A gentle reminder from Year2 that last year’s spotty run defense wasn’t totally due to personnel issues. Unless by that you mean not having enough personnel in the right place.
Todd Grantham, the option. The option, Todd Grantham.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
Get The Picture 
Erk Russell when asked why he ran an option offense replied that in all his years of being a DC he could never figure out how to defend it consistently so he knew when he became an HC he would run it.
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Not sure if it’s fair to not give any credit to their coaches for retooling their offense. They had 2 weeks to prep and they used it to their advantage. However, I hope this article makes its way to our film room just the same.
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True. It should also be noted that they came out running no huddle at a furious pace, giving us little time to make those pre-snap adjustments or substitutions. Good for them.
The author mentions the keeper that Trey Burton scored on in the second half. I wish he would’ve broken down that play, which seemed like a complete and total bust on our part even to my untrained eye.
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In my broader game review (it’s on the front page), I mention the adjustments that Florida’s offensive staff made during the off week. They did play a role in the game, though not on this play specifically.
I broke down this play rather than Burton’s simply because the camera angles were more conducive. Burton’s run was a simple read option with a fullback in as H-back, so while the play was different, there was a similar 8-on-7 effect in personnel. All of Florida’s blockers did their jobs well, so it was the numbers that did Georgia in, not a big breakdown.
The only problem UGA had other than how it lined up was that Shawn Williams bit on the hand off fake, vacating Burton’s cutback lane. He realized that fact fairly late in the play, and he appeared to underestimate Burton’s open field speed. To be fair, no one but Florida’s coaches knew he was that fast either.
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Thank you for responding. That was painful to watch – Williams really did run himself right out of the play. I also got curious and checked out a breakdown of the play over at Alligator Army. They seemed to indicate that both teams sort of broke down on the play with Burton just doing his own thing. Obviously that worked out well for him.
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If it wasn’t for good athletes compensating for busted plays, Florida would have scored 10 points a game last year. I’ve never seen an offense from one of the power SEC schools look that out of sorts that often.
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ouch.
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I believe that by GT they had a firmer basis on handling the option. It will get better as time goes on.
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I thought gt did some damage with the plan ol’ fb dive, but I really hope Big John can help with that a lot.
Also, did that guy just threaten to kill his girlfriend after he scored, or did I make that up in my head?
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We don’t know if the players failed to make an adjustment pre-snap.
The author does a great job of explaining what went wrong on that play.
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We’ve got two mammoth NTs now that should prove to be difference makers. Last year, we had a DGD in Tyson doing everything he could in a position he was not suited for.
If Kwame and Big John live up to the expectations, I believe we’ll be just fine against the option.
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It was frustrating watching the UF game knowing that this offensive gimmickry was working and would continue to work. Against GT, though, it appeared we were in the right place schematically, but Tyson was just getting blown off the ball every play and the defense was constantly having to compensate for it by dedicating an extra player or two to defend the dive where we wouldn’t have had to if we had a better nose.
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Don’t think thats fair to say about Tyson. Didn’t he and jones each have 16 tackles that game. I’m not saying put him back at DT but I don’t think the tech game was his worst moment of the season.
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he is not hating on Tyson, it is more on the premise that a larger DT = extra man that had to help him that game.
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Of course he had 16 tackles, they were running straight at or past him all day long. Don’t think many of those were for a loss, though.
Not meaning to put Tyson down; he’s great but was just a square peg in a round hole…. a huge, gaping hole.
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The 3-4 that CTG runs is GREAT against a pro-style offense. However, it is severely lacking against any spread-esque scheme. I sure hope the rumors are right and we play BOTH Jenkins and Geathers on the DL at the same time. I’m pretty sure that would do the trick in helping slow down the dive, allowing the 3-4 to work as it should, out in space.
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That’s the concern when you bring in an NFL guy.
Florida aside, I thought the defense looked better against option team especially given our lack of beef upfront and lack of S C. Hopefully both of those areas have been addressed.
Also I would not be surprised to learn that play was Rambos fault and I’d like to see someone push him for PT this year.
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That’s some real inside baseball. I hope Todd Grantham is a filmaholic, and likes to learn new things.
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Indeed. Most Florida fans hopes he spends a LOT of time getting his defense to defend the spread option this year.
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In the GT game, I remember thinking that it looked like the Georgia middle linebackers were too far back from the LOS. And with the wide splits by linemen, the pre-snap look made it look like one could drive a mack truck past the line and deep into the second level without getting touched by a single defender. The 411 yards of rushing offense (5.3 yards per attempt) by GT suggests to me that even at the end of in the season Grantham’s strategies for option defense (or the implementation thereof) was still very much a work in progress.
To be fair, each team has its own approach to running option plays so it’s not like Grantham saw the same option attack each time and simply failed to adjust. Adjusting to the different styles can be challenging enough, but to do it and while continuing to transition to a different defensive philosophy is a definitely a difficult task.
I hear nothing but good things about Grantham so I would expect him to put the firsthand experience he got last year to good use. It’ll be interesting to see what he does this year.
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In this play against UF, I’m not sure why UGA had 2 defenders playing outside contain. From the little I understand, Houston should have squeezed down when he saw the tackle in front of him block down inside. Instead he steps upfield and wide, then just stops. This is basic fundamental defense I believe.
But, I am looking forward to year 2 defense!
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UGA had Gamble and Williams playing contain on the defense’s left and Dent and Houston playing contain on the right. That left Dowtin by himself in the middle.
Some commenters over at TSK speculated Houston is the one at fault here, as he didn’t attack the middle to beat the pulling guard and flush Rainey out wide to where Rambo and Boykin were. That makes sense to me. The other possibility I can think of is that Houston was doing what he was supposed to playing contain on his edge and it’s Dent who did the wrong thing. If Dent plugged the middle, either he gets Rainey there or Rainey bounces outside to where Houston or Rambo/Boykin get him for a gain of no more than five yards. Boykin in particular was in good position to make a play because Frankie Hammond barely made an attempt to block him.
I can’t imagine Grantham planned to have just one guy out of Dowtin, Dent, and Houston covering the middle with Addazio’s love of the dive so well known, but that’s what happened on this play.
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We just need to to run the 4-4 defense. It is specifically designed to fight the option in any form. If anyone wants me to teach it to them I will be glad. Just so sad that this defense is not being utilized in the face of all these option attacks whether it is GT option or Spread option.
Just my .02 cents.
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Willie basically did a 4-4 in his last game against Tech where we demolished their run game (and almost got beat solely on their “passing” attack). I agree, as long at you have a) all-world corners b) the offense does not plan on passing much
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