Space Coyote

August 2nd, 2018 at 3:08 AM ^

1. It's the 2014 playbook. While it has a lot in common with the current playbook, it is more similar to what Tom Herman is running at UT than what OSU is running today (which are both similar anyway).

2. These things get around coaching circles quite often. It usually takes a little longer to get out to the general public, but coaches send around newer playbooks quite often (Harbaugh's Michigan playbook also has made rounds).

3. Most of what is in here is available on film. For the most part, no one is doing anything drastically different than anyone else, and you have scouting departments to for this sort of thing.

That said, it does confirm somethings, at least for how they were implemented at the start of the season in 2014 (and things can and will change even during the season). It also can confirm somethings that aren't currently on film (for instance, how a team will react to certain defensive looks/fronts that haven't been tried) and can give you a stronger interpretation of how you want to plan for OSU. For instance, you may have a weakness you want to avoid them attacking and unless they tweak away from their norms, you can figure out ways to get around it. Of course, every playbook has ways around that. They have ways of taking advantage of you doing specific things.

So yes and no. It's nothing new. 95+% the opposing coaches already know (and the remaining % isn't the most important things, they are the very minor things). Ed Warinner almost certainly has already provided it to the UM staff (and any other info he may have). Coaching staffs don't want this stuff out there because of that 5% that may give you a very small edge in a very small set of circumstances - it's the same as coaches trying to limit transfers to certain schools - but it's not going to drastically swing anything. It's nice to know, it's nice to look at to confirm somethings or sometimes it being presented in a different light (this is intended for teaching, so it's a different perspective to look at it compared to scouting) may help trigger some ideas, but that's about it.

Still, I like having it, so there's that.

Joined: 06/18/2009

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