Besides the point of the insanity of this game, if there is a play that needs to be analyzed the most in the winning one.

For those who haven’t seen the play, this will be crucial in seeing the field and following along with me.

https://youtu.be/xskiXon53kY?t=5m13s

First things first, let’s give some background knowledge of the spot Alabama is in. Freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa (for the sake of the readers and my typing let’s just call him Tua) just took a huge sack instead of throwing the ball down to his check down man for an easy gain. The mistake from Tua put Alabama in a 2nd down and 26 yards to go on the 41. Alabama needs to get back yards and hopefully get close enough to get a shot at the first down. Because of this offensive coordinator Brian Daboll calls for a play to do exactly this. The play is Gun Y Trips Weak Seattle

Okay okay, I don’t expect everyone to know exactly what this means so I’ll explain it to you. Gun is the basic formation, Gun is just a short way of saying Shotgun, which I hope people know what that means. Y Trips Weak is the formations package basically telling the players what way to lineup for the play. The Y in the package stands for the Y receiver, which in this case is the tight end position, so the package is calling for Trips on the strong side of the field with the Y receiver. For anyone who doesn’t know what the strong side of the field is, it is the side where Alabama has their tight end lineup. For this case, Alabama has tight end Irv Smith Jr on the right side of the field. That sets the right half of their formation as the strong side of the field, with the left side being the weak side of the field. The weak part of the call is telling the halfback where to lineup next to the QB. So, obviously halfback Najee Harris lineups on the weak side of the field next to Tua. Lastly, Seattle is the concept of the play, for this it’s the passing concept that Alabama wants run for their play. For Madden nerds including myself, Seattle is most otherwise known as Four Verticals.

Alright, now lets flip sides to the other side of the ball, and focus on Georgia plan for this play. Georgia since they’re riding high on a huge sack to drag Alabama down to their 41 in a 2nd and 26 position. Georgia runs a basic 3-4 defense, nothing too complex as head coach of the Bulldogs, Kirby Smart, has a mentality of just outplaying other teams with speed and athleticism. This is evident in the majority of their season where they love to run twists and blitz meanwhile having their secondary hold and cover the receivers 5-10 yards off the line, and hopefully long enough for their defensive line to get to the quarterback, basically not allowing short passes and betting on their pass rush to have an effect before long pass concepts can develop. This is very similar to the recently well spotlighted Jaguars defense, where they run this concept to perfection. Another example of this is the play right before the one we’re featuring. They run a basic 3-4 against Bama and although Tua on this play has number one receiver Calvin Ridley open on a deep comeback 15 yards downfield, Georgia gets to Tua and forces him to beat them in the breakdown of the pocket which causes him to never see Ridley and take the sack.

After this, they line up in the same sequence of Cover 2 Man in the 3-4 Eagle package. This means that Georgia will be in the 3-4 Eagle formation, this is telling the players where to lineup. In a basic 3-4 lineup there will be 3 defensive tackles, the one of in the middle is considered as the nose guard, with 4 linebackers. For the linebackers, there are 4 different positions for each backer but were just gonna focus the outer two as the middle two aren’t important to the play. The one that will sit on the strong side no matter what is called the Sam backer, he is the fast guy who is strong as pass rushing but can be expected to cover the Tight end or in this case the slot receiver. The guy on the weak side is called the Will backer, he will always sit on the weak side of the field. The Will is usually known for also being fast but being more reliable on sealing the edge preventing cutbacks and reverses. Also, he won’t have to rely on pass coverage very much so he’ll most likely be better suited for rushing the Quarterback.  The Eagle part of the call tells where for the linemen and linebackers to lineup, this is also known as the defensive front. There are three main ways for them to lineup. Eagle, Over, and Under. Eagle is just known as the base way to lineup in 3-4. You can tell which one the defense is in by the way of where the nose guard defensive tackle lineups. If the nose guard lines up on the head of the Center, that means it’s Eagle. If he lines up on the strong side of the Center, it is Over, and finally, if he lines up on the weak side of the Center it’s Under. The Cover 2 Man part is the coverage concept for the rest of the secondary to run. In this example it is Cover 2 Man meaning that there are only two safeties and they will both be running zones at the top of the field, meanwhile the Man is calling for man coverage on the receivers, meaning they will be covering the man instead of covering a zone of the field.

