Drew breaks down the play that put two crucial points on the board for the Wildcats on Saturday night.
I had to watch the first half on my phone because I was being a #familyactivityparticipator at a Halloween parade. I was watching the costumes roll past with my left eye and the phone with my right eye. When the safety went down, I didn’t think I’d be able to show y’all much because short yardage plays generally don’t have usable camera angles. I was excited when ESPN provided the endzone view from behind the play, because you can actually see what’s going on in the trenches!
I usually show y’all the offense, but today I wanted to give the defense their proper respect. It wasn’t always perfect last Saturday night, but they made enough plays to win and came up big when needed. This was one of those winning plays.
Inside Run Design
After the Kansas kick returner was temporarily mesmerized by the Wabash Cannonball and lost all sense of his location on the field and stepped out at the 1-yard line (good work EMAW!), the prairie chickens want to run something in either A-gap to get off their own goal line.
I’ve got the A gaps marked with A’s because I like to be useful. That’s where most teams attack a 3-man front. As you can see there are 2 “bubbles” over the guards. In a 4-man front those are covered, but one weakness of a 3-man front can be short yardage situations.
Generally speaking, the offense wants to get the running back on the behind of one of the guards and let the big boys do the work. I find it interesting that they have Neal (#4 in the KU backfield) lined up in the pistol formation. This shows his shortcoming as a runner. He’s fast, but the Kansas coaching staff doesn’t trust his power. They want him to have a full head of steam when he hits the line to break arm tackles.
The downside of putting Neal in the pistol is it alleviates some of the problem with the 3-man front. If this were Kansas State, Giddings would be line up next to Avery because he doesn’t need a head start to fight through the trash at the line. He would make it to the A gap a step sooner. Since Neal doesn’t have that type of power, he’s going to be a step late, and that allows the defensive front and the linebackers to better shoot the gaps and get into the backfield. That’s one of the strengths of a 3-man front. I’m surprised KU played into it and didn’t opt for a more direct run or a QB sneak to get them off the goal line.
I’m glad they decided on this course of action instead.
Blocking Scheme
This isn’t a complicated. Kansas wants to double Ilalio (green circle) with the center (#61) and right guard (#70), push him out of the A-gap on the right side of the center, and then climb to a linebacker (green circle on the K-State defense). The fullback (red circle) is responsible for knocking the other linebacker (red circle) out of that A-gap and Neal (#4) is supposed to get in behind him and push forward.
Ilalio gets the credit on the stat sheet for this play, and he does an amazing job, but this camera angle shows us that Travis Bates (yellow circle) is responsible for blowing this play up.
Domination
You win in short yardage by getting low and getting off the ball before your blocker. Bates does both on this play. If he’s not held by the right tackle, he might make the play instead of Ilalio. Check out the way he comes off the ball hard and gets inside the right tackle. Notice how the right tackle is standing straight up, that’s death on the goal line. Low man wins, and Bates is lower and has the leg strength to stay low and drive toward the ball. At this point, the tackle is along for the ride and grateful that college refs rarely call holding, especially on plays like this.
Double Team
These slides are slightly out of order, but I wanted a good view of the double team. I wish I had a different view, but if you look closely, you can see Illalio staying low. He’s built and plays like a fire hydrant. If you want to see what I’m talking about, find a fire hydrant, get into a football stance, fire off, put your shoulder into and see what happens (BOTC is not responsible for any injuries that will result from trying to move a fire hydrant). The double looks like it works, but it doesn’t move Illalio back off the line.
Follow the Leader
This is how team defense is supposed to work. Bates fires off the ball and middle linebacker Austin Moore wants to get right on his rear end and let him pave the way. He’s got the A-gap Kansas wants to run in.
Back to Bates
Travis Bates is giving the right tackle a piggie back ride. This is called “holding”, but just because it’s a blatant hold right at the point of attack, doesn’t guarantee anything in the Big 12.
Wrasslin’
For those of you that don’t know, nose guard Damian Ilalio wrestled in high school. You can see that pay dividends on this play. He uses the centers momentum against him and manages to free up his inside arm. That’s not what Kansas wants. They want him sealed out of the A-gap, but because Ilalio stayed low and held his ground in the double team, he is able to man handle the center and get back in the play.
