[81alum]

The SI article was very illuminating about coping with the spread option.  We did so much better shutting it down compared with the previous two years against Oregon, that it is obvious that Mason figured out how to prepare our players for it.  Mason seems like a genius for figuring it out in time.  On the other hand, I imagine Oregon will have counter moves this year specifically designed to deal with Mason's tactics.  It is a constantly evolving chess game.

But SJSU, Arizona, and UCLA had a different style of spread (though perhaps Arizona was closest to Oregon)  and we did not consistently deal with it well last season.  Perhaps this is more what WIM is referring to when he calls our attention to the wide differences between different kinds of spread offenses.  I think we got pretty lucky to have beaten all three of them given how our defense played at times. 

To me, what they all had in common was very accurate use of bubble screens.  UCLA wore us down with bubble screens left and right, and when they got our linebackers running laterally all the time they then fed Jonathan Franklin up the middle, who averaged a whopping 10.2 yards per carry.  Hundley averaged 5.2 ypc which I guess means that we partially controlled him.  Still, that performance by our defense in a championship game worried me, and Wisconsin was just too conventional an offense to settle my fears. 

Those same bubble screens were used by SJSU and Arizona.  If you have an accurate passer the bubble screens themselves seem to work for a minimum of 4-5 yards and much better if someone misses a tackle.  But their greatest benefit seems to be to make the defense run laterally which wears it down, exhausts it, retards the pass rush, and opens interior holes.  I had the sense at the end of the Arizona game that every player on our defense was absolutely exhausted.  This is what we try to do with power running, but spreads seem to accomplish the same exhaustion of the defense in nearly the opposite manner.

Even in the Mason interview I got the sense that against spread offenses that defensive coordinators just have to hope that the QB become inaccurate at some point.  You stop the run and contain the pass and hope for an errant throw.  Given how accurate some QBs are becoming that fills me with dread.    I hope Mason has another stroke of genius.

[81alum]

The SI article was very illuminating about coping with the spread option.  We did so much better shutting it down compared with the previous two years against Oregon, that it is obvious that Mason figured out how to prepare our players for it.  Mason seems like a genius for figuring it out in time.  On the other hand, I imagine Oregon will have counter moves this year specifically designed to deal with Mason's tactics.  It is a constantly evolving chess game.

But SJSU, Arizona, and UCLA had a different style of spread (though perhaps Arizona was closest to Oregon)  and we did not consistently deal with it well last season.  Perhaps this is more what WIM is referring to when he calls our attention to the wide differences between different kinds of spread offenses.  I think we got pretty lucky to have beaten all three of them given how our defense played at times. 

To me, what they all had in common was very accurate use of bubble screens.  UCLA wore us down with bubble screens left and right, and when they got our linebackers running laterally all the time they then fed Jonathan Franklin up the middle, who averaged a whopping 10.2 yards per carry.  Hundley averaged 5.2 ypc which I guess means that we partially controlled him.  Still, that performance by our defense in a championship game worried me, and Wisconsin was just too conventional an offense to settle my fears. 

Those same bubble screens were used by SJSU and Arizona.  If you have an accurate passer the bubble screens themselves seem to work for a minimum of 4-5 yards and much better if someone misses a tackle.  But their greatest benefit seems to be to make the defense run laterally which wears it down, exhausts it, retards the pass rush, and opens interior holes.  I had the sense at the end of the Arizona game that every player on our defense was absolutely exhausted.  This is what we try to do with power running, but spreads seem to accomplish the same exhaustion of the defense in nearly the opposite manner.

Even in the Mason interview I got the sense that against spread offenses that defensive coordinators just have to hope that the QB become inaccurate at some point.  You stop the run and contain the pass and hope for an errant throw.  Given how accurate some QBs are becoming that fills me with dread.    I hope Mason has another stroke of genius.