Alright, now on to the spotlight play. Alabama lines up in Gun Y Trips Weak and Georgia goes into their  3-4 Eagle. Because of the trips on the strong side, it forces the Sam backer to cover the slot receiver. Fortunately, Georgia had subbed their normal Sam backer for a defensive back making it a false nickel coverage, meanwhile still being in a 3-4 Eagle. This also forces the strong side middle linebacker to cover the tight end. Leaving the weak side middle linebacker on a spy since Tua is an athletic and mobile QB. This allows for a large opening in the middle of the field in front of the safeties. To attack this space, Alabama wants to run Seattle which will allow for both the tight end and Slot receiver to get into this zone which is the main concept of Seattle. The tight end is supposed to attack this space on the left hash being the throwing window for him, meanwhile, the slot will be attacking for the right to the middle of the hash markers with that being his throwing window. The picture will show this. Obviously, the slot receiver takes primary responsibility of being the main read for the quarterback as the tight end will drag down the middle backer allowing for the slot to be in a 1 on 1 with either the safety or sam backer depending on if the backer breaks off of him to cover the check down being ran by the running back, attacking the middle of the field. It is important to understand this concept as this is exactly how Alabama won the game on this play call.

As you can see in the picture, the safety on the left Dominick Sanders, is cheating out of position to his left. This is all because what we previously were talking about. In Cover 2 Man both of the safeties have to cover the top of the field not letting anyone behind them. Thus, it opens up the middle of the field 10-15 yards downfield. Since, Sanders is an intelligent player he cheats in on his left assuming that Alabama is about to attack this area, which he is correct on. Although, when the plays starts he goes back to his normal area, but he is constantly reading Tua’s eyes looking at where he is reading the field which keeps him cheating over to his left and playing more in the middle of the field. This entire time as Tua is looking on the right side of the field, specifically for his slot receiver as the play is designed for, and due to the cheating by Sanders at the beginning of the play. Tua knows that as long as he can freeze Sanders in middle of the field by looking him off, he’ll have his receiver on the streak open for the bomb over Sanders. 

Just like that, Tua looks Sanders over, checks to the left and lets it go to an open DeVonta Smith for the championship winning touchdown to end the game. It is all because of this cheating over to the middle of the field that allowed for Devonta Smith to get open since Georgia’s cornerback covering Smith let him go thinking that he would have Sanders for help. However, there was no Sanders even near to him.

In defense, if Sanders had stayed in position, Tua still had his slot receiver open in the middle of the field for at least a 15 yard gain meaning Alabama still would’ve gained major yardage on the play, but it would’ve caused Alabama to try and convert a 3rd down, which they were only 3-14 all game. It also would’ve given Georgia a chance to get a stop and force a field goal out of struggling and rattled kicker, Andy Pappanastos, who was only 2/4 and had previously missed the potential game winning kick by a far measure. I’m not saying Georgia would’ve won, I’m just saying that Alabama would have a much better chance at losing without Tagovailoa playing the Seattle call like a professional pianist, and if we can learn anything from this game,  anything can happen in the national championship.

The post Chalk Talk: How Bama beat the Bulldogs appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Recap of last weekend:

The Hawkeyes’ bats last weekend were again hot, as they swept UNLV at home after a 3-0 win on Friday, and two late scoring rallies on Saturday 6-5,and 7-6. They tallied up 16 runs total outscoring the Rebels 16-11 for the weekend. Pitching for Iowa still struggled, although they had a highlight as Friday’s win was the first time this season that they allowed no runs in a game.

Although the struggling bullpen has given up runs, it has mainly been the bats leading them to a 6-game win streak so far after going 2-1 against Purdue the weekend before and a win over Grand View (6-5) on March 28th. Riding high, Iowa was going into this week looking to make that 7.

