Film Study: The Guidry challenge as other teams likely to take copycat approach from A&M 2nd half attack
To some extent college football is a copycat “league,” if you can refer to all the collective conferences as such. In other words, if a team does something that works against a common opponent then hey, that might just work when you face that team as well.
Which brings us to the Miami Hurricanes’ 48-33 win over Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon. And, specifically, to the defensive side of things. Because the Aggies struggled a lot with Lance Guidry’s schemes in the first half, totaling only 148 yards and averaging 4.4 yards per play. In the second half? Texas A&M had 286 yards on 48 plays, averaging 6.0 yards per play.
So what changed? Well, Texas A&M went from trying to establish the run against a defense that was stacking the box and being aggressive up front to a passing attack. The Aggies ran the ball 17 times and passed it 17 times in the first half. In the second half that 50/50 split went to a 75/25 percent pass-heavy attack with 36 passes and 12 runs (and two of those were on the first two plays of the third quarter).
What did the Aggies have success with that other opponents will try to copy and Guidry will need to be ready for? We take a closer look with some of the key second half plays that Texas A&M schemed up and why they worked:
THIRD QUARTER
2-3 AGGIES37 (14:24) No Huddle-Shotgun #4 A.Daniels rush right for 12 yards gain to the AGGIES49 (#5 K.Kinchens; #23 K.Cloyd).
ANALYSIS: Miami, clinging to a four-point lead, has four down linemen with two linebackers, two high safeties and press boundary corners with the nickel 10 yards off the slot receiver. Texas A&M has a tight end attached to the line to the right and a one-back look. So A&M has extra bodies on the right side at the snap than Miami with Mauigoa and Cloyd both to the middle of the field. At the snap the offensive linemen crash right, the same direction as Amari Daniels’ run. Two of them easily handle the tackles at the line, leaving three other big bodies pulling left to right on the play. Left end Rueben Bain is swallowed up trying to attack the middle instead of set the edge, which helps breaks this free. At one point there are four Miami players almost in a direct line backward from the line of scrimmage to five yards past the line. There is no gap integrity at all. Francisco Mauigoa is late to pursue after being slowed by the tight end, who has been blocking KJ Cloyd as well. The fix here is, of course, having Bain work to set the edge, but also to space out the defenders better. At the snap Mauigoa and Cloyd were not in position to be ready to take on this play, and the nickel who was in the direction of the run was backpedaling at the time the handoff is made 10+ yards from the line.
3-7 AGGIES20 (07:33) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete short right to #7 M.Muhammad III for 15 yards to the AGGIES35 (#0 T.Couch), out of bounds.
ANALYSIS: Nyjalik Kelly and Jahfari Harvey are the ends on this snap, with Rueben Bain and end Chantz Williams working inside on an obvious third-and-long passing play. James Williams comes down on the line of scrimmage and there are seven in the box with Miami playing off coverage and Texas A&M in a four receiver, one-back look. At the snap Te’Cory Couch backs into man coverage with his eyes on the slot receiver (Moose Muhammad) to the offense’s right, and Francisco Mauigoa drops off the line into zone coverage to the left. Flagg is in zone in the middle of the field. So Miami winds up rushing four and Conner Weigman has time, sets his feet and delivers to Muhammad for the first down conversion. You can see that Couch is simply beaten one-on-one with no over the top help as A&M has sent its other receivers on longer routes that have taken the safeties attention. It will be no surprise to see other teams continue to attack the nickel if he’s lined up at the line and drops back into coverage at the snap, since you know most likely it’s going to be one-on-one in those situations.
1-10 AGGIES25 (05:38) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete short middle to #3 N.Thomas for 16 yards to the AGGIES41 (#5 K.Kinchens).
ANALYSIS: Miami has Leonard Taylor and Jared Harrison-Hunte on the interior and Jahfari Harvey and Rueben Bain at end, and this is a 4-3 look with a safety in the box to help out as Texas A&M is showing run with a two tight end set with two receivers split wide. At the snap all the linebackers charge forward off a play-action fake, and Keontra Smith winds up blitzing, running all the way in and right past Weigman. So now Miami has eight players all around the line of scrimmage after the snap with two receivers running routes on opposite sides of the field one-on-one with one safety, Kam Kinchens, to help out. James Williams tries to get back and help in coverage, but he already was fooled and too aggressive on the play-action and is far off the receivers running behind him. So Weigman gets just enough time to get it off to Thomas on the right side for the 16-yard pickup. What other teams can glean from this? Well, it’s sort of what Shannon Dawson did on the other side of the ball – show a run-heavy formation, play-action and throw behind it. That helped hold the defense for that split second. Guidry has an attacking scheme that is aggressive, and that leaves some holes at times if guys aren’t eye disciplined enough.
1-10 CANES46 (04:04) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete short middle to #42 M.Wright for 18 yards to the CANES28 (#20 J.Williams).
