What about blocking? Screenshots show importance of I-Formation

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I saved some screenshots from the Boise game that might better illustrate why the I-formation was successful, and bring more confusion to why we abandoned it.

Some have mentioned that our overkill use of the shotgun was likely due to how poorly our offensive line was playing, and that it was in our best interest to give Murray space behind the line of scrimmage to have any adequate time to get a pass off.  In some cases, this is true, because the shotgun should give the QB a better view of rushing defenders and an ability to avoid being sacked.

But the I-Formation is important to UGA because of another factor: protection in numbers.  At the start of the revealing drive I referenced in my last post, the ESPN commentator made mention of I-formation being Georgia's "maximum protection" because it allowed for 7 blockers to guard the QB (5 linemen, 1 tight end, and 1 fullback or running back).  If you feel comfortable enough, the TE can become a receiver, and you still have 6 man protection.  But the I-Formation also appears to be more successful for UGA in pass blocking even with numbers aren't the advantage.

Here is the I-Formation in the first play of that drive:

Just for a better view, here's another shot of I-formation from behind:

Here is the same play after the snap.  Notice Murray has plenty room in his pocket and time to throw as the defense is sending five pass rushers against five blockers (we send the TE on a route).  He probably could have stood there for another second or two if he wanted.

As Georgia made their way down the field, the commentator continued to praise the decision of the offensive coordinator to switch to the I-formation, because it was allowing Murray much more protection and time to pass, while he was running for his life in the shotgun.  I also noticed that on the one play of that drive that we decided to run out of the I-Formation, Richard Samuel actually found a large hole to run through in the line (but unfortunately it looks like he ran into one of our blockers, just shy of the vast field of freedom ahead of him).

But just as soon as the commentators praised the change, we decided it was time to return to the shotgun (I presume just because it has such a cool sounding name).

Here on a crucial 3rd down, we go with 5 OL, no TE, and a freshman RB to pass block.  We have a four receiver set and no fullback for extra help in the backfield.  It doesn't end well.

Now the defense sends five pass rushers against a weaker UGA offensive protection, despite Georgia having 6 pass blockers.  The edge rushers get around that smaller line in a hurry, and the middle of the pocket collapses along with the ends.  Murray gets sacked here, and we miss a long field goal in a crucial moment.

It could be argued that we might as well go shotgun on that 3rd down, because everyone knew we would pass the ball.  That's true, but the bigger problem was the 2 shotgun plays before that, both of which were unsuccessful, right after we made it quickly down the field in I-Formation.  And pass blocking in the shotgun broke down much faster, even when having a numbers advantage, than it did in the I-Formation.

Also, that particular play above wasn't pretty.  Other than going back to shotgun, a formation in which we saw our offensive line fall apart and the pocket frequently collapse, Mike Bobo also apparently decided we would have plenty of time for Murray to pump fake a short pass and then try to hit the end zone 30 yards downfield.  The short pass might have been successful (or would at least give a better shot at a field goal), but instead we got a sack and no points.  Then again, we've complained about not being aggressive enough on offense before... right?

Boise Game Analysis: 78% of plays were shotgun formation

That's right.  I just wasted about 20 minutes fast forwarding through each play to figure that out.  78% of all offensive plays in Saturday's game were out of the shotgun formation.  Does that sound like UGA football to you?

Honestly, the stat by itself doesn't really matter that much.  Sure, Georgia is traditionally a power-I team that runs the ball with a lead fullback and then passes from under center, usually with a play-action fake.  But it isn't necessarily bad to try new things more often... as long as they work.  The problem isn't that 78% of plays were out of shotgun; the problem is that when good old fashion play-action passes and under center plays actually worked, we abandoned them and returned to the flashy deep snap.  The problem is that our offensive play calling has recently had a tendency to stick to things that don't work, and abandon things that have success.

Here are some more quick stats I compiled:

Total Plays in Game: 60
Total Plays Under Center: 13
Plays Under Center in 1st Half: 6/30
Plays Under Center in 2nd Half: 7/30

PASSING

Passing out of shotgun: 13 of 23 for 182 yards, 2 TD 1 INT, 14 yards per pass
Passing under center: 3 of 6 for 54 yards, 0 TD 0 INT, 18 yards per pass

Sacks: 6 of 6 sacks on Murray were in shotgun formation

The funny thing here is I (un)fondly remember the Arkansas game from last season, a loss which I blamed mostly on atrocious offensive play calling for the first 3 quarters.  I argued that we repeatedly attempted play-action passes without mixing things up, and it was obvious to the defense what we were doing.  I called for more shotgun plays to give Murray better sight of rushing defenders and the play as it develops, and when we began to pass from the shotgun in the 4th quarter, the offense suddenly began to improve.

This time, it was exactly the opposite.  We came out determined to play some newfangled hurry-up shotgun offense.  Goodbye to the old Georgia power-running and play-action days, we're here to trick you with speed and finesse.  Unfortunately, it didn't work too well from the start, and the offense struggled severely from penalties, jitters, and plain old lack of execution.

