Tosser

The Tosser pass game concept is a double slant combo from the same side of the field. The inside slant usually runs “fat,” or at a lower angle, while the outside runs “skinny,” or at a higher angle. Clemson struggled early, but was able to move the ball with tosser. On 2nd & 11 from their own 29, Clemson gets its first completion of the game on empty left tosser right early in the middle of the first quarter:

Clemson window dresses by motioning to a slot left formation out of 11 personnel, but runs tosser again on the very next play. This time, Clemson completes the ball to the outside slant:

Needing a completion after going down 14-0, Clemson completes the ball to the inside slant, once again out of 11 personnel and a slot left formation:

More than 2 quarters later, Clemson faced one of the biggest plays of the national championship: 3rd and 3 on the edge of field goal range with just 25 seconds left in the game. They came back to the tosser concept in this key situation:

This is a great example of how finding confidence in a play or two despite early struggles can be key. Although Clemson didn’t move the ball well early, they came back to a play they were confident in on one of the biggest plays of the season.

Empty Smash Divide

One of Clemson’s go to plays against 2-high is Empty Smash Divide. (Clemson had success with the concept against Alabama last year as well). Empty Smash divide is a five man route combination, with mirrored smash combos and a “divide” route. The divide route is meant to attack the middle of the field and split safeties:

Credit: Smart Football

On their first touchdown drive, Clemson goes to Empty Smash Divide on 3rd & 10 for a gain of 26:

The end zone angle shows the intricacies of this particular completion. First, Alabama disguises its coverage by starting with a one high safety look. At the snap, the safeties split apart and provide an opening for the divide route. But Alabama still has a linebacker that will carry any vertical threat. The divide route (#16 TE Jordan Leggett) does an excellent job of giving an inside move and getting over Alabama’s linebacker (#10) to open up a huge throwing window:

Deep in its own territory on 3rd & 6, Clemson needs to pick up a first down to avoid giving Alabama the ball with good field position and 2 timeouts. Alabama is likely playing Cover 5, but the Clemson wideouts beat man coverage and the divide route helps hold the safety:

The end zone angle shows how the corner route opens up, and also shows that the divide route is once again there as well:

Run Game

Clemson only had 91 yards on 42 attempts for an abysmal 2.2 yards per carry, but they had big gains on a series of similar runs. On their first play of the game, Clemson runs jet sweep action left and gives the running the ball on buck sweep right for a gain of 12:

On its first touchdown of the game, Clemson runs jet action right with a QB lead sweep going left for an 8 yard score. Take note of running back (#9 Wayne Gallman) lead blocking with a big hit:

Clemson combines the two plays from above for a huge gain of 15 late in the 4th quarter. Here, Clemson runs QB buck sweep right with a lead blocker and pre-snap jet action going left. Clemson repeats its buck sweep success from its first offensive play of the game, and Gallman once again throws an excellent lead block:

Other

Clemson also had success with by completing numerous backside fades to the X wideout from Trips formation. Clemson also completed tunnel screens for gains of 45, 11, and 9, none of which were in 3rd and long situations. This gives further insight into how Clemson beat Bama.

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QB Counter Pitch

The QB counter pitch is a natural evolution of the QB counter trey read, depicted below:

Instead of riding the QB/RB mesh point and reading the end man on the line of scrimmage, Clemson creates fast flow and misdirection with the QB’s first step and a fake pitch. As for the blocking, there are two pullers like counter trey read, but the Center and H-back pull instead of the Guard and Tackle. This makes the blocking scheme more like Counter OF, and is a better fit for the backfield action. Below, Clemson gets the middle Linebacker and play side Defensive End blocked without ever touching them because of the pitch action:

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Smart football’s Chris Brown recently wrote an excellent piece on the evolution of the inverted veer, and included the toss read as a natural progression of the inverted veer’s power scheme and horizontal read. If a toss element could help the inverted veer evolve, it should also help QB counter trey read evolve as well. Although the QB counter pitch depicted above does not “read” any defender, I consider the play an evolution of the QB counter trey read because it accomplishes the same purpose; fast flow is created to influence linebackers one way, and the pitch action does the same thing as a read: it blocks defenders without ever touching them. Further, multiple pullers are pulling away from the flow. This is illustrated by Ohio State’s #5 and #59, seen below:

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Both the QB counter trey read and various versions of the concept have caused Alabama defenses trouble in the past:

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With that, Clemson will likely add some wrinkles for the National Championship game. The first adjustment the Alabama D can make to avoid Ohio State’s pitfalls is have Linebackers read their keys (pullers) instead of chasing backfield action (Ohio State LB #5). Next, Bama can have the Defensive End squeeze down, replace the H-back, and crash/bend hard to chase down the QB. The defense could protect the Defensive End’s hard bend and chase by inserting a strong safety to fill the gap (SS #7 in Ohio State play). If Alabama does this, Clemson could adjust by making the play a read with the same rules as QB Counter Trey Read; if the Defensive End crashes down and follows the pullers, pitch the ball. If the Defensive End feathers or expands with the pitch action, follow the pullers through the hole.

