Under Center vs. Shotgun

[ScarletArrow]

A couple of thoughts...

- In '04, our offense transformed mid-season from a traditional one and two back set with the QB under center (JZ as QB) to spread formations with 3 WR's (TS as QB).

- Each approach had their moments of success, but the latter approach seemed to have more - e.g. vs. scUM and Alamo.

- In the '04 scUM game, Gary Danielson made a point in the 4th quarter when we were trying to run out the clock that our offense and TS were much more successful in the shotgun formation rather than under center. His point was that if we wanted to hold onto the ball and run out the clock, going under center would only lead us to a 3 and out (which it did).

- At the time, and all off-season, I had thought that TS was a natural fit for the spread apprach. My expectation was that he (and our offense) would be a Zak Kustok, Randle-El, Zack Mills, etc, type player...(I know, not a perfect comparison, but I'm thinking solid Big Ten run / pass combination QB's that were not all-world - e.g. Vick or Young)

- Against Iowa, we come out under center with a FB and our running game looked better than it has in along time against what is thought to be a solid defense.

- Last week, against MSU, Danielson made a point that JT was a "much better play caller" with the QB under center rather than in the shotgun.

- This week, IU's defense is so bad that's hard to measure anything against it, but it appeared that we ran 50/50 under center vs. shotgun.

So, a couple of questions...

- Is Gary Danielson right, is JT too much out of his element with the spread offense?

- Is TS or Pittman a better fit in one approach or another? It appears to me that Pittman does better with a FB but TS does better in the shotgun.

- Is JT trying to reconcile this by using less shot-Ginn formations for the running games sake?

- Are there any statistical nuts out there who have a breakdown of our formation effictiveness for the season? Surely JT and his O-staff look at this.

 

[timBUCK2]

I don't have any statistics to back this up, but here's my take:

The spread worked really well last year because we broke it late in the season. No one (especially TSUN) was expecting it, so the new look completely defied the scouting reports.

Now that everyone is expecting it, it only works well when it's executed well on the field. It seems like JT and Bollman call a much better game out of the Center. Our spread play calling is tired and extremely predictable since we basically run the same 5 plays every time and don't get many playmakers involved. It really hurts Pittman too, since he's more of a burst between the tackes North-South runner and the defense gets a few extra seconds to adapt.

Pittman consistently gets better blocking out of center, and I actually think it helps Smith too. Smith has a really nice drop step that looks identical when running the deep pass, draw, pitch & catch and the screen.

When TS snaps out of the shotgun, it's nearly always a scramble (called, or otherwise) or some short slant.

I'm also glad to see less of the shot-Ginn formation. It's just not clever anymore since we almost always seem to run the same play out of it. A bit like the power I, but w/o the designed blocking. It also seems to really throw off the offensive rythym and TGII usually tries to make too much out of it and comes out with a lost down and lost yards.

Personally, I like to the the snaps under center 70-80% of the time and the shotgun for the remainder. Maybe toss the shot-Ginn in, fake it to TGII and go deep to Holmes or Gonzo.