1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier

The Florida offense under Head Coach Steve Spurrier was undoubtedly one of the most exciting offenses in recent history, putting up lots of points and throwing the ball around as few teams had done up to that point in time.  Coach Spurrier's Fun and Gun attack helped to end the run-first era and to usher in the Spread offense era of multiple WRs and the ability to throw the football to win.  The remarkable thing about Spurrier and his offenses was how easy they made it look to score points and how wide open his receivers always seemed to be.

There were plenty of highlights in the Spurrier era during the 1990s.  The 1995 game vs. Tennessee with Peyton Manning at QB saw the Gators down 30-14.  Then there was a torrential downpour that was only exceeded by what Danny Wuerffel and the Gator offense did to pour on 48 straight points in a 62-37 beat down (also fueled by one of the biggest hits of all-time).  I'm not sure I can ever remember a team being up by so much like Tennessee was that ended up getting avalanched and absolutely destroyed the way they did.  The Gators pulverized FSU 52-20 for their first national championship in 1996 to get revenge for a 24-21 regular season defeat.  The upset of a great FSU team in 1997 that was ranked #1 in the country is still the greatest game ever played at Florida Field (my favorite game of all-time along with the 1985 Miami Dolphins 38-24 win over the Chicago Bears in the most-watched game ever on Monday Night Football to keep the Bears from going undefeated). 

The other game that stood out for me for the raw fury of offensive explosion and opposing its will on a defense was Spurrier’s last game at Florida vs. Maryland in the 2002 Orange Bowl.  Rex Grossman did not start the game for missing curfew and Brock Berlin came and the Gators had a shaky 14-10 lead in the 2nd Qtr.  Spurrier, being a former Heisman winner, was ever the demanding perfectionist at coaching the QB position.  After Berlin threw his 2nd interception, Spurrier yanked him for Grossman, who came in and took over, obliterating Maryland’s 3 deep coverage for six straight TDs in a 56-23 rout.  If there was ever a clinic video made of how to destroy Cover 3 with the passing game, this game tape would have to be it.

I recently got a hold of some vintage cut-ups of all of the 1995-96 Florida TD passes.  The Gator offense under Heisman Trophy winning QB Danny Wuerffel, RB Fred Taylor, and WRs Reidel Anthony, Ike Hilliard, Jacquez Green, and Chris Doering led them to two appearances in the national championship game.  There were three concepts that the Gator offense was synonymous for that showed up repeatedly in the cut-ups that I want to show and talk about: the Fade route, the Corner route, and the Mills concept.

Fade

The Faderoute in the Florida offense was a devastating weapon.  DBs could be in almost perfect coverage but the route always allowed the Florida WRs plenty of grass to run to and the ability to see the ball and to jump and grab it before the DB could turn around and react quick enough.  I got coached up recently on the Fade route by former Gator great, Jacquez Green.  He explained it simply as a foot fire, hard stick inside, and run to the back corner of the end zone.  Green was only 5-9, but ran the route better than anyone else at Florida because his feet were so quick.  He was great at the foot fire and the deadly jab step inside to free him from tight man coverage.

Football is certainly a science with all of the X's and O's and fundamental techniques that we coaches can spend a lifetime studying and tweaking, but it is also an art form.  I believe that the Fade route, especially in slow-motion, is quite possibly the most beautiful play in all of football.  I tried to slow-motion the film in the cut-ups but the video is too old to do so.

Fade Route - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Corner Route

Florida saw a lot of Cover 2 and they used the Corner route to score numerous TDs back in the day.  Spurrier liked to get to the opponent's 30-40 yard line and throw TDs from there rather than drive down deep in the red zone and let the field compress him and limit what he could do.  There were multiple concepts that utilized the Corner route in Spurrier's offense.  Corkers is basically the Smash concept mirrored to both sides.  Righty/Lefty was Smash to the playside with a Post from the backside.  Ralph/Lonnie was a concept made famous by Spurrier in which the #1 WR's rule was to run a Curl route and to adjust that route to an inside release Corner route vs. Cover 2.  Chris Brown at Smart Football and Grantland says Ralph/Lonnieallowed Spurrier’s offense and his QB to always be right: “You play him in Cover 2, he throws the corner, you play him in Cover 3, he throws the curl.   Finally, in the cut-ups they also hit the Corner route once out of the Snagconcept (#1 – Snag, #2 – Corner, #3 – Flat or Swing) that is quite popular today.

