FSU fan take on Charles Kelly and stopping the option

[takethepoints]

I think it is safe to say that Coach Kelly will have a better idea then most of how to stop us. Two problems:

1. Our OL is playing so well that I'm not sure that'll do them much good, and

2. I'm pretty sure Coach - an old DC himself, as we tend to forget, who has seen every single gambit used against our O more then once in game situations - has a real good idea about what they might try to do. He will then do something else until he finds a way to assault whatever schemes Kelly comes up with.

What it comes down to is that there really isn't a "scheme" against us; everything you try opens new opportunities for the O.

The one concern I have is not having Smelter. I'd feel better about our chances with him on the field, but I feel pretty good about the game regardless. We'll see soon.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

CPJ has seen it all. I doubt Kelly will do anything we haven't seen many times before. The key to stopping us is not just stopping our original game plan, but stopping our adjustments. We usually kill teams with our adjustments which can be very simple things but have devastating effect.

 

[Boomergump]

Can we please stop acting as if a blueprint to stop the flexbone option actually exists. If CPJ himself had to scheme against it as a defensive coordinator, he couldn't do it. Why don't each of you football fans out there take out a board and put 11 moveable pieces on it for defense against our 11 running the TO and see how you could line up and assign all the players to all the right places. You will find out soon enough that their aren't enough pieces when two of them are being properly optioned off by the offense.

Even when a defense executes assignments perfectly, they are leaving major portions of the field unguarded. The only real answer is defeating every block, jumping every snap, tackling perfectly in space in a one on one situation, and covering a heck of a lot of space as a CB with no safety help. It is a really tall order.

We need to execute on offense to be effective, just like every offense, but ours might be a little higher risk with ball handling so we have to be precise. We get to practice that percision every day. By the same token, the defense needs to carry out assignments precisely and they get 3 days. Kelly may help them get better prepared, but even he knows, there are no answers. They will try to out-athlete us, hopefully while following orders. That is all they can really do.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Can we please stop acting as if a blueprint to stop the flexbone option actually exists. If CPJ himself had to scheme against it as a defensive coordinator, he couldn't do it. Why don't each of you football fans out there take out a board and put 11 moveable pieces on it for defense against our 11 running the TO and see how you could line up and assign all the players to all the right places. You will find out soon enough that their aren't enough pieces when two of them are being properly optioned off by the offense.

Even when a defense executes assignments perfectly, they are leaving major portions of the field unguarded. The only real answer is defeating every block, jumping every snap, tackling perfectly in space in a one on one situation, and covering a heck of a lot of space as a CB with no safety help. It is a really tall order.

We need to execute on offense to be effective, just like every offense, but ours might be a little higher risk with ball handling so we have to be precise. We get to practice that percision every day. By the same token, the defense needs to carry out assignments precisely and they get 3 days. Kelly may help them get better prepared, but even he knows, there are no answers. They will try to out-athlete us, hopefully while following orders. That is all they can really do.

Agree, but our offense requires all parties completing their assigned tasks correctly in time and space. That gets harder to do as the quality of opponent ratchets up. One missed block can cause a play to fail. One missed read, one off pitch or bobbled handoff. We need precision x 11 players. The good news is that we run the offense at such a quick pace that we don't have to hold blocks for very long and we even have some playmakers that can make something from nothing, most notably, JT.

 

[Minawreck]

the scheme to stop our offense is to practice against it all summer and every week in the season at least some, and then have the smarts to be able to semi-predict CPJ's adjustments to your attacks and try to stay a step ahead of him. This is what Bud Foster does. I see no other DC's doing this.

 

[GT Man]

He will expose us and give the rest of the nation the blueprint to solve the offense forever.

 

[Ash]

the scheme to stop our offense is to practice against it all summer and every week in the season at least some, and then have the smarts to be able to semi-predict CPJ's adjustments to your attacks and try to stay a step ahead of him. This is what Bud Foster does. I see no other DC's doing this.

Wofford + better players.

 

[ibeattetris]

the scheme to stop our offense is to practice against it all summer and every week in the season at least some, and then have the smarts to be able to semi-predict CPJ's adjustments to your attacks and try to stay a step ahead of him. This is what Bud Foster does. I see no other DC's doing this.

UGA apparently had practice time against our O all year. Same with VT. I think the extra time preparing for us only hurts them against their other competition.

 

[00Burdell]

Can we please stop acting as if a blueprint to stop the flexbone option actually exists.

Bill Belichick poured over six hours of film on CPJ's offense (they are buddies apparently). Belichick's conclusion at the end of those six hours?

"There is no way to stop it."

