The FishDuck Minute #10: PAC 12 Spread Analysis

The FishDuck Minute #10: PAC 12 Spread Analysis – Short Pass

Reported by Josh Schlichter on April 2, 2012
In Fish Reports | 2 Comments

Part 3 of the PAC 12 Spread Analysis, this time, we’re going to cover the short passing concepts. We’ll go over the different uses of the concept, and the different concepts coupled with the short passing strategy.

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Josh SchlichterJosh is a College Football enthusiast from sunny Southern California. He has written for several self-operated prep sports blogs, as well as multiple SB Nation sites. In High School, Josh played football for four years, and helped create and operate the team's no-huddle system. Most of Josh's football knowledge branches from watching College Football his entire life, and is backed up by his first hand experience in both option and spread offenses. Above all, though, he is a proud student at the University of Oregon. @joshschlichterView all posts by Josh Schlichter →

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VegasNed

In big games against good to great defenses, I felt like this has been Oregon’s biggest weakness. Forget the perceived weaknesses out there regarding the lack of size on the offensive line for Oregon or the lack of talent along the defensive line. If Oregon had a more proficient short passing game, I think we would have beaten Auburn handily and would have played LSU a lot closer.

The thinking goes that these elite defenses (particularly the SEC) recruit monsters in the front 7 to do one thing – stop the run. SEC is a run first conference and if you want to win that conference you need to have the type of athletes to stuff the other team. If you look at the bowl games where teams have had some success moving the ball and winning game, the short passing was a huge factor. Examples would be Utah vs Alabama in the sugar bowl a few years ago where Utah used a nickel and dime passing game to control the ball and momentum…and then Alabama this year against LSU for the championship. As ugly as that game was, Alabama used a short passing game to move the ball enough to win field position and eventually put up enough points.

To me, this is the biggest area of improvement for Oregon. And its not about the amount of yards you accumulate at the end of the game in the passing column. Its about controlling tempo, building momentum, keeping the other team’s defense off-balance, even if it means gaining just gaining a few first downs to move the ball deep from your territory for a punt. Gotta avoid the three and outs with two mediocre runs and an incomplete pass on third and long.
FishDuck

VegasNed….that is some excellent commentary which can lead to some more thoughtful discussion. Come over to the forum The FishBowl, and share some more…. (Go to top of board for link)

I agree with how the short passing game does more than just get yards-it creates good tempo and adds more stress on the defense than it actually generates. Good stuff.