by: Daniel House (@DanielHouseNFL)
Top teams prepare at the highest level and put themselves in a position to effortlessly execute on gameday.
When evaluating the film of Minnesota’s 31-26 win over No. 4 Penn State, the team’s preparation stood out. The Gophers’ players and coaches executed a dynamite scheme to pull off one of the biggest wins in program history. The versatility and awareness of Antoine Winfield Jr. was a major part of the defensive gameplan. Minnesota’s defense continues to play with tremendous continuity and communication. This team is connected, disciplined and confident, which is helping fuel all of its success.
On Saturday, the Gophers exploited Penn State’s secondary with dynamic vertical passing. Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca dialed up all of the right plays to get Minnesota’s offense into an early rhythm. On the first touchdown pass to wide receiver Rashod Bateman, the Gophers were in a heavy personnel package with six offensive linemen. Penn State is aligned with a single-high safety over the top. Wide receiver Tyler Johnson aligns in the slot and flashes like he’s preparing to receive a pass in space. The safety in the slot creeps early, which gives away the nickel blitz. Quarterback Tanner Morgan obviously recognized this and knew Rashod Bateman would have a favorable matchup over the top. Cornerback John Reid shuffles over to cover Johnson, but the safety is shaded to the boundary. (short side of the field). The single-high safety has a long run to cover Bateman up the sideline. Morgan took advantage and connected with the sophomore wide receiver for a 66-yard touchdown.
On Tuesday, quarterback Tanner Morgan said offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca noticed something on film that led to the identification of this blitz. They made a pre-snap check because they noticed a past tendency. My guess is it had something to do with the safety being aligned so far to the boundary and tight to the hash. The defensive back in the slot was also creeping really early and gave an indication a blitz may be occurring. Running Shannon Brooks did an excellent job of picking the pressure up. This scoring play helped set the tone and forced Penn State to play from behind. All of the running backs stepped up in pass protection. I noted several positive reps, including one by Rodney Smith on this RPO slant. He chipped the defensive tackle and gave Tanner Morgan enough time to get the ball out quickly. Minnesota’s execution of both the RPO and play-action concepts was masterful in this game.
Minnesota’s route concept diversity helped them exploit a Penn State secondary that has struggled to cover deep passes. On the first drive, the Gophers dialed up a dagger concept out of a heavy personnel package. Pay close attention to how hard the linebackers and safeties bite on the initial play-fake. Morgan did a masterful job of selling the run and took advantage of the safeties’ low alignment. The dagger concept includes a deep vertical route up the seam and a dig underneath. Traditionally, in some variations of this concept, there is an intermediate drag that flows opposite of the dig and vertical route. In this case, Shannon Brooks leaks into the flat and draws attention from the linebacker. This play is perfect against zone coverage because it will naturally clear out the safety. In this instance, it’s the free safety who is drawn to Tyler Johnson’s deep route up the seam. On the opposite side, the strong safety even tries to help over the top, which clears out the middle for Rashod Bateman’s dig route. The pass protection was strong out of heavy personnel, which allowed enough time for Bateman’s route to develop.
Eventually, after getting beaten in the RPO slant and intermediate game, Penn State started to prioritize covering underneath. This helped open up vertical combinations down the sideline. Throughout the game, Minnesota perfectly blended quick passing and deep shots. The execution of the RPO game was flawless.
When Penn State started trying to take away the intermediate game, the Gophers stretched the field. For example, during wide receiver Tyler Johnson’s 38-yard touchdown, the free safety is playing the middle of the field and Penn State dropped two linebackers. The strong safety was all the way on the opposite hash playing the field side. Johnson had a smooth release at the line of scrimmage and executed a go-route up the sideline. The safety was in single-high and had a long run to help over the top. Quarterback Tanner Morgan sees the man-to-man matchup on the perimeter and perfectly places the deep pass to Tyler Johnson. When watching the other angle, you’ll notice some of the details that helped Johnson make this play.
P.J. Fleck and wide receivers coach Matt Simon teach the wide receivers a few specific techniques. First, I want you to watch Johnson’s inside arm in the second clip above. He keeps it pumping and moving, which limits the defensive back’s ability to grab onto him. This is a coaching point that Fleck and Simon call a “meat grinder.” Johnson keeps his shoulders square (or vertical as Fleck calls it) as long as possible and tracks the ball. The tempo of the route is what has to change, not the positioning of his shoulders. If he would have opened his shoulders and dipped, the defensive back would have controlled the route. Johnson’s body control and balance were tremendous as he made a one-handed catch and flew into the end zone. These are the technical details that make such a big difference.
Another big moment in this game came late in the third quarter with Minnesota clinging to a 24-19 lead. On this drive, wide receiver Rashod Bateman had three catches for 72 yards, including a key 36-yard grab in the green zone. I pulled out the three routes in this sequence and wanted to highlight a few of the intricacies. The first play is a corner route where Penn State showed two-deep safeties in pre-snap, but shifted to single-high. Bateman sold the same slant route that was obliterating the Nittany Lions all day. He instead attacked the blindspot of the cornerback, turned him right around and popped off a corner route. Bateman keeps his shoulders square and varies the tempo throughout the route.