Recap of this week:

Iowa was victorious, once again, over South Dakota St. on Tuesday with a final of 4-3 as their bats were the deciding force. The Hawkeyes found themselves down 3-2 after their first five innings, going into the seventh. However, that quickly changed after Mitchell Boe walked followed by a double by Mason McCoy that allowed for Jake Adams to tie the game off of a fielder’s choice ground out. Robert Neustrom then doubled to make it 4-3 which ended up being the final.

As mentioned previously Iowa’s pitching hasn’t been the best and that continued on Tuesday allowing for 5 hits and 3 runs. Meanwhile, the bullpen ended up saving the game by controlling the game with excellent relief pitching from Zach Daniels and Kyle Shimp.

“Zach Daniels and Kyle did a great job of settling the game down in the fifth,” Manager Rick Heller said about the relief pitchers. Thankfully, that wasn’t the only thing Heller was happy about. “We played hard, played good defense, and our focus was better than it was this past weekend.” For a team coming off of a series sweep, this is great news and something to look forward to.

Preview of this weekend:

The Hawkeyes will try to expand their win streak to 8+, as they take on Northwestern in Evanston this weekend, to continue Big Ten play. First game will be Friday April 7th at 3:30 P.M.

The post Iowa Baseball Builds Off A Great Weekend appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Weekend Summary:

The first game of the weekend against Hawaii featured the Iowa batters once again being on fire as they chalked up a season high 17 hits and 7 runs with 2 HRs. The final of this game wasn’t a real representation of how this game went as the score was 7-3 going into the final inning of the game until the Rainbow Warriors scored 3 runs in the ninth until the Hawkeyes could close the game out with the tying run at third. Besides for the 9th inning, Iowa’s pitching was a highlight with ace Nick Gallagher pitching a career best 8 innings allowing only 3 runs and 7 hits.

After an offensive game on the previous day, Iowa didn’t slow down on offense as the had a barnburner of a win over Oral Roberts. The game started with Iowa hopping ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning after first baseman Jake Adams drove in three with a home run. Iowa proceeded to homer again from Matt Hoeg in fourth. However, with Iowa batting well and getting in runs, Oral Roberts was doing the same. Scoring 4 runs through 6, tightening the game up to 5-4 in the six. Iowa ended up extending the lead to 7-4 in the 8th, securing the victory. Iowa would finish with 10 hits during the game with 3 HRs and allowing only 7 hits. Overall a great win for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa did have a low point in the weekend. On Sunday against Minnesota both pitching and hitting for the Hawks struggled to be successful. Iowa was able to keep the game close at 4-3 with a first inning bomb from Robert Neustrom. That was the best Iowa would do from the plate as they only got 4 hits with a game hitting average of .138. The game however was sitting at 4-3 until the 8th inning where Minnesota knocked in two more runs to have the final of 6-3. Iowa gave up a total of 9 hits with 6 runs.

Key Player Spotlight:

Hottest Bat: Chris Whelan, Robert Neustrom, and Jake Adams

McCoy, Whelan, and Neustrom all were at the top of their game this week. Neustrom hitting a bomb of a home run on sunday extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Chris Whelan again was

hitting great at the lead off role in the lineup, hitting for .500 (6-12) over the weekend with 2 RBI’s and 4 runs scored. Moving him up to the front has looked to have been the best decision manager Rick Heller. Finally, Jake Adams added two more home runs to his season total leading the Hawkeyes with 4. Adams went .417 (5-12) over the weekend with 6 RBI’s and 2 runs.

Most Improved: Ben Norman

Freshman Ben Norman had a breakout weekend in Minneapolis. He went .500 (6-12) at the plate with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI’s. Going into the weekend he was batting (2-13) which was one of the lowest out of Iowa starters. Going from batting .154 to .320 in one weekend is quite the accomplishment.

Next Week Preview:
Iowa takes on Northern Illinois at home on Tuesday March 7th at Duane Banks Field. Then over the weekend they head down to Florida to take on Villanova, Bucknell, and a double header against Lehigh University.

The post Hawkeyes Heat Up in Minneapolis appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Going into the week, Iowa was (1-2) hoping to recover from last weekend’s disappointing series with University of South Florida. The Hawkeyes did just that with a powerful win over Loras College on Wednesday, with an even better chance to improve at the Hoover Classic.

