Film Study: Emmanuel Ogbah is Like a Snake

What KSU was doing

KSU is in a similar formation as the previous play we looked at except that they have dropped the TE in favor of another WR. The FB is still lined up to the left of the QB and now we have trips (3 WRs) at the bottom of the screen.

Another difference between this play and the last is that this one is a QB draw and the last one was a QB Run. On a QB draw play, the QB drops back like he would on any pass play and then momentarily freeze in his stance, acting like he’s going through his progressions.

This is to fool the defense into thinking it will be a pass play. After a second, the QB will then tuck the ball and run with it.

The WRs run routes to draw the secondary away from where the ball is going and give the blockers a numbers advantage.
The FB’s job is to simply block for the QB on the left side of the line.

What OSU was doing

OSU appears to be in a 4-2-5 right here. We’ve seen a lot of times where they’ll go with a 4-3 and bump Burton out on the inside WR, but best I can tell we have a CB lined up across the inside receiver. Again, you might notice Jimmy Bean in his stand-up stance, ready to play contain on the QB.

Although, Whitener is a bit wide, OSU essentially has six defenders in the box. So that makes six blockers for six defenders and then it’s up to the QB to find the room for the first down.

There’s nothing too fancy happening on the line, but you’ll see Bean and Maile do a small crossing stunt where Maile goes under and Bean comes over and behind to fill the gap.

What this play comes down to, from a defensive standpoint, is playing sound gap assignment football and attacking the blocks to prevent the QB from picking up the first down. In going along with gap assignments, it’s important that the outside defender (Whitener, on this play) keeps outside leverage so the QB is forced inside instead of getting free and having room to run outside.

Why this worked for OSU

When the ball is snapped, all six defenders in the box come out of their stances and fire downhill toward the line of scrimmage. At first, it looks like the QB might run it straight up the middle because there is an opening that happens when Maile crosses over to attack the B gap. However, Jacobs fills the gap quickly and the QB now has to run off-tackle.

You can see that the FB doesn’t block anybody because there’s no one for him to block. But I’m a little surprised he didn’t assist the guard in blocking Ogbah. Then again, I’m not sure it would have mattered much because Whitener had great outside leverage on the OT.

As the QB is trying to find a hole to run through, he tries to get outside of the guard in hopes of maybe being able to turn a corner and get the first down. That proves to be unsuccessful as Ogbah strikes and brings him down.

I used the word “strikes” because Ogbah really does remind me of a snake on this play. Notice how he engages with the guard and waits and waits for the QB to come near before using his speed to corral him and bring him down, all while keeping outside leverage so the QB couldn’t get around him.

Again, KSU was very limited in what it could do offensively. Everyone watching the game probably figured a QB run of some sort was coming on this play, but it was good defensive play, regardless, and just another example of how fast this defense is.