UCLA Football: Don’t expect the blur offense, expect the obscure offense
Don’t expect the blur offense, expect the obscure offense (cont.)
The success of the running game at Oregon is predicated on the success of the inside zone read. For the record, we have seen a lot of that with UCLA this season, but we have also seen a surfeit of other plays. Kelly has emphasized the run in certain games but has made passing a priority in others. That goes against what he has done at Oregon, but he is no longer at Oregon, he is at UCLA. He has upgraded.
What I am trying to say is that Kelly is evolving his offense, but he is also basing all of this in the zone read. Along with that, Kelly knows that he has to call plays that will put these Bruins in a position to succeed. In the first three games of the season, Kelly was trying out new plays, formations, lineups, and rotations. It took some time, but it finally started to take shape. Additionally, he has kept his game plan fresh and not stuck with the same plan of attack in terms of run/pass ratio and wrinkles (new plays that we have not seen in weeks prior).
Related Story. UCLA Football’s win over Arizona keeps them in the hunt for the South. light
Let us take a look at the percentage of runs and passes in the last four games (games where UCLA showed obvious progress).
- Colorado – 56% pass, run 44%
- Washington – 62% pass, 38% run
- California – 29% pass, 71% run
- Arizona – 53% pass, 47% run
The numbers are all over the board. Against Colorado, the Bruins had a lot of success running the ball, yet we all saw a breakdown in the second half as they went away from what was working when they tried to pass the ball more. Yet the following week, Dorian Thompson-Robinson was throwing the ball all over creation and was very successful in doing so, especially in the second half. That was the first game in which the Bruins outscored their opponent after halftime.
But then what happened the next week? UCLA took off with the run, mostly because Joshua Kelley was on fire, so at that point, there was no need to go to the pass. An interesting tidbit in terms of personnel was that Kelley started to use more tight ends. The last time Kelly ran a play without tight ends (10 personnel – one RB, one TE), was against Colorado and was only successful 36% of the time (thank you for the breakdown, Chris Osgood. Check out his weekly play analysis HERE).
Against Cal, there was a tight end in on every play (11, 12 and even 13 – yes, three TEs in on one play). UCLA tried to do the same thing against Arizona, but a wrench was thrown into the system as DTR was knocked out of the game and grad transfer Wilton Speight was inserted in. All of a sudden the flow was altered.
With a new signal caller, came a new scheme. UCLA did not have much success running which shifted the game to pass-reliant. When it came to throwing the ball, the Bruins were more successful and gained more yards. In a way, Kelly went with what was working, though things might have gone in a different direction if DTR was still in the game, especially since he has been allowed to unleash his legs in recent weeks.