UCLA Football: Play call/outcome analysis from the USC game

Unbalanced Line Formations

This week Chip resurrected the unbalanced line formation that was a source of excitement in Week 1 vs Cincinnati (it got Kaz Allen his first long TD run), but has been rarely (if at all?) used since. Above you’ll see a really poorly constructed cartoon of what we’re talking about (can anyone recommend football specific software for this kind of thing)? When they run an OZR sweep out of this alignment, the two Guards and the ‘extra’ Tackle block inside, while the C TE, and conventionally lined up Tackle pull to the play side. The Guards have it so easy here, while the Tackles have to think and cover a lot of ground. This unbalanced OZR sweep only worked the first time it was sprung on USC (for 61 yards), and was 0/5 the rest of the game.  Below is a list of all plays vs USC that used the unbalanced line formation.

Unbalanced line was used always to run, mostly on first down in the first half, and was constructed to use 12 personnel out of Shotgun or with 13 personnel from under center. The big drawback to this approach is the screaming announcement as to which way the play is headed.  UCLA had to drop it from the play call sheet at halftime because USC adjusted after the first surprise (only a 25% success rate in the game).

The good news is that Chip was able to pull off OZRs with both unbalanced (17% success rate unbalanced OZR) and balanced (67% success rate balanced OZR) lines while also using the unbalanced line for something other than OZRs.  This kind of variable simply wasn’t possible earlier in the year. I’m sure Chip wants to keep using this unbalanced line and is looking for ways to diversify (misdirected runs to the weak side or play action passing).