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<\/a><\/p>\nLater in the game, Beck dialed up a unique RPO that further emphasizes his love of physicality.<\/p>\n
12-Personnel (6 OL) G\/H Counter\/ Sprint Draw RPO + Z Out<\/p>\n
Utah comes out with an unconventional 12-personnel look that Beck loves. An in-line tight end aligns into the boundary and two receivers are split out to the field. The second tight end is actually an extra offensive lineman (who is an eligible receiver), giving Utah a four-strong look to the field.<\/p>\n
At the snap, both the boundary-side tight end and guard are going to pull while the rest of the offensive line down blocks. To the field, the receivers are going to switch release with the X-receiver attacking vertically down the hash and the Z working an out route to create a mini-mesh concept. Dampier can either keep the ball and choose between following his pullers or connecting with his Z receiver, or give the ball on the sprint draw to his running back, which he does.<\/p>\n
Although technically an RPO, this feels like a play where Beck saw something during the game and told Dampier to give the ball no matter what. This is a great example of how Beck likes to make every defender accountable on a play. Backside, frontside, there are no plays off against this offense.<\/p>\n However, Beck doesn\u2019t just run RPOs. In his heart of hearts, he would rather win by running over opponents than deceiving them. Hence, his love for extra offensive linemen. And rest assured that on third- and fourth-and-short situations, he is not afraid to go under center with a little extra beef in the backfield.<\/p>\n But he will always keep a defense honest.<\/p>\n This game was a great demonstration of an efficient and balanced attack. Utah threw for more than 200 yards and rushed for more than 200 yards with several base concepts that popped up throughout the season; eight players caught a pass and eight players ran the rock. UCLA was not much of a challenge, but this offense could not have gotten off to a better start.<\/p>\n One thing about Beck, he is not afraid to run the same play repeatedly until you stop it. On two occasions against UCLA, the Utes picked up a first down with a short yardage package and then returned to it on the subsequent first down play.<\/p>\n Against BYU to start the game, with his offense in the shadow of its own goal post, Beck went with under-center traditional Power twice to give his offense some breathing room. And later in the drive, he ran a jet sweep + QB Counter back-to-back, with Dampier keeping each one to set up a fourth and short.<\/p>\n But here is where he ran into a bit of trouble. Facing a 4th-and-1 with this offensive line, the obvious solution is to go with Jumbo personnel, run Power or a wedge play and move the sticks. But Beck, not unlike most play callers, big-brained this one. This isn\u2019t a bad call, but it puts too much emphasis on a receiver to make a key block when there was a simpler way. At this point in the game, a kill shot wasn\u2019t necessary when the body blow was available.<\/p>\n 12-Personnel (6 OL) Zone Read Jet Sweep<\/p>\n Keep your eyes on the near-side slot receiver, lined up tight to the line of scrimmage. He has to block the most dangerous man. He glances at the corner pursuing in man-to-man coverage, looks to the safety, thinks intensesly about how he can\u2019t screw this up, looks back to the corner, thinks some more, and then it\u2019s too late. The hesitation allows the safety to blow by him and make the tackle in space.<\/p>\n Again, the play layering here is excellent. Beck wants to frustrate the defense and then take advantage of it for an explosive. But sometimes all that matters is just keeping the chains moving. Or, old man on the couch here, kick the field goal. If Utah had taken a chippy here and another in a similar situation in the third quarter, they would have left Provo with the win. Utah finished 1-for-5 on fourth downs in Kyle Whittingham\u2019s final Holy War.<\/p>\n However, this game was not devoid of encouraging moments either. Beck knew BYU was weaker on the perimeter and kept testing different variations of the jet sweep until one connected. Like a batter waiting for the perfect pitch to hit a home run, he finally got one down the middle.<\/p>\n 12-Personnel (6 OL) Zone Read Jet Sweep<\/p>\n Compared to the play above, this time Beck puts two receivers tight to the top of the formation, shortens the jet motion, pulls the backside guard AND adds a lead block from the running back. With BYU playing zone defense, the guard isn\u2019t even needed. The receivers and running back clear the path and the jet sweep goes 49 yards to the house.<\/p>\n Learning from structural mistakes in real time to exploit a known weakness is what separates good play callers from great ones. This is an outstanding adjustment from Beck to put Utah up in the fourth quarter. Yes, the Utes lost, but despite fourth-down struggles, a banged up quarterback, two turnovers and 12 penalties (two that extended drives), they out-gained BYU by more than 100 yards and only lost by three.<\/p>\n After this loss, Utah would only score less than than 44 points in a game once over its final six games and never lost again. However, one game came down to the wire, and the offense had to win it.