Film at 11

Film at 11: Illinois Offense

Courtesy of Illinois Athletics (Jenny Butler)

Let It Flow, Let Yourself Go, Slow and Low, That Is The TemPro

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WARNING: The following image depicts graphic grass-stained content and scenes of excess mass, a bunch of Eastern European last names on the back of jerseys, plodding gains, 18 program-required knee braces, and foretells a never-ending cycle of overtime ineptitude that some might find disturbing.

Viewer (reader?) discretion is advised.

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It’s hideous! Oh, the humanity! Avert your gaze, children! (shudders)

Knowing full well he was wielding a plastic spork in a knife fight from a roster/talent standpoint, Illinois head coach/smock model Bret Bielema reverted to full-on Neanderball tactics the last time these interdivisional foes met in 2021. Despite averaging 1.8 yards per pass, and losing the turnover battle 3-0 to Penn State, the Fighting Illini’s stubborn persistence on the ground – encapsulated forever in that PTSD-triggering 100% beef, 7 OL, 2 TE snapshot we just showed you – somehow dragged a predicted blowout to penalty kicks and an ironic Instant Classic 20-18 upset of the No. 7 ranked Nittany Lions.

So, you might be wondering, why are we poking around the dark, shadowy corners of Nittany Nation’s subconscious and excavating these deeply-suppressed traumatic memories? Are we jerks? A-holes? Masochists?

I mean, yes…but no.

No, our motive for picking at this two-year-old scab was to reassure all of you that we’re not going to witness a repeat performance this Saturday. It’s OK. There’s no need to live in fear of an encore. The Bad Fat Men are gone.

Smart enough to realize that belly-bumping the ball downfield was never going to forge a sustainable path to long-term offensive success, Bielema hired former assistant and then-UTSA offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. in January 2022. The co-creator of the Roadrunners’ successful signature ‘TemPro’ system (which honestly sounds like the name of a KIA), Lunney’s arrival didn’t completely flip Illinois’ offensive fortunes but it did provide a pulse. The Illini rose 21 spots in FBS Total Offense (from 116th in 2021 to 95th in 2022) and bumped up their points per game from 20.2 to 24.2. More important than incremental statistical gains, Lunney’s modern college offense template has made Champaign a semi-desirable landing spot for high school/JUCO recruits and unwilling-to-wait 4-stars from brethren P5 programs (case in point, starting Illinois QB 9-Luke Altmyer, an Ole Miss transfer).

In fact, the lone remaining relic of football’s aerial-exempt, plow-horse past you’ll see on Saturday won’t even occur during game action…unless Bret has a knuckle-dragging Ace up his sleeve, of course.

During the TV timeout bridging the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarters, marketing interns stage the ‘Jimmy John’s Freaky Fast 77-Yard Dash’ – inarguably the greatest new college football tradition of the 21st century (sorry White Out).

Here’s the skinny: a student is picked from the crowd to race against cosplay Red Grange. Leather Helmet. Wool jersey. Bloomer-style 1920s football pants. The whole shebang. Unlike the ‘Beat The Freeze’ race at Atlanta Braves games, though, the third-year general studies major hoping to win free sandwiches for a year didn’t get a head start…which, as you’ll see below, resulted in Secretariat vs. The Belmont field suspense when this contest debuted two weeks ago.

Here’s another angle:

Man, anyone else feeling hungry?

Anyway, for this scout we watched Illinois’ last-second Week 1 win vs. Toledo and last Friday’s 34-23 setback at Kansas.

STARTERS

Editor’s Note: To keep these posts under 3,000 words each week, we won’t always have write-ups on every ‘Lion Tamer’ or Red Ring of Shame player. As far as adjusting Penn State players’ standing (potential All-American, All-Big Ten, Red Ring of Shame, etc.) we’ll try and stay away from prisoner-of-the-moment syndrome as best we can. Therefore, we’ll update their status every third game…so next week’s Iowa Film at 11.

PHILOSOPHY

So what the heck is TemPro exactly?

Convenient of you to ask, lazy transition device.

