William & Mary Defensive Game Plan, Prelude to Foster's Buckeye Attack

Over the summer I extensively studied Ohio State's offense. Urban Meyer's juggernaut dominated the Big Ten the past two seasons with Braxton Miller at the helm and a diversified option threat on almost every formation and play. The weakness last season was the offensive line. The veteran group paved the way for huge numbers from Miller and Carlos Hyde, but they also struggled mightily against blitzing and stunting defenses with great athletes like Michigan State that could load the box and cover man-to-man deep.

This season the Buckeyes have no Hyde, no Miller, and four new starters on the offensive line. Navy exposed those weaknesses and deficiencies early and often, and generated pressure with their 3-4 base defense. Sometimes the Midshipmen got significant pressure with just their three down linemen. On this play, the Middies shifted their defensive line to the left and showed their outside linebacker as an elephant man pass rusher over the right side. The outside linebacker dropped back, and the defensive line slanted right. This isn't a rocket science look, and Navy doesn't have elite defensive line talent, but the Buckeye right guard and tackle can't pick up the slant.

When you compare Navy's speed to Dadi Nicolas on the edge, or Corey Marshall and Luther Maddy on the inside, you can imagine that Urban Meyer will do everything he can to limit the number of times that quarterback J.T. Barrett has to use the drop back passing game. Most of the Ohio State busts came from the two guard positions, so you can imagine that a Corey Marshall spin move could create some serious issues.

Other times, Navy would bring one of their four linebackers from different spots on the field, but consistently there were seven guys dropping into coverage. The Buckeye front had their hands full against those four-man pressures. In the rare instance that Navy brought more than four, Barrett and the Buckeyes struggled to execute.

That is a brutal game-management by Barrett given the situation: first down, first half, in the red zone of a close game. The play features poor blocking by the offensive line, and zero site adjustment to the blitz by Barrett's wide receivers. When Barrett leaves the pocket, none of the receivers break off their routes to come back to give Barrett a safety valve.

The deficiency along Ohio State's offensive line presents an amazing opportunity for Tech to force big momentum-swinging plays on defense, provided that Foster's defense can stop the Buckeye read option game and put Ohio State into long down and distance situations. Defensive tackles Maddy and Marshall can be disruptive against the inside zone, and the man coverage ability of the Hokie secondary means Foster can commit seven-plus men to run support. If the Hokies can get Ohio State into third-and-long situations, Ohio State will be tested by Foster's aggressiveness.

In Tech's final scrimmage before its spring game (where the quarterbacks were live for the first time), Bud Foster debuted a hyper-aggressive version of his gap defense that featured quick defensive tackles Corey Marshall and Luther Maddy shooting through the interior gaps, backed up by a variety of eight-man fronts and unique blitz packages. It plays to the strengths of Foster's personnel; his tackles can create chaos inside, and by blitzing his quick but inexperienced linebackers, it alleviates some of the tough responsibilities like interior gap fits and pass coverage. Foster also used a 30-stack look with three down linemen and three linebackers to create more movement and confusion on passing downs. Foster used both against the Tribe, perhaps as the dress rehearsal for Ohio State.

Rather than play a vanilla defense as one might expect against a I-AA team, against William & Mary Foster used 8-man fronts and aggressive stunts and blitzes early and often. Most likely this was to get timing and execution down against a live opponent. It was devastatingly effective. From the 8-man front look, Foster sent numerous pressures built around two core concepts: the zone blitz with defensive linemen dropping into coverage, and full blitzes featuring tight man coverage and no safety help.

A Variety of Zone Blitz Pressures

A zone blitz features corners, safeties or linebackers blitzing while a defensive lineman drops back into zone coverage. It is effective because the offensive linemen will initially focus on the down lineman, and the smaller, faster blitzer usually comes from a surprising angle; OR the blitz will put one blocker on an island against two pass rushers. It is also relatively safe, as the Hokies will usually incorporate a soft deep cover 3 with the defensive linemen dropping into short zones.

At various points, I saw ends Dadi Nicolas, Ken Ekanem, Dewayne Alford, and Seth Dooley all dropping into coverage while the linebackers and safeties went screaming into the backfield. Here are two that captured my attention.

First, the Hokies use a "double dog" zone blitz from their nickel package. On a double dog blitz both inside linebackers are sent through the 1 gaps. Both of the cornerbacks, the rover, and the nickel are in man coverage, with a deep centerfield free safety. The two defensive ends (here Seth Dooley and Dewayne Alford) have to fake a pass rush, and then drop back into a short zone.

Initially, the defensive ends rush upfield to try and draw the offensive tackles' attention. The defensive tackles stunt outside to get into a contain position and draw blockers outside, and the linebackers blitz right up the middle gaps. The ends then back off and drop back into short zones, where they read the quarterback's eyes. If the back stays in to block, the defensive ends try to undercut any short throws across the middle. If the back leaks out for a pass, they cover the back when he enters their zone. If the quarterback scrambles out of the pocket, the ends pursue and make the tackle just like a spy linebacker would.

