We’re looking to ramp things up here and we’re going to do that by…looking at a play from the 2019 Oklahoma Sooners’ win over the Houston Cougars. I either know my audience extremely well or I don’t know them at all. I guess we’re going to find that out.
Like most people, I’m a huge fan of Lincoln Riley and the way he runs the offense at Oklahoma. He’s truly on the cutting edge of offensive innovation, so I love digging in as much as I can. This sequence is a personal favorite of mine, showing how he ties things together, and adds a little flair for good measure.
Play 1
This is a pure numbers game. Oklahoma is in a 2X2 look and Houston is showing a two-high safety alignment. The Sooners send motion right-to-left pre-snap. The Cougars don’t send a defender with the jet motion, signaling zone coverage. They also don’t roll the safety down to the motion side, so Oklahoma has a 3-on-2 numbers advantage on the left.
Jalen Hurts looks at the safety, then dumps the ball down to the jet receiver in the flat. Easy money.
Play 2
This is later in that same game. The alignment is different, but the idea is the same; a receiver shows pre-snap motion to create a 3X2 post-snap alignment. Houston starts in a two-high alignment, but they’ve learned their lesson from earlier and roll a safety down to the 3 receiver side with the motion, which puts them in a single-high look.
This is an RPO, with the run option being a QB keeper from Hurts. With the defense rotating and evening the numbers on the pass side, Hurts pulls the ball down and follows the blocking to the left, which has been set up quite nicely.
Hurts initially fakes the handoff to the RB on his right, who runs across the face of Hurts. After the fake, Hurts takes a jab step in the opposite direction, which pulls the defense over a step.
After his jab step, Hurts reverses field, following the blocking of his pulling linemen and the RB he had just faked to.
Beautifully set up and a beautifully run counter.