Cowboys vs. Mountaineers? Or is it cat vs. mouse?
Published: 11/6/2012 5:37 PM
Last Modified: 11/6/2012 5:37 PM
Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy has said on multiple occasions that Oklahoma State plays calls are often run-pass options. How the defense lines up can determine whether the Cowboys run or pass.
OSU’s next opponent, West Virginia, runs the same system. Former OSU offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen installed both offenses. The Cowboys didn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater (or the Red Bull) when Holgorsen left for Morgantown.
If play calls are based on what the defense presents, then couldn’t defenses line up in a way to dictate run or pass to the respective offenses that will take the field Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium?
It’s probably not that simple. Or is it?
“I think you can maybe bait them into something if you really work at it, but for the most part they have got an answer for everything,” OSU defensive coordinator Bill Young said before providing elaboration.
“The reason that this offense is so effective in my opinion is it’s all pre-determined. You run a route, and if the (defender) has outside leverage, you run an inside route. If (the defender) has got inside leverage, you run an outside route. If you are up on him tight, run a go route. Whatever (the defender) does is semi-wrong.”
I pitched the can-a-defense-dictate-play-calls question to former OSU coach Pat Jones and he said the danger in doing so is you invite offenses to run a perfect play.
So, what you should expect instead is a cat-and-mouse game between defensive and offensive strategists.
“No question,” Young said. “We were in it last week. I think you are in it all the time as a defensive football coach. You are trying to give the impression you are doing something and then do something else. Nobody is talented enough to line up and just say ‘here we are, no fair dodging us’.”
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