The Hawkeyes’ bats were once again alive after outscoring their opponents 26-13, with 31 hits and 3 home runs over the three games. Although the defense had only been strong in a couple of games, it was definitely the offense that played the key role in the Hawkeyes’ victories.

The entire week, manager Rick Heller had focused with the team on trying to battle at the plate and get better overall plate appearances. It appears that it has finally worked out for the Hawkeyes. They got on base 9 times from walks while only striking out one time in the final game of the weekend against Morehead State.

Mason McCoy, again, looked to be in mid-season form, collecting 5 RBI’s over the weekend with 6 hits. Simultaneously, Jake Adams batted in 4 runs, two of them being a rocket of a home run. Chris Whelan had a promising debut in the leadoff spot of the lineup going 3-4 on Sunday.

Iowa will look to further improve in the following week where they will take on Cornell College on Tuesday at Home. (Update: This game was canceled due to Weather) After that they head out to Minneapolis for the Dairy Queen Classic over the weekend and will face Hawaii on Friday, then a one-loss Oral Roberts on Saturday, and Minnesota to end the weekend on Sunday.

DQ Classic Preview:

Hawaii is coming off of a (2-2) series tie with University of San Francisco, and is currently (3-4) overall for their season. However, the Rainbow Warriors will most likely be jet lagged from the insane travel.

Oral Roberts will be one of the better teams that Iowa has faced yet this season. Oral Roberts is (7-1) and going into the weekend high off of a 3 game sweep of Alabama last weekend and a thrashing of Kansas on Tuesday. Although the record is intimidating, Oral Roberts has had some troubles with pitching. In the three games against Alabama, Oral Roberts gave up 28 hits. This is intriguing for Iowa hitters, especially if they’re still hot throughout the week.

The hosts, Minnesota, are coming back from a sweep of Seattle University and a 3-1 loss to NDSU, which featured some not so great early pitching from the Golden Gophers, but this team is (4-2) and was tied with Iowa at 6 in the Big Ten preseason poll. So this match up will most likely be a good preview for Big Ten play coming up in a couple weeks. This game will also be available to watch on Big Ten Network plus, which is free if you’re on campus.

The post Hawkeyes Find An Improved Offense In Alabama appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The game started off strong for the Hawkeyes as they began the game off with a bang. After a single by Iowa senior Mason McCoy, two wild pitches, and two walks, the Hawkeyes quickly found themselves with bases loaded for third baseman Matt Hoeg.

Hoeg promptly responded with a stand up triple knocking in all 3 men on base after barely squeezing the hit in the right field line. Allowing for the Hawks to get out ahead early.

After that, Iowa never gave up the momentum.

The very next inning, Iowa proceeded to score two more runs off of another bases loaded scenario. After a fielding error by Loras allowed McCoy to get on base and continue the inning, with Sophomore Robert Neustrom following with a single.

This time it was first baseman Jake Adam with a chance to bat in the runs. He singled to left field, allowing for Tyler Cropley to score. Then DH Austin Guzzo batted in another run letting the Hawks get a 5-0 lead at the end of the second.

However, the offense was not the only side playing well for Iowa. The Hawkeyes defense looked strong early with  Freshman Grant Judkins making his debut start for the Hawkeyes, giving up only one hit with four strike outs over his three innings pitched. He was helped by a great jumping catch from Adams to end the top of the second. Followed by Kyle Shimp pitching 3 K’s in his two innings pitched.

Going into tonight, Iowa manager Rick Heller wanted to get more guys experience, he ended up doing exactly that by having four relief pitchers finishing the game with an inning each. Combining for 8 strikeouts, and giving up only one run in the 7th. Also bringing in four pinch hitters in the final 3 innings.

Iowa would end up scoring three more runs to finish with a score of 8-1, making Iowa (2-2) on the season.

Iowa will head down to Hoover, Alabama over the weekend for the Hoover Classic. First facing Alabama State on Friday and Saturday, and ending off the weekend against Morehead State on Sunday.

Iowa’s next home game will be on March 7th, against Northern Illinois at Banks Field.

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