At its core, TemPro is a mutt offensive philosophy, a scheme that blends aspects and principles of Tempo Spread (shotgun exclusive, fast pace, wide WR splits, stretch defenses horizontally, basketball on plastic grass/black rubber crumbs) AND a Pro-Style attack (incorporating an H-Back/Tight End to activate power runs, play action passes, and RPOs).

The conceptual blend enables Illinois to either orchestrate long, sustained, clock-chewing drives if it’s sitting on a lead late, or play catchup and climb back from multi-touchdown deficits in a hurry while ducking the inherit risk associated with chucking the ball deep downfield (Exhibit A: The 4th quarter vs. Kansas). Depending on the situation and score, TemPro metamorphosizes (if that’s a word) drive to drive, never allowing defenses to get comfortable because the genre of plays and the pace at which they’re conducted are never stable.

Here’s a decent analogy (I hope): Think of TemPro like a greasy-spoon diner menu. There’s something for everybody. Spaghetti. Pancakes. Burgers. Salads. Mashed Potatoes. Omelets. Pie. And for the adventurous eaters, lobster. Whatever you want.

Same deal with TemPro – tunnel screens, power runs, bubbles, nows, jet sweeps, play-action boots, read option, pin and pulls, stretch/outside zone, tosses, end arounds…the possibilities are seemingly endless. The give-and-take of this ‘multiple’ approach is that, yes, it’s a lot to install and get right, buuuuuut it also neutralizes talent deficiencies against bluebloods like Penn State because it gives defenses a lot to digest and figure out – especially when play calls feature multi-layered conceptual attachments/options.

For example:

Pre-snap formation to the boundary. Illinois WR 14-Casey Washington runs orbit motion, a spread offense accoutrement. As the QB-RB mesh, the right guard pulls opposite of the run action – a bit of misguided deception that really shouldn’t suck in Toledo’s second-level defenders but somehow does. After the run fake, 9-Luke Altmyer bluffs a QB rollout before pivoting and locating TE 89-Tip Reiman running a Y-Hide – a delayed route concept where the tight end engages with the defensive end for 1-2 seconds then runs a drag across the field.

This magnified snapshot perfectly illustrates what this type of misdirection does to an unprepared defense.

FORMATIONS

In non-garbage time vs. Kansas, Illinois deployed 11 personnel exclusively…sans this one unbalanced, two-tight end formation jump pass in the red zone.

Against Kansas, Illinois operated exclusively out of the shotgun…sans whatever this trick-play, under-center jumbled mess was.

Again, as we touched upon at the top of this blog post, this isn’t your kindergartener’s Illinois offense. It’s your 2nd-grader’s Illinois offense, and a lot has changed in two years. In fact, if you had to select one alignment as Illinois’ “base formation” it’d probably be this generic 3-Wide set with a tight end moonlighting as a wingback.

While the Illinois offense doesn’t require much deciphering pre-snap, its run game might be the most diverse the Nittany Lions face all season. Repeat, the most diverse…not the best. Operating at a 64-36 zone-to-gap scheme split last season, Lunney has shrunk that ratio to nearly 50-50 through two weeks this season. In doing so, though, Lunney has ignored the urge to get repetitious in the run game, maintaining expansive play-to-play variety so that defenses can’t gameplan to stop bread-and-butter concepts.

Here’s a taste of what we saw from Illinois in a 120-minute sample size:

G/H Counter

Stretch/Outside Zone with a fake reverse attached

Pin & Pull Sweep

Duo

LION TAMERS

WIDE RECEIVER 1-ISAIAH WILLIAMS: If this name sorta sounds familiar, well, it should.

On stage in front of 10 inches of snow and thousands of overpriced soggy cardboard cutouts, Isaiah Williams started at quarterback for the Illini in the short-lived, COVID-inspired Big Ten 2020 ‘Champions Week’ add-on game at Beaver Stadium – a freeze-your-nose-hairs afternoon best remembered for…for…um…gosh, nothing.