<\/p>\n In an RPO-heavy passing attack, it is challenging to push the ball down the field with a limited quarterback. Conversely, with a strong passer, you can lead the country in air yards per attempt as Fernando Mendoza does in Indiana\u2019s RPO-driven scheme. But for Dampier, it is a heavy dose of crossers, out routes and minimal anticipatory throws. And perhaps the best thing Beck teaches his offense is to take the easy stuff.<\/p>\n The first example of this came in the BYU game on the Utes\u2019 first third down of the game. After a miscommunication, Utah was able to gash the defense by quickly exploiting a coverage bust. Something Michigan struggled to do last season.<\/p>\n Beck is an empowering play caller who builds confidence through easy completions. Albeit through a multitude of disguises.<\/p>\n 12-personnel (6 OL) Split Zone\/ Slant-In RPO<\/p>\n Once again, Beck brings out the heavies. With an extra offensive lineman on the nearside lined up as a tight end, Beck wants to test the discipline of the strong safety (No. 36) to the field. Kansas State appears to be playing Cover 6, which means the strong safety has hook\/curl responsibility. Is he going to stay in his zone or is he going to cheat down into the box and help against the run?<\/p>\n Once Dampier brings his tight end in motion for the split zone, it is obvious the safety is looking to jump into the box. At the snap, Dampier reads the safety and pulls the ball for the pass. The run fake commanded such an overreaction that Dampier has both receivers open. The slot is running a seven-yard slant, while the split-end is running a five-yard in breaking route with an additional five yards of cushion.<\/p>\n Although not a difficult throw, the 5-foot-11 Dampier doesn\u2019t risk layering a ball to the slant route. Instead, he takes the easy completion. The throw is off target (the ball should be leading him inside), but it is completed and the receiver helps pick up the first down.<\/p>\n Trailing by 31-21 at the half, Beck knew his offense was going to have to win this one. Instead of panicking or going off-script, Utah came out running the football on its first possession of the second half. And after a few chunk runs, Beck went for an appropriate kill shot.<\/p>\n 12-Personnel PA Gap Pass Y-Wheel<\/p>\n Aligning in more traditional 12-personnel, Beck disguises this play-action shot beautifully. At the snap, he pulls the backside guard to kick out the defensive end and slowly leaks out the running back. I imagine if the defensive end were too fast off the edge, the running back could chip the edge until the guard can get there. A nice safety blanket, but the guard arrives in time.<\/p>\n Now, look at the H-back tight end at the top of the formation \u2014 he is going to work out to the linebacker, who is trying to get width to play the run. Once he gets right into the face of the linebacker, the tight end is going to release and take off down the sideline, but he has to be patient and really sell the block. This allows the receiver at the top of the formation to occupy the corner down the seam and gets the safety to cheat downhill to stop the run.<\/p>\n By the time Kansas State realizes what has happened, the tight end is streaking three yards free of the nearest defender. After cutting into the lead, most assumed Utah would take over the rest of the game. But that wasn\u2019t the case. With less than five minutes to go, the Utes were in the red zone, trailing by 10, 47-37.<\/p>\n With Dampier\u2019s limitations, Beck had to be patient orchestrating this drive and not abandoning the run entirely. However, Utah needed six points now.<\/p>\n H- or Y-delay is a clever way to gain a chunk of yards with an easy throw. Most offenses (including Michigan\u2019s in recent years) line up the tight end on the opposite side of the formation and have him chip before working a shallow drag route across the field. Beck lines his tight end up on the same side as an H-back with the goal of taking advantage of a green dog linebacker.<\/p>\n A \u201cgreen dog\u201d is a linebacker who triggers to blitz once he sees his assignment staying in to block. However, if he triggers too fast, he can\u2019t get caught. That was Beck\u2019s thought here. The tight end does a great job selling his chip, but unfortunately stumbles coming off the block. You can see how wide open he would be with every other receiver occupying the rest of the secondary with verticals. But Dampier doesn\u2019t panic or even go to his second read (the slot working a 10-yard curl on the near-side hash). Actually, he had plans of his own before the ball was even snapped.<\/p>\n The play is designed for the delaying tight end, yes, but if Dampier likes the look pre-snap, he has the authority to take a vertical shot. Seeing a friendly look before the snap and no safety help post-snap, Dampier rips a beautiful back shoulder fade to the end zone. These back-shoulder throws have quickly evolved from smart throws to uncover receivers to full-on concepts within complex offenses. Although this comes off more like an \u201cF- it, he down there somewhere\u201d type of throw, expect to see more of these empowered shots from Bryce Underwood next season.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n