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Charting Penix's 55 Drop Backs vs. OSU

+25 HS
Sloopy1976's picture
November 22, 2020 at 1:59am
49 Comments

I decided to take a second look at today's game to see how Penix fared when we blitzed vs. rushing our 4 down linemen. I did this because I feel that the biggest weakness of our defense was our scheme today. Simply put, while our young DBs made some bonehead mistakes in coverage, the real issue was that Coombs & Co. delivered a lazy scheme/gameplan that lacked imagination and creativity to try to slow down IU. The coaches simple thought they could "out talent" IU and didn't give them the respect they deserved. Here is what I found: 

We rushed 3 linemen 3 times (5% of drop backs); all three of these were the last three plays of the game. Penix went 1 for 3 for negligible yardage (last play was a mess).

We rushed 4 linemen 34 times (62% of drop backs); Penix went 18 for 32 for 393 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT. He also scrambled on one drop back to pick up a first down on the last drive and in the first half we rushed 4 when the center snapped it over his head. 

We rushed 5 players 10 times (18% of drop backs); Penix went 4 for 9 for 62 yards and we had 1 sack.

We rushed 6 players 8 times (15% of drop backs); Penix went 4 for 8 for 41 yards and a TD (redzone) and we had 1 sack.

When we blitzed, Penix was 8 for 17 (47%) for 103 yards (6.1 yards per attempt). He had 1 TD on a 4 yard pick play on the goal line and was sacked twice (our only 2 sacks of the day). 

When we only rushed 4, Penix was 18 for 32 (56%) for 393 yards (12.3 yards per attempt). He threw 4 TD and 1 INT. 

So...Penix completed a much higher percentage of his passes when we didn't blitz (56% to 47%) and doubled his yards per attempt when we didn't blitz (12.3 ypa vs 6.1ypa). In addition, he wasn't sacked unless we blitzed and he threw 4 out of his 5 TDs with only the 4 man rush. It seems we should have been more creative with blitz packages and we should have brought heat more frequently, right? 

Also...don't worry, while it is well after midnight in Ohio I am on the west coast so it is only 11PM here. I'm not up in the middle of the night stirring about this. LOL 

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