Another GOAT post from @dustinragusa24
This will be the second post in my four-part series looking at some positive takeaways from last season's Cowboy offense and how OSU could carry some of these plays/schemes over into this season. As a reminder, I'm focusing on two of OSU's most productive offensive games last season, the bowl game against Miami and the home loss to Texas, and I'll cover two offensive concepts I liked from each contest.
My first post in this series discussed OSU's use of the split-back formation against the Longhorns. For today's post, I'm going to dive into what was probably the Cowboys' best red zone passing performance of the 2020 season.
The first play I wanted to point out was the second touchdown of the game. You can see it in the diagram below.
OSU lines up in 11 personnel with the Cowboy back in the backfield. They play-action a split zone run, while the wide receivers to the top of the screen look to be executing a bubble screen. Sanders makes a slight pump fake to the bubble screen receiver Landon Wolf, then Wolf releases up field on a wheel route. Johnson initially looks like he is going to block for the screen, then he breaks inward on a slant.
The next play I wanted to discuss is the third touchdown pass of the game. The one above was my personal favorite, but this one isn’t far behind. See the diagram below.
This time the Pokes are in 12 personnel, with one Cowboy back on the line of scrimmage and one in the slot to the top of the screen. On the snap, the Cowboy back splits wide and the receiver to the bottom of the screen looks to be running a mesh concept, or crossing routes from both sides of the field, while the other receiver runs another crossing-type route a little bit deeper. With all of the action in the middle of the field, the defense doesn’t pay attention to the running back, Chuba Hubbard, sneaking out to the flat. The video of this play is below.
The last play I wanted to discuss is this touchdown pass to Tylan Wallace.
The play starts out with a quick play action fake to the running back, with Cowboy back Logan Carter split wide looking like he is going to block for a running play. Carter then takes off upfield and cuts across the middle on what looks to be a dig route. Over the top of the dig, Wallace is running a post, making this play look very similar to the mills concept we saw utilized time and time again by former Cowboys Mason Rudolph and James Washington (example shown below).
Now, let’s take a look at the clip of this play from the UT game.
The Pokes also hit on a fade route for a touchdown in the red zone and had an interesting play that was called back for an ineligible man downfield. This was one of their best passing performances in the red zone all of last season, and it needs to be something they try to replicate and build off of this upcoming year.
The Cowboys were 16th in red zone scoring percentage in 2019, but dropped all the way down to 70th last year. If they can utilize some of the creativity they showed against the Longhorns this upcoming season, I think they have a great chance of climbing back up the rankings.
