The MOST Important Play For Coastal Carolina’s Offense

First of all, I recommend the Coastal Carolina Offensive Scouting Report!

This two-part report goes through all the little details of the offense, full of stats, situational analysis and more! You won’t find a more thorough analysis of this offense ANYWHERE ELSE.

The Down Play

It all starts with the “Down” play. 

This offense may get billed as an option attack, and there’s a lot of truth to that, but this scheme is what the run game relies on to get a consistent push when they need yards. Not only that, but this was actually the play they called more than any other in 2020.

I actually spoke to a coach who had to prepare to defend them last season, and he said “It’s not that stopping the play is hard, it’s that stopping the play without opening yourself up to everything else is hard.”

Once you try to take away the Down play, you leave yourself open to all the other crazy stuff this offense can do.

This particular example was taken from the Kansas game during the season opener, where Coastal initially had four men into the short side of the field, then shifts their two tight ends to the opposite side of the formation.

Kansas “plussed” their linebackers to the wing side of the formation to try to take away the threat, but with the great angles this play gives you, that’s harder than it looks.

Here’s another look at the “Down” play from a completely balanced formation. 

One thing you’ll notice when you watch film of this offense, is that when both tight end #87 Michael Macfarlane and #4 Isaiah Likely are on the field, they will run this play behind Macfarlane almost exclusively.

Macfarlane is much more of a traditional tight end who can put his hand in the ground and get movement at the point of attack, and is less explosive in the pass game.

What this means is that when it’s a short yardage situation and both tight ends are on the field, the defense needs to know exactly where #87 is. If the back is lined up to his side, they know what the play is going to be.

That’s just a small sample of the kind of analysis you’ll find in the 2020 Coastal Carolina Offensive Scouting Report.

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