Phil Bennett – MatchQuarters // #ArtofX

MQ Film Study – Learning Stress Coverage (Arizona St. – 2017)

Run Quarters? Then this is the Trips Check for you. MQ dives deep.

Defending Trips can be difficult when trying to stay in a split-field look. Some defensive coordinators opt to “kick” the backside safety to the three WR side in order to keep the LBs “capped,” or assisted with verticals by a Safety. Another way to play Trips is to slide the backside Safety into the box. This allows the overhang to the #3 WR to exit the box and take any vertical by #3 (with limited support by the front side safety). Finally, a coach can always spin to Cover 3 versus Trips.

Trips is an odd formation because it puts three speedy players to one side of the defense. It literally “stresses” the defense. If kicking the coverage, the backside CB is exposed to one-on-ones. Spin to single-high and a coach has created one-on-one matchups across the board. In order to stay in a split-field look and support the backside CB, a coach needs to stretch the coverage. If based out of Quarters, a way to do this is to run Stress Coverage to the Trips side.

What Stress does is take the basic Quarters coverage (I refer to it as SKY), and stretches it across the Trips formation. This leaves the defense in a true split-field look. The front side is independent of the back side, and vice versa. By staying in a two-high structure, the defense can manipulate the coverage and fits to the backside in order to fit what the coach needs. In Stress, as stated, the regular Sky coverage is stretched.

Continue reading “MQ Film Study – Learning Stress Coverage (Arizona St. – 2017)”

MQ Film Study: Baylor vs Boise St. (2016)

Adapting to multiple formations from a hybrid 3-4 defense.

To say 2016 was a rough season for the Baylor Bears football team is an understatement. Despite national scrutiny facing the program prior to the season and a roller coaster offseason, the Bears were able to end the season with a big win. Despite the turmoil off the field, Baylor Football surprised many and finished with a winning record, going 7-6 with a huge bowl victory over a 10-win Boise St. team. 2016 started fast for the Bears, racing out to 6-0 before a close loss to Texas (34-35) would lead to a 0-6 slide. Many around the country and outside the program called for the Bears to stay at home during bowl season. Needless to say, Baylor chose to play.

The 2016 Motel 6 Cactus Bowl was a highlight win for a program in turmoil. Boise St. was a seven-point favorite going into the game and Baylor had not won since beating Kansas in mid-October. Baylor’s switch to the Okie Front in 2016 came with mixed results (the Bears would finish 49th in BCfToys Defensive Efficiency in 2016 – a four-year low mark), but the Bears held the Broncos to 83 yards rushing (they averaged 174 for the year). The Bears were also able to hold Boise’s eventual 5th round draft pick Jeremy McNichols to only 49 yards on 19 carries (He would finish the year with 1,709 yards). Boise would play behind the eightball for much of the game behind then-sophomore QB Brett Rypien‘s two interceptions (would throw a season-high 51 passes as well).

The Bears performance in the Cactus Bowl was a high water mark in an otherwise forgettable season. In regards to football schematics, the Catus Bowl was a demonstration of how a hybrid 3-4 defense could match up versus a multiple TE formation offense and find success. Boise used multiple personnel groupings, shifts, and even tempo to try and get the Bears off balance, but to no avail. This type of Pro-Style offense is becoming the weapon of choice for many programs at all level.

Baylor’s Hybrid Defense

Boise’s offense under Bryan Harsin (former Texas OC and Arkansas St. Head Coach) and his predecessor Chris Peterson (now at Washington) uses a Pro-Style offense with multiple TEs. This can be a hard offense to defend when utilizing a hybrid scheme. Baylor’s base defense in 2016 was a 3-4 Okie scheme that used a Nickel Sam and a Jack or Joker LB away. In 2015, Baylor’s best LB, Taylor Young, was utilized as the Jack LB (weakside “wide-9”). The total transition to the 3-4 was completed in 2016. Young moved back to his natural position as an ILB and Clay Johnston, a 6-1 226 lbs Junior, was inserted as the Jack. The diagram below shows Baylor’s base Okie Front versus Boise’s base offense – 11 Pers. 2×2.

Baylor had two packages in their 2016 3-4 scheme. The base used a hybrid LB/DE playing the Jack (#44 – Johnston), while the other was a “Dime” look with two safeties at either OLB position. The Nickel Sam was speedy #48 Travon Blanchard (6-2/205). When Baylor wanted to go “small,” #21 Pat Levels (5-11/195), another Nickelback, would come in as the Jack. In Baylor’s terms, Levels was the “Buck” ‘backer.

