I hate to do this to everyone but in light of us running some 3-4 in the scrimmage this weekend I wanted to spew out my limited knowledge to help those who don't really know what it is about. Note: I don't believe that we should run the 3-4 exclusively but I do think it would be a great thing to have installed with our given personnel this season.
The first thing that people need to understand about the 3-4 is that it really isn't very different than the 4-3 after the ball is snapped. Usually teams still rush 4 with the ability to blitz others. There are 2 basic stunts that you have to run every down with the 3-4: slant and angle. Here is a diagram of slant:
As you can see the 3 DL line up head up on the center and tackles but on the snap they stunt into the man to their strong side. The OLB to the weak side blitzes off the outside to give the 4 rushers. The 3 LB's who aren't blitzing drop into the normal 4-3 LB spots.
This is an example of the 3-4 with an angle stunt, which is to the weak side. This is basically just the opposite of the slant.
Speaking as a former offensive lineman I assure you that when going up against defensive players of OSU's caliber this is the hardest defense to block.
The 3-4 would work particularly well for OSU because we have the personnel to handle it. The most important thing you need is a nose tackle that can eat up double teams i.e. Pitcock, Green with Patterson, and Cotton helping out. You also need DE's that are quick enough that they can play outside but big enough that they can go inside with the guards i.e. Fraser, Kudla (maybe or LB), Penton, Richardson, Patterson, and Cotton. The inside LB's would be Schlegel and D'Andrea with Kerr, Hawk (in a pinch) and maybe Kudla backing them up. The OLB's would be Hawk and Carpenter with Freeman, Matthews, and Lukens backing them up. Carpenter and Hawk are both great pass rushers, but have enough size to take on a lead back or OL on a run play.
The best thing about the 3-4 is that there is an endless number of blitzes that you can run out of it. One of my least favorite (once again as a o-lineman) is the Blood blitz because the hardest thing for an offensive lineman to do is to stay with a LB who crosses from one side of the field to the other.
As you can see in the above example the Peg (sorry for the name but that's what we called him) loops behind the Nose and Mike. Chances are the Nose will tie up the LG and not let him get around the center and RG so the Peg will be able to get through unblocked. The only option the QB has is to dump the ball off to one of the RB's or TE within 2 seconds before he gets sacked.
Zone blitzes are also huge in the 3-4
In this zone blitz you basically take both OT's out of the pass protection because the OT's are responsible for blocking the ends. If the DE fake like they are rushing for a step the OT's will have to take a pass set to block them. With a man headup the OT had to make sure the protect against the inside stunt so the first step is inside. After the fake the DE's drop into their zone, much like Will Smith has done the past couple years. This fake will allow both OLB's to get around the O-line and be one on one with the RB's. The best thing about this is that you are only rushing 7 guys so you can run a normal zone, but there is a good chance your outside pressure will get to the QB and force him to make a mistake. When the QB sees that both OLB's are rushing the first thing that goes through his head is that he should be able to hit one of the WR's hot on the slant, but the DE's are dropping into that part of the zone and have a good chance of knocking down or picking off the pass.
That is my breakdown of the 3-4 so next time somebody brings up our defense running it take a deep breath and consider if having Fraser, Pitcock, Patterson/Kudla, Hawk, D'Andrea, Schlegel, and Carpenter for a front 7 is such a bad thing.
The first thing that people need to understand about the 3-4 is that it really isn't very different than the 4-3 after the ball is snapped. Usually teams still rush 4 with the ability to blitz others. There are 2 basic stunts that you have to run every down with the 3-4: slant and angle. Here is a diagram of slant:
As you can see the 3 DL line up head up on the center and tackles but on the snap they stunt into the man to their strong side. The OLB to the weak side blitzes off the outside to give the 4 rushers. The 3 LB's who aren't blitzing drop into the normal 4-3 LB spots.
This is an example of the 3-4 with an angle stunt, which is to the weak side. This is basically just the opposite of the slant.
Speaking as a former offensive lineman I assure you that when going up against defensive players of OSU's caliber this is the hardest defense to block.
The 3-4 would work particularly well for OSU because we have the personnel to handle it. The most important thing you need is a nose tackle that can eat up double teams i.e. Pitcock, Green with Patterson, and Cotton helping out. You also need DE's that are quick enough that they can play outside but big enough that they can go inside with the guards i.e. Fraser, Kudla (maybe or LB), Penton, Richardson, Patterson, and Cotton. The inside LB's would be Schlegel and D'Andrea with Kerr, Hawk (in a pinch) and maybe Kudla backing them up. The OLB's would be Hawk and Carpenter with Freeman, Matthews, and Lukens backing them up. Carpenter and Hawk are both great pass rushers, but have enough size to take on a lead back or OL on a run play.
The best thing about the 3-4 is that there is an endless number of blitzes that you can run out of it. One of my least favorite (once again as a o-lineman) is the Blood blitz because the hardest thing for an offensive lineman to do is to stay with a LB who crosses from one side of the field to the other.
As you can see in the above example the Peg (sorry for the name but that's what we called him) loops behind the Nose and Mike. Chances are the Nose will tie up the LG and not let him get around the center and RG so the Peg will be able to get through unblocked. The only option the QB has is to dump the ball off to one of the RB's or TE within 2 seconds before he gets sacked.
Zone blitzes are also huge in the 3-4
In this zone blitz you basically take both OT's out of the pass protection because the OT's are responsible for blocking the ends. If the DE fake like they are rushing for a step the OT's will have to take a pass set to block them. With a man headup the OT had to make sure the protect against the inside stunt so the first step is inside. After the fake the DE's drop into their zone, much like Will Smith has done the past couple years. This fake will allow both OLB's to get around the O-line and be one on one with the RB's. The best thing about this is that you are only rushing 7 guys so you can run a normal zone, but there is a good chance your outside pressure will get to the QB and force him to make a mistake. When the QB sees that both OLB's are rushing the first thing that goes through his head is that he should be able to hit one of the WR's hot on the slant, but the DE's are dropping into that part of the zone and have a good chance of knocking down or picking off the pass.
That is my breakdown of the 3-4 so next time somebody brings up our defense running it take a deep breath and consider if having Fraser, Pitcock, Patterson/Kudla, Hawk, D'Andrea, Schlegel, and Carpenter for a front 7 is such a bad thing.
