Coach Spurrier's Game Plan

[Hong Kong Sooey]

     Has anyone though about how you would attack Arkansas Saturday if you were in Spurrier's shoes?  I have, and it has the potential to get ugly.  Going right at the Hog's weaknesses on offense and defense fits Spurrier to a tee. 

     Offensively, Spurrier will attack our secondary.  Go right at our press coverage early and often.  Expect a lot of double moves against the CBs and slants to the Slot Receiver.  If Spurrier can get up early, he can put a lot of pressure on Mitch to win the game for us.  The other thing I expect to see is designed runs from the QB position.  With Arkansas staying in Man coverage almost exclusively, a running QB can gash us for huge amounts of real estate.  In Man, the DBs have their back to the QB constantly after the snap, meaning that if the QB can get thru the first level of the D, he can go for awhile before he is brought down.  Scrambles and designed runs will hurt us.

    On the Defensive side of the ball, Spurrier will put eight in the box and dare Mitch to beat him.  Cover Two and Cover Three secondary schemes mixed with Man Under should limit big plays even if Mitch is having a good game, forcing the Hogs to drive the full field.  If his Offensive strategy is working, this could be devastating, leading to multiple INTs as a Freshman QB with little game experience in the passing game tries to force things. 

     Our best counter to anything Spurrier tries to do is our Homerun offense.  We have scored from just about anywhere on the field already this season.  It is almost impossible to hold DMac AND Felix in check all day.  If you find a way to do that, it probably involves eight men in the box and run blitzes.  This opens SC up to big plays off screens and quick hitters between the hash marks.  Arkansas should win this game, but Coach Spurrier is always a dangerous opponent.


WPS!!

[WestMemphisHogFan]

Great analysis HKS!  I hope Spurrier puts eight in the box.  I believe that will play right into GM's hands, and what he has been waiting for.  Then MM, RB's and recievers will turn it loose in the passing game.  I believe that with Butu back, Hewitt and Dacus playing like they are, and the Dline hopefully dominating, that we can control the designed QB plays. 

[Hong Kong Sooey]

HKS -

Great post.  BUT...

Why does everyone have us lining up exclusively in man coverage when that was NOT what we did at Auburn.  We striked first with a strategy change by lining up in zone coverage and this confused the crap out of Auburn.  I suspect we will do the exact same thing and try to mix coverages this Saturday.

Other than that...you basically give the whole game plan that Auburn came with and we exploited all of these points...BIG TIME!  So, with this said, I feel so much better about our chances!!!

Other than the Auburn game, we seldom run any zone.  Hopefully, this is just because RH feels we can win without it against our other opponents and will run zone at SC.  Without it, Newton may run wild.

Auburn's gameplan was blown apart by Arkansas going up by two scores early and continuing to apply pressure in the third quarter.  This forced them to become very one dimensional.  Auburn also does not have the QB or WRs to take advantage of our secondary.

[SPAL]

On offense Spurrier will run what ULM did. Spread us out using 3 and 4 wide. The slant will be open, and when we start biting on that...they will fake the slant and run a go with rice. Also, they will use the QB to run, run, and run. If we cant contian him, it will be a long day. He is much better than Shaeffer.

Defense....u put 8 or 9 in the box. You have to. Jam the wr's and force mitch to throw underneath.

[Ahog4life]

Spurrier will spread out our offense and run draw plays and try to eat up chunks of yards he will also try and attack the middle of the field with slant rout's. I believe he will also run a few reverses to recievers.
And you also will haft to watch out for his trick plays.

[mckinneyhog]

     Has anyone though about how you would attack Arkansas Saturday if you were in Spurrier's shoes?  I have, and it has the potential to get ugly.  Going right at the Hog's weaknesses on offense and defense fits Spurrier to a tee. 

     Offensively, Spurrier will attack our secondary.  Go right at our press coverage early and often.  Expect a lot of double moves against the CBs and slants to the Slot Receiver.  If Spurrier can get up early, he can put a lot of pressure on Mitch to win the game for us.  The other thing I expect to see is designed runs from the QB position.  With Arkansas staying in Man coverage almost exclusively, a running QB can gash us for huge amounts of real estate.  In Man, the DBs have their back to the QB constantly after the snap, meaning that if the QB can get thru the first level of the D, he can go for awhile before he is brought down.  Scrambles and designed runs will hurt us.