THE REVEALING DRIVE

The most revealing drive of the game was the first of the 2nd half.  Georgia decided to do something different.

Georgia at 11:01		BSU	UGA
1st and 10 at UGA 15	Aaron Murray pass complete to Orson Charles for 12 yards to the Geo 27 for a 1ST down.   (I-FORM PLAY ACTION)	21	7
1st and 10 at UGA 27	Aaron Murray pass complete to Orson Charles for 28 yards to the BoiSt 45 for a 1ST down.   (I-FORM PLAY ACTION)
1st and 10 at BSU 45	Richard Samuel rush for 3 yards to the BoiSt 42.   (I-FORMATION)
2nd and 7 at BSU 42	Aaron Murray pass complete to Aron White for 14 yards to the BoiSt 28 for a 1ST down.   (I-FORM PLAY ACTION)
1st and 10 at BSU 28	GEORGIA penalty 5 yard False Start accepted.
1st and 15 at BSU 33	Isaiah Crowell rush for 3 yards to the BoiSt 30.    (SHOTGUN)
2nd and 12 at BSU 30	Aaron Murray pass incomplete.    (SHOTGUN)
3rd and 12 at BSU 30	Aaron Murray sacked by Jamar Taylor for a loss of 6 yards to the BoiSt 36.     (SHOTGUN)
4th and 18 at BSU 36	Blair Walsh 54 yard field goal MISSED.
DRIVE TOTALS: GEORGIA drive: 7 plays 49 yards, 03:40 GEORGIA FGA

Notice the formations listed to the right of each play in parentheses.  So for four plays in a row, Georgia played under center in I-formation, just like the good old days, and quickly moved down the field.  The ESPN commentators even happened to come on the screen with a graphic showing how Aaron Murray's numbers last year were significantly better when passing from the I-formation rather than shotgun.  The offense quickly gained 54 yards on 3 play action passes (with one run mixed in to keep the defense honest).  This was a sudden, incredible momentum for the UGA offense which had been struggling all night.  But then, it's as if Mike Bobo suddenly changed his mind, and the offense returned to shotgun formation.  THREE plays in a row of shotgun followed, stalling the offense completely, and then a missed field goal attempt to end the drive.

It doesn't take a genius or a blogger with too much time on their hands to watch that game and see what was working offensively.  That same non-genius could easily determine that we didn't try nearly enough of what was working, and we repeatedly tried to force what wasn't working.  Why?  Because that's the tale of Georgia's offensive play calling in recent years.

Also of note, although the other three under center passes were incomplete, one of them should have been a 15 yard gain and was a perfect pass to a wide open #12 (names will not be named) who dropped the ball.

Finally, all 6 sacks on Murray happened during plays from the shotgun.  Re-watch those I-formation play-action plays and see how much more time Murray had to find his receiver and make a good pass.  It makes it all the more sad that we continued to ignore what was successful and tried to force the shotgun to work.

RUSHING OUT OF I-FORM

There's a slightly interesting difference in the rushing stats as well, as you can see below in Isaiah Crowell's rushing numbers:

Rushes from I-formation: 4 for 19 yards, 4.75 yards per carry
Rushes from shotgun: 11 for 41 yards, 3.72 yards per carry

So not only the passing game benefited greatly from the change of formation.

CONCLUSION


I really could rant a lot more about the game, but pretty much everything worth saying has been said by countless reporters, message board posters, and bloggers.  I hadn't seen a statistical analysis of the offensive problems yet, though, so I figured I could make a contribution.  Once again, I hold the opinion that offensive play calling was a HUGE detriment to our game plan, and greatly contributed to our loss.  If UGA's offense was allowed to run plays that set them up to succeed, I think we could have won that game.  If these mind-boggling play calls continue, I'm afraid Georgia will struggle more and more.  Not every game can be won based on talent alone.

Post-Game Analysis: Coming up Soon

I haven't been posting much for a while here, but I think it's about time for me to write a long-winded analysis of the game like I have in the past.  So it's coming.  You've been warned.

As for a quick note on my current feelings toward the state of the UGA program:

I try to step back and look at things realistically.  No end of the world doom and gloom, but no "Disney Dawg" sparkling either (I've never liked the "Disney Dawg" term much, but you have to admit it's catchy).  On the up side, I saw some good things (very few, but some) in last night's game.  I know that we only lost one game, it was to a top 5 team, and it doesn't affect our SEC chances at all.  Technically, we still have the whole season ahead of us, 11 games left to play, and an SEC title we're still fully in the race for.  On the downside, well... there is a long and obvious list of grievances that I will go more into detail on later.  We have many of the same problems we've had for years, and we seemingly refuse to ever try to change them.  This is stubborn and stupid, and if we keep that up, we're looking at another long season.  I'll still hold out hope that we can turn things around, but if a 6-7 year with a loss to UCF in a lower-tier bowl game with an entire off-season to prepare didn't bring change, I'm not too hopeful about seeing that change happen in the next week.

