Play Of The (other) Day: ‘CBS Special’ vs Purdue

Yurcich is to T-Formation as Kotelnicki is to: A) Warren Wildcat B) Shirtless Bro Walks C) Terrible Gus Johnson nicknames D) All of the Above.

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Another Penn State game on CBS game, another viral double pass to Nittany Lions TE 44-Tyler Warren for a massive gain. Coincidence? Probably.

The Warren Wildcat (2024’s T-Formation) finally showed another wrinkle for future defenses to worry about – moving forward, Penn State QB Drew Allar lining up 5-7 yards deep in the displaced backfield is ALWAYS a threat for a double pass.

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Let’s preface this entire breakdown with an important statement – Purdue’s defense: bad. Like Netflix streaming a massive live event bad. When calling a play like this as an OC, you’re fully aware of that.

For those of you who have been in a coma or abducted since late August, Tyler Warren has been featured as a wildcat QB multiple times thus far in 2024. The package has been limited, however. Pretty much downhill, gap scheme runs (power read, GH counter, GT counter) sometimes paired with a “relief” option if the read defender crashes toward Warren (sweep, swing route, etc.).

When Warren has been behind center, the actual QB, 15-Drew Allar, has lined up out wide. Not always has he been 5+ yards deep in the backfield, but for a significant amount of snaps that’s where he’s ended up. You might’ve wondered, why? Why not flex him out in a standard WR alignment? My theory: Kotelnicki always knew he’d build in a double pass from this package, so he wanted defenses to be unfazed by Allar lining up so deep in the backfield, lulling them to sleep by his presence. No big deal. It’s been seen on tape. Allar has been a non-factor aligned this way. Suckers.

PSU lines up in an unbalanced 4×0 formation with 2-Liam Clifford covered up/ineligible. As mentioned, Allar is 7 yards deep. The key part here is the RB’s “bumper” motion. Typically in this package, if the RB motions, it’s to the other side in efforts to give the swing route some extra width. The fact that Singleton motioned toward Allar that should’ve been Purdue’s first red flag that something funky was about to occur.

The motion does 2 things: it makes Singleton the new #3 receiver, which requires defensive communication, but more importantly, it puts Singleton in position to protect Allar and allow him to get a throw off.

I’m willing to bet that all week in practice the PSU offensive staff insisted that NO WAY will Purdue bite badly enough that 16-Khalil Dinkins would pop wide open running down the pipe…because Allar never really considers throwing it his way. Instead, after Warren laterals it to Allar, the cavalry (offensive line) gathers on the opposite side of the field for a throwback screen. Is it a tad pathetic that not a single defender sniffed this one out? Yes – but thanks to them for giving us a chance to write about it!