 

[DTGT]

Bill Belichick poured over six hours of film on CPJ's offense (they are buddies apparently). Belichick's conclusion at the end of those six hours?

"There is no way to stop it."

This is awesome. Do you have a link to this? I'd love to read that article.

 

[00Burdell]

This is awesome. Do you have a link to this? I'd love to read that article.

I read it a few years ago on one of the other message boards - I'll try to dig it up.

 

[Animal02]

The only real answer is defeating every block, jumping every snap, tackling perfectly in space in a one on one situation, and covering a heck of a lot of space as a CB with no safety help. It is a really tall order.

That is the blueprint.......but almost impossible to accomplish time and time again throughout the game.

We need to execute on offense to be effective, just like every offense, but ours might be a little higher risk with ball handling so we have to be precise. We get to practice that percision every day. By the same token, the defense needs to carry out assignments precisely and they get 3 days. Kelly may help them get better prepared, but even he knows, there are no answers. They will try to out-athlete us, hopefully while following orders. That is all they can really do.

The pitch by JT over the UGAG defender's head is a perfect example of this.....higher risk.....but great payoff.

 

[steebu]

I read it a few years ago on one of the other message boards - I'll try to dig it up.

It's actually from PJ's radio show a few years ago. He said that when he was at Navy Belichick and his dad came by and they talked X's and O's, and Belichick wanted to go into the film room to study the offense for himself. He came out six hours later and said (according to PJ) "This is the best run offense ever." I don't believe he actually said, "There is no way to stop it."

 

[TheGridironGeek]

I'm a subscriber to the Lou Holtz motif for stopping the Flexbone. Run-blitz your *** off, because the only real way to stop it is to get negative plays or force penalties. Assignment discipline is important, but it's not the elixir.

People who have been to seminars with CPJ will tell you, the Flex is absolutely NOT reliant on defenses making mistakes. The basic concept is "if this, then that" meaning if the defense tries X, the offense can counter with Y. There is no such thing as "perfect" defense since it has so much to do with athleticism anyway, and no offensive coach ever designed a game plan thinking this will only work if the linebackers are stupid.

The passing game is a part of the running game, and vice versa. So you do have to respect GT's entire playbook because they will burn you if you cheat, just like any other offense is designed to do. Even Navy couldn't move the ball on the ground if the forward pass was illegal for their QB.

The one scrap of truth here is that some coaches do know how to defend the Flex better than others. But the balanced assessment is that having a flawed overall concept will get your 'D humiliated (i.e. Navy 52, Georgia Southern 19), while doing everything right gives you merely a fighting chance. The FSU fan in the OP is just using some good old anti-CPJ propaganda slogans to make himself believe FSU will shut down Tech.

 

[TheGridironGeek]

Wofford + better players.

Wofford is outstanding. CPJ does himself no favors by scheduling FCS/Sun Belt teams with expertise in "high school" offenses.

 

[AE 87]

I think @stylee is working-up some analysis of FSU vs Citadel. Jimbo did say today that he scheduled Citadel with the possibility of having to play GT later in mind. I didn't watch that whole game, but from what I saw, here's my take:

1) It looks like they're gonna come out in the base ACC anti-flexbone D, 4 DL with the Mike LB about 6-8 yds back (away from the charging center) and looking to flow to the outside
2) Their LB's are fast.
3) They seemed to play fairly vanilla against Citadel, but I would expect some creative stunts etc from Coach Kelly

Imo, we're going to have to be able to complete passes to keep their DBs from crashing down in run support. Hopefully, having the georgie game behind him will help JeT calm down and get er done.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

The blueprint to shutting down our O is to have superior athletes who can evade our blocks while keeping themselves in the right position.

We know FSU has superior athletes, but their D isn't as highly ranked for defending the rush at 73rd as Clemson, Virginia, Miami, Georgia Southern ........ I think we will be able to establish the run. That's just me. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaadef

And if we can run and get a two score lead, we should just down the ball after getting a first down to milk the clock even more. Maybe down the ball after getting 8 or 9 yards on first down. That would totally freak them out as the clock ran. It's the FSU O getting into gear that has won them all their games this year.

 

[thwgjacket]

Doesn't matter what Kelly knows. Matters what his defenders can learn and put into action. It's not a math test, it's a football game.

 

[stylee]

Passing game will be there.

 

[Big Philly]

It looks like they're gonna come out in the base ACC anti-flexbone D, 4 DL with the Mike LB about 6-8 yds back

For everyone's benefit, a Front with a Mike and the other LBs outside the Tackles is called a "6-1" by our offense.

@Longestday