Wildcat and the UCLA Running Game

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I meant to do this last week but I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the UCLA-Washington game until now. So here's a look at some of the plays UCLA ran against UW and earlier from the Wildcat package. I did not get to see the WSU game, and don't have a copy, but from what I heard they used it there as well. For some background see this article on the Power, Zone, and the Wildcat - what Cal did against USC is pretty much what UCLA has been doing the past month or so.

What the Wildcat Is and Is Not

Against UW UCLA lined up unbalanced - with a tackle uncovered.

QB.................................TE...T...G...C...G...T...................

...........WR.......................................................................................RB

.........................................FB

.........................................................RB

The right tackle is eligible, the TE is not as he is covered by the QB. Some teams will swap the RT for the TE, to hide the TE on the right side and two tackles on the left for extra muscle. From what I saw UCLA did not, as this way you are not committing 100% to running to the left.

Fly motion is the speed sweeper coming across, timed so that he crosses the man receiving the snap just before the ball gets there. He is the key to the Wildcat, as without this, you just have a back lined up in shotgun. With this player there is an immediate threat to the outside the moment the ball is snapped, and the defense has to respect that.

The most obvious trait is the running back behind center and the QB split wide. The reason why teams leave the QB on the field is that it doesn't tip off their hand until they line up. However I think that this is the least important aspect of the series. If you have an athletic QB, you can leave your QB behind center and run the Wildcat, or you can take him off the field completely and run the Wildcat - doesn't matter, he does not make the series go. You just need someone who can not only run but take a hit back there to receive the snap. On TV they will call Wildcat every time a back is lined up to receive the snap, but that doesn't automatically make it a Wildcat - for example, some teams just snap it to a back and let him run, that's just called getting the ball to an athlete and letting him work.

The least obvious trait, but the most important, in my opinion, is the series-based approach. You have plays that complement each other. The Wildcat is not a formation, play, or substitution package; it's a series. Much like you have the series of inside zone, outside zone, bootleg off a zone look, playaction rollout off a zone look - you have plays that begin with the same action (fly sweep across the formation) and several different options afterwards. The Wildcat works because you can run your base play of power up the middle a few times until the defense cheats in, give on a speed sweep to force them to respect the outside, run counter to force them to respect the backside, and then pound it up the middle on your base power play again. If you have a PA pass installed you can use that as well, but for a series like this I don't even think you need to go that far unless you plan to use it heavily.

The Wildcat is not a trick play or a gimmick - it is structurally sound, possibly moreso than a inside zone run play where you are bootlegging your QB out and counting on him being able to draw attention from the backside DE. It uses all the same basic schemes that teams use, like power and zone. I think that people who don't really understand what is going on are against it because they don't really understand it - but if you take a look it isn't really a giant shift from what teams have been doing the past decade. If you watch the Dolphins at all, they have almost brought the Wildcat series full-circle, and brought that 4th trait to what almost looks like a conventional NFL offense minus the personnel substitutions, and if/when Pat White takes over it basically will be a conventional NFL offense based on the speed sweep with an athlete at QB.

Power

UCLA's "base" Wildcat play seems to be their power. Again, take a look at this article for some background on power, which is one of the most basic running plays that is run by most teams around the country. Here is UCLA's first play from the Wildcat series, as Milton Knox has a big hole up the middle off power.

I think that the reason there is such a big hole is that UW was in a slant to the weak side and for some reason did not check out of it - the DL slants away from the run. They are in a 7-man front (the SS is lined up on the slot WR), and UCLA blocks down vs. the slant with 5 linemen for 5 defenders. The backside G pulls, the FB kicks out, taking care of the 2 frontside LBs, and there is a big hole.

S and B slide outside to respect the speed sweep and the rest of the defense conveniently slants the other way and are easily down blocked. Everyone is accounted for and the FS (the RB's counterpart) makes the tackle.

Notice that this isn't different from this except that there is only one unaccounted-for defender rather than both safeties - direct snap to the back gives the offense one more blocker. If you took the QB and put him under center, the strong safety would be hanging around somewhere.

One of UCLA's main running plays so far has been a power play where they use the FB to pull across and the guard to follow and lead through on a backer - here are two examples that show the play well. Notice in the first clip against Stanford, they even use an unbalanced line with twins to one side and run power that way - except for the speed sweeper and outside threat you have the QB under center handing off. 

Here's another clip from the Wildcat where UCLA throws in a wrinkle, running the ball to the weakside - UW has  in the box, 4 linebackers slanted towards the unbalanced side, and UCLA runs it the other way. Would've been a nice gain had Brehaut at the bottom lined up on the LOS, covering the TE.

Here are a few more clips of UCLA running power. Notice that in the second clip, the defense has 8 in the box again and is shifted towards the strong side, causing Milton Knox to cut back. In the third clip you can see the defense begin to play some games, it looks like the backside corner is not respecting the backside at all, and the LBs are playing some games and exchanging responsibilities to the strong side. Same kind of thing that you would see if you were running power from under center - you need to adjust as they do - although in this case you can just move onto the next play in the series.

Zone

Here's a breakdown of Oregon's inside and outside zone. Zone's a pretty big part of the UCLA run game, but from the games I have seen they haven't really incorporated it much into the Wildcat. I saw them run outside zone twice off of the Wildcat series, once against Oregon, and once vs. UW towards the end (resulted in a fumble). Here are both clips.

The call against UW looked like it would have worked well if not for that fumble - everyone was accounted for and there was an extra lead blocker to pick up the safety.

There are 9 defenders in the frame, one is being "blocked" by the threat of Milton Knox to the backside, and the other 8 are accounted for by 9 blockers. There are two defenders off-camera, backside corner is probably too far to make the play and the safety should get picked up by the extra blocker. 

The Next Steps

I didn't see the WSU game, but from what I've seen I would like to see more zone off the Wildcat series, It became pretty apparent late in the UW game that the defense was playing power every time Knox was behind center. Power is the base play that makes it run but once they begin to squeeze the kickout block and play games up front I think you need to move on to keep them honest before you can return to the bread and butter.

The next steps in the series are probably a counter play, something with guards pulling backside with the same backfield action as in the freeze-frame above - Knox pulling the ball and taking off weakside. You can also run read off of the zone look although that is practice-intensive.

Everyone wants to see Knox throw but I like what we have right now as it is built on top of our base run plays - the only thing you need to practice is the snap and exchange (which we still need to work on). From what I have seen our Wildcat series (much like what Cal ran earlier this season) isn't a whole lot different than what we've been doing and probably hasn't taken up a lot of practice time. I think that there are a lot more important things than repping a playaction play and giving our backs reps in practice throwing the ball, and there are still other plays in the series to flesh out. I did notice UCLA using the speed sweep motion a few times against UW, with the QB under center. Once was off of a PA rollout look and the other was an inside zone play, where they used the speed sweep to force the backside DE to stay at home, allowing the RB to cut back and pick up a few yards.

NFL teams like the Miami Dolphins have a lot more practice time than NCAA teams due to NCAA regs (even HS teams, where the Wildcat originated, probably have more practice hours than NCAA teams) are able to install almost whatever they want and spend a lot of time on a change-up series such as this one. I don't think that it is worth it for an NCAA team to really go that deep into the series unless they plan to use it frequently, as there is not a lot of payoff unless you fully commit to it (ie, practice-intensive schemes such as the flexbone and the Airraid, or even teams that base out of the zone read).

That being said, though, I wouldn't mind seeing Knox pull it once, step back, and launch one deep in one of our last few games this year.