Chalk Talk Discussion: Things OSU Should Add to Its Offense

Thomas Fleming: Today we’re going to talk about what OSU should add to the offense. I want to see them bring back the pop pass. Tag the tight end on a seam on your run plays. When they ran it consistently in 2014 it either got a huge completion or pass Interference. Every. Time.

Adam Lunt: My favorite play of the entire season from 2017 was a special play built for Tyron Johnson. They went trips to the right with a bunch set out wide with two WRs, and one TE to the left. The interesting part was they motioned McCleskey back into the slot, then had a switch release between McCleskey and Johnson. Then they ran Mills, with Johnson adding a slight bend to the sideline before hitting the post. Funny thing is the TE on the weak side was wide open in addition to Tyron. Summary of that is I would like to see more bunch/switch releases.

Fleming: I’m curious to see what happens with a new quarterback and how he goes through his progressions. I have been calling for bunch forever. They used it I think once versus Texas in 2014 and the quarterback got sacked. And then it was never to be seen or heard from again. Also something I didn’t mention in our previous talk was some version of the wildcat with Justice/Chuba.

Lunt: Im not too excited about that because generally that means you can’t rely on your normal running game, but I’m okay with it as a wrinkle to keep DC’s honest.

Fleming: I’m also always a supporter of running the ball like OSU used to in ’10-11 — Operate in 10 personnel, run the ball against five-man boxes and add attachments as constraints (like screens, routes, etc). Gundy has always thought if they want to run the ball effectively they have to have more blockers but I’ve always been a supporter for less. Less clutter and more space.

Lunt: They’re committed with the Cowboy Back. Zac Veatch was so good and they haven’t found a way to replace him.

Fleming: I mean even putting him in the slot as an H back effectively does the same. You can still utilize that position in RPOs and such.

Fleming: There are just a ton of limitations with how they use two-back stuff. They only run, like, five plays out of those sets and it can get predictable.

Lunt: You can only run inside zone so many times without getting predictable.

Fleming: That’s one more thing. Their base playbook is fairly small, which is usually the trend for spread teams, but there is certainly room to add.

Lunt: Anytime is a good time to run four verticals, in my opinion. I would be okay with Yurcich running that every play.

Fleming: Verts has a high success rate for sure. I mean, Mike Leach called the play “6” because they scored so much on it at TTU. It’s pretty much a structured version of playing backyard football and telling your receivers to get open.

Lunt: I know we talked about different ways to leverage Chuba Hubbard previously, but something to build off of split backs can easily be vertical routes from the Cowboy Back spot. I would also like to see Yurcich continue to evolve his RPO play book. He mainly rain 2-3 variations all of 2017, and would like to incorporate more because by the end of the year teams were preparing well for them. The first TD pass to Dillon Stoner in the Pitt game is a good example of some different options you can bring to the table in the RPO game.

What would you like to see OSU do in 2018? Leave your opinions in the comments below!