Corner Route - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Mills

Millswas a Play-Action concept named after former Florida WR, Ernie Mills, and was responsible for many big TD passes during the 1990s.  Spurrier’s first SEC victory in 1990 vs. Alabama was one of the biggest wins in school history according to Spurrier and was made possible by a 70 yard pass to Ernie Mills on this very play.  This play is great vs. Quarters coverage that is prevalent today.  The #2 WR runs a Dig route to get the Safety to jump him and the #1 WR runs a Post route over top of the Safety.  The QB will read the Safety to see if he will come up to play the Dig or stay back to play the Post.  The single side WR to the opposite side runs an inside release Corner to occupy the backside Safety.

Mills - 1995-1996 Florida Offense - Steve Spurrier from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Great Links

Coach Vint with The Little Things are the Biggest Things and Leverage, Numbers, and Green Grass.

Blitzology is back again with Torch: Lighting Up the Offense with the Read Twist and Equipment Review.

Coach CP at Strong Football with 3 Reasons to Use the TE at the H.S. Level, Cover 2 Trap Zone Blitz, the Smash Concept, and Beating Press Coverage with Bunch Formations and Motion.

Coach Mac with Practicing Your Tempo and Power.

DaCoachMo at Spread Football features Dub Maddox in Question: Want to Be a Great Coach? and he also shares Clinic Notes.

Compete In All Things with Shallow Cross: Why Is He Always Open?

Coach Holst with notes on the Nevada Spring Game.

Chris Brown at Smart Football and Grantland with What Drafting Matt Barkley Means for Chip Kelly's Plans for the Eagles.

Duece has some motivation material with Today's the Big Day and talks coverage with Split Field Coverage - The Underneath Players.

Dan Gonzalez with Assembling a Game Plan: Parts One, Two, and Three.

Coach Grabowski with lots of TE Resources.

2013 Virginia Tech Helmet Safety Study

Coach Burk with Stick-Draw Concept.

Brophy with Gunter Brewer video on Snag & Scat Revisited and Western Michigan Special Teams Circuit.

Coach B Dud with Installing R4 For the First Time, Using an H Back to Enhance Your Inside Zone Package, Game Planning, and R4 in Spring Ball.

Coach Fore with Three Essentials to Building a Booster Club - Part 2.

Bullets

The Bullets concept is the final primary passing concepts of the Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen Florida Spread Offense (the others being H Option, Follow, Follow Pivot, Houston).  Chris Brown of Smart Football / Grantland wrote a post on this same concept here that I would recommend reading as this article is quite brief.  Bullets is a Play-action Pass concept that was Florida's "home run" play during the Tim Tebow era.

The #1 WR runs a Post unless he sees Cover 2, then he will run a 12 yard Curl route.  The play doesn't need to be run with Jet Sweep action, although this action is very good for putting the Force player in a bind if he comes up for the run.

Bullets from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Tony DeMeo is on the Coaches Corner show here.  You can also check out his webpage at http://tonydemeo.com/

Also, Pistol guru James Vint has a new blog: http://coachvint.blogspot.com/
Strong Football with Offensive Game Plan: You Be You

Houston

My friend has contributed another article:

It is a pleasure to be back on the world famous Coach Hoover blog. Today, I’m going to share another concept I learned from the Urban Meyer/Dan Mullen offense. I am not 100% sure of where it came from, but I was once told a story about this awesome play that they called “Houston.” Rumor has it that it was taken from the Minnesota Vikings with the primary purpose of beating Quarters. Ok, well that’s pretty much it for my story. I have made a few adjustments to the original concept, and overall it has been good for me. I view it as a multi-purpose zone coverage beater. It is OK against man, but not my favorite call. In this article, I will explain the Houston concept as a drop-back pass, show you how it can be effective against different coverages, and then show a few different play-action variations.

Below is the basic play out of a 3 x 1 formation.

As stated before, this play is designed to beat Quarters coverage. The outside receiver to the field runs at 12-yard Curl. The number two receiver to the field runs what we call a “Bender.” He bursts up the hash (slight outside release) and reads the area in front of him. If there is no safety or he feels that he can run by the safety, he will do so. If the safety plays deep over the top of our guy, he will “bend” inside at 12 yards at a controlled speed. The number three receiver runs a Flat route and wants to expand quickly, throttle once he gets outside of the widest receiver, and finally sit out on the numbers if the ball is still in the QBs hand. The backside receiver can run an automatic route, or we can tag him. The default route we want on the backside is a 7-step Speed-Post. We think of a Speed-Post as a deep Slant, where we want to hit the receiver coming out of his break, before he gets to the hash, and at about 17 yards deep. We should only throw this route if the weak-side hash is clear. Ideally, this receiver can recognize a hash safety, and keep his route very skinny. Our Speed-Post will also convert to a Fade vs. a Clouded CB or inside-leverage man. The RB checks his protection responsibilities (basic 6-man half-slide with RB dual-reading frontside), and runs a Check-down route off the Mike, but breaks weak if covered.

