Auburn's Series Football

One of the things that many offensive coaches strive for is to construct a series of football plays that resemble each other at the snap of the ball. This series of plays will utilize a base play, a counter off of the base play, and usually a play action pass to accompany the two previous plays.

Here are some links to great articles discussing different types of series football. Check these out for my ideas and thoughts on the topic of series football.

Belly/Double Dive, Offensive Basics of Series Football, and Spread Gun Wing-T Buck Series.

Continuing with my breakdown of the Auburn offense from this past season I'm going to show an example of Gus Malzahn's use of series football inside of his offense. Malzahan has stated that his offensive roots come from the wing-t, which then makes the following idea that a man known for his genius of the spread offense uses series of football. This series of three plays was taken from Auburn's first game of the season against Arkansas State, and all plays were from the first quarter.

The Base Play - The Inside Zone

The series of three plays I will discuss all start out in a very similar fashion. The tailback will align out of the backfield as a slot receiver on the right and motion into the backfield.



On the snap of the ball the running back to the left of Newton will come across Newton's body for a play fake and the tailback will begin to come down hill for the inside zone hand off.



The H-back will help secure the defensive end.



Auburn has a nice little play.





The Second Play - The Counter

I've already discussed Auburn's counter play, and actually used an example of this same exact look from Auburn's stomping of South Carolina in the SEC Championship.

This play works out of the same set and motion.



On the snap the running back to the left will lead outside to help block the force player as the H-back and left guard execute their role in the counter blocking scheme.





Another successful play for the Tigers.





The Third Play - The Play Action Pass

The final play in the series and the one that gashes Arkansas State for a big touchdown is the play action pass that comes off of the counter action.

Notice this time the formation is slightly different, the tailback who has aligned as the widest receiver to the right is now aligned in the slot. He will once again execute his high motion into the backfield.



On the snap of the ball the tailback comes down hill and we see the running back to the left of the QB release outside like he had on the counter play, along with that the left guard once again pulls.



Both wide receivers have taken inside releases and are pushing to the middle of the field and getting vertical. We also see the running back that has left the backfield increase speed and begin his wheel route up the sideline, looking to outrun the corner that had released inside with the wide receiver.



Finally, we see the wheel route beating the trailing corner and leaving himself wide open for a touchdown.



Three plays, all from very similar sets and initial motions which accomplish three different things. The ultimate goal is setting up the play action pass to take advantage of aggressive defensive back play. I believe one of the biggest reasons the play action pass is so wide open is because Malzahn does not wait to long to throw it. He comes out, he runs the inside zone and the counter, on the next series he comes out and throws the play action pass. The defense must be weary of the two plays they've already seen out of that set, only to leave them reeling when Malzahn unleashes the dagger.

Oregon's Inside Zone Series

In honor of tonight's game I figured I would try to throw together something to maybe look forward to tonight from Chip Kelly and Oregon. I'm going to briefly discuss Oregon's inside zone and the series that Chip Kelly has built off of it.

Inside Zone

First, we have their base inside zone play. Oregon is much more of a zone team than Auburn (whom I've covered recently). Oregon runs a lot of zone, both inside and outside.

Here is a diagram of their base inside zone play (taken specifically from their game against Stanford this year). LaMichael James, Oregon's star runningback aligns in the slot to the left and motions across the formation and into the backfield. Stanford is aligned in an even front. Like most of the teams running zone read, Oregon leaves the right defensive end unblocked and QB Darron Thomas reads him for either give or keep. Oregon will also have their #3 run a bubble route which is always an option for Thomas to throw to if he pulls.


Zone Bubble

The next play in the series is the bubble off of the inside zone action. While Thomas (QB) usually has the option to mesh with the tailback on the zone and run the play from there, he also is afforded the option to simply catch the snap and throw. I'm assuming this comes from a pre-snap read and determining if the trips side of the formation has leverage. Below we see an advantageous alignment which allows Thomas to throw the bubble immediately after catching the snap. The rest of the offense (o-line and tailback still execute the zone play as called.)


Bubble Now

For inside zone plays with two receivers aligned on the backside Chip Kelly will replace a bubble by #3 with a now screen by #1. On this play Thomas will ride James the tailback on his read, and make his decision from there. On this play specifically Thomas notices the NB creeping into the box before the snap and committing to the run after the snap. Thomas fully rides James and upon disconnect immediately throws the Now screen out to the #1. The offense clearly has leverage on the outside with the ability of the #2 receiver to block the CB and the NB having abandoned coverage responsibilities.



Bubble-Slant

Off of the zone bubble concept Oregon will throw a play-action bubble/slant series to take advtange of corners and safety's who jumping the bubble. Thomas will quickly ride the tailback then shoulder pump to the bubble and hit one of the slants behind it. Very simple stuff.


Bubble-Go

The final play in the series is just the next step from the bubble-slant concept. However, instead of throwing a slant after shoulder pump to the bubble Thomas will look to hit the #2 who has run a seam route past the creeping safety. The outside receiver will either run a slant or a curl and is also another option if the safety stays high and runs with the seam.



Now Oregon isn't the only team to run these series of plays, I saw Michigan on more than a few occasions this year utilize these. Oregon's big impact comes from the fact that they go fast...really fast. Along with that they line up and go from sideline to sideline across the field, getting defenders moving. During a few series alone Oregon would simply go from inside zone, to bubble, to screen, to bubble the other way, to inside zone. It appears to me that for the most part Oregon is definitely more uptempo than Auburn, yet like Auburn is still relatively simple scheme wise. They execute well and do this at a fast paced.

All I know is I am excited for tonight. Hopefully it's a great game and both offenses show some new things.