantage of their abilities.
 

Gopher028 said:
Thanks for putting this together, actually looks a lot like what Reeves was running
on Monday. I'm guessing that was by design by Claeys to get the players to add
the new wrinkles. One thing I noticed on Monday was on the jet-sweep, Leidner
no longer handed off the ball, rather did the lil quick drop into the runner's hands.
Using Brooks on that play a lot like I've seen in these vids.
Click to expand...

The announcers were so confused about this. At one point, the play-by-play guy said, "Doesn't it seem like Brooks should have more rushing yards than that?" He didn't realize that the yardage was added to his receiving totals, not his rushing totals.

It's also a handy way to really sweeten your completion percentage.
 

Urbandale said:
The announcers were so confused about this. At one point, the play-by-play guy said, "Doesn't it seem like Brooks should have more rushing yards than that?" He didn't realize that the yardage was added to his receiving totals, not his rushing totals. It's also a handy way to really sweeten your completion percentage.
Click to expand...
It's also an incomplete instead of a fumble in the event something goes wrong!
 

gopherrising said:
Additional thought on the offense. SEC defense, even Kentucky is probably going to handle ULL's O-Line. Plus Kentucky DB's cover well. So deeper drops and deep or double move routes really wouldn't be in the game plan. Better OC's use their tools best to expose the defense. Run when you can, play action when they load up and get athletes in one on one positions to take advantage of their abilities.
Click to expand...

I just hope he's not as rigid in his scheme as Limegrover and Kill. Seeing some flexibility in scheme to take advantage of deficiencies of the opponent defense and to highlight strengths of the Gopher's offense personnel as they change year to year or even game to game due to injury.
 

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