As a side note, both offenses have shown the toss read, and this chess match could occur with both offenses and defenses.

OFFSET RB JET RB PITCH

Clemson also burned Ohio State on a pitch play with an offset RB and jet sweep action the other way:

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This play works for several reasons. First, Ohio State is in man coverage, causing the Cornerback to chase the WR’s jet motion across the formation, leaving the defense badly out leveraged by an offset RB. Next, although Clemson doesn’t block the Defensive End, they know Ohio State will squeeze and replace when an offensive lineman blocks down.

The high angle shows the scheme has even more nuance; after Clemson shifts, it motions the remaining player across the field. But this means the Right Tackle is eligible to catch a pass, and the Left Tight End is covered, making him ineligible:

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Expect Clemson to have several plays off of this shift and motion. Nick Saban will make sure Alabama’s D recognizes the offset RB, the shift, and the motion. Alabama won’t chase the motion across the formation and leave the same leverage–they’ll check the coverage or trade off man responsibility. But Clemson could run several plays off of it. First, Clemson could replace the Right Tackle with another Tight End and try to catch Alabama off guard with a corner route.

Next, Clemson could simply hand the ball off on a jet sweep if Alabama overcompensates for the pitch going right. There are also a multitude of RPO (Run/Pass Options) coaches could draw up off of this action as well.

Look for these two concepts to appear at various points in the National Championship game, with each side making subtle adjustments in the chess match over the course of 4 quarters.

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Note that #74 is not actually an eligible Receiver on the play, because the Receiver outside of him, #2, is on the line of scrimmage. #2 is “covering” #74, and #74 therefore cannot be illegally down field at the time of the pass. (He is ineligible) However, the Tight End noted in the picture IS eligible, although he is lined up traditionally where a Tackle would be. He is eligible because he is the first “uncovered” player on the line of scrimmage. This means no player outside of him is on the line of scrimmage. Alabama then shifts, with the Running Back moving from the backfield to the outside Receiver spot, and All-American Wide Receiver Amari Cooper moving a few steps toward the sideline. This seems to cause a bit of confusion in the LSU secondary, as they are unsure how to handle the formation:

The LSU defenders communicate how to handle the formation, but nobody appears to notice there is an eligible Tight End.  As you can see from the freeze-frame below, all 11 LSU defenders are accounted for, with nobody paying attention to the Tight End. There are 4 Defensive Lineman to rush the passer, 3 Defensive Back’s and 1 Linebacker focused on the 3 Alabama players at the bottom of the screen (including ineligible #74) (Red Rectangle), and 3 Defensive Backs focused on Cooper and the Running Back who shifted (Red Triangle). Before the LSU coaching staff can intervene, Alabama snaps the ball. Here are the Alabama routes with the focus of the LSU defenders highlighted:

As you can see, out of sheer pre-snap alignment, the LSU defenders are completely out of position to defend the Tight End’s route. Once the ball is snapped, you can see this unfold as LSU double teams Amari Cooper, leaving the middle of the field wide open:

LSU’s #4 has his back completely turned, and the LSU Defensive End is too late to realize the Tight End is eligible. Alabama Quarterback Blake Sims doesn’t even set his feet because the Tight End is so wide open. With only 25 yards to score in OT, this is a backbreaking play for the LSU Defense. Alabama scores a few plays later, and eventually wins the game. The video below shows how the entire play unfolds:

Alabama Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin deserves plenty of credit here. The play was called at the perfect time: the start of overtime, where players are coming from the sideline.  From there, Alabama executed the play quickly. If they had not, the LSU coaching staff would have likely called Timeout, or the LSU defenders would have figured out what Alabama was doing. This is something unique Kiffin brings to Alabama: under previous Alabama coaching staffs, I had not seen anything like what Kiffin called to begin Overtime.

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