Film Study: What Makes KSU’s Run Game Unique

The Oklahoma State Cowboys will have their hands full this Saturday against one of the best ground attacks in the Big 12. The Kansas State Wildcats, who are averaging almost five yards a carry, beat teams by keeping the ball on the ground and controlling the clock. Plenty of teams do that. But what makes them unique is how they do it.

Kansas State has always had an adept run game. Everything for their offense sets up in between the tackles. They frequently get eight and 10 yard gains on the ground just by running the ball on simple plays like this.

Or this.

They will also frequently add downfield route attachments, creating their infamous “pop” play.

But what makes them truly unique is not the plays that they run. Rather, it’s how they run them. As opposed to another run-first team like Stanford, which packs everyone on the line to create more gaps, Kansas State just increases their lineman’s spacing to make their pre-existing gaps bigger.

Look at these graphics below and notice the varying splits of the offensive line. There are two huge gaps, wider than the size of an average offensive lineman, on both sides of the center.

They run this quite frequently, not only in their wildcat package (above) but in their standard offense.

These huge gaps open up holes in the run game. If linebackers try and shoot the gaps, they give up their own gaps and leave defense vulnerable to both the outside run game and the pass game over the middle.

If the defensive line doesn’t adjust, they allow the offensive line to outflank them, which the offense can take advantage of with outside runs.

While it may not look like it at first glance, Kansas State does a lot of interesting things in their run game. If OSU wants to win in Manhattan this Saturday, they’re going to have to shut down the Wildcats’ ground attack, and that is no small feat.

How do you think the KSU run game will fare against the OSU front? Leave your opinions below in the comments!