Our QB is taught to look through the middle of the field to check for rotation. Houston is a strong-side concept for us, and we want to work strong-side unless we can’t. We will build in backside throws if the coverage rolls strong, otherwise, we will stay strong-side and the pattern will stretch the coverage and give us an open receiver. Based on the specific coverage looks, the QB can accelerate his decision-making process. I will now go through some situations and explain what we want to do.

Vs Cover 2, Sam wall

Against a 2-high look, we will work strong. QB will look through the middle and see if the Bender can win. Here, the Safety is bailing deep, but the Sam is walling off the route from underneath. This tells the QB to come down and go Flat to Curl. The CB is in a bind, and we should have an open guy. Coaching point for the Curl is to recognize the under-coverage and not run into danger (Curl player) if we are open outside. The only hope for the defense is for the Mike to fly out to the Curl, which leaves us with our Check-down. We want our RB to replace the Mike if he vacates the middle, or work to the weak-side if there is coverage on the back.

Vs Cover 2 Mike wall/Tampa 2

Against a 2-high look, we will work strong. QB will look through the middle and see if the Bender can win. Here, the Safety is bailing deep, but the Mike has dropped deep to take it away from underneath. From here, there are two options. The safest bet is to just go to the Check-down right away, knowing that the RB will replace the Mike, and work weak if the Will tries to match him up. The other option is to go Flat to Curl then back to the Check-down. The first option is simpler, but requires a RB that can win. The second option takes longer, but you may end up getting a nice chunk with the Curl.

Vs Quarters

Against Quarters, a couple of things could happen, depending on how the defense plays their safeties. Here, the FS stays on the weak hash. This tells the QB that we have the advantage to the field, so we will work strong. The Bender will either run by the Safety (if Safety stays low) or bend inside if the Safety bails. Either way, the Bender is our first look. I tell the QBs that we only want this if it is obviously there because we have other routes that could be available. After the Bender, we go Flat to Curl. This really puts the Sam in a bind, and we usually get the Curl open. If the Sam covers the Flat and the Mike gets out to the Curl, we go to the Check-down.  

Vs Strong-side Rotation (Cover 3, or Quarters with FS working to the Middle)

Against a strong-side rotation, our QB should hit the Speed-Post. If the Will gets underneath it, we then go Check-down to the RB. If the defense shows rotation early with possible pressure, we want to flip the protection.

Vs Weak-side Rotation

               

Against a weak-side rotation, we will work strong-side. QB will peek at the Bender (which will stay on the hash if it is open) and take it if it’s obviously there. After that we will go Flat to Curl off the Sam. If the Sam covers the Flat and the Mike gets out to the Curl, we go to the Check-down. 

Vs Man-Free

Against a Man-Free look, the QB should treat it as strong-side rotation and go weak. Our Speed-Post has to win. We could also hand-signal our single-side WR to run a different route (Comeback, Post-Corner, etc…) if we feel something would be better.

Vs Cover 0

Against a Cover 0 look, we will alert our receivers that something is up. Our Speed-Post will now break at 5-steps, and the Bender will now become a locked Seam. This allows our QB to know exactly where the receivers will be in what is likely a max-blitz, get-the-ball-out-fast situation. Our QB wants to pick our best match-up and get the ball out.

Vs Cover 2-Man

Against 2-man, we change our attack a little bit. Since we run this play out of 3 x 1 or motion to 3 x 1, it should be easy to identify the coverage. Our single-side WR will convert to a Fade, and should attract the FS with his outside-release. The Bender will have man coverage trailing him, but with wide safeties we can take a shot down the middle. If the Bender does not look good, we go to the RB who is 1-on-1 with the Mike.

Play-Action

Jet Motion Play-Action

Using Jet motion is a great way to get the defense looking into the backfield. We will sell the Jet-Sweep (after the fake our Slot will run a Flare), then take a quick 2-step drop off it and throw from the pocket. Our QB will still look through the middle to see if a) the Free Safety moves with the motion, giving us the backside Speed-Post, or b) the coverage stays 2-high and the Strong Safety is flat-footed, allowing the Bender to run by him. If the deep routes are taken away, we will go Curl to Flare. The Jet-action tends to pull the OLB up to the Flare, and we will get the Curl sometimes. Most of the time, however, we will hit the backside Speed-Post.  