At this point though, Kansas has more pressing issues than Ilalio. As you can see, the A-gap is currently filled with an entire Travis Bates.
Get Tight
The Kansas fullback has an issue. He’s supposed to be blocking Austin Romaine (red circle), but instead, he’s met by Bates. If Travis takes two (the guy riding on his back) and the fullback, Moore meets Neal 3-yards is in the backfield. He’s got to miss the oncoming Bates and find Moore in the hole for this to have and chance.
Note: Kansas State does a good job of sealing the edge on this play and not giving Neal a chance to bounce it outside.
Stopped His Feet
Neal sees Bates heading towards him and is looking for some place to cut. Remember, the reason they have him in the pistol (behind the QB) is so he can hit the line at full speed. Unless his knees are built differently than other humans, you can’t run forward with your feet in this position. This is the worst-case scenario for the Jayhawks, they put him behind the QB to get momentum, but because Bates is a menace, he gets stuck trying to cut 3-yards deep in the endzone.
Neal is a good back, but he’s better at bouncing things than turning it inside and breaking a tackle. In this situation, Giddens lowers his pads and ploughs forward out of the endzone, Neal, on the other hand, has to try and jump cut because of the non-existent A-gap.
Straight up Tackled
I’ve got Austin Moore (red circle) marked, but the only reason the fullback gets to him is the right tackle is treating Travis Bates like he’s a calf at the rodeo. Again, I’m not sure how you miss this as a ref, but I digress. Even though Bates is getting mauled, his penetration into the back field caused the fullback to slow down in order to get Moore. That, in turn caused Neal to stop his feet again.
Ideally, Kansas wants their fullback clearing the way at the 1 or 2-yard line, instead he’s a yard deep in the endzone.
Thanks Travis.
Hey look, it’s the B-Gap
It’s kind of hard to tell, but let’s go ahead and consider this the B-gap (between the guard and the tackle). Neal sees the crease; he can’t go left because his right tackle is still holding Bates, but he won’t be denied. His only chance is to bounce to the next gap, but it looks like he might be able to sneak out of the endzone. Of course, Travis is being held in the endzone at this point, which is a safety, but Big 12 refs gonna Big 12.
Outwork Your Opponent
The B-gap looks like it might be an escape hatch for Neal, but he doesn’t count on the hardest working fire hydrant in Manhattan beating the center. This is nasty, relentless work by Ilalio. He got stuffed by a double team, held his ground, tossed a 300-pound center to the outside and now he’s got his eyes on the running back and his inside arm free.
Neal doesn’t see him; he’s caught up in the trash, but he’s about to meet him.
Physics is Tough to Overcome
Neal tries to lower his pads, but Ilalio has looped back into the B-Gap and he’s an expert at staying low and using leverage to his advantage. He still needs to stick Neal, because all this is for naught if he manages to fall forward, out of the endzone with the ball.
You Shall Not Pass!
Neal tries the fire hydrant experiment I mentioned above and is about as successful at moving Ilalio as you imagine. The play was designed for acceleration to overcome mass, but because Neal had to stop his feet and wait for his lineman to finish riding Bates to the ground, he’s about to come up on the wrong side of the mass equation.
What I love about this is Ilalio, instead of going for the knockout shot and potentially giving Neal a chance to finish forward, meets him in the hole, wraps him up, and drives him back into the endzone. He doesn’t let Neal leave his feet, but instead bear hugs him and pushes him further into the endzone.
There is no escape as the rest of the Wildcat defense swarms to the ball and helps Ilalio keep him in the endzone.
2-Points
The Kansas State defense puts 2 points on the board and gets the ball back for the offense. I think this should be a 4-point play considering the holding (yes, I know, you only get one or the other) but no one consults me on the rule book.
Overall
This was the definition of team defense. Travis Bates threw everything off by getting inside on the right tackle and forcing him to hold. That allowed Moore to get a couple extra steps into the endzone before getting picked up by the fullback. That allowed Ilalio the time and space to loop into the B-gap and stop Neal dead in his tracks.
It wasn’t a perfect performance from the defense on Saturday, but it was good enough, and these 2 points made Kansas chase a weird scoreboard all night.