Mercer 11/12

[FUwolfpacker]

Hendrix addressed that play during the presser. Stated that he thought they had a good play called and it really came down to one guy not blocking his guy. Basically a lot few words to say the same thing. It would be nice to see us be a little better in those situations though.

I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen a bootleg or some type of play-action more on 4th down. Everyone knows we want to run it. Feels like there would be a chance for a big play or at least give Huff a chance to make something happen. I'm sure we have something drawn up for Shifflet in terms of a pop pass from that formation as well that we might be saving for the right moment. At the end of the day though, I'm sure part of that is trying to set the physical tone for the team and part of that is that Hendrix just trust his defense to get a stop at this point.

[apaladin]

It’s not just FU but you see teams all the time failing with one or two yards to go. 95 times out of 100 they run up the middle because that is the shortest distance and fail most of the time. Just too many bodies in a small space. The problem is with everyone in the shotgun the ball is centered 5 yds deep then the RB has to run seven yards just to get to the los. By that time there is a huge pile of humanity in front of him with nowhere to go. When teams used to get up under center and hand it off to a rb the success rate was much higher. With that said we need to do something different on 3rd or 4th and short besides running up the middle cause it ain’t working!

[The Jackal]

It’s not just FU but you see teams all the time failing with one or two yards to go. 95 times out of 100 they run up the middle because that is the shortest distance and fail most of the time. Just too many bodies in a small space. The problem is with everyone in the shotgun the ball is centered 5 yds deep then the RB has to run seven yards just to get to the los. By that time there is a huge pile of humanity in front of him with nowhere to go. When teams used to get up under center and hand it off to a rb the success rate was much higher. With that said we need to do something different on 3rd or 4th and short besides running up the middle cause it ain’t working!

I mean, it's worked this season.

This is the exact same formation and personnel.

Shiflett took this one a little more outside and it looks like we added a pulling guard.

[apaladin]

That was not up the middle and it was also against the worst team in the league, so no credit for this one.

[FUBeAR]

One final Mercer note. I think the only dark spot in the game, which has seemed to plague us a bit this year, is fourth down conversions. We tried thrice and failed thrice.

Some of our inability to convert fourth downs left me with a little bit of a feeling we weren't able to finish drives. Against good teams and in the post season, we need to pick up those fourth downs in the no-man's land that's too close for a punt and maybe too far for a try.

Unique set up here. Fourth and 1.

Furman is "tackle over." The RT, Toomey, flips sides and lines up between Johanning and Tomlin. So, Furman has three offensive linemen to the left of the center.

Xavier Stephens, a defensive lineman, enters the game as the TE. I don't know if Stephens is our third TE and Gissinger wasn't available or whether that is the personnel package. Stephens is a legal receiver here. Ryan Miller slotted behind him.

Backfield is Roberto, Shiflett, and Gilby. Huff lines up at receiver. I'm not entirely sure what Shiflett brings you at QB that Huff doesn't on this play, but fine. Maybe if you are just going to tuck and run, you'd rather Shiflett fling himself into the fray than the QB.

I don't dislike what we're trying to do here, but we really didn't execute it. We have numbers at the point of attack. A lot of beef heading that direction. Looks like Gilby gets a nice kick out block. There's a hole there.

Just my view of things, but the defensive end gets too much penetration, which stacks up Roberto. The linebacker fills in to meet Shiflett in the hole.

Oddly, the two primary guys making the stop - #0 and #3 from the backside - are Mercer's two best defensive players. I don't love not blocking the defenses two studs on a fourth and short.

At some level, I love that we lined up with a bunch of beef and signaled that we were going to run it at them. I like the mentality. Didn't love the execution. Hats off to Mercer, though. They made a play.

#15 - Ken Handley - Former Walk-On LB is the one who met Shiflett head on in the hole
#91 - Jordan Swain - backup DLman submarined from the backside and got on Shiflett’s legs
#3 - Isaac Dowling - All SoCon LB came off the backside edge (short edge due to Tackle over formation) and wrapped up any 2nd effort/escape
#0 - Lance Wise - All SoCon DB was p/s on the outside. Gilby was blocking him out, but Wise was in good position to contain if Shiflett bounced it, as no one (really) was @ VMI when he bounced and scored

#15 was most likely the “1 guy” that Coach Hendrix meant. He’s a very fine Player, but it didn’t look like the ‘Dins put a hat on him. 5’11” 225 LB gonna win most 1-on-1’s vs. a 6’2” 201 WR.

[The Jackal]

I'm no expert in this, but one small difference between the VMI play and the Mercer play is the LTs block. Against Mercer, Tomlin blocked down. Against VMI, he blocked out. I assume that is dictated by the position of the end man on the line.

VMI also opted to send their CB whereas Mercer kept him in man coverage on Huff.

Honestly, reviewing both plays, I'm not sure we got to the right spot either time. Feels like the Mercer run should have gone wider. The VMI run should have gone more to the inside.