2021 Season

The Mike Yurcich Experience, Okla St 2017

Soooo…What The Heck Is It?!?!? A Deep Dive Into The New Offensive Coordinator’s Trends and Tendencies During Oklahoma State’s Explosive 2017 Season Provides Some Answers But Also More Questions

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Real ones from Day 1 who bother reading these blog subheads just raised an eyebrow.

The reason?

Well, we plagiarized ourselves. Yep, hand up. Send us to Rick Reilly journalism jail or wherever. Less than 10 months ago, once the Big Ten finally caved to social pressure derived from its own self-righteousness and decided to let their pearls dangle and play football, we published ‘The Kirk Ciarrocca Experience.’ The premise of that blog was to introduce Penn State fans to the new offensive coordinator. The premise of this blog is to introduce Penn State fans to the new offensive coordinator.

So why get cute, ya know? Swap out a few words, slap in a new picture, and keep our fingers crossed ‘The (Insert Name) Experience’ trilogy is years, not months, away. 

This time around, we charted three Mike Yurcich games from 2017: Oklahoma State’s 59-21 depantsing of Pitt, the Cowboys’ back-and-forth, defense-optional 62-52 loss vs. Oklahoma, and OSU’s 50-39 slugfest (well, comparative slugfest) against West Virginia.  

 TEMPO, TEMPO, TEMPO

The only downside about scouting All-22 film is that the (literally and figuratively) poor Graduate Assistants in charge of recording and editing cut out all the filler – huddles, injuries, reviews — between plays, which is normally a huge time saver…except when analyzing offensive tempo.

Still, during our charting, we managed to catch a few humorous glimpses of Yurcich’s Jolt Cola Offense at its most caffeinated as Oklahoma State receivers (clip 1) and linemen (clip 2) were filmed hustling to line up like their Mom was ringing the dinner bell. There’s barely a nanosecond separating them getting set and the snap of the ball. The last clip of this hurry-up montage showcases the chaos Yurcich’s tempo creates for defenses. For those wondering, yes, Oklahoma was flagged for 27 men on the field that play:

But to truly savor and relish the between-play-pace of Yurcich’s system, it’s imperative to show you the original TV broadcast – a speedy symphony that dares the director in the truck to sneak in a replay or promo between plays. 

Perfect example:

As you can see, the Cowboys already have their foot on the gas before this 2nd down play, but what’s crazy is the FOX crew foolishly thinking they’ll get a respite to review Mason Rudolph’s 52-yard bomb because, well, it’s a 52-yard bomb. Pfft. Think again. Rudolph looks to the sideline mid-jog and gets the next play call. FOX opts out of the full-screen replay and splits two-box for fear of missing the snap.

That’s the unique thing about Yurcich’s use of tempo: IT DOESN’T STOP ONCE ENGAGED UNTIL IT FAILS! Where most coaches tone things down after busting a big play, Yurcich does the opposite and turns the knob further to the right. That’s why you got guys dashing in-frame at the last second on the All-22!

In this opening-drive sequence vs. Pitt, Yurcich triggers tempo once Oklahoma State gets its initial first down. From there, it’s chunk play, chunk play, 2-yard gain…OK, now we’ll regroup, take a breath, and a call a touchdown play. Once Yurcich starts tempo, only the defense can stop it. Yurcich won’t stop it arbitrarily.

In 2017, Oklahoma State’s offense ran 78.9 Plays Per Game (PPG), good for 12th in the FBS. That same season, though, Yurcich’s Cowboys finished 104th in Time of Possession with an average of 28:06 per game. Divide those two averages and you get a mind-blogging 2.81 plays run per minute. For context, Joe Moorhead’s explosive 2017 Penn State attack featuring McSorley, Barkley, Gesicki and the rest of the gang ran 72.2 plays per game and held the ball for 30:20 per contest – 2.37 plays per minute. 

As much as we all like to think Penn State benefited from a full 2021spring slate, and how those valuable 15 practices aided (fingers crossed) the mental aspect of  learning, understanding, and properly executing Yurcich’s system, don’t forget there’s also going to be a gargantuan physical adjustment operating this offense at max speed.

