Connect with us

Football

Chalk Talk: Why Mike Yurcich Deserves Credit for Mason Rudolph’s Success

Published

on

Despite his two interceptions, Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph shone in the Cowboys’ 43-37 victory over Kansas State last Saturday. The junior threw for almost 500 yards and five touchdowns against one of the better defenses in the Big 12.

But while those touchdowns are a testament to Rudolph’s ability as a quarterback, they came on play calls that fooled the defense and, in many cases, led to easy touchdown passes. In this post, we will look at all three of Rudolph’s deep ball touchdowns and how offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich deserves just as much credit for the Cowboys’ success.

On the Cowboys’ first deep ball touchdown, they ran quads four verticals off a quick snap. They frequently align in quads off a quick snap and run a screen to the running back, but this time, they faked the screen and looked deep.

quadsverts

Kansas State was in quarters coverage, which means that the cornerbacks and safeties are each responsible for a deep fourth of the field. On this play, Rudolph pump faked to the screen, and it caused the strong safety to bite and give up his fourth of the coverage.

Jarwin saw this and ran right past him to the unoccupied area for an easy touchdown. Watch how the safety gets out of position because of the screen fake:

quads

The second deep ball touchdown came on a concept that is new to OSU.

The Cowboys ran the sluggo seam, a long-time staple of the west coast offense.

sluggo-seam

In sluggo seam, the solo receiver on the left runs a sluggo, or a slant and go, the opposite slot runs a seam or “win” route and the opposite flanker runs a 10-12 yard curl. This play is excellent against deep halves or thirds coverage (cover 2 or cover 3).

In the sluggo seam, the QB’s reads are sluggo to seam (hence the name), and his decision relies on the reaction of the safeties. If the double move immediately beats the corner, the quarterback can squeeze the ball between the trailing corner and the safety. Usually what will happen, though, is that the safety (in this case the one-high safety) jumps on the double move, leaving a wide-open receiver behind him.

Watch how the sluggo causes the safety to hesitate, leaving an open window for Austin Hays.

b

The Cowboys have run this play only on one other occasion this season against Texas. Kudos to the coaching staff for finding this gem and installing it this season.

The final deep ball touchdown came on an 82-yard bomb to James Washington in the fourth quarter. Head coach Mike Gundy shared a funny anecdote about this play in his post-game press conference:

“When the play was called, I told Yurcich that he was crazy, that there’s no way they’re going to let him behind the defense. He said, ‘Well, let’s take a shot and see.’ I said, ‘That will be fine, but it won’t work.’ After that, he scored the touchdown and I clicked my headset off.”

Gundy’s way of thinking here is understandable. The funny thing is that the Wildcats’ defense was designed to take away the deep ball, but the Cowboys’ play design worked as a perfect counter.

pa-skinny

In the play, KSU was again in quarters coverage. In quarters, the safeties have seam responsibility. If any inside receiver runs a vertical route, it is the responsibility of that side’s safety to play that route as if it were man coverage.

Same with the cornerbacks — if the outside receiver breaks vertical, it practically becomes man coverage. In the play, the safety over the slot receiver stepped down to cover the post route, as is his job, but it left Washington one-on-one on the skinny post.

So even though the Wildcats had four players dedicated to stopping the deep ball, the Cowboys’ play design forced the defense from cover four to, for all intents and purposes, man-to-man with no safety support.

pa_z_skinny

In all three of these plays, Mason Rudolph made perfect throws for touchdowns, so he should obviously receive a good deal of the credit. But it’s important to recognize that he had wide-open windows because of how good the play designs were.

Combined with the fact that these plays were called at the perfect time, these touchdowns were easy pitch-and-catch. Mike Yurcich has received a lot of criticism, and some of it justly, but his progression as an offensive coordinator this season has been one of the biggest factors in Rudolph’s success, and last Saturday’s game was no different.

What did you think of the Cowboys’ offensive play calling against the Wildcats? Leave your opinions below in the comments!

Most Read

Copyright © 2011- 2023 White Maple Media