Play of the (other) Day: Y-Cross vs. UMass

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Ladies and gentlemen, our long regional nightmare is over. Penn State tight end Theo Johnson finally got in the endzone for the first (and second!) time in 2023. Strike up the band! Plan the parade! Mint the commemorative coins!

In all seriousness, after spending the first half of the season doing dirty work in the trenches and getting unlucky in substitution patterns that have given his counterpart, Tyler Warren, some cupcake TDs, it was nice to see the senior captain from Canada cross the goal line – and, more importantly, haul-in a deep, downfield target.

Johnson finished the 2022 campaign as arguably the most dynamic second- and third-level tight end threat in FBS, averaging well over 13 air yards on throws hurled in his direction. For some unknown reason, that depth of target has shrunk drastically to 5.7 yards this season. Other than this touchdown pass we’re about to dissect, that didn’t really change this week.

In fact, the Nittany Lions’ overall pattern of conservative “vanilla” play-calling continued (which is a good thing, but that’s a story for another time), so that means we’re forced to review another one of Yurcich’s core concepts: Y-Cross.

This play/concept is run at almost every level of football these days. Levels of success vary, however. If your QB can’t efficiently cycle through a multi-step right-to-left read, or if your OL can’t protect for the needed the length of the QB progression, it makes dropback concepts like Cross very difficult to pull off.

Luckily for Mike Yurcich, PSU possesses all the ingredients necessary to thrive at these things…for the most part.

1st & 5 from the UMass 30. PSU aligns in a 2×2 wide split formation in 2 TE personnel. With corners sitting at 5 yards while looking at the QB and safeties lined up outside the hashes, it is brutally obvious UMass is playing Cover 2 – middle of the field open. This alignment is such a pre-snap “tell” that 99.9% of offensive coordinators and quarterbacks HAVE TO suspect this is a bluff.

Except it’s not.

Now the only real constant variable of the Y-Cross concept is the Y-Cross route (which I will touch on in depth momentarily); the frontside receivers’ and the backside wideout’s routes can vary. On this play, Yurcich decides to put slot fade on the frontside, which is a phenomenal call against this coverage.

In Cover 2, the “cloud” corners (meaning they have the flat zones) will try to slow down vertical releases from the wideouts in order to help the safeties, who are responsible for the deep halves of the field. The cloud corners fail to do that here. Sending the inside receiver (1-KLS) vertical immediately stresses the safety and forces him to get overtop and, in turn, opens up even more real estate in the middle of the field. From the broadcast TV angle, it’s tough to see exactly what the backside WR 6-Harrison Wallace does, but it’s enough to keep the attention of the other safety.

Now, Theo Johnson’s route.

Following the Y-Cross bible, releasing underneath the OLB diverts the attention of the safety and makes him focus on the WR. Without being in the daily offensive staff meetings we don’t know for sure, but a lot of coaches allow a lot of adjustment in the actual “cross” route based on coverage. Typically, the Y (Theo) wants to reach the opposite hash mark at 10-12 yards because that area is usually vacated. If you catch Cover 2, though, the Y often adjusts to a “divide” route…which means he’s supposed to run directly up the middle of the field – splitting the two deep safeties.