When neither option is actually an option. https://t.co/Kn7DnuAWyP

— Gordon McGuinness (@PFF_Gordon) November 22, 2015

The spread-'n-shred was a defensive coordinator's worst nightmare. At BEST a well-run spread offense can be beaten if you can match up talent on talent. Overnight it made obsolete so many long-developed defensive tools that coordinators could use to take advantage of the defense's numeric advantage in the running game. It also took a game that was mostly played between the tackles and moved the action to the edges. Remember those unblockable wide defensive ends who could blast into OTs then come hellfire for quarterbacks? Now imagine having that guy spend most of the game shuffling, unblocked, waiting for the quarterback to do whatever the end didn't. I'm no defensive coordinator, but I'm pretty sure that bugged them. What makes Don Brown a spread's worst nightmare, is he finds ways to get that back.

A few weeks before the season James Light retweeted the above blitz from ND-Boston College last year. It went viral because of course it did. Light also found the All-22 of it:

All-22 Clip of the same play. Coach Brown had a great gameplan that night versus Notre Dame. pic.twitter.com/CBtEAdaJPa

— James Light (@JamesALight) August 23, 2016

Let's draw it up!

[After THE JUMP: it's a TRAP. No, a RUN trap! No, Kizer, don't trust it!!!!]

GLOSSARY:

We're using Don Brown's terms so a refresher on positions:

• Linemen: E: End (weakside DE), T: Tackle (3-tech), A: Anchor (5-tech). The nose is out here, but if Michigan's running this you probably see Taco or Gary at E, Glasgow at T, Wormley at A.
• Linebackers: B: Backer (weakside OLB), M: Mike (middle linebacker), P: Pup (hybrid space player), S: Sam (strongside OLB). If this was Michigan I'd expect McCray at Backer, Gedeon at Mike, Peppers at Pup, and Uche or maybe Devin Bush at Sam.
• Defensive Backs: C: Cornerback, F: Free Safety, R: Rover (strong safety)

We'll get into the coverage below but some of those terms:

• Hole/#3: The hole is the short zone in the middle of the box. Number 3 is the tight end, because he's the #3 eligible receiver on his side, counting from the outside.
• Stress #2: You can't leave the seam open so there's almost always someone stepping into that area on any kind of coverage. Here it's the Pup's job to cover #2 off the snap and only let him go if the safety comes over and says so.
• Sight: Brown's own take on Cover 2 is to have cornerbacks play a "Sight" technique, where they angle inside off the snap and read the quarterback. I'll get into more detail below.
• Read 1-2: The safeties are reading the #1 receiver to go vertical first, and if the #1 receiver goes inside the safety finds #2. For the free safety on this play #2 would be the running back if he comes out of the backfield.

THE SETUP

This set is from his "50" (three down linemen) playbook. Ben Albert of Football X&O's has a bunch of Brown's 50 front zone blitzes on a YouTube, and like most of those this play is from his "Pup" formation. The Pup is the guy hanging out in the middle of the hashes—your hybrid space player/Peppers-like dude.

For simplicity's sake you can call it a 3-4 with wide splits.

THE BLITZ

So, those are massive DL splits aren't they? If ND has a quick dive (run up the gut) called there's just a 254-pound linebacker covering those A gaps. I mean, the other linebacker just wandered over the backside edge. What is this?

Right after the center declares the blocking (always Mike before you hike), the Mike too slips over to the edge like he's got the tight end in man-to-man:

The center did declare him the "Mike" so the protection scheme, if it's a pass, would theoretically have that guy blocked still. But it's not a pass—it's a run. So…we're good right?

ND has a chance to change the play but that means BC can change theirs as well. Kizer is thinking about it, but they've got a good ol' zone read from the pistol called, and they just left the middle wide open. Why look a gift horse…

…in the mouth? Maybe that spacebacker (P) is going to blitz an A gap from back there? Against our guards? Okay, snap it to me, baby! Let's see how they're gonna stop this!

Oh. That's a good way.

SCRAPE

So ultimately that was a scrape exchange, the paper to a zone read's rock. A scrape exchange brings an extra guy off the edge to blow up that read: the quarterback is typically watching a DE, or whoever's the end man on the line of scrimmage. A small downside of a zone read is this causes a delay before the run really gets going, and a scrape exchange uses that delay to have both edge guys close the space on both potential ballcarriers.

Tactically, a scrape exchange leaves you open to other things because you're moving some of your strength up the middle or the other side for an overwhelming flanking maneuver. If the offenses smokes the weak point, they'll hit you there. One way that read is made more difficult is the guy being read IS the scraper—the new "defensive end", i.e. the inside blitzer, turns out to be the Mike. And since the Sam is attacking the mesh point, it doesn't give away the Mike. I don't think Kizer saw him until he was at the mesh. And by then it's too late to bail, or run around, or do anything but walk right into Don Brown's trap.

THAT TRAP

Meanwhile the DL all slanted HARD toward the gaping hole they left open. If the zone blockers are reacting correctly to that they will be driving those DL where they want to go, opening the cutback lane behind them. The problem with the cutback lane: that's precisely where the blitzing Mike is set up.

But then those DL don't ever get where they need to be. The Tackle (#43) was trying to blow down the line and got stood up by the Irish's.

Since Brown caught them in a zone read it doesn't matter. If this was just an off-tackle run that blocked and edge rusher, there's a small chance the back can outrace the unblocked pursuit to that gap. I only mention it because if that's Glasgow, even that might not even be there.

What could ND do here? The tight end is expecting not to have a blitzer but when he sees the Mike over him, I think he should pick that guy up. I am guessing he's never been coached to do so, and this is a guy who only spends half of his time learning the finer points of blocking, so I don't blame the TE. But IF the TE can pick up the Mike blitz, the RB is saved

WHAT IF IT WAS A PASS THOUGH?

It's just Cover 2.

Well, kinda Cover 2. Brown's playbook called it "Crash Blue/Eagle". The way you can recognize this coverage is the movement of the cornerbacks off the snap. They angle inward off their receivers, with their eyes in the backfield. This puts them in position to blow up anything quick and inside (so the LBs don't have to) and have responsibility for the creases in he running game. Brown likes big cornerbacks for this both because that helps against the run, and because it's hard to go over their heads for a quick out.

The safety to his side is reading that cornerback, but it's the opposite of a Quarters-style (2 to 1) read: the safety checks if the #1 (furthest outside) receiver is going vertical first, and only then gets over the #2 receiver—he's got time since the Pup is going to "stress" the #2 receiver by buzzing his route:

So no, nothing was open.