Boston College Film Review: Second Quarter

UOFL BALL, 2ND AND 1

It became a running theme in this game for UofL to not block Zach Allen, who is an All-American. They run a jet sweep here (why they chose to run this for like the third time all season when they only needed one yard is beyond me) and Lukayus McNeil and Kemari Averett just split like a banana peel and Allen gets the easiest TFL he’s ever had.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 4

On the very next play, Jawon Pass decides where he’s throwing the ball before the snap and delivers a gift wrapped package to Hamp Cheevers. Pass has not done a good job this season of seeing things quickly and changing his decision quickly. This play is a prime example. Cheevers turns into the receiver immediately but Pass had already decided to throw it.

Don’t excuse Jaylen Smith on this play, though. This is a lazy route and he gets beat to the spot. He then uses none of his 220 pounds to fight through and make a play. He just stops and sits as if this wasn’t a timing route that demands that he be where the pass ends up going.

UOFL BALL, 3RD AND 2

Here’s another play where you can see Mekhi Becton just erase his side of the line. The gif speaks for itself.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I like the way that UofL used the read option in this game with Jawon Pass. This was a much better play call than they went with on the first scoring opportunity when they brought Malik Cunningham in. This is a triple threat situation when you have Pass in there because he can throw, run, or hand it off. The read option makes it even better because everyone will key on the running back because Pass doesn’t typically run the ball. This was the case through the entire game and it should be utilized in this way going forward.

BC BALL, 1ST AND 10

BC got away from misdirection stuff after a while and I have no clue why they would do that. This play shows just why it works and it also shows how undisciplined UofL’s defense is right now. Nick Okeke has contain on this play. He’s at the top of the screen and you can see how he sinks inside on the play and then doesn’t notice the blockers running past his face. Throw in Rodjay Burns running towards the fake and you have the two guys tasked with being outside on this play actually playing inside.

I don’t know how they fix this type of stuff, but I would guess that it would be after the season is over.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

This is one of the sacks that Pass took that looks a lot different once you watch it again. This play ends up being what is essentially a one receiver route. Devante Peete at the bottom of the screen runs a throwaway route and Kemari Averett stays in to block at the top of the screen. Hassan Hall leaks out of the backfield but he’s pretty much just window dressing as he ends up at the line of scrimmage on his route.

That leaves Micky Crum and (I think) Jaylen Smith running down the seams. Crum is matched up against a corner back in man coverage. He’s not going to win that battle unless it’s a jump ball situation. So that leaves Smith as the lone option on this play, but because the safety has no other threat on the play he sprints to that hash to play over top. You can see him take off at the snap and you can also see the other safety who is in man coverage on Smith widen out to play him outside.

This is “bracket” coverage and it takes away the only option that Pass has on this play. This looks like a play where Pass just doesn’t make a decision quickly enough but he actually makes the right decision here to just eat it. He tries to run but gets brought down two yards behind the line.

UOFL BALL, 4TH AND 10

BC obviously saw something with UofL’s punt protection and they exploited it here. You can see that they bunch a few guys on the right side while the left side is spread out a bit. Cole Bentley and Kemari Averett end up sliding to their left because of that bunch formation and the backside is wide open for the block.

It looks like the coverage guys letting the rushers go was by design. I have no clue why they would do that with only two personal protectors, but it’s what they did. So, BC just gets a free run at Mason King and two guys could have blocked this punt.

UOFL BALL, 1ST AND 10

I watched this play a bunch of times to try to figure out what happened and I came up with a few theories:

• Jawon Pass changes the protection at the beginning of the gif when he sees the linebacker to the left of the line. He slides everyone to the left to account for him.
• Cole Bentley does this and that’s why Mehki Becton ends up looking outside on the snap. Either of these two things would end up with the same result.
• When the linebacker moves back to a normal depth, no one adjusts the protection from what they already called. This is why everything still slides to the left.
• The other possibility is that they didn’t call anything and Becton expects someone to come from the outside because the end crashes down. That would mean that the right side of the line just completely didn’t block the guy that leads BC in sacks. None of the options are great, by the way.