Offense cougar

s football coaches, we are constantly “tweaking” our offenses and looking for new ideas. However, we are not necessarily looking for huge changes in schemes, but rather subtle changes that allow for continuity within what we are already trying to accomplish. In the 2001 season at Washington State, our number one and two commitments were toward ball security and reducing penalties so as not tohelp our opponents. We were successful in doing this and had a record that was reflective of this success. Our third focus was in small changes to help our basic schemes. The following is a few of the “WRINKLES” that helped us in the 2001 season. Single Back Toss Scheme We, at WSU, used a man blocked toss play as a wrinkle in our run game. We had lighter, more pass-oriented tight ends this year, sowe utilized an athletic offensive line that could get out in front of our running backs. By using the man blocking scheme on the front side of the toss play, we were able to take advantage of angles. When we faced defenses that used their defensive ends for containment, we felt like we could stretch the ends and cut off the lineman to create large downhill run lanes for our backs. We pull theplayside guard at times, the play side tackle at times, and both versus specific defenses. Our biggest key as to who will do the pulling is the alignment of the play side linebacker. Obviously, you should take in consideration the athleticism of your personnel. Some linemen make better pullers than others.

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Tight Ends vs. Blitz Situations In recent years at WSU, we have relied heavily on ourreceivers in blitz situations. Going back through our past year’s cutups, we were able to notice that defenses were covering down our hot route areas by our wide outs. We came to the conclusion that we needed to incorporate our tight ends in our hot route schemes by designating certain routes versus different types of blitzing defenses. Drag Route: Versus middle and weak side blitzing teams we usedthe drag route, where the tight end could use his speed and athletic ability to run away from a strong side defender in man coverage.

Cougar Offensive Philosophy

Mike Levenseller Ofensive Corrdinator Washington State University Pullman, Wash.

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Flat Route: Versus strong side blitzing teams we like to use our flat route, where our tight ends could catch the ball and use hisbigger size and strength to get upfield against a safety in man coverage.

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Kasey Dunn Runningbacks Coach

Aaron Taylor Price Quarterbacks Coach

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Vertical Seam Route: Versus safety pressure or when the free safey vacates the middle of the field, we like to use a seam route, where our tight end can use his athletic ability and speed to work his route against a linebacker inpoor position to cover the vertical seam area.

Bob Connelly Offensive Line Coach

Robin Pflugrad Tight Ends Coach

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• Proceedings • 79th AFCA Convention • 2002 •

F Screen Offenses utilize the running back “slow screen” in a variety of different situations and for some it is just another way to get the ball to the back. At WSU, our running back “slow screen” isan opportunistic play specifically designed to take advantage of blitzing defenses and penetrating lineman. To begin with, the basic WSU “slow screen” really is not a slow screen at all. Ideally we want to hit the play on the run. The timing should be such that the back catches the ball while moving laterally to the line of scrimmage at nearly full speed. By doing this we do not need to use thebackside guard as a peel back or clean up blocker. Instead we gain him downfield and he now becomes responsible for the game breaker block on the free safety. Our base techniques are as follows:

Play Side Tackle: Poor pass protection, force the defensive end outside, get in the inside hip pocket and run him by the quarterback. Play Side Guard: Quick punch on the defensive tackle, two count, then...