Palmetto Proving Grounds

Our running game could use a little more mis-direction out of the shotgun. Some sweeps , reverses, quick play action passes, and counters.

Our running game is totally 1-dimensional...run up the middle. Not too hard to defend if you focus on it. Against teams that can't stop it, nothing else is needed (think about that Ga. game), but when playing those teams that stack the box and make it their game plan to stop the run, you can't just keep running it up the middle. It will never work. This has been my one main frustration with Spurrier's running attack this year.

There are a number of ways to attack a defense that stacks the box. When a team takes one thing away because they FOCUS on it, that leaves others things open. The plan of the offense should be to take what the defense gives you. Exploit the things that are open and make them defend that. If they are going to defend the middle, attack the edges more. Make the defense defend the whole field and they won't be able to concentrate solely on runs up the middle.

Several times this year, I have said that the first two plays of the game would be Lattimore up the middle. I knew it, the other team knew it, and that is exactly what happened each time I said it would. Ooops, 3rd and long. Fortunately, we've made some of those 3rd and long plays. If our first two plays against Auburn this week are Lattimore up the middle, I think I will scream.

Spurrier is supposed to be an offensive genius. It's time to make them defend the rest of the field so we can run it up the middle. Even an idiot like me can figure that out.

I think we've run better out of the I-formation lately. What would be nice to see is some pitch sweeps with DiMarco out in front of Lattimore - we really haven't done that a whole lot this year. I remember we did score a TD against Alabama on a ML run with DiMarco out in front of him throwing a great block.

Now, I'm not suggesting that we ignore the zone read. But, I think the mixture of zone read and I-formation runs we used against Florida was very successful. We did not run out of the I against Auburn at all as far as I can remember - but we did use it in several series against Alabama.

You must sit beside me, Pitt.

For the OP,

I think people forget that we were pretty effective in the first half last week. Marcus had about 47 yards rushing and another 35 or so receiving. As a team, I believe we were well over 225 yards of offense.

Maybe I am wrong, but I am pretty sure we limited our play calls in the 3rd quarter and completely shut it down after the pick 6.

As for the Auburn game, I think we had 410 yards of offense which included 3 4th quarter drive killers ( I am not counting the last play). By no means is our running game anything near Auburns in complexity, but I think we have a pretty effective rushing attack, and I suspect Lattimore will get his 100 yards rushing unless we fall behind by 14-17 points early on. He may have one of those 175plus all purpose days. The other possibility is that we are able to throw the ball at will....I have not ruled that out either.

I hope I am not set up for a letdown, but I fully expect to see an exciting offensive gameplan. Unfortunately, I also expected to see one against Arkansas.

Standard disclaimer: coaches are smarter than me, know more about football than I ever will, blah, blah, blah. Okay, I agree that we have to attack the edges. Your standard ways of doing that are the sweep (usually negated by fast linebackers, but Dimarco could be key here), the stretch like someone mentioned above, the standard triple option or even just a double option with no fullback making a read on the end, flare passes, wide receiver screens, and most importantly, the zone read play.
If you watch our old games, there are a lot of times when Garcia could have kept the ball and taken it around the edge. In fact, as defenses started selling out to stop the run, the Garcia keep was more and more open. The tricky thing here is can Garcia hold on to the ball and take the punishment. IMHO, for us to win, Garcia will have to keep on the read option and pick up somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 yards. If that happens, the d for Auburn will have to play to contain the outside threat, and the gaps will start to open up for Lattimore. Obviously, you sprinkle in medium and deep passes over the middle to keep the linebackers and safeties back off the line of scrimmage.
It will take a heck of a game from Garcia, but it can be done.