    On the Defensive side of the ball, Spurrier will put eight in the box and dare Mitch to beat him.  Cover Two and Cover Three secondary schemes mixed with Man Under should limit big plays even if Mitch is having a good game, forcing the Hogs to drive the full field.  If his Offensive strategy is working, this could be devastating, leading to multiple INTs as a Freshman QB with little game experience in the passing game tries to force things. 

     Our best counter to anything Spurrier tries to do is our Homerun offense.  We have scored from just about anywhere on the field already this season.  It is almost impossible to hold DMac AND Felix in check all day.  If you find a way to do that, it probably involves eight men in the box and run blitzes.  This opens SC up to big plays off screens and quick hitters between the hash marks.  Arkansas should win this game, but Coach Spurrier is always a dangerous opponent.


WPS!!

Good post.  100% accurate.

[hog caller]

the front four need to shed their men quickly but not over run the play. and the Linebackers MUST stay in their slots. the Outside linbackers will need to make a lot of tackles Saturday with butu's help but he has to control the area tackle to tackle first.

[BPPig]

We won't see much cover two. Too easy to run on. Nix will have them packed into the box on most plays.

Unfortunately for us Steve has the one weapon that has given the hogs fits, a scrambling QB. It must be hard on Steve to run this offense but I think what we have seen from the last two SC games is more of what we are going to get. If I were SS and saw the ULM game tapes I wouldn't want to change a thing for us.

[onehogfan]

how did SC game plan for aubbie.....i suspect it was to try and stop irons.....that worked out great for them in the third quarter didn't it ??

Our running game is more creative than anything they will face, it will take at least eight in the box to slow it down....

I doubt we run as much str8t man as many think.....Michael Grant has shown as the season progresses that he is beginnning to understand his position and his speed wil make newton pay for his numerous errant passes...go ahead and throw those slants and quick hitters, our linebackers are pretty good....

i think spurrier simply doesn't have the weapons he used to have at florida, although he had nutts number at florida, the roles are reversed now...

I believe Gus will be ready for the spurrier gameplan, look for us to go up early AGAIN and put the pressure on them.....even if we don't , unless they get up more than three scores arkansas will be reluctant to take the ball out of felix's and darrens hands and put it on our fine FRESHMAN qb,  Nutt will be patient with the run, you can BANK on that..

[pigture perfect]

The SCar. coaching staff has analyzed every piece of film they could procure. This I am sure of. I know it's been a few games back and we have made great strides since, but if they looked at the Vandy game, They have a good Idea how to get to our defense. The QB's of both teams are very similar, and if Shaeffer had been given a better game plan, he would have been trouble for us. Let's just hope our D has matured to the point where we do our assignments correctly, if we do we should win by a couple of scores. Man, I'm already excited.

[GoHoGsGo06]

I believe Spurrier will run the fake WR screen and throw it long after the pump fake,almost worked against Auburn!

[PorkSoda]

I have a feeling Spurrier will try to run some QB Draws from the shotgun, and get the DB's to cheat and look back at the QB instead of thier man, thats when they will try to bomb over the top.  Especially on say, a safety blitz, it could be dangerous.  As long as our D is disciplined and stick to thier assignments, I think we will be fine.  They will get a few gains on broken plays like matt jones used to do, but it won't be enough to win. 

Our Guys need to be focused though.  This is home coming and Senior day at SC.  They will be pumped for sure.  I like Gus' style though.  Get up early, take the wind out of thier sails, then pound them to death with jones and DMAC.

[dotnet]

I know everyone is worried about our secondary, but I think our defensive line is the key.  If we can put pressure on the qb with our defensive line (and maybe a lb), then I think we'll be in good shape be able to mix up schemes in the secondary and periodically have a spy on newton.

[BPPig]

Reggie has often stated he doesn't like using a spy but it seems to me we would have a tailor made one in Hewitt. I do understand why a coach wouldn't want to mess around too much with a base defense that is playing well.

SC will have everybody and their brother trying to stop the run when we have the ball. We will learn so much about the character of this team. They have shown they can win an SEC game on the road and that is a big thing.

[Oklahawg]

Spurrier will need to be ahead or within a score to use a winnable scheme. If he gets behind early he's at a huge disadvantage. Like most teams, of course, but the really great teams can come back from 14 down. SC is not built that way. Gotta have balance and home run talent both running and passing.

