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.

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One month ago, the College Football world told itself that the 4-team playoff would be filled with ease once again. At the time, the SEC, ACC, Big 10, and Big 12 conferences each presumed to be represented by their champion. Only the Big 12 conference’s presumed representative is the same as prior with the top of the rankings left to chaos. Oklahoma continues to hum past the remainder of the Big 12. The following list withhold the schools who were in the top 6 a month ago and still are today: Alabama. That’s it. The cast of teams surrounding the dominant

Alabama squad has shifted a great deal week by week. However, the phrase of “dominant” cannot be attached to Nick Saban’s team following last weekend’s contest. Upsets shake the world of College Football once again.

Throughout the previous month, the shapings of the playoffs have begun to take form. No team outside of Wisconsin and Central Florida makes out of the regular season unscathed. #1 Alabama fell to #6 Auburn in the Iron Bowl. The same outcome befell #2 Miami as they lost to an unranked Pittsburgh. Just two weeks prior, #9 Washington fell. #1 Georgia steamrolled #10 Auburn and #3 Notre Dame exposed by #7 Miami.  #6 TCU battles and loses to #5 Oklahoma. And lastly, #6 Ohio State received a beating in Iowa City to the unranked Hawkeyes.

Penn State fell off the planet after being ranked second in the nation a month earlier before losses against #6 Ohio State and #24 Michigan State. Upsets have completely ravaged the top 10 of the College Football rankings week after week.

Playoff Ramifications

Despite all of these upsets eliminating teams from playoff contention, eight teams still have a chance at making the playoffs. This amount of teams is the highest by such a large margin in the history of the playoffs. The following teams are currently contending for the top 4 spots: Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Auburn, Alabama, Miami, Georgia, and Ohio State. Among these, there are no certains. None whatsoever. Here are all the likely possibilities.

If Clemson, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Auburn all win in their respective conference championship games, each of them will compete for the playoffs in no particular order. This particular scenario plays out with Alabama being the first team out of the playoffs. Alabama losing to Auburn head to head and Auburn winning the SEC championship defends this scenario. If Clemson loses, Miami will make the national semifinal game in Clemson’s place. If Wisconsin or Oklahoma lose, however, the outcome may not be so simple. Alabama may take one of those places, so Ohio State or even potentially Georgia could retain the spot. If Auburn loses to Georgia, Georgia simply replaces Auburn in the playoffs. However, of all these contingencies, as a lifelong sports fanatic since birth and self-proclaimed expert since, the following is my prediction for the playoffs.

#1 – Auburn. After beating Georgia and Alabama in three weeks with both teams being ranked one at the time and defeating a #7 Georgia again in the upcoming week in the conference championship, Auburn rises the number one slot in the playoffs.

#2 – Clemson. First, this Saturday, Clemson will defeat Miami for the ACC Championship. Second, I cannot put Clemson at number one in the nation for only two reasons. Syracuse and schedule strength. The lone loss in Clemson’s repertoire is facing Syracuse. A loss against Syracuse is inexcusable. Despite Clemson defeating Auburn in a head to head matchup and Auburn having two losses to Clemson’s one, Auburn has proven in the last three weeks and will continue to prove once again this week that Auburn is the hottest and the best team in the nation.

#3 – Oklahoma. The Sooners hold strong in a rematch against TCU in the Big 12 Championship game and retain their previously given slot from the College Football Playoff Committee. Oklahoma deserves to be in the Playoffs but does not own the resume to be placed higher than here.

#4 – Alabama. The Big 10 will miss out of the playoffs for the first year. A two-loss Ohio State Big 10 champion will not make the playoffs as a two-loss Big 10 champ in Penn State missed out on the playoffs in 2016. Wisconsin has not faced a single worthy opponent all year and Ohio State has faced Oklahoma and Penn State as well as rivalry games against Michigan and Michigan State. The Big 10 will do as the Big 12 has done multiple times and beat itself out of the playoffs. This leaves Alabama to enjoy a rematch of the Iron Bowl against Auburn in the National Semifinals on New Year’s Day.

This Saturday will without doubt deliver with multiple conference championship throughout the day. Oklahoma-TCU at 11:30 CST on FOX. Georgia-Auburn at 3:00 CST on CBS. Clemson-Miami at 7:00 CST on ABC and Wisconsin-Ohio State at the same time on FOX. Each of these games will determine College Football Playoff selections with the official ranking show occuring on Sunday, December 3rd at noon.

The post Chaos Brews for College Football Playoff Committee appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Once to a Penn State team with arguably the most dynamic player in college football. The other, at the hands of an improving Michigan State team. One came at home, the other in East Lansing.

Four wins and two losses at the midway point sets the Hawkeyes on track to equal last year’s record. Another eight win, four loss would be shooting par in Iowa City.

Although, these two losses have a different value. Both, through a fairly short connection chain, trace back to an undefeated team.