The flexibility of having a “heavy” and “light” package allowed Baylor to sub if the offense checked into their other packages. Baylor’s “Okie Light” is demonstrated below. The major difference is in the play of the Jack who is now a true Nickelback. Instead of lining up on the line, the Buck ‘backer will loosen up off the TE but still maintain the edge. This package is primarily used against 10 pers. or on heavy pass downs.

Continue reading “MQ Film Study: Baylor vs Boise St. (2016)”

Cautious Aggression

Defensive schemes to combat spread offenses.

Introducing MQ’s first full-length book, Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football.

Buy it on immediately on CreateSpace, Amazon, and Kindle. Click the provider below and order your copy today (Links open in new window).

| CreateSpace | Amazon | Kindle |

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Description: As the spread becomes more of the norm in all regions of this country it is important for coaches everywhere to have a resource for defending the modern spread offense. Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football is that resource for coaches. The schemes described in this book are tried and true methods for defending some of the best offenses this country has ever seen.

Starting with “The Why” and ending with “The How.” Cautious Aggression gives coaches a defensive philosophy they can trust. Using diagrams and concise explanations, the book lays out a formula for success for coaches to utilize in their own schemes. Below are the chapters:

Argument for Two-High
Defending the Modern Spread Offense
Defending Run/Pass Options
Systematic Creativity of a Quarters Defense
The Art of Match Quarters
All About the Cover Down
Designing a Modern Defense
Setting the Strength
Defending Formations into the Boundary
Defending Motions

Coaching at the lower levels of football bring its own issues to the table that many Division I football teams do not face. Cautious Aggression: Defending Modern Football is written for all coaches. The experiences Coach Alexander gained while coaching for Baylor Football combined with his experiences at the high school level has given him a unique perspective on defensive football. Many of the concepts and theories in this book have been adjusted to fit the needs of high school and small college coaches around the country. Come learn “The Art of X.”

Thank you to all that support the site, this book would not be possible without you.

-Cody Alexander

Post-AFCA Grab Bag

The Convention, this week’s FAQ, & tips for installing Quarters.

AFCA Convention ::

The AFCA Convention is always a great time. For me, it is a time that I get to see old friends, meet some new, and just hang out with like-minded people. Football has always been an important part of my life. The Convention is awesome because it allows me to give back to my dad who has been a selfless coach his whole adult life. There’s nothing more special than showing my dad around, talking football with him all day and letting him meet people he otherwise would never meet (for instance RC Slocum). Many go to look for new opportunities to move up, but keep in mind, if you consistently chase the cheese could become blind to a great opportunity. This profession is built on relationships. As you walk the halls of the Convention you will see every type of coach, but don’t be the guy looking through the person you are talking to so you can get to a “more important” person. When I was ending my GA experience at Baylor, Coach Bennett reminded me, “The people we meet going up are the same as we meet going down.” Treat everyone with respect, because you never know when they may help you out. For most of us, we all start as GAs or interns (It took me a whole calendar year, and some luck, to get paid at Baylor!).

The Convention makes everyone equal as well. There is no other place in this sport where the head coach at a Power 5 school will rub shoulders with a brand new high school coach, but that is the beauty of the Convention. It is a truly special place where football coaches can come and be around like minded men. If you have never been it is truly an awesome experience. I would encourage any young coach to go and just walk around, sit in some sessions, and learn something new. It is important that coaches stick together. The age-old saying “iron sharpens iron” is true, and for this profession to continue to flourish in a society that devalues the sport we must raise each other up. [FYI – Next year’s session is in Charlotte, NC] Continue reading “Post-AFCA Grab Bag”

Packaging Your Blitz Calls by Formation

How to formation your call sheet.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how to formation your blitz calls, as well as packaging different calls that are similar (click HERE for the original article – Formation Your Defense ). The best way to approach packaging blitzes/pressures is to create a master list and sort blitzes that are from the same tree. For instance, all blitzes that send an edge pressure from one of the outside linebackers can be lumped together because they are mirrors of each other. The next step is to draw them up against basic formations and decide if you like the look of one pressure over another. In the truest sense, this is blitzing to formation, or BTF.