ANALYSIS: Texas A&M goes two wide with a tight end attached to the line, another TE at H-back and a one-back formation. Miami counters with a 4-3 and there is confusion at the snap with James Williams and Kam Kinchens gesturing back and forth. Kinchens is the lone high safety, and at the snap Texas A&M gets what Miami showed – four rushers and the defense in a matchup zone. But the tight end attached to the line, Max Wright, is essentially ignored by the defense while the H-back lined up behind him, Jake Johnson, winds up getting attention from Francisco Mauigoa and Keontra Smith. So Wright just meanders down the middle of the field with no one picking him up for the easy yards. Miami’s D was fooled by the TE attached usually being a blocker … and in this case going out for a pass. That can’t happen, and other teams will no doubt be testing this if they have pass catchers with physicality at that position.
3-1 CANES19 (02:32) No Huddle #15 C.Weigman pass complete short right to #24 E.Crownover for 19 yards, TOUCHDOWN (making it 31-26 Miami).
ANALYSIS: This is another example of how this Miami defense can have issues when a team passes out of a jumbo look with a play-action element added. Texas A&M lined up with two tight ends attached to the line, a fullback and tailback with just one wide receiver to the far side of the field. In this case it’s Earnest Crownover at fullback. He fakes as a lead blocker for Rueben Owens to the right at the snap, and Weigman fakes the handoff to Owens. The play-action freezes the linebackers and safeties, but Davonte Brown does a nice job latching onto one of the tight ends running a route. Francisco Mauigoa isn’t so lucky trying to pick up Crownover. The Miami linebacker is caught flat-footed as Crownover starts to run by him, then Mauigoa falls as he tries to turn and catch up. As a side note: James Williams did a nice job breaking through quickly and almost blew the play up, but Owens picked him up well. The play ends with a TD that cut Miami’s lead to five points.
FOURTH QUARTER
1-15 AGGIES20 (06:27) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete deep right to #1 E.Stewart for 44 yards to the CANES36.
ANALYSIS: In the final seven minutes trailing we see what Texas A&M can do in the passing game … when Miami’s defense knows passes are coming. You’d hope for some dialed up pressure here and there with sound defense forcing third downs. In other words, make them earn it and burn clock while not allowing the big plays. Well, that didn’t happen at all here. Miami has four down linemen, two linebackers and two high safeties with the corners all playing off coverage. The Aggies are going three wide with a tight end attached and one-back look. At the snap the tight end and running back join the receivers running routes, and Miami’s four-man rush doesn’t beat the five blockers. Weigman lofts a deep throw to Evan Stewart, who has gotten a step on the smaller Jaden Davis deep down the field one-on-one. The gain goes for 44 yards, with Kinchens late coming over to help as Texas A&M had too many targets running downfield and too much time to throw. This is just poor execution by players and other teams will be looking to attack these one-on-one matchups down the field.
1-10 CANES36 (05:55) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete short right to #1 E.Stewart for 12 yards to the CANES24 (#22 J.Davis).
ANALYSIS: On the very next snap after the 44-yard gain, Miami’s defense again gives up a Stewart catch. A&M remains in the same formation as the prior play, and this time Miami has five at the line but drops DE Jahfari Harvey and LB Wesley Bissainthe into coverage at the snap, leaving three pass rushers. Stewart finds plenty of room past the sticks for an easy first down. So an issue here was lack of pressure rushing three and then being soft in coverage. A bad combination.
4-G CANES09 (05:07) No Huddle-Shotgun #15 C.Weigman pass complete short middle to #3 N.Thomas for 9 yards TOUCHDOWN (cut Miami lead to 41-33).
ANALYSIS: On third and goal the Canes had come with an all-out blitz, forcing a pass under pressure with Weigman off balance that was overthrown. So what gets dialed up on fourth down? Miami brings five to the line and rushes four, with Jahfari Harvey spying the running back. Wesley Bissainthe comes free on the right side rushing the QB when the running back goes out for a pass instead of blocking him, and Bissainthe hits Weigman just after he throws (drawing a flag) … the QB has already found Thomas wide open in the middle of the end zone with James Williams, Kam Kinchens and Te’Cory Couch confused and not really covering anyone. As you watch the play design, you see Ainias Smith come underneath Thomas in the middle … and Couch appears to be the guy in coverage but he runs himself out of the play with his back turned to the QB. When the catch is made there is no one within three yards of Thomas on a busted coverage. The communication and coverage can’t break down like that on these kind of plays.
There were a few more chunk plays given up on Texas A&M’s final possession – a 20-yard completion to Ainias Smith on which Miami showed blitz with six at the line but dropped two and was playing soft coverage. There was a third-and-10 13-yard pass to Stewart on which Miami rushed four and brought Couch on a corner blitz. Couch never got close on the quick throw on the right with Davis playing soft coverage. And then with 1:25 to play the Aggies converted a third-and-eight to Stewart for 28 yards – on that play Miami rushed four and brought Daryl Porter, Jr. on a blitz. Porter actually came totally free to the QB, but the ball was already out with Stewart wide open and James Williams trailing him by several yards.
But those last several plays were against soft coverage and not what Guidry is going to run with the game in doubt.
Certainly there were some plays that Miami struggled with that could breed copycats, with running backs catching the ball out of the backfield and needing better eye discipline on play-action fakes among them. So overall there were some issues for sure that need to be sorted out.
But it’s nothing that can’t be fixed, and there were also plenty of bright moments. Overall this had to be considered a very successful day for Guidry’s first real test at this level. Now it’s just on to the next and cleaning things up … and making sure any copycats down the road don’t have similar results to some of the Aggies’ second half plays.
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