Chalk Talk: Breaking Down OSU’s Pick Play Against West Virginia

The Oklahoma State Cowboys showed a bit of new stuff in their 50-39 victory over West Virginia last Saturday, but they used a new wrinkle to score their first touchdown. They used a variation of a pick route to create a screen for James Washington. OSU doesn’t use rub routes as a staple of their offense, mostly because they don’t frequently use formations that work well with rub routes (e.g. trips, bunch, anything five-wide, etc.). But when they used one in the first quarter against West Virginia, they were able to exploit the Mountaineers’ man defense for a score.

The play was a quick pass from Mason Rudolph to Washington. The Cowboys came out in trips and Washington had an easy 13-yard reception for a touchdown.

This play was new, and although it only works against a specific type of defense, it was called at the right time. Here’s a play diagram:

Jalen McCleskey cleared out his defender with a slant route, opening up more room for Washington. Washington stuttered and ran down the line of scrimmage and Dillon Stoner hurled himself at Washington’s defender. This play is legal because Washington caught the ball at the line of scrimmage and Stoner made contact after the catch.

This is different from a rub route combination where receivers run within close proximity of each other or stop in front of a defender to create separation. Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich has used hard pick plays a couple of times at OSU. Here’s another example of a hard pick play from last year’s win against Colorado:

It’s important to differentiate between rub routes and plays like these. Rub combinations are meant to create separation between receivers and their defenders during the progression of the play and these plays are meant to effectively screen for a receiver against man coverage.

Plays like these give the offense an excellent man beater, and allow it to score in the red zone with high-percentage completions. The Cowboys will usually add something new for every week, and their win against West Virginia wasn’t any different. Hopefully they’ll continue to add to their playbook and have plenty of new things for the Sooners this week.

What was your favorite play from OSU’s win over the Mountaineers? Leave your opinions in the comments below!