GET VERTICAL

A lot has been made of the new OC’s love of vertical passing concepts, but to offer a fuller picture of just what that means, let’s once again lean on numbers/statistics to illuminate Yurcich’s propensity for launching passes downfield. 

In 2017, Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley threw 59 passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air. 

In 2017, Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph threw 90 passes that traveled 20 or more yards in the air. 

Current Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford has tossed 80 balls beyond 20 yards in the air DURING HIS ENTIRE CAREER, 2018-2020. 

Yeah, well, Mason Rudolph was an NFL-caliber quarterback throwing to NFL-grade receivers with an NFL running back behind him keeping defenses honest. Why don’t you show what happened when Rudolph and all his toys left?

OK, fine. In 2018, former walk-on Taylor Cornelius threw 117 passes beyond 20 yards. Happy now?  

During the 2017 Pitt and Oklahoma contests – the two of the three games we fully scouted for this article – 36 of Rudolph’s 88 total passes (40.9 percent) flew 20+ yards downfield. Against the Panthers, Yurcich and the Cowboys scored 7 touchdowns on their first 7 possessions, including passing scores of 54, 69, 40, and 48 yards. 

As Coach Nick Codutti – the guy who does our Film Studies on YouTube – pointed out back in January when he broke down Yurcich’s offense, one unique wrinkle of this vertical approach is that not every receiver on every single play is part of the pass concept. Heck, even eventual Biletnikoff Award winner James Washington was asked to just sort of hang out on occasion (as you’ll see below) so as to not muddy-up the middle of the field for the “active” receivers.

First thing, it’s obvious the hyper tempo gave Pitt trouble. Look at the corner and the safety at the top of the screen. They’re still communicating to each other after the ball is snapped. Shotgun 4-wide, 2×2. About a yard separates Washington (top of screen) from the sideline. He practically needs his own Hold-Back guy. The extreme split is purposeful. It opens up the middle of the field. Again, on this play, Washington is what Codutti labeled a Dead Receiver. He’s not part of this concept…evidenced by his apathetic jaunt. In fact, the only two active receivers are the two closest to the tackles. One runs a dig. One runs a post. Rudolph picks the post. Simple.

Seven minutes later, Yurcich caught Pitt in the exact same coverage, so he called the exact same play with the exact same result. 

Eventually, Pitt figured things out…which is great because it allows us to clarify the ‘Dead Receiver’ concept mentioned earlier with an actual clip. After we released that Film Study video, a few viewers asked, “So only two guys can catch the ball?” No…but only two guys run routes. We know, it’s confusing. Maybe Dead Receiver isn’t the proper term. It’s more like ‘BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY Receiver.’

Here, Yurcich tests his luck and dials up Old Reliable – Post n’ Dig with Two Dead, the same concept you just saw score twice. This time, however, Pitt eliminates the post in Cover 3. Rudolph sees this adjustment but doesn’t have time to flip his eyes to the dig route because of the pass rush, so instead he just dumps the ball out to the uncovered (and undead) Washington chilling by the sideline. 

Lastly, the biggest parallel between Yurcich’s offense and Moorhead’s Penn State offense is that in both systems the quarterback gets the green light to arm-punt 50-50 balls when presented 1-on-1 coverage. The reintroduction of this philosophy to the Penn State offense could open up opportunities for bigger, physical, but forgotten receivers like Cam Sullivan-Brown. According to this Onward State tweet, CSB snagged a 50-50 deep ball in the faux Blue-White game back in April. 

These throws won’t be hung in a museum, but if you have Godwin-types, Gesicki-types, Hamilton-types on the outside, they’re extremely effective:

COWBOY BACKS > TIGHT ENDS

Google Oklahoma State’s 2017 roster. Go ahead, we’ll give you a moment.

(Whistles to pass the time…checks Twitter…regrets checking Twitter)

Back with us? Cool. Notice anything strange?

Right, Oklahoma State didn’t have a single tight end on the roster. What the Cowboys did have, however, were a bunch of dudes with tight end-level measurements and tight end-thick necks listed as ‘CW.’ What the hell is a CW besides a network no one watches? CW = Cowboy Back.