Zone Triple Play-Action

Another play-action variation is off of the zone-read with a pitch back. We bring the backside Slot in motion and it appears he is going into pitch-phase, but then continues on a Flare. The QB fakes to the RB, then takes a quick 2-step drop after the fake. The read progression is exactly the same as with the Jet-action version mentioned above.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. My goal in this article was to show one of my favorite pass concepts, how it can be effective against different looks, and show a few play-action variations. Hopefully you have a solid understanding of the play, and can use your own creativity to adapt it to what you do in your offense if you feel it can help you. Best of luck to you next season!

60 Y Curl from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Links

New blog, Football Know How, talking about backside tags in the passing game here.

4-3 vs. the Oregon Spread - DB Play / Coverage Fundamentals

Introduction

Chris Vasseur will write this piece at a later date, but I wanted to add a couple of diagrams to go with the video.  The FS destroying the QB on the Gun Triple Option is a beautiful thing, as you will see when you watch the cut-ups.  However, it is a bit susceptible to Play-Action as you will also see.

Quarters vs. Gun Triple Option

Quarters vs. Play-Action

Pre-snap:

 

Post-snap #1: FS must honor the threat of the run and he bites hard on the Play-Action fake.

 

Post-snap #2:  The spacing in the diagram is good, but in the cut-up, the #3 WR for Oregon did not work to the opposite hash to stress the SS who is trying to midpoint and cover both  the #2 and #3 WRs.  Oregon completed this pass despite the fact that both WRs were in the same area.  The Oregon passing game is much improved this year and Chip Kelly will be looking for similar big play opportunities in the Play-Action game to exploit the Auburn safeties when they get too nosy against the run.

Here are the cut-ups:

DB Play vs Oregon Spread from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

DB Play

1.  Quarters Safety - Primary Force and Handle Gap Exchange
2.  Quarters Safety - Primary Force, CB - Secondary Force - Keep Outside Leverage
3.  Crack Replace
4.  vs. Cut Block
5.  Safety Mistakes - Slow Read / Poor Read
6.  CB Mistake - Keep Outside Leverage vs. Run

Coverage Fundamentals and Mistakes vs Oregon Spread from Barry Hoover on Vimeo.

Coverage Fundamentals and Mistakes

1.  Quarters Coverage - Safety Conflict vs. Play-Action
2.  Qtrs Mistake - CB Cannot Expect Safety Help vs. Play-Action.  He Must Stay on Top of
     Post Route.
3.  Qtrs Mistake vs. Play-Action - Safety Must Get Over Top of #2 on Wheel.
4.  Quarters Mistake - Flat Player Lost Outside Leverage
5.  Qtrs - Mike Mistake - Not Getting Enough Depth
6.  Qtrs - Mike Mistake - Slow Pass Read
7.  6 Read - Boundary CB Takes #2 to Flat

8.  6 Read Mistake - Boundary CB Cannot Let WR Release Outside, FS is Too Slow to
    Jump #1 When #2 Goes to Flat

9.  Cover 6 - Boundary Safety Play

10.  Cover 2 Safety Mistake

11.  Cover 2 LB Coverage

12.  Cover 2 - Mike Mistake - Not Getting to Middle of Field vs. #3

13.  Quarters Mistake - Flat Player Lost Outside Leverage

14.  Cover 2 CB Play

15.  Cover 2 LB Play - Rally to the Ball

16.  Cover 3 - FS Mistake

17.  Cover 3 Mistake - No Flat Player to Field Side

18.  Man Coverage - Vulnerable to QB Scramble

19.  Tampa 2

20.  Field 8 Sky - Quarters - to Field, Man - to Boundary

21.  Quarters Change-Up

22.  Don't Leave WRs Uncovered

This is the last article on Defending the Oregon Spread with the 4-3 Defense.  Wednesday morning, January 12th  will start the six-part series on Defending the Flexbone with the 4-3 Defense.  The Saturday posts will go up after lunch time, so each post will get three and a half days on the blog.  I 've been hyping this thing for a while because it is really going to be good!  There will be some tremendous guest writers who will contribute to this series.  I will reveal my dream team staff of defensive coaches one at a time with each post.

4-3 vs. the Flexbone - Schedule of Posts
Wed. January 12 - DT Play

Sat. January 15 - DE Play

Wed. January 19 - Mike Play

Sat. January 22 - OLB Play

Wed. January 26 - FS/SS Play

Sat. January 29 - CB Play


Hey, Deuce has a blog now!  Check it out: http://footballislifeblog.blogspot.com/

More new football blogs!
http://hit-emhard.blogspot.com/

http://runaction.blogspot.com/
http://strongfootball.blogspot.com/