ESPN Predicts UGA in Capital One Bowl; Also, video of new uniforms from Georgiadogs.com

It's nice to be getting some love from the media (even if we don't yet deserve it).

First, today it was announced that Georgia is ranked #19 in the AP Poll, a few spots higher than in the Coaches'.  I feel strange about a 6-7 team being ranked in the teens, but I'm not complaining.  The higher the better for making it to a better bowl at the end of the year.

Then, ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Brad Edwards are both predicting UGA to play in the Capital One Bowl this season, versus either Ohio State or Nebraska, respectively.  I can't say I would complain about either one of those scenarios.

As for our new uniforms that were released today, I will say this: I'm not a huge fan of how they look, mainly just because the matching jerseys and pants looks a little bit Arena Football League-ish for my tastes.  However, I think it would be a pity if all of our complaining fans made the team less excited about wearing them for the big opener.  Plus, I'm really glad they decided to release these images two weeks before the game so we can get used to them, unlike the fiasco that happened at the Cocktail Party in 2009.

By the way, the uniforms look a lot better in this video from the UGA athletics website.  I'm thinking people will really warm up to them when they're being worn by the real Dawgs as they run out of the tunnel onto the field.

Welcome Back to the Backfield, Mr. Samuel

First off, thanks to the person who wrote three enormous comments on my last post about Tech.  They were very enlightening.

Second, Richard Samuel is back at RB.  Some may worry that this is a sign of things not looking so great in the current backfield of Crowell, Malcome, Thomas, and Harton.  Others are quietly excited that maybe Samuel has the experience and motivation to actually compete and play at the position this year, or at least to provide good depth in case of disaster.  

If you look for Samuel's player page on ESPN.com, you won't find any rushing stats right away.  It does, however, list his tackles in 2009... while playing RB.  (Just click on stats to see his rushing numbers)

Quick stats from 2009: Samuel rushed 88 attempts for 395 yards, for an average of 4.5 ypc, a long of 80, and 2 TDs.  

Below is evidence of the said 80 yard run.  Look at 'dem wheels.  

Welcome back to the backfield, Mr. Samuel.  Good luck, and Godspeed.

Tech Cheating Revealed on Harry Potter Day?

Yeah, I know it's been a while.  But I'm back now, and all it took was the rejuvenating and all too familiar feeling of laughing at Tech's misery.

Everyone has seen by now that the Buzzing Bees are on probation and have to vacate the only thing they've won in recent history (2009 ACC Title).  Aside from the fact that everyone knows that UGA won the ACC in 2009, does anyone else find it funny that Tech's cheating and punishment was revealed the same day as the final Harry Potter movie is coming out in theaters? (tonight at midnight, or so I hear)

This has to be the most bittersweet day in Tech history, and for the Head Wizard, Paul "Punch 'em in the face" Johnson.

Reason #738 Why Tech Sucks: The Case of the Missing Stafford

Clearly there isn't much to write about lately, so why not take a gander at what's going on in the wizarding world of Georgia Tech?

First, we have the big news about Tech's strong showing at the 2011 NFL draft.  The Buzzing Bees had one player drafted, RB Anthony Allen, in the 7th round (officially pick #255) by the Baltimore Ravens.  You would think that running back might be the only position not hampered by Head Wizard Johnson's triple option offense when it comes to time to join the pros, but I'm thinking that would be a wrong assumption.  Just look at ESPN's recap of the Raven's picks, including this one sentence summary of Georgia Tech's Allen: 

"Allen will need some development and coaching as a runner coming from the triple-option scheme at Georgia Tech."

Sounds to me like the triple-option is considered a liability, not just by the NFL, but by scouts and media like ESPN.

In other Tech news, you may have heard that Matt Stafford was throwing passes to Calvin Johnson and Chad Ochocinco the other day on Tech's fields.  Here's a story that mentions the event and includes a photo of the three NFL players together in the Bobby Dodd governmental assistance structure for the football challenged.

Photo credit: @ochocinco himself

But if you're like me and you love to check out Georgia Tech websites looking for things to laugh at, you may have also noticed a post on Tech's official blog page.  The headline of the post reads "Megatron and Ochocinco," the short paragraph is about how two of the best receivers in the NFL worked out on campus, and it then has a nice little photo of Calvin Johnson standing with Ochocinco in the Tech stadium. 

But wait a second... there's no mention of Stafford anywhere in the post, and that photo happens to be the same photo of the three players that can be seen on the site I linked previously... except with Stafford cropped out.

Photo credit: Conspicuous Cropping Done by playatgatech.com

Really, Georgia Tech?  You're that offended by all things Georgia that you have to crop the 2009 #1 draft pick and starting Detroit QB from your photo AND the story?  

I assume this means any Tech fans who root for the Lions try to imagine that Stafford does not exist, and that whenever Calvin Johnson catches a ball, it was chucked miraculously into the air by a Tech-designed robot that probably looks like this.  Sure, it probably helps that Stafford has barely played in the past 2 years due to injury, but they still have to imagine it every once in a while.  

Keep on Ramblin', you wrecks.