On the next play, Minnesota runs a pure play-action slant to Bateman. It perfectly complemented the previous play, especially considering the defensive back was just turned around by the cornerback. Morgan got the ball out quick and easily connected with Bateman. A couple plays later, the Gophers lined up in a 3×1 set. We don’t have a great angle, but it looks like they ran a flood-style concept. Johnson appears to run a wheel and Autman-Bell pops off a post. Demetrius Douglas uses an out route and Minnesota effectively attacks the deep zone coverage. On the opposite side of the field, Bateman got single coverage, quarterback Tanner Morgan held off the safety and perfectly placed the pass for a key 36-yard completion. Without this sequence, the game may have looked different. It was set up by brilliant rhythmic playcalling and Rashod Bateman’s tremendous route running.
We talked about it in the Penn State preview last week, but the Gophers had a strong opportunity to attack this defense with bubble and tunnel screens. The combination of occasional aggressiveness and zone coverage by the Nittany Lions, allows opportunities to get the ball in space to your playmakers. Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca dialed up a tunnel screen to Chris Autman-Bell, who made an incredible play after the catch. Tanner Morgan got the ball out quick, while Curtis Dunlap Jr. and Blaise Andries beautifully got to the second-level. They made enough contact with defenders to create a crease and Autman-Bell did the rest.
Minnesota also used the bubble screen wrinkle a few times to get positive yardage. I pulled out one example and it’s included in the second clip above. Again, this is a great play to run against this type of defense. Penn State has struggled to defend various versions of wide receiver screens in 2019.
The passing game concepts and the execution of the RPO looks were the driving force behind Minnesota’s big win. However, I also liked the ground game wrinkles they deployed. In past posts, I talked about the subtle intricacies of the rushing concepts. Despite facing the nation’s top rush defense, the Gophers effectively utilized stretch/outside zone-style concepts. The stretch play helped Minnesota pick up positive yardage, while complementing the inside zone. In the clips below, Blaise Andries and Curtis Dunlap Jr. did an excellent job of getting to the second-level and washing out linebackers. The centers were reaching defensive tackles and Minnesota’s running backs made the right reads. Patience and vision are two key parts of executing these plays. The Gophers’ running backs are thriving when these type of plays are mixed into the scheme. After looking at Iowa’s film, I expect the inside zone to be very effective against the Hawkeyes. The stretch plays should blend in nicely, especially with Iowa’s injuries and inexperience at linebacker.
As you’ll notice, Minnesota often used a heavy personnel package with six offensive linemen. It assisted them in pass protection and took advantage of the team’s physicality up front. P.J. Fleck said it helps get all of the top linemen on the field and forces opponents to adjust with different fronts and groupings. The strength of Minnesota’s offensive line is a huge advantage and is maximized when they use this type of package.
“Well, I think it’s just the ability to have more gaps and not only just have tight ends on the field, but getting extra linemen on the field, which creates different mismatches here and there,” head coach P.J. Fleck said Tuesday. “Creates different gaps, creates them to have a different personnel package. And then again it gives our, I think gets our six best players on the field up front. You get your best players on the field in certain packages, I think you’re doing the right thing as coaches.”
Finally, the usage of Seth Green in the Wildcat packages isn’t talked about enough. Green’s versatility is a big weapon and helps the Gophers’ offense convert in short yardage situations. There are so many potential wrinkles they can deploy out of this package and we could see even more creativity down the stretch. From the sky cam angle, we have to take time and marvel at the fantastic blocking by tight end Ko Kieft. He stole the soul of linebacker Jan Johnson and paved the way for a Seth Green goal-line touchdown. Kieft’s contributions in the ground game are an underrated aspect of this team’s rushing success. All of the tight ends are playing a big role in the blocking scheme and paving the edge for Minnesota’s running backs.
During Saturday’s big game, the preparation and execution was apparent. The Gophers’ offense deserves praise for how they rhythmically attacked the Penn State defense. It’s hard for teams to defend Minnesota because they have so many playmakers. The Nittany Lions had to to adjust because the intermediate RPO game was killing them. When they made little amendments, Minnesota took deep shots vertically. The Gophers played disciplined, executed the scheme, controlled time of possession and maximized the potential of each player on the field. This program has developed an explosive passing attack that complements a physical ground game. If teams try to stack the box to stop the run, Minnesota responds by deploying the second-most efficient passing offense in college football, according to College Football Data’s Expected Points Added Metric. After evaluating every game this season, it’s clear Minnesota’s offensive balance will be a tough matchup for any opponent in the country.
The Gophers’ coaching staff and players deserve so much credit for executing a nearly flawless gameplan during Saturday’s 31-26 win over No. 4 Penn State.