A Good Passing Game Isn't Fragile

How Ole Miss’s Passing Game Survived Their Rematch Against Georgia in the CFP

A good passing game isn’t fragile.

Instead, a good passing game is able to combat different defensive looks, beat pressure, and attack the whole field.

The Ole Miss Rebels deployed a durable passing attack against the Georgia Bulldogs in their CFP rematch last season. The concept’s roots are Y-Cross adjacent and the plays withstood the natural chaos of a game.

This set of plays consists of a quick game or smash concept to the frontside and an intermediate concept to the backside. That backside concept has a crosser by the inside receiver and either a dig or deep curl by the outside receiver. So if the quarterback starts on the frontside and moves on, then the remaining routes naturally come into his vision. Lastly, the running back, either off a quick play fake or a check release, runs a swing to the side of the intermediate concept for a check down.

This set of plays gives the offense tools to attack the underneath and deep zone coverages, as well as man coverage with the runaways on the backside. Thus, robust.

Zone Answer

Stick

The quarterback’s drop makes me believe he’s deleted the stick side and is planning on working the crosser side from the snap. The defense is playing Tampa from a three-high look so the cloud corner is going to be an issue for the outside stick, but there is certainly a chance for the second stick in the void between the flat and hook defenders.

Nonetheless, the quarterback moves on to the crosser which the middle hole player disrupts the route and the backside safety is ready to pounce on it as well. The hook defender to the field gets good depth to take away the curl. Therefore the quarterback works across the field to the check down for a first down.

Hitches

You can’t watch the Rebels’ offense and not see a hitch. Usually paired with a run, these hitches pair with the flash fake action they’re keen to on these concepts. The read is outside-in, keying the flat defender. The Bulldogs are dropping eight, and so the flat defender is actually the boundary defensive end. He turns his whole body to get to the flat and so the quarterback just has to beat him with the throw which he does.

On the other side, we see a more traditional cross look with the cross by the number two receiver and the dig by the number one receiver. Should one of the hitches not have been there, both intermediate routes had space against the zone coverage for the quarterback to find space between the underneath defenders.

Spacing

The H motion with the flash fake does enough to keep the hook defender inside so the offense can keep its desired two on one on the flat defender. The quarterback is reading the flat defender between the hook route and the flat route. The play requires a corner-off look and for the hook defender to stay inside. Both are true here and lead to an easy completion.

To the intermediate side, the offense is running two digs between the in-line tight end and the number one receiver. If the quarterback had needed to work through the progression, the outside dig would’ve provided him an open man since it’s a runaway route against the man corner the defense was playing.

Pressure Answer

Slot Fade

A benefit to this concept is the answers they provide to pressure in giving the quarterback something to throw to when he’s hot while also still able to get chunks in the intermediate.

The Bulldogs’ 6 man pressure with 3 Deep 2 Under behind it is put to rest with the slot fade concept to the boundary. The offense has six blockers but gets into a full slide that leaves the running back in a two on one situation, leaving the blitzing defensive back free but late.

Slot fades are great for man coverage and the locked hitch is great for any corner-off zone coverage which they get here.

Man Answer

Stick

This play is a repeat of the first that we saw. Same formation and same play. The difference is we finally see the crosser get the ball. The Bulldogs are playing 2 Deep, Man Under so they smother the quick side.

But we finally get to see the thesis in action, this passing game isn’t fragile. It’s able to handle a variety of defensive looks. The crosser is a runaway, so it’s good against man. The key to this play finding success is beating the backside safety which it barely does, and the play drew a penalty off the big hit.

Smash

Another man example, though now the Bulldogs have one safety deep-but-not-really-that-deep. This play is also the first time the Rebels’ employed a more intermediate concept to the frontside by running smash. The corner route is good against man, but he gets buried inside too much here for the quarterback to feel comfortable with it.

No problem. The crosser is taken away by the low safety in the middle but like we’ve seen continually throughout these clips, the backside dig works beautifully against man coverage.

Another key element that made this play work is the protection. The offense is in a half slide putting the running back on a read between the inside linebacker to the right to the outside linebacker to the right. The inside linebacker comes and the running back does a great job picking him up to allow the quarterback to get all the way to his fourth receiver in the progression on a big third down.

Scramble Answer

Smash

Ole Miss ran a couple more of these but we’ll end on this one to complete the argument demonstrating the robustness of this passing game. The offense is running Smash again to the frontside, and the cornerback does a good job muddying the read by playing with equal space between the corner and flat route. However, the quarterback appears to be working immediately to the backside though the flat route could certainly have been completed underneath the cornerback.

Nonetheless, he escapes somewhat unnecessarily to the right and is able to hit the crosser off the scramble. So though we see a “turn down” to the flat, this play demonstrates the concept’s built-in answers to the scramble.

Conclusion

In a critical game, the Rebels were able to keep going back to this play family in their passing game not just because the play concepts were sound, but because the concepts could handle chaos.

These plays are a clear result of good scheme and good execution built from a year of executing whether in game or in practice. Once again, a good passing game isn’t fragile. There are many ways to put together a passing game, but the measure of success is always its ability to withstand the demands of a game on the biggest stage.