Recognizing the non-existent need in the marketplace for a 5-foot-10, 170-pound quarterback with a 41.3% completion rate, Williams audibled and found his forever home at slot wide receiver the following spring. 129 receptions, 1,240 yards, and 9 touchdowns later, Williams garnered preseason 1st Team All-Big Ten honors in three publications we read in-store but didn’t pay for at Barnes & Noble this past summer.

In a pawn-heavy offense, Williams is easily Lunney’s most potent chess piece – a dynamic playmaker whose post-catch prowess (623 YAC last season, 2nd in FBS) inspires drawn-on-a-napkin, nutty professor ingenuity when brainstorming different ways to get him the ball.

What a cool play.

Williams appears to be motioning across the formation, anticipated movement that causes the Rockets linebackers to flow field-side, the strong safety to rotate down, the Nickel corner to rotate back, and the free safety to fill the two-high void left by the strong safety. The defense has adjusted to what they believe will be the offense’s formational strength. Except it’s not.

Upon reaching the near hash, Williams yanks the emergency break, cradles a six-inch dime from Altmyer and follows the pulling backside tackle and guard toward the depleted boundary – a pop pass counter, essentially. All-Big Ten guard 78-Isaiah Adams absolutely eclipses the unblocked defensive end while tackle 54-Julian Pearl searches for something to do.

As a recovering quarterback, Williams possesses an Insider’s understanding of how to make himself a presentable, inviting target between levels of the defense – re-tailoring routes (like you’ll see in the clip below) in order to exploit soft patches in the secondary.

If you’re searching for a recent Penn State player comp for Williams think Parker Washington, not KJ Hamler.

Quick to accelerate:

A first look target in high leverage, gotta-have-it situations because coaches trust his reliable hands, short-area explosiveness, and proven ability to get open in tight confines:

But ultimately a guy bridled with a NASCAR restrictor plate when tasked to reach the top-end speed needed to leave corners in the dust vertically – a deficiency that often manifests in a lot of fun 50/50 ball acrobatics…just like Parker.

RED CIRCLES (Problem Areas)

RIGHT TACKLE 72-ZY CRISLER & RIGHT GUARD 73-JOSH GESKY: It’s 12:53 a.m. and I’m pounding Coke (sip, not sniff) to stay awake, so no more cute prose.

The right side of Illinois offensive line is worrisome…or, I guess, whatever the opposite of worrisome is since this is a Penn State blog. Enticing? Enthralling? Drool-inducing? IDK. Again, it’s late.

Among the 30 Big Ten offensive guards who have reached a qualifying level of snaps this season, 73-Josh Gesky’s PFF pass protection grade of 52.6 ranks 24th. Not to be outdone, Gesky’s neighbor, right tackle 72-Zy Crisler ranks 29th out of 30 qualifying Big Ten tackles with a PFF pass protection grade of (spit takes) 17.9?!?!?

Come on, can he really be that bad?

Hmm, guess so.

Through two games, Crisler has surrendered  9 QB pressures and been the negligent party in 4 sacks – an undesirable tally that already matches the sacks he was responsible for in 2022 (379 total pass pro reps). Keep in mind, all of this has occurred in an offense programmed to get throws out fast against two defenses – Toledo and Kansas – that finished 45th and 105th in sacks per game last year, respectively.

Unfortunately for the Illini, the old school mathematical adage “two negatives make a positive” doesn’t apply when Crisler and Gesky work in tandem, evidenced below as they struggle sorting out a rudimentary two-man stunt.

While advanced metrics imply Gesky isn’t an every-down liability as a run blocker or out in space on screens, we had no trouble plucking a trio of ghastly snaps that tell a completely different story.

Note on this last one: Gesky is at right tackle here, replacing 78-Adams (normally left guard) who got hurt on the previous play after switching spots because Crisler (the starting RT) cramped up the play before. Also, fun note, this miracle 4th down heave is the sole reason Illinois isn’t winless entering Saturday’s Orange Out vs. Penn State.

Yeah, not great.

September 14, 2023by FTB Bill