Cowboy Backs bring the smashmouth element to Yurcich’s ‘Smashmouth Spread’ system. For the most part, Cowboy Backs serve as human battering rams – closer to the fullback species than the tight end family. 99 percent of the time, Cowboy Backs line up in the backfield and typically don’t mess around with the passing game. Why not, you ask?

Well…

Of Oklahoma State’s 325 completions in 2017, Cowboy Backs hauled in 11 of them. 

To find a Cowboy Back in its natural habitat, look between the tackles and at the second level of the defense as they cut tackles/ends and destroy linebackers while opening up running lanes in Yurcich’s Wide Zone-heavy scheme. 

The lone exception seems to be when Cowboy Backs get trapped in up-tempo situations and have to flex out wide in 2×2 sets. Example (see 41-Britton Abbott in space on this bubble to Washington):

To be completely transparent, toward the end of 2017 Yurcich began to sprinkle in traditional TE alignments for 6-Keenan Brown which included making him part of a few RPOs concepts (see below). 

But those crumbs apparently weren’t enough to satisfy Brown considering he transferred to Texas State immediately after the Cowboys bowl game. That begs the question: How will Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson – two willing blockers with dependable hands and above-average speed — fit in Yurcich’s, um, shall we say, non-tight-end-friendly system? 

DIAMOND DOWN DEEP

Inarguably, the most aesthetically interesting formation Yurcich showcased at Oklahoma State was actually a holdover package created by balding visor-enthusiast Dana Holgorsen when he was OC in Stillwater: The Diamond Formation. 

The 30 personnel formation (3 RBs, 0 TEs) crowds a traditional Pistol look with two sidecar fullbacks/Cowboy Backs sandwiching the quarterback. From there, the tailback or fullbacks often shift (tailback offset, fullbacks stacked) moments before the snap to create confusion for the defense on where the offensive plans to attack the line of scrimmage. Futhermore, assuming defenses load the box, the Diamond opens up 1-on-1 opportunities on the outside for game-changing receivers like Justin Blackmon – Holgorsen’s top weapon when the Diamond was formed in 2010. 

In the 2017 Oklahoma-Okie State Bedlam rivalry contest, Yurcich ran plays out of Diamond exclusively when the Cowboys were in Goal-To-Go situations. Yurcich also liked to feature it when his squad was backed up near its own goal line, too. 

Penn State fans will probably cringe reading this, but Yurcich had success throwing fades and back-shoulder throws to 6-foot-4 receiver Marcell Ateman in the end zone out of Diamond. Currently, Penn State doesn’t have a tall, proven Red Zone threat, so not sure if we’ll see this wrinkle inside the 10 this season. 

The only instance where we witnessed the QB run was out of Diamond. Sorry Mason, but it looked slow and clunky. Sean Clifford should provide Yurcich more options near the end zone. So will Strange and Johnson, from a shifting and pass-catching standpoint, if Yurcich flashes Diamond at Penn State. 

DITTO AND OPPOSITE

Like Ciarrocca, Yurcich doesn’t mind calling the same play over and over and over, especially in hurry-up situations. As the fantastic Oklahoma State Pistols Firing blog wrote a few years ago, “Yurcich uses the term ‘ditto’ for running the same play, and ‘opposite’ for running the same play,” but with inverted personnel. 

Keep in mind, because RPOs have a run and a pass option to them (duh), Yurcich’s DITTO calls can look completely different even though the same play has been run. 

QUICK HITTERS

  • No under center formations. Everything was run out of the Shotgun or Pistol.
  • No rotation along the offensive line during the competitive stages of games. 
  • 19 of 95 plays vs. Oklahoma featured pre-snap motion. 8 of the 54 plays featuring Rudolph at QB vs. Pitt (he sat late because of the blowout) contained pre-snap motion. 
  • Oklahoma State running back Justice Hill performed well in this offense, totaling 1,500 yards rushing in 2017, but we don’t think he was an ideal Wide Zone/Outside Zone runner. Never seemed comfortable pushing the edge. Always quick to cut back against the flow of blocking. 
  • In less than a dozen plays during the three games we watched, Yurcich had a WR Stack element to the formation – a wrinkle Ciarrocca didn’t use, and we don’t recall Rahne or Moorhead using, either. Here’s what that looked like: 

August 2, 2021by FTB Staff