[DirkPiggler]

There are two problems that will keep Spurrier from attacking us with the conventional passing game.  Newton is an average to below average pocket passer, and his line doesn't pass block very well.  We should be able to get pressure without having to blitz much.  The gameplan used against Ole Miss and Schaeffer should be a good starting point for what we should do defensively.  For the most part we kept him in the pocket where he was uncomfortable.  His accuracy suffered tremendously as a result.  Contain Newton and force him to throw from the pocket and he becomes one of our best defenders.

[DeltaBoy]

Spurrier got the mind but not the Horses to run with the Hogs for 4 quarters!

[Chief Mac]

I know everyone is worried about our secondary, but I think our defensive line is the key.  If we can put pressure on the qb with our defensive line (and maybe a lb), then I think we'll be in good shape be able to mix up schemes in the secondary and periodically have a spy on newton.

Hopefully, ARob and Anderson will have big days for us!

WPS

Chris

[spudhog]

the key to this game is who gets out early. they cant play our style and we cant play theirs. both teams pose problems for each others defenses. we are tougher. auburn ran for over two hundred on them. obviously our secondary refuses to turn around and find a ball in the air. look for herring to through some timely gap controlled blitz's. he will also mix up some zone like he did against auburn. mitch must be able to get one or two down field. if he does this early he should pave the way for d-mac and felix to get their numbers. we get out early, spurrier will concentrating on florida by the end of the third. if they get out early, mitch might be forced to try to win it and that is where we all head for the rolaids. we should win but this is the sec.

[Hong Kong Sooey]

HKS -

Great post.  BUT...

Why does everyone have us lining up exclusively in man coverage when that was NOT what we did at Auburn.  We striked first with a strategy change by lining up in zone coverage and this confused the crap out of Auburn.  I suspect we will do the exact same thing and try to mix coverages this Saturday.

Other than that...you basically give the whole game plan that Auburn came with and we exploited all of these points...BIG TIME!  So, with this said, I feel so much better about our chances!!!

Just wanted to point out...I called that strategy, brutha!!!  RH had us in Man 99% of the night.  Spurrier attacked our D exactly as I suggested, and we barely made the switch to zone in time to save the game.  Just saying... 

[Sdalehogfan]

HKS -

Great post.  BUT...

Why does everyone have us lining up exclusively in man coverage when that was NOT what we did at Auburn.  We striked first with a strategy change by lining up in zone coverage and this confused the crap out of Auburn.  I suspect we will do the exact same thing and try to mix coverages this Saturday.

Other than that...you basically give the whole game plan that Auburn came with and we exploited all of these points...BIG TIME!  So, with this said, I feel so much better about our chances!!!

Just wanted to point out...I called that strategy, brutha!!!  RH had us in Man 99% of the night.  Spurrier attacked our D exactly as I suggested, and we barely made the switch to zone in time to save the game.  Just saying... 

Good call, HK.  I was thinking about your analysis and our posts on another thread from last week while I was screaming at the TV and Herring to "Go Zone!".  Did we ever go zone coverage on any other play besides Vinnett's INT?  I didn't see it, if we did.  Why don't we mix coverage schemes?  If I were playing QB, I would hate trying to deal with alternating coverages, making those reads, and trying to check off. 

[Hong Kong Sooey]

HKS -

Great post.  BUT...

Why does everyone have us lining up exclusively in man coverage when that was NOT what we did at Auburn.  We striked first with a strategy change by lining up in zone coverage and this confused the crap out of Auburn.  I suspect we will do the exact same thing and try to mix coverages this Saturday.

Other than that...you basically give the whole game plan that Auburn came with and we exploited all of these points...BIG TIME!  So, with this said, I feel so much better about our chances!!!

Just wanted to point out...I called that strategy, brutha!!!  RH had us in Man 99% of the night.  Spurrier attacked our D exactly as I suggested, and we barely made the switch to zone in time to save the game.  Just saying... 

Good call, HK.  I was thinking about your analysis and our posts on another thread from last week while I was screaming at the TV and Herring to "Go Zone!".  Did we ever go zone coverage on any other play besides Vinnett's INT?  I didn't see it, if we did.  Why don't we mix coverage schemes?  If I were playing QB, I would hate trying to deal with alternating coverages, making those reads, and trying to check off. 

I didn't see zone until the DV INT.  I may have missed it, as I was having an adult beverage ot two, but I don't think so. 

Reggie just really likes to play Man.  He practices it almost all the time, and runs it that way too. 

I'm with you, though.  Mixing coverages has to be a headache for the QB.  And as an old LB, nothing makes me happier than giving QB's headaches.  Well, except making RB's drool.  But it's almost a toss-up...