Is anybody knowledgeable about the Air Force offense ?

Submitted by rockydude on

Does anyone know enough about the Air Force offense to offer a few thoughts about what they run these days? I thought that they still ran an option, but when I looked it up one one site, they said that Air Force runs a pro style.

My best recollection (hazy on a good day) is that they still run an option for the most part, and when they pass, that it is usually the result of a gadget play of some variety. If I was to go fiurther out on a limb (rarely a good idea), I would have said that their option tends be a veer or an I, as opposed to a wishbone.

Can anyone offer any insight into what we might have to look forward to on Saturday?

(And if it seems like I am really trying hard to think about games that don't involve Alabama, I choose not to address that at this point . . . )

Happy Gilmore

September 3rd, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^

Hoke from the Roundtable on Air Force:

 

They’ve changed a little bit with -- they’re going no huddle now. When we were in the Mountain West with them, they still huddled and they’ve changed, run the midline and some of the pro series, that when he was with the Texans they did … so pretty unique.

CoachBP623

September 3rd, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^

Last year in the NFA title game we lost to a team that runs air forces flexbone look.



Air force is trying to get 3.5 yards per play. They want to do it with surprise, deception, and Mis-direction. They do this with supreme ball fakes, discipline, and fast chip, cut, and combo blocks. Their oline is going to be small and fast. The most traditional flexbone play is either the triple option or the midline qb ISO off option action. They lull you to sleep them hit you with a pass. It's a very frustrating offense to defend if your not disciplined and out of position. However getting them in third and longer then 5 bodes well for us because of their lack of passing ability on obvious passing downs. BWC, Q, and Ondre are going to have to be immovable objects for us to shut down the running game. Linebackers follow the guard and theyll find the football. You'll see a 70-30 percent run to pass ratio unless we go up big early or are putting them in 2nd and long, or 3rd and long often. I see us struggling with it for about 1-1.5 quarters and then we should stop them more often then not. We should roll on offense. I'm seeing a 45-24 victory

turtleboy

September 3rd, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^

They've been going 8-5 on average since 2007 in the Mountain West. Biggest recent wins would be 2010 Bowl win against Georgia Tech, trading wins against Keenum and Houston, against San Diego State in Coach Hokes first season there, and against BYU. Generally they've been running the table on the other service academies lately, too. They tend to run for a little more than twice what they pass for in yards, but it's not nearly as drastically one sided as Army or Navy, who typically lead the NCAA in rushing and are typically last in the NCAA in passing every year. While Air Force will be testing how well our linebackers read trick running plays, how well they get off blocks, and tackle in the open field for 48 minutes, they likely wont be testing new field corner Avery regularly, and likely wont push us into many of Nickel formations. I'm expecting to see a lot more of Bolden, Ross, Ojemudia, and Pipkins this Saturday. Also: They don't suck.

http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/air-force-does-not-suck-temptation-chant

Wolverine Devotee

September 3rd, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^

Step 1: D-line clogs the middle to prevent the fullback from taking the option up the middle

Step 2: Linebackers follow the QB and RB if they option out

 

Denarded

September 3rd, 2012 at 6:37 PM ^

Idaho State's QB went 41/52 for 355 yards. While the Bengals also racked up 431 yards of total offense. I think if our defense can play disciplined football and get off the field, the offense will handle the rest.

RadioMuse

September 3rd, 2012 at 8:02 PM ^

From what I'm seeing there we want to force them outside AND get some penetration to prevent cutbacks, so we don't want to clog up the middle with Qwash and BWC.  We'd be better to get Black in at the 3 and run the line they were talking about up until a couple weeks ago: 

Roh - BWC - Black - Beyer/Clark

We'll also see lots of rotation to keep everyone fresh and fast.  So I still expect plenty of Qwash, along with Brink, Ash, and Ojemudia.  Speed and gap-responsability will be very important in this game.

This should give up signifcant enough push to force plays outside and pursue from the back, while also providing a solid pass-rush if they decided to go play-action on us.  From the look of that option game we might want to have Ryan flanking one side of the line and roll up Kovacs to flank the other to gaurd against the pitch.  The middle should pretty much take care of itself and if it wasn't for Countess being out I'd pretty much assume that our corners can handle their receivers with only 1 safety deep.  It's also not the worst since Demens is a boss at dropping down the seam, which keeps the middle relatively safe as long as everyone's reading their keys correctly.

I also suspect we might mix in some run-blitzes, but mostly up the middle since we don't want to risk loosing edge integrity.

turtleboy

September 3rd, 2012 at 9:39 PM ^

Air Force Falcons 2012 Depth Chart (with players weight)

http://cfn.scout.com/2/1206487.html

Their OLine averages 250 pounds, they run a 3-4 defense and their NG is 250 also, starting 3-4 DEs run 230. They should have great technique and enthusiasm, but I feel a little bad because so do our guys, but we weigh an average of an athletic 50 pounds more.

KAYSHIN15

September 3rd, 2012 at 9:59 PM ^

where I can find this game on DirectTV? I'm trying to set my DVR, but I'm freaking out because I cant find it and the stream on BigTen Network says it wont be available until midnight Saturday

Buck Killer

September 3rd, 2012 at 10:12 PM ^

A lot of F-16's, F-15s, B-52's, F117's and the B-1 if it is serviceable. The B-2 usually kicks things off nowadays from what I read.

mgowill

September 3rd, 2012 at 11:40 PM ^

I watched them play at Notre Dame Last year with my son.  We left in the 3rd quarter because it was a blowout.  The final score was 59-33 but when we left it was like 49-16.

They use trickeration as noted by others.  They also turned the ball over twice to Notre Dame's 0 turnovers.  They impressed me on a few drives because of the way they make the defense read the play.  I would imagine that we employ a similar tactic as we used against Nebraska last year.  I remember feeling bad for their recievers as it didn't seem that they got much action all day.  The most interesting stat from that game was that they went for it 5 times on 4th down and were successful 5 times.  Gutsy coach or maybe because they were trailing all day, I'm not enough of a student to say either way.  Had they not turned it over twice and had their defense been a little more stout, they might have made a game out of it.  They were just under 600 yards of total offense.

markusr2007

September 4th, 2012 at 12:01 AM ^

which I think is a Ken Hatfield invention, but not sure. The HBs are frequently both lined up at both ends of the line, about a half yard back.  From that they can do a lot of counter options and reverses, plus some more creative passing routes than conventional wishbone, but the triple-option play is where it all starts and ends. I know Hatfield ran this Flexbone variation at both Arkansas and Air Force.  

The best thing about that offense is all the misdirection going on, which makes it fun.