Offensive Strategy

Saturday night's matchup, as Mark Richt put it earlier this week, is a monster game. If Georgia wants to prove it belongs in the national discussion of elite teams, then they have to go to Columbia and take out a team in front of their home fans in a stadium that will be rocking.

In order to do that, Georgia will need to deal with Mizzou's high tempo spread offense. 

This post will be exclusively scheme based. While I respect James Franklin as a QB, and he is one hell of a QB, Missouri has a great offensive system and that is how they are successful.

Mike Bobo is, for all intents and purposes, Georgia's scapegoat. After the last few down years and Georgia's losses this year, Bobo was continually questioned on philosophy, scheme, and playcalling.

Having been an offensive coordinator, I can completely see the other side of the argument. Bobo, in my opinion, has definitely grown as an OC. We have many more spread philosophy than we ever had with Richt. Our QB's are putting up record numbers and our offense is putting up better yards and number of plays than anytime under Richt.

The "Cover 3" is a popular coverage in all levels of football. The reason the "cover 3" is a popular defensive coverage is because it helps spread the deep zone into 1/3's instead of 1/2's. High schools uses the cover 3 because the single-high safety gives them more men in the box to stop the run - especially in high school because teams focus more on the run. In college and the pro's, teams use the cover 3 because it gives them more guys in the deep part of the field, and gives them deep coverage if they bring the blitz.

Here is the basic alignment of a "Cover 3" out of a 3-4:

I'm going to do a series on understanding and beating different coverages, starting with today's post on the "Cover 2."

Every defense has a weakness. No one defense is absolutely unbeatable. That is why, as a coach and a player, you must be able to recognize coverage and where the weaknesses are. 

Here are the basic principles of the "Cover 2" from a 3-4.

Basic Responsibilities:

Growing up in Savannah, Georgia, Paul Johnson was some sort of legend because he won some second-rate National Championships at Georgia Southern (just kidding GSU fans). 

The reason Johnson became so popular at Southern and, later, at Navy and GT is because of the success he has had running a very unique offense - the flex bone offense. Typically, you see high schools and small colleges running these offenses because the offense covers up a talent gap by making defenses play perfect. 

Yesterday, we talked about how Auburn's Gus Malzahn uses the Wildcat to gain an advantage against defenses using numbers by gaining another blocker by allowing the RB to run the football with a direct snap.

A big misconception, as I pointed out, was that Malzahn's offense was a high-powered, high-throwing offense. However, it is, in fact, the opposite. Malzahn uses motions and misdirection to set-up the power running game (which again gains the advantage through numbers and leverage) and will hit you deep when you get lazy covering downfield.

Visit a Georgia and Auburn game and you'll notice a lot of similarities between the schools - the fight song rhythm, the chants between sides of the stands, and their pre-game "Mascot Walk." Today, I just want to tell you about how Auburn is even stealing Georgia's ancient offensive formations.

Well, folks, if you live along coastal Georgia, you'll know you need an Ark to get from one part of town to the other. Therefore, I am writing this blog on my battery (hopefully it holds up) because power is off on the islands in Savannah, so I'm writing in the dark (except for the light of my laptop).