For all the talk about wet balls and the weather limiting Georgia in the passing game against Kentucky, there was this:
It’s well designed (notice there’s a wide open Swift leaking out of the backfield). Fromm puts the throw on the money, Pickens gets separation from the DB and makes an athletic catch.
In other words, the plays are there. They just have to choose to use them.
Get The Picture 
If you’ll notice, Pickens got picked up by Kash Daniel, a LB. Exploiting mismatches is what Fromm does well. UK didn’t leave Daniels on Pickens again… which made it hard for Fromm to exploit the D later in the game.
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I thought it was because it stopped raining at that moment.
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Wet balls. The older I get, the more it’s a problem.
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That was the throw of the year. Very impressive pass.
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A 15 yard completion is our throw of the year? I suspect you didn’t mean to suggest it, but that is a pretty damning indictment of our offense.
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Would it be the throw of the century if he lead him with the pass instead of throwing behind him?
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Agree with the above comment. Pickens is playing left boundary in the bunch set. UK looks to be in cover 2 zone and the DB takes the TE on the cross, leaving the LB cash to cover Pickens across the field.
Design, Read and Result – Good.
Since we have this good play, lets look at the next 5 pass plays just for fun.
Next pass play, 2 plays later. 2nd and 5.
11 set with TE right, Swift to right, and twins left
Right side CB backs off from initial press and gives 6 yards cushion
Play is RPO to left. Fromm makes good read for quick out route to the right side receiver.
Snap is a bit high, not much of a fake, but the timing is really off. As quick as the play is run, the pass is at least a full second late to match the route. This could be attributed to the weather.
Design and Read – Good
Result – Bad
Next pass play is the next play, 3rd and 5.
Same set as previous play. UK showing Cover 2 Nickel.
This is straight pass blocking, with immediate TE route, so twins both sides.
I see some nice routes on this play as well. The receivers to the left cross, with boundary going underneath.
Left boundary curls at 5yds and is double teamed (LB+DB)
TE from right curls at 5yds and is double teamed (LB+DB)
Left slot runs seam route and is doubled by DB and left safety
Right boundary runs seam and gets open because his DB has released to double the TE
So we have 1 receiver open, but Fromm misses it because he has already left the pocket to run for the 1st. Didn’t appear to be a designed run, and looks like he only looked at the underneath routes. Fromm misses the 1st down on replay, another 1/2 second or more in the pocket had an open route.
Design: Good
Read and Result: Bad
OK, the next play isn’t a pass play but I want to cover. It is 4th and 1 and we play manball. We run wishbone packed right, all 11 players inside the TE’s. UK has 8 guys packed tight on LOS. Then we run a QB sneak. We have 3 guys in the backfield with nothing to do except maybe provide a late push. On a very wet field which is going to work against the push. I really didn’t like this formation at all. If you are running the QB sneak, the TE’s have no contribution and the 3 RB have little to no contribution – a waste of 5 players. Change out the TE’s and 2 RB for 4 WR split out. This gives up no meaningful assets and pulls at least 4 defenders out of the play. You can line up in 01 shotgun set, then go under center tight and RB can push if needed.
Design: Terrible
Read: N/A
Result: Bad
Next pass play is next series, i think 7th play, 2nd and 19.
11 set, TE left, twins right. UK showing cover 2 Nickel.
Play action with 3 receivers running deeper routes into 5 man coverage. Unfortunately the cameras lose all 3 receivers.
Swift sneaks out late but is picked up.
Fromm is flushed and runs from 10 yds behind the LOS and picks up 6 yds. The routes pulled all 5 defenders deep, and the LB that made the tackle was the only defender in the frame.
Design and Read: Unknown – routes not visible
Result: Not bad, but only 6 of the needed 19
Next play is 3rd and 13.
set is 01 trips right then motion to twins right/left. UK again in cover 2 Nickel, and motion shows zone
This play shows poor route scheme to me. From both sides, 1 seam route and 1 stop route. Left side does a late very shallow cross which is ineffective. So exact opposite of the first play shown in the post. We need more of those.
Design: Bad
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Great analysis.
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You need to post more often.
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I agree with Russ. Excellent analysis.
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and after the halftime adjustments we stopped throwing.
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Was Wolf wide a** open too?
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While watching the game it seemed like “a wide open Swift leaking out of the backfield” happened on the majority of pass plays against UK.
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That was a well designed play. We crossed them high that let Pickens sneak underneath on a LB…mismatch.
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I was looking back at the UK game closer for the above post, and noticed that we ran pretty much this same exact play again in the 4th quarter on the 4th and 4 play.
We weren’t bunched, but aligned 01 twins right/left.
Left slot was the TE, and Pickens from left boundary crossed underneath and then ran the shallow cross route.
This time the safety rolled down into coverage leaving cover 1, but had bad leverage for the cross and it was an easy 1st down. Fromm actually threw the ball about 2 ft short of ideal and Pickens had to turn back for the catch.
We need more of these predefined routes to space.
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