The other day I had some spare time, so what did I do? I sat down and watched a great Steve Sarkisian clinic from one of his Nike COY appearances.
Coach Sarkisian has been around the top levels of college football for close to two decades now, and he’s developed a really interesting offensive philosophy that I wanted to share with you.
Speaking of Steve Sarkisian… In 101 Plays from the Texas Offense we can see how Steve Sarkisian’s unique Texas offense has evolved and allowed them to get the better of Nick Saban’s defense this season, making them a force in the playoffs this year!
So let’s get started…
1. Running the Football with RPOs
The biggest point to take away from any talk with Coach Sarkisian is that he believes in running the football, and that’s never gonna change.
According to Coach Sark, if you give your QB too many options, all you end up doing is throwing the ball, and the “R” part of the RPO never materializes.
This is one reason he isn’t overly concerned with coming up with RPO answers to beat Cover 2, because if the defense gives them a two-high look, they’re just going to hand it off.
Even against a single-high look, if they’ve got the numbers and/or the angles, they like to hand if off.
2. RPO Pass Game
There are lots of different philosophies when it comes to the RPO and how best to use it, but for Coach Sarkisian, it’s all about how everything fits together.
As he says, in the Alabama offense, RPOs are “opportunity throws” where the QB has an opportunity for an easy completion. They’re not going to get too fancy and try to force something that’s not there.
The diagram below (from Coach Endsley’s course) is a great example of keeping the read simple. When the defense is giving you a cushion and room for an easy completion, just take it.
3. Play-Pass
You’re much more effective with a play-pass that looks like an RPO.
Because their RPOs are usually quicker throws, it creates an opportunity for the offense to get the defense to bite on something and create opportunities downfield.
They “Purple” tag their run plays when they’re play-pass protecting, so everyone on the OL has the same guy as if they were actually running the football, it just tells them not to get downfield. This has the added benefits of making runs, RPOs, and play-passes look identical, and it’s one less thing the players have to learn.
4. Crossers and Man-Beaters
Sarkisian knows that teams are going to try to stop his RPOs by playing a lot of man coverage, so he’s gotta have plays in his game plan that are good at beating man coverage. This usually involves a lot of crossing routes that create separation from the defender and let the QB get the football to his receivers on the move.
That’s an important point, because Sarkisian hates throwing the football to stationary targets. As he says, when you’re throwing to a receiver who’s not moving, “I’m as fast as my fastest guy”.
In other words, you’re forcing a fast guy to slow down and stop to catch the football, taking away a big part of what makes him so dangerous.
The other reason he wants crossing routes, like in the diagram, is because he wants his QB to have options to get rid of the ball in a hurry if need be. Once his offense starts hitting shots downfield, most defenses are going to try to send extra rushers and hurry the throw, so you need answers for that.
The bottom line is that Coach Sarkisian is going to be very deliberate about whatever he puts into his offense.
There’s going to be a specific reason for everything in the game plan, and it’s going to be based on the types of defenses they see.
You can say it doesn’t matter what Alabama runs on offense or defense because they’ve got such great players, but anyone who has ever been a part of a really talented team at any level knows how deceptively difficult it can be to do what everyone expects you to do.
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