[Goose]

I think we just can't run block. The jet sweep we ran sure didn't work either.

This.  100x this.  When we had future NFL offensive linemen, we could run power all day and all night, no mis-direction, everyone knew what was coming, to the point where a USC linebacker was reported to have said (maybe apocraphal) “If you guys run Power one more time, and I quit”. Honestly, we probably could have run a simple dive up the A-gap and gained 3-4 yards a pop with the offensive lines we had. 

Add my 100x as well. To be fair to the USC player, the way I heard it was "If you guys run Power one more time I'm subbing myself out”. He wasn't a quitter :-).

Conversely, you might think that the cure for what ails us might be to run more misdirection, but misdirection means the plays take longer to develop, requires blockers to hold their blocks for longer, and generally require more east/west running, so whoever is holding that edge better be able to seal it, which I’ve seen precious little evidence that we can.  Honestly, I envision “misdirection” fooling no one and resulting in a lot of plays being busted in the backfield with TFLs.

 

I don't know if it's specifically run blocking that's required for jet sweeps to work, but when opposing defense are getting massive penetration past the LOS, nothing will work, including jet sweeps.

IMO exactly on point. Misdirection is useful only if the defense is "reading" the play and reacting to what they see. Against Stanford's OL nobody is doing that, at least so far. They just go straight ahead up the field. At least one or two of the defenders seem to win their battle and penetrate at least a yard into our backfield. Hard to "fool" anybody who has a simple plan that is working and who isn't "reading" anything.

We had some luck against Hawaii by having the tackles allow the defensive linemen to take an outside rush. This would create a natural hole that Ford could and did exploit. Against teams that retain gap discipline that doesn't work, and it shows up in our greatly reduced running success. If anything, teams are starting to pinch toward the middle, knowing it will mess up the run and direct them towards the pocket if the play is a pass. Warren is exploiting this by getting outside of the rush. I expect WF will be stressing the idea of just going straight up the field. This will keep Warren in the pocket. He may have a bit of time there (before the pocket collapses), but not the oodles of time he made for himself against GT. We shall see.

[Goose]

I think we just can't run block. The jet sweep we ran sure didn't work either.

This.  100x this.  When we had future NFL offensive linemen, we could run power all day and all night, no mis-direction, everyone knew what was coming, to the point where a USC linebacker was reported to have said (maybe apocraphal) “If you guys run Power one more time, and I quit”. Honestly, we probably could have run a simple dive up the A-gap and gained 3-4 yards a pop with the offensive lines we had. 

Add my 100x as well. To be fair to the USC player, the way I heard it was "If you guys run Power one more time I'm subbing myself out”. He wasn't a quitter :-).

Conversely, you might think that the cure for what ails us might be to run more misdirection, but misdirection means the plays take longer to develop, requires blockers to hold their blocks for longer, and generally require more east/west running, so whoever is holding that edge better be able to seal it, which I’ve seen precious little evidence that we can.  Honestly, I envision “misdirection” fooling no one and resulting in a lot of plays being busted in the backfield with TFLs.

 

I don't know if it's specifically run blocking that's required for jet sweeps to work, but when opposing defense are getting massive penetration past the LOS, nothing will work, including jet sweeps.

IMO exactly on point. Misdirection is useful only if the defense is "reading" the play and reacting to what they see. Against Stanford's OL nobody is doing that, at least so far. They just go straight ahead up the field. At least one or two of the defenders seem to win their battle and penetrate at least a yard into our backfield. Hard to "fool" anybody who has a simple plan that is working and who isn't "reading" anything.

We had some luck against Hawaii by having the tackles allow the defensive linemen to take an outside rush. This would create a natural hole that Ford could and did exploit. Against teams that retain gap discipline that doesn't work, and it shows up in our greatly reduced running success. If anything, teams are starting to pinch toward the middle, knowing it will mess up the run and direct them towards the pocket if the play is a pass. Warren is exploiting this by getting outside of the rush. I expect WF will be stressing the idea of just going straight up the field. This will keep Warren in the pocket. He may have a bit of time there (before the pocket collapses), but not the oodles of time he made for himself against GT. We shall see.