No, believe it or not, I'm not talking about the bubble screen. If you don't know who "rtsportsuploads" is on Youtube, every week, usually only a couple hours after the game, this page posts a video of the Buckeye game. They shorten each game to 30 or so minutes, yet still show every play. It is amazing. I missed the first half of the Army game, and later that evening, I was able to watch it in 15 minutes. I used these videos to quickly get some background on this topic. 

But anyway, to the point of this topic! If you have been listening to the announcers so far this season. you've probably heard them mention the "Mesh" play Ohio State has used often this year. So far, this same play has resulted in 3 touchdowns. Dixon and Parris against IU, and then Dixon again last week vs. UNLV. This play has also resulted in several other nice gains. 

I wanted to highlight this play for two reasons. 1. The play is beautiful to watch develop. 2. It is perfect for "Zone 6's" strengths. Yes, they do have some strengths. 

This is a diagram of the play. Ohio State uses a lot of different receivers, but so far in this scheme, Dixon has always been lined up in the position closest to the bottom of the image, and Parris has lined up in one of the slot positions. 

The play is beautiful because it can result in a big play against both man-to-man and zone coverage. Against zone, the two slot receivers work as decoys. Their job is to pull the 2 linebackers away from each other, towards the sidelines. As this happens, Dixon will run 10 yards behind this action, and "sit-down" in the gap that the linebackers just created. This leaves a wide-open throw for the quarterback.

Against the man defense the go-to guy becomes one of the slot receivers. This play simply creates a one-on-one fastest man wins situation. Which makes it nice to have a guy like Parris. His job is to create enough separation as he runs through the middle, to give JT a clear pass. 

The reason I say this play works well for "Zone-6" is because it does not require tremendous route-running, or require hard catches. It requires speed, and downfield blocking ability. Which Urban preaches about. From a QB, it requires the ability to move defenders with your eyes, which JT has proven to be very good at. (Yes, he also has some strengths).

For the people out there that think football plays are beautiful, I hope you find this simple, yet explosive play as fascinating as I do. Also, for my fellow gamers out there. This is my go-to 3rd down playcall on Madden and NCAA 14. Works every time.