I expect this season to see a few defenses strike back against the offenses in the Big 12 as they realize the need to play more nickel formations and emphasize quarterback pressure. Additionally, both Texas and OU who are already ahead of the pack on defense thanks to better talent and coordination, have many great defensive players coming back this season. From Stoops and Venables I expect much of the same stuff they’ve run the last 10 years under Stoops. Texas now has the luxury of returning players in the secondary who are both talented AND have played in games before.
Oklahoma loves to attack on defense. There are famous (or infamous depending on which side of the Red River you fall) quotes from OU players discussing how they would call out the Texas play before the snap and know exactly where and how to stuff it. Schematically they prefer to play a lot of zone for this very reason. All 11 guys can watch the play, diagnose what’s going on and attack as a group. They are fairly varied in terms of coverages but in the current Big 12 against all the spread passing games they sit in Cover-2 and Cover-4 with lots of pattern-reading.
Cover-2 is a fairly well known coverage at this point. In zone it goes as follows:
Poor paint illustration aside, you might be able to see a weakness in the cover-2 zone. Namely, after a certain point, there are only 2 guys responsible for a lot of deep field. If a team sent 4 receivers straight down the field eventually they would run past all the zone defenders and the 2 safeties would be responsible for guarding 4 players. There are 2 means of avoiding this, first is pattern reading.
In pattern reading, the defenders start in their zones but will adjust based on what routes the receivers run. If the tight end and the receiver on the right side both go deep the linebacker will escort the tight end a ways or the safety will pick him up sooner depending on how the team runs it. Oklahoma does this frequently, and Texas does it as well.
The other means of avoiding the 4 vertical route dilemma is Cover-4. Now, some might remember that on facebook I habitually ripped into the Cover-4 when Texas ran it in 2006 and 2007. I despised the scheme and thought it had little to no value against the spread offense. As it turns out, it’s a terrific spread scheme if coached properly and with the right personnel. Whereas in the Cover-2 the safeties need to stay deep and the corners stay low to help with short routes and against the running game, in the cover-4 the safeties are freed up to be aggressive.
Here the corners are responsible for making sure someone doesn’t get behind them. However, they may also have safety help like in the cover-2. This can lead to a quarterback trying to throw into a cover-2 weak spot only to see the safety and corner converge on the ball. Because there are 4 potential deep defenders in the cover-4 the safeties have the freedom to be very aggressive. A defense can have a 9 man front against the running game without sacrificing deep passes. Of course, this coverage is susceptible to play-action and trick plays. Remember all the times that Texas got burned by trick plays in 2006-2007? Yeah. Additionally, Cover-4 asks the linebackers to cover the flats. If the corners drift deep while following the receivers on the ends, the linebackers are responsible for guarding the areas occupied by cornerbacks in the cover-2. If you have Robert Killebrew and Scott Derry back there…well. It’s a long way for a linebacker to travel in a short period of time.
Oklahoma has used a lot of cover-4 over the last 10 years and it’s an optimal scheme for their philosophy. They coach up their players on the tendencies and playbooks of the opposing team, they diagnose what’s happening on the field, and then the players (and safeties in particular) are in a great position to attack what’s coming before the offense can materialize. Their linebackers and safeties are generally very good and the way they teach zone-defense and aggressiveness has a lot to do with that. They have a physical mentality to brutalize teams and intimidate.
On the lines we see some convergence between the teams. Both Stoops and Muschamp prefer to generate pressure on the quarterback with only 4 rushers. The sooners employed stand-up pass rushers before Texas started really utilizing Brian Orakpo and Sergio Kindle in this manner on a regular basis. Both coaches also like explosive defensive tackles like Lamarr Houston or the dreaded Tommie Harris (now on the bears) who blew up plays for negative yards. This year Texas has some of that speed, particularly at end. OU has ideal players all over the line.
In the back 7 both teams want turnovers and don’t prefer “bend don’t break” defensive styles, but Texas pursues this in a different manner.