William & Mary did a nice job of picking up the blitz, but Deon Clarke forced a quick throw from the quarterback. The Hokies have excellent press coverage. Nobody has any separation downfield. Dooley reads the QB's eyes and sees that he has keyed in on the crossing route that is being covered by Chuck Clark. If Deon Clarke can get there just a second earlier to force a quicker throw, Dooley may have himself an interception. William & Mary did an excellent job of executing the play, especially the blitz pickup by the tailback. The quarterback made the correct read. The Hokies executed their scheme by forcing a quick throw into an area where the Tribe couldn't get a first down, and almost forced a turnover. This is good football by both teams.

Bud Foster's boundary corners, especially Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris, were outstanding at pressuring the quarterback on blitzes from the short side of the field. Kendall Fuller will play that role for the Hokies this season, and the corner blitz also gives Coach Foster a different angle with which to bring a contain defender to take away outside zones and quarterback keepers on read plays. But, the corner blitz only works if the defense can disguise the blitz and rotate a different defender over the top of the space vacated by the corner.

Let's examine Kendall Fuller's sack. The Tribe aligns in a balanced formation to the right hash. Usually, the Hokies would align with the three-technique to the boundary against a balanced formation (two receivers to each side) but here the three-technique is to the field. That goes against tendency and should have alerted the Tribe that something was afoot. (Or, Foster used a red herring to get something on film that will force future opponents to use practice time to account for). After Jarrett shows normal cover 2 and Fuller shows normal inside leverage man coverage, Fuller sneaks up to the edge and Jarrett rotates out.

At the snap, Fuller and Deon Clarke blitz off the 9 and 7 gaps. Dadi Nicolas slants hard to the inside. This leaves the offensive tackle and running back on an island. If the tackle goes with Dadi, the running back has to choose between Clarke and Fuller. If the tackle stays with Clarke, Dadi will likely be unblocked right up the middle. Normally the tight end would go out on a pattern, giving Chase Williams the long run from his mike spot over to cover, but here the tight end stays in to block.

William & Mary should be in good shape with the max protect, but the tight end bites inside. Clarke has the QB on a platter, but overruns him. Luckily, Fuller stays with the play and makes the sack. Good coverage (in part because the Tribe only have three receivers in the pattern) gives Fuller time to make the play.

Man Coverage and Blitzes

Zone blitzes are safer pressure packages in that they still only feature four or five pass rushers with at least six defenders back in coverage. Bud Foster is famous for true blitzes, where the defense brings more defenders than blockers and the secondary players are on islands with no help. It is a risk-reward proposition. Foster bets that the quarterback can't make the accurate throw and his coverage guys will be close enough to limit the damage if there is a completion. The odds are more likely that he will force an incompletion, generate a game-changing turnover, or at least rattle a quarterback that isn't mentally tough.

Foster wasn't shy about using his blitz packages paired with man or quarters coverage in the secondary against the Tribe. Chase Williams had two sacks where the secondary was isolated man to man, including the game changing hit that resulted in Derek Di Nardo's near touchdown. Let's examine that pressure.

Foster uses his 46 front, with the backer lined up on the line of scrimmage to the boundary and the whip aligned on the line of scrimmage to the field. The rover (Jarrett) is aligned as an inside linebacker to the boundary, while Williams is aligned as the mike to the field. Kendall Fuller motions across to the boundary, indicating man coverage. Facyson is all by himself with a huge expanse to cover back to the field side. All four defensive linemen crash through their inside shoulder gaps. The whip and the backer come off the edge. Williams reads Dewayne Alford's stunt. Just like a good running back reading a zone block, Williams comes right off Alford's outside shoulder and comes unblocked for a shot right up the middle.

It is interesting to note that the second team defensive line, which was a major worry in fall camp) is in and executes the stunt to open up the pass rush lane for Williams.

Foster used these pressures repeatedly along with the zone blitzes, and you can't use a 7-man blitz unless you have defensive backs who not only can cover in man, but who understand what leverage points to play. If you don't have a safety in the middle, you have to take away the slant, crossing route, or post. If the receiver beats you on an outside release, so be it. Get them the next play. Fuller and Facyson may be young, but they don't break down in terms of their assignments when Foster sends six or more. William & Mary All-American Tre McBride got an outside release one time and Facyson stumbled a bit, but it was close. That wasn't an easy throw or catch. The Tribe went after Facyson several more times and couldn't connect. Then, they went after Kendall Fuller, and Fuller made a spectacular play. Note, Foster sends Di Nardo and Williams on another interior blitz, leaving only five in coverage.

Ohio State's o-line struggles present a grand opportunity for Bud Foster to shake up a young quarterback. Defensively, the Hokies fate will be decided on first and second down, where Williams and Clarke will need to tackle much better in the running game than they did Saturday. Clarke was unblocked and whiffed clean on the long Tribe wildcat run in the first half, and Williams had several missed tackles where he had a good angle coming off a blocker and couldn't get the back on the ground. The Hokies defensive line must be aggressive and get into the Buckeye backfield, but they can't forsake their gap responsibilities inside. If the Hokie front-seven can get Ohio State into third-and-long situations, that offense is very susceptible to blitzes and unique coverages that will force turnovers.