Penn State is simple, they are still undefeated. They’ve risen in the polls from fourth, the ranking given to them prior to traveling to Kinnick, to second after some losses above them. Only the juggernaut Alabama leads the Nittany Lion in the polls.

A close loss to Penn State helps. Obviously a win would’ve carried a greater weight but to play the number four team tough speaks as well.

The loss on the road against Michigan State is slightly more difficult to track. There is a middle man between the Spartans and the unbeaten. Michigan State has one loss to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame, who has snuck unnoticed into the top-15, also only has one loss. Theirs came at the hand

of Georgia. The Bulldogs are the other undefeated with ties to the Hawkeyes.

Both Georgia and Penn State are ranked in the top-three. Both appear, at least thus far, to have a team capable of competing with the Crimson Tide. It won’t be long until the “We Want Bama” signs appear on College Gameday from the Penn State or Georgia faithful.

Iowa, coming off a bye week, gets Northwestern followed by rival Minnesota. Only then do they face the challenge of handling Ohio State and undefeated Wisconsin. If 8-4 is the projected outlook, those are the two games that will drop.

They have their noted struggles but maybe this team isn’t all that bad. It’s a bold move to make but the Hawkeyes get someone every year. Ohio State and Wisconsin, one of them might end up on the wrong side.

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This is a two-part series by KRUI Sports Staffer Cody Goodwin.  The second part is entitled, “What We All Want: Part 2” and is available on the sports page.

Having to put my BCS rant aside, it’s time I come to terms and grips with the fact that the BCS will always be a broken machine. But I must also acknowledge that it’s the perfect motor for some of the best writers in the business.  Looking past that, it’s time we get to what we really want. And a national consensus, and Facebook, tells us that we really want a playoff.

But how do we go about this? How will it be constructed? Who will be in it?

Luckily for you, I’ve answered all of these questions in five consecutive years of schooling. It’s called a research paper. And it’s only been expanded upon since I first wrote the thesis in eighth grade.

And with my layout, we’d have a 16-man, single-elimination playoff for the national championship. Check it out.

What we would first need to determine is who would be invited to the big dance. According to my paper, we’d invite the top two teams in the country; letting the BCS keep it’s main job of establishing number one and two. They would receive byes.

Next, we’d fill in the remaining seeds that fall in by the following criteria.

1. Conference Champs receive seeds three through eight, with the conference champions coming first, in order by the BCS Rankings.

2. Those teams that met the at-large criteria for a BCS Bowl game would file in the remaining seeds. With this factor in place, we would be excluding those teams from mid-majors (Boise State, Houston, TCU, etc.). We would also aim to include two teams from each conference in the BCS playoffs. Instead of receiving the BCS death-sentence, those who qualified for their respective conference title game, and lost, will earn a bid, as well as others who may not have won their division, but still met BCS at-large requirements (Stanford, Alabama).

3. Assuming there’s at least one spot remaining for an at-large bid, we would give it to the highest ranked mid-major, assuming they met the BCS rules for their at-large appearances.

With these rules in place (and a tad hard to follow, I admit), the field of 14 would be set and ready to go. Since we couldn’t plan this better before the BCS, and Alabama, screwed things up, we’ll play it off of what we have to work with. Here are the teams and their seeds:

1. LSU (BCS #1 – SEC Champions) – will receive a first round bye.

2. Alabama (BCS #2 – SEC at-large) – will receive a first round bye.

3. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Champs)

4. Oregon (Pac-12 Champs)

5. Wisconsin (Big Ten Champs)

6. Clemson (ACC Champs)

7. West Virginia (Big East Champs)

8. Stanford (Pac-12 at-large)

9. Kansas State (Big 12 at-large)

10. Virginia Tech (ACC at-large)

11. Georgia (SEC finalist)

12. Michigan State (Big Ten at-large)

13. Cincinnati (Big East at-large)

14. UCLA (Pac-12 finalist)

So you see, under this format, Boise is indeed robbed of a BCS appearance, simply because other teams made the given criteria, but only they come last. And again, Alabama comes in to screw everything up.

But Boise isn’t the only team that gets hosed under this format. Note that Michigan, Arkansas, South Carolina, Baylor, Oklahoma, and even TCU are all left out. But due to these rules, it’s fair that way. Arkansas and South Carolina are left out simply because the SEC spots were filled with the better teams. The same goes for Baylor and Sooner nation, and the Wolverines out of the Big Ten. TCU falls under the same rules as Boise State.

Hosed? Probably. But fair? Absolutely. In a more perfect world, there’d be four super conferences, that would hold 16 teams, with 8-teams in each of the conferences two divisions. Under this format, each division would send their top two teams to the big dance, with the conference title game to decide the seeding for the first two of each conference, and the others thrown in at a blind draw.

It would create a full 16-man football playoff to decide the best team in the nation.

Continued on…”What We All Want: Part 2″

The post What We All Want: The 2011-2012 BCS Playoff Scenario appeared first on KRUI Radio.