It's time for Xs and Os, real football talk, armchair coaching, and good old fashioned guess work.

I think the first topic is what is on all of our minds after this season.

The 'Gus gimmick' as its been called gave stout, fast, and aggressive defenses fits all season. The Gus take on the read option scorched Alabama, walked right past A&M, and handled just about everybody else short of LSU.

So what's the trick? How do you stop it? How will defensive scheming change? What will be the next move for it?

The simple and most common answer is sound fundamental play, shifts on the d-line, and even a spy.

How do you handle it coach?

And what will Gus do to seize the initiative back from you?

Good Lord, what happens if Gus finds another QB who can throw? How do you deal with having committed a man to the QB and offering little support in the flats or middle of the field?

Let's have it... How do you stop it and how will it change, if at all, the face of SEC defense?

(02-12-2014 12:31 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  It's time for Xs and Os, real football talk, armchair coaching, and good old fashioned guess work.

I think the first topic is what is on all of our minds after this season.

The 'Gus gimmick' as its been called gave stout, fast, and aggressive defenses fits all season. The Gus take on the read option scorched Alabama, walked right past A&M, and handled just about everybody else short of LSU.

So what's the trick? How do you stop it? How will defensive scheming change? What will be the next move for it?

The simple and most common answer is sound fundamental play, shifts on the d-line, and even a spy.

How do you handle it coach?

And what will Gus do to seize the initiative back from you?

Good Lord, what happens if Gus finds another QB who can throw? How do you deal with having committed a man to the QB and offering little support in the flats or middle of the field?

Let's have it... How do you stop it and how will it change, if at all, the face of SEC defense?

To beat a read option offense you are going to have to develop a read option defense. In other words you have to have an option defense to confuse the reads. You can put beef in the middle. The interior defensive line and the middle linebacker all have 1 mission. The defensive line's mission is to jam the middle forcing the outside read either to the left or the right. Your defensive end on the side the quarterback does not take the ball to has one assignment, guard that end against a throw back or a reverse. The defensive corner on that side stays at home and plays zone on any receiver in the area. The outside linebacker on that side picks up any back coming to the non ball side for a pass, and if no back comes out they flow down the line of scrimmage shadowing the QB until the option is selected. The defensive end on the Ball side is responsible for crashing the option back the outside linebacker on the ball side takes the QB. The safety picks up any receiver crossing from the non ball side to the ball side deep. The ball side corner covers the end.

The idea here is to leave single zone coverage deep on the non-ball side because that is a professional throw and the air time on the ball gives reaction time. The successful jamming of the middle allows flow to the ball side cutting down the option. The defense can still run stunts in obvious passing downs, but the they really only need the read scheme for all other plays so it simplifies the defense negating the need for the time it takes to get a defensive call from the sideline. The less they think the less they are fooled by the read. It's a man to man three man assignment with a static zone to the non ball side and a zone flood to the ball side. That's how you stop the read option.

Running the nickel package in the 4-3 allows a defense to play faster and also allows for blitzing.Or defenses will need to run a 4-2-5.

Or we could just wait for the running game to graduate or be drafted...


Seriously, if the Auburn WR's continue to play man to man as well as they do now, I don't see a great chance of stopping them, outside of a truly sick game being played by the LBs and the strong safety.