Michigan vs Mississippi State Part Four: Analyzing Mississippi State's Offense vs Kentucky

This post is the fourth of at least five on the upcoming Gator Bowl matchup of Michigan and Mississippi State.  Past posts can be found below:

Michigan's Offense vs. Mississippi State's Defense
Analyzing Auburn's Offense vs Mississippi State's Defense
Michigan's Defense vs Mississippi State's Offense

Now that I've given a decent foundation of Mississippi State's offense, I'd like to take an in-depth look at a few of their staples on offense.


We'll take a look at Mississippi State's WR Sweep option play, a WR Sweep Zone Read, and a QB rollout pass after the jump:





WR Sweep

There's a lot of blocking assignments drawn out on there, hopefully you can see where each player is supposed to block.  They come out in a Shotgun - 3 WR - 2 RB formation.  The WR set on the right side is going to motion to the left as shown by the green arrow.  A WR Sweep is basically just a handoff to a motioning WR, which is what will take place here.   

Since the handoff is going left, the right tackle leaves his defensive end unblocked and runs up field instead.  The QB Chris Relf is going to fake keeping the ball, and run right to draw in those two charging defenders to completely eliminate them from the play.  This could be run as a zone read, where Relf has the option to hand it off or keep the ball himself, but this looks to be a designed WR sweep without that option.  The next play will be a zone read WR Sweep to show how Miss. St. can keep defenses from keying in on the WR.

The two defenders on the right bit on Relf's fake, and now the WR has a clear path ahead of him to run through.  The FB has blocked off the linebacker that's currently standing, just knocking him off his assignment enough that he's out of the play, while the WRs have taken care of their corners.  The RB has yet to find anyone to block so he leads the way.  The WR would turn this into a 16 yard gain when all is said and done, thanks to the perfect execution.

Zone Read WR Sweep

Now that we've seen them run a WR Sweep, let's see what happens when Relf has the option to hand it off or take it himself.   

Miss. St. opens in a Shotgun 4 WR set with 1 fullback in front of Relf.  The slot WR on the left is going to motion into the backfield so that he can act as a runningback.  Kentucky is in a 4-2-5 formation, meaning that one of the WRs (coincidentally the one that's motioning) is being covered by a linebacker.

The WR is in the backfield and is going to run right to be able to take the handoff should Relf give the ball to him.  The left guard is going to pull around to block on the right side, which would help the WR should he get the handoff, and would help Relf if he chooses to keep it, potentially opening a running lane for him.

The linebacker circled in blue is the player that Chris Relf is reading on this play.  If he charges to cut off the WR Sweep, Relf keeps the ball.  If he stays where he's at and charges up the middle to attack Relf, then Relf hands the ball to the WR.  Since the linebacker is clearly charging right, Relf fakes the handoff, and keeps the ball. 

The linebacker falls just far enough out of the play that the pulling guard has time to block him, taking him out of the play, and leaving Relf unopposed running into the endzone.  On the first play of MSU's next drive, they opened up with... a WR Sweep play which worked well again, since the defense was scared of the threat of Relf keeping the ball.  They use a lot of motion and run option plays where multiple players could end up with the ball to confuse defenses, and run many variations of those plays.  Michigan will have to be aware of their individual assignments and maintain them, or it could be a very long day for the Wolverines defense.

QB Rollout Pass

 

Miss. St. lines up in a Shotgun - Empty Backfield - 5 WR formation.  One of the receivers is actually Vick Ballard, the starting runningback, who motions into the backfield before the play, again creating confusion on the defense.  On this play, Relf is going to roll out to his right and Ballard is brought over there to be an extra blocker.  While rolling out reduces the number of receivers the QB can throw to, it also makes the defense account for the fact that Relf could take off and scramble for a first down if they don't pay attention to him.  Reducing the number of routes also reduces the number of reads Relf, who isn't the best passer, has to make on the play.

The 3 WRs on the right side will all be running routes.  The very outside WR at the top of the screen will simply be running a "go" route.  The receiver farthest inside on the right side will run a short out route about 3 yards deep.  These two routes, little does Kentucky know, are actually decoys.  The yellow route is the "hot route" or first read for Relf.  That WR will run an "Out and Go" route, where he will run the same short out route as the inside receiver, but will then cut the route straight up field.  Kentucky has one man over each receiver, so it looks like they'll be playing man to man on the receivers.  The one on the far outside will follow the go route, taking him out of the play altogether.

Relf rolls out and Kentucky's three farthest defenders to the right that are left (now that one cornerback is sprinting downfield following the go route) all bite up on the two short out routes run by the MSU receivers.  The yellow route is the main route Relf is looking for though, and he's about to come open.  As the three defenders are running forward or stationary and the receiver is about to run full speed ahead downfield, he's going to get behind all three.  Relf will see this.

The receiver catches the ball, and the receiver who ran the go route reappears in the screen, now blocking downfield for the man with the ball.  Miss. St. ends up with a 33 yard play here. 

As I said earlier, Dan Mullen (Miss. St. head coach) does a great job simplifying the routes for Relf and utilizing his athleticism, the same way he did with Tim Tebow at Florida.  This offense is very disciplined, and a great run blocking team.  Their use of motion and misdirection can confuse even the best of defenses, so Michigan is really going to have to be on top of their game on defense, and maintain all of their given assignments if they hope to stop Miss. St. especially with a 3-man defensive line.