Last year Texas played mostly in cover-2 man under. The difference between that and the above diagrammed Cover-2 is that only the safeties are in zone-coverage. They split the deep field in half and wait to pounce. The rest of the team is in man-coverage with whomever they are lined up against. Texas would use extensive pattern reading here as well which eventually results in man-coverage. The difference though, is that when you see a Texas cornerback isolated on a receiver he’s generally not looking back at the quarterback so often. This season Texas will likely have the best man-coverage cornerback group in the country. Aaron Williams and Chykie Brown can be trusted one on one with most receivers in the country. Given the strength of the Texas secondary and the concern with the defensive line’s ability to stop the run (along with Muschamp’s history and what I’ve seen in practice) I foresee a lot of cover-1 robber this season from Texas.
Given the desire by both OU and Texas to play physical defense that challenges and creates turnovers, there will always be a premium on putting playmakers in favorable positions. Let’s take a quick stock of Texas’ strengths and weaknesses and assume that Muschamp will employ the resources in the most efficient manner for stopping offenses and attacking the ball.
Strengths: 1). Great man-coverage corners.
2). Earl Thomas, a ball-hawk and tackling machine
3). Fast, aggressive linebackers (really speed everywhere is a team strength)
4). Speed pass rushers
5). Secondary depth
Weakness: 1). No line-consuming bulk at the tackle position.
2). Poor skill/technique against power running plays
3). Coming off a year of forcing few turnovers.
Now let me explain how Cover-1 robber addresses these issues:
Whoever ends up starting opposite Earl Thomas will take on deep coverage responsibilities alone. One safety provides deep help for everyone. Earl Thomas becomes the “robber” and drops down to the middle of the field and reads the quarterback’s eyes. Then he attacks where the ball is thrown. I’ve seen him used this way and pick off Colt in scrimmage or practice a couple of times already. I’ve no idea what he’ll do this season against mortal quarterbacks but it may be legendary.
In addition to putting Earl close to the action where he can disrupt and take as he pleases, you’ve also given your defense better numbers against the run. You can line up Aaron Williams against the slot receiver and have a big physical corner close the action on running plays. Every running play in his direction will rely either on that receiver blocking him (unlikely) or he will have to be accounted for by a lineman freeing up other players. Earl can drop down on the other side and serves as an undersized linebacker. Thus, you can have a 7 or 8 man front and outnumber the offense on running plays while still using 5 defensive backs and not asking a linebacker to cover a Jordan Shipley.
Additionally, you can redraw the coverage to feature Aaron Williams and Chykie Brown on the outside receivers, Blake Gideon deep, Earl as the robber and Christian Scott as the slot defender. Or perhaps Earl as the slot defender and Scott as the robber, there are many possibilities afforded by the team’s depth and athletes.
Texas can now challenge everything an offense wants to do up and down the football field with tight coverage. They can apply constant pressure on the quarterback and running game due to the freedom from not dedicating 2 safeties to deep coverage every play. Now, they’ll get beat from time to time with running plays or a deep pass but the turnovers generated will more than cover for this.
Finally, it’s important to note that Texas will not have a catch-all scheme as promising as cover-1 robber may appear. Muschamp will do some 3-down lineman wizardry I don’t fully understand yet, cover-2 pattern reading, cover-2 man under, cover-3 (for blitzes), cover-1 with no robber (for more blitzes) and so on. Oklahoma will stick with their 4-3 front as much as possible and rely on aggressiveness and zone. The players are taught to deal with the various possibilities from a base set.
Muschamp simplifies by having multiple packages with simple responsibilities. Last year Kindle had no idea how to play defensive end and still hadn’t mastered linebacker, but Muschamp would draw up plans that would give him simple goals, like “go kill the quarterback”.
Two different means and primary coverages for basically the same goal:
Create a physical, intimidating defense that challenges everything with the intention of creating turnovers and shutting people down. You can probably count on both teams accomplishing this on a regular basis this year.
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