Blitzing to Formation

Each BTF stems from a base blitz and that blitz is adjusted to defend each formation it sees. An example of an adjustment is a defensive coordinator may not want to send an edge blitz into the face of a TE when coming up against 11 personnel. A better alternative would be to blitz the openside versus a TE. That rule can be carried throughout the packaged blitz call. By packaging the blitzes, a DC can eliminate long call sheets and dense verbiage. Against spread teams that tempo, seconds matter. I’ve been asked several times what my call sheet looks like, or what did it look like for Coach Bennett at Baylor. I’ve never used one, and Bennett kept the sheet in his pocket. Packaging your blitzes eliminates the call sheet altogether because you have you bread-n-butter calls already memorized, and they attack the formation how you want it because you taught your players to adjust to the formation (the definition of BTF). Continue reading “Packaging Your Blitz Calls by Formation”

DB Drills – MQ’s DB Daily Musts

Start your practice with game situation drills.

One of my greatest takeaways from working with Coach Bennett at Baylor was there has to be an extreme attention to detail. When it comes to the fundamentals there cannot be a compromise. Most coaches will agree, the fundamentals are the foundation of any player’s technique. When players get tired or are put in stressful situations on the field, they reduce back to their fundamentals. It is the role of a coach to hold those standards as high as possible, so when fatigue knocks on the door, the players react with sound technique. The drills you run in practice should reflect game situations.

Continue reading “DB Drills – MQ’s DB Daily Musts”

Three Run Down Stop Calls

Establish a plan for attackig run downs.

The best option on the first play of a drive against most offenses is to line up in your base and see how the offense is planning on attacking the defense for that series. The objective for any defense is to stay ahead of the chains on 1st Down and make the offense work for the rest. Calling a defense is easy when the offense has its back against the wall on 3rd and Long. It is the in-between downs (2nd/3rd and medium), that a defensive coordinator earns his paycheck.

The medium downs are truly the “gray area” of football. Blitzing on these downs is crucial to staying ahead of the chains. Get too aggressive and the defense can give up a big play through the air. A missed gap assignment could lead to an explosive play on the ground. Stay too passive/static and a defense can watch as the offense slowly trots down the field. Like anything, there has to be a happy medium.

All blitzes are not designed the same either. There is a blitz for every situation, and it is the role of a defensive coordinator to call them at the correct time. The focus of this article is to highlight three run-down stop calls every DC needs to have on their call sheet. Continue reading “Three Run Down Stop Calls”

The Not So “Odd” Front – The 3-4 Okie

The evolution and application of football’s most multiple front.

When Phil Bennett took over the Baylor defense in the Spring of 2011 he was taking on a massive overhaul of a traditionally porous defense. Baylor was coming off a 2010 campaign that witnessed a 6-7 season and an abysmal showing in the Texas Bowl, losing to a then 6-6 Illinois team 14-38. Though the season was a success by traditional Baylor standards and the first bowl game since 1994, Coach Art Briles wanted to take the program to take the next level and knew in order to do that he needed to hire someone to clean up his defense.

In steps Bennett, currently the interim Head Coach of Pitt, and coming off a bowl victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, was also looking for a job. Briles that winter approached Bennett to revamp the Baylor defense. With a future Heisman at QB (Robert Griffen III), Briles needed just enough from his defense to get the Baylor program moving in a historic direct and he felt Bennett had enough experience to get the job done. Bennett, a Texas native, signed on to the task and the rest is history.

Screen Shot 2018-05-15 at 2.05.48 PM — Phil Bennett’s historical *Defensive Efficiency* rankings according to BCfToys.com (’08 – ’15).

In 2015, and coming off of back-to-back Big 12 Championships, Coach Bennett ran into a serious issue during the season – lack of defensive line depth. Through both Big 12 Championship seasons, the D-line had been one of the star units for the unexpected rise to respectability of Baylor’s defense. Anyone who watched Baylor under Bennett’s tenure (and even his time at Pitt) knows that Bennett based heavily out of a four-down 4-2-5/4-3 structure. Faced with little D-line depth and injuries to key players during the 2015 season, Bennett was forced to turn to a three-down front.

The transition, for the most part, was a smooth one. The ’15 Baylor Bears were able to end up in the top 50 in Defense Efficiency (44th according to BCfToys.com), and the Bears ended up ranked #13 overall with a 9-3 record culminating the season with a 49-38 victory over North Carolina (with no QB). How was Baylor able to keep a steady hand on the defense while completely changing their defensive structure? They just switch to a hybrid Under Front, replaced the boundary defensive end with an outside linebacker/hybrid in Taylor Young, and kept their run fits and pass distributions the same. Something defenses have been perfecting since the ’70s. Continue reading “The Not So “Odd” Front – The 3-4 Okie”

Tag: Phil Bennett

MQ Film Study – Learning Stress Coverage (Arizona St. – 2017)

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