Robb Smith took over for Chris Ash at Arkansas after working as the linebackers coach for Greg Schiano with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Prior to that he was the Defensive Coordinator with Schiano at Rutgers in 2012 where his defense was 4th in the nation only allowing 14.2 points per game. During his time with the Scarlet Knights they did not play a lot of Spread to run teams like Auburn so there is not a wealth of information on what kind of game plan he has put together in the past.
Here are a few games that may give a picture of what he and Bielema will throw at the Tigers this fall.
Rutgers Vs Louisville (Broken Wrist Teddy Bridgewater Version)
Louisville: Bridgewater was not a threat to run and the backup Will Stein picked up a few yards by taking off but they did not run any Read concepts. They did however run the inside zone some with not much success.
Rutgers front was too much for the Louisville oline, but Bridgewater was able to stand in against pressure on a few occasions and complete passes down field against single coverage.
On this play Louisville runs the Inside Zone, and Rutgers has the perfect blitz call, somehow the back escapes to pick up a short gain but with three tacklers. The Louisville Oline is completely confused because the DE to the play side and the 3 tech both slant one gap inside and the safety replaces his outside gap but is untouched into the backfield.
Overall Smith D contained the Louisville rushing attack, caused turnovers and limited big plays. Without the play of Bridgewater this game would not have been nearly as close.
Syracuse and QB Ryan Nassib vs Rutgers (More of a Spread to throw offense than run)
Syracuse: Rutgers only gave up 62 yards rushing on 32 carries, but gave up almost 400 yds passing to Ryan Nassib. Smiths defense was able to pressure Syracuse and cause them to turn the ball over. Specifically in the run game Rutgers sent edge blitzers from the field and boundary to disrupt the Zone Running game. The problem areas came in a similar fashion to the Arkansas vs Rutgers game in 2012. Man to man coverage over the middle.
Here is an example below where Smith calls a base defense on 1st down.
Pre Snap Alignment:
He has his front aligned in the usual odd front with a 1 and 3 tech tackles. His DE is in a 5 technique to the boundary and a 4 to the TE side. Corners are in press bail technique and what looks to be a Man Cover 1.
Able to get pressure on the QB and played a physical style that left the Syracuse Oline dazed and confused at times.
Keys to defending the Auburn version of Inside Zone:
Playing the Crack Block:
"Anytime you play a defensive structure where your force player is a second, or more importantly third level player (like a Safety) it’s important to train your players to identify crack blocks on the perimeter. Once an offense knows you’re supporting the run with a third level player (which will be the case with Robb Smiths Quarters Coverage Safety) they will do their best to try and block him with a receiver.The way to keep that from happening, defensive coaches work hard on identifying and playing crack blocks. Most teams run a "Crack/Replace" drill. It then becomes the Corners job to set the edge while the Safety runs the alley. Its predominately used against perimeter run oriented teams that utilize fast flow schemes like flash or jet sweep." (Auburn) xandolabs.com
Auburn likes to do this when teams are packing 8 and 9 players in the box.
Auburn combines these concepts: Inside Zone, Read, and the jet sweep/ Buck Sweep to take advantage of the over pursuit of the linebackers. Throw in the quick bubble and other less used plays, and it is apparent why teams have such a hard time.
Outline of my opinion of what the Bret Bielema and Robb Smith game plan will be this fall.
Emphasis #1: Send pressure off the edge to disrupt the timing of the mesh point and create fewer outlets for the back.
Emphasis #2: Play outside linebackers close to the line of scrimmage where they can bounce all inside runs to the safety who is responsible for contain along with the corner.
Emphasis #3: Use slants and twists with the front 4 to disrupt the zone blocking scheme and have opportunities to make tackles in the backfield.
Many defensive coordinators have a false belief that they can stop it with a base defense. Auburn always seems to have an answer to your game plan…a chess match of sorts with Malzahn; five, six moves ahead eyeing checkmate before you realize your king is in check. He takes the play calling to a point where he and his staff are matching up against the ability of the defense to adjust on the fly.
The offensive line is as good as any in the country and hold the key to beating Auburn. Florida St. was able to defeat double teams at the point of attack with their DTs at times causing havoc in the backfield. That still left them with a last second TD for the win.
This is what I believe the Arkansas Defense will put on field on Aug 30th.
Nice, detailed previews of the Auburn-Arkansas game. I'll be sure to send people this way when I do my version.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I will do the same!
Delete