Diving Into the Details :: Parsing Into the Words of Texas Tech Offensive Coordinator, Neal Brown

Thank you sir!

Troy’s first series with a scoring drive…..

The set of plays that Brown called in are well chosen. I would like to see more plays run from under center just to throw the defense off or keep them honest with their intentions. A 2-back set with 2 recievers on the right and 1 on the left has always seemed to be king around these parts.

Leach did not draw up his offense on bar napkin, he had a real playbook. Feel free to compare with Brown’s offense.

I’m sure politicians on both sides are glad our scrutiny is on college football coaches and not the ethical vortex that is DC.
I’m not going to change the office, I’m just going to make it better. That quote is intriguing, if not an oxymoron.

Can’t wait to sse the Red/Black game. Tell me again why there has to be an off season for football?

This was great. Nice to see some to read about the concepts and reasons behind it. I’m with you on the Prairie Dog. It doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s fun to make fun of, but beyond that it’s not an issue. I would venture a guess the coaches tend to be smarter than the QBs and skill players, plus they have the eye in the sky relaying formations over the headet.

As for line splits, I think that’s also an overrated part of our offense. It wasn’t copied by very many teams, so was it truly a difference maker? I don’t know, but if we are a half a foot closer to eachother, that also doesn’t bother me.

I think a LOT of the issues people have with the “new” offense have much more to do with affection for Leach than it does the formations or personnel packages. Their guy isn’t here, they didn’t want him to leave, so they need a target to vent towards. I think that pretty much sums up a lot of the frustration and fear.

I’m excited about this guy, I think he’s a very innovative offensive mind. To turn Troy’s offense into a national leader leaves little argument. Having Brown and Willis on either side of the ball really gives you the sense of one of those genius coaching sidelines that every program with a coaching vacancy will be salivating at come offseason.

It also shows how completely opposite Tubs and Leach are….whereas Leach was very hands-on with his approach, Tubs likes to surround himself with smart people, and let them do their thing. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way…both can be effective…just different leadership styles.

What does worry me is our quarterback situation. No matter what your coaching style, no matter how innovative your offense….if your QB just doesn’t get “it” (Potts in ‘09), we’re doomed. One of Brown’s comments gave me some hope about this issue:

The guys we have at quarterback are smart, but I want to be careful about putting too much on them. I want them to be playing and not thinking.

There’s no way of knowing for sure, but it seemed to me this year that Potts just didn’t pick up the “signal caller” mentality that Leach had instilled in every other TTU QBs….to read the defense, recognize formations, audible at the line accordingly, and then pick the D apart with confidence.

Maybe for the first time in a decade, we have a QB who needs to be coached rather than be the coach.

Or then again…maybe Sticks is the better option anyway!

Really good information here. I agree with most that the offense won’t be identical. How could it be? Leach was very unique to say the least and unless we clone him we won’t see the same offense. I say this not to take anything away from Tuberville. Lots of CEO’s come into companies stating things will remain the same. It’s not untruthful so much is it is an attempt to keep what works. Brown will do his absolute best to instill an offense that mirrors what we are all used to seeing. It will be close but certainly not the same. IMO I think it could get better in some cases. We may be on the verge of a more successful offense. I speculate just as much as the next guy but I do think this staff as a whole is a very motivated group that will burn the midnight oil to succeed. If the right QB hits the field in the fall I am convinced we will score a lot of points.

Had to settle on watching the LSU cheerleaders perform “Jungle Boogie”.

I like the idea of using more motion and in fact we say the Pirate use more after the uh game. It seems to cause even more trouble for the D. I do like the wide line splits and I think that that is the real indication that fundamentally the O will be very similar. Because unlike what bob davies’ thinks the splints are there for bigger passing lanes not for running lanes! Wreck’Em Tech

Great job Seth.

The playbook linked by KWash is also interesting.

Folks all good points. Fans want continuity, change is bad and anything different is held up to scrutiny. There is no doubt the new regime of coaches will establish their own system, get their own drills and terminology established. I can’t see anything which leads me to believe they won’t run a "spread" attack. They clearly want to win games and cutting on them for their press releases wherein they set the conditions for expecting a championship is just not honest. It is just normal Coach speak. Tubs is on public affairs (fence mending tour) sweep to get the disaffected fans back into the fold. It’s glaringly apparent he’s the CEO above the fray manage and lead the organization. Long way to say he’s going to demand success and expect to control the pace of the game thru the two coordinators. They are either going to perform or get the axe. The success path that Dykes and Leach put the program on has set up these folks to be successful in their own right.
On offense watch for a more deliberate attack with rushes interspersed with the short pass. Can’t see this crew ever going for it on 4th down in the Raiders end of the field. I do see them throwing scads of short passes to receivers and backs. I do see a up tempo spread much like OU’s just because this is a demonstrated way to wear out a defense and deny them a substitution package or two per drive . Harrell seemed to be better getting to line than Potts so this tool seemed to fall off in 09. Hard to tell. Coach Neal will certainly try to get good at this prior having ut arrive in Lubbock. But the run game plays to the strength of the offense lots of big O linemen and 4 x quick scat backs.
Defense the rub is can Our def. coordinator conjure up a few more stops per game. I think Coach Willis will put an extra Safe at Linebacker on most plays if they embrace the 3-3-5 defense. Speed in the zone blitz. If they stay with 4- 3 then it’s probably a short yardage or goal line situation.
 Special teams I like the kicking game now that M. Williams has really replaced Alex Trlica. The other kickers punters seem to be more than adequate on kick offs and punts. The above mentioned not going for it on 4th down tendency will manifest itself in more punts – if the offense isn’t effective in scoring converting 3rd downs etc. This is the thing that battledome, chad 0454 and others have complained about i.e. a perceived lack of productivity by injecting a slower, more conservative approach to managing the game. Leach tried to break peoples backs by refusing to get off the field. I don’t doubt we have seen the end of that – former – go for broke attitude. Thing is with the Head coach being in charge of the Special team I would expect to see an uptick in block packages and way less penalties on returns. Just hard to go back to the sidelines and get yelled at for screwing your team. With demonstrated fearless returners like Stephens and Zouzalic may haps we see a score on a returns trend. (Release your inner W. Welker please). With kick blocks comes momentum. In 08 T. Carboneet seemed to be getting very close in 09 not so much. For now I will take Tubs at his word.

Really enjoyed this analysis.

Maybe this is too optimistic, but I could see a scenario where our offense improves compared to last season. Time will tell.

But one factor I think we should consider is the other Big 12 teams are kinda in the same boat as all of us. They won’t know what to expect until next year either. They can study Troy game film and other avenues, but they won’t really know what to expect.

So we could potentially use that to our advantage and add some wrinkles to the offense. At a minimum, I think we can use this factor against UT early in the season.

I have always admired Leach’s offensive genius. He developed a system by changing and thinking differently than his opponents, then coaching execution. I hope Tuberville and Brown continue offense changes to match ever innovative defenses. What I hope they don’t do is remove the exciting brand of offensive football Tech plays. The knowledge that no matter the score, Tech can score quickly and get back in the game. Having said that, we can’t keep running the same offense without it eventually being defensed. Nothing is static. So change is inevitable, good coaches do it effectively and mediocre coaches don’t.

is to see how the defense reacts and tries to defend it.

Troy went to 5 wide receivers (empty set) and kept going back to it b/c LSU had trouble covering their WRs. If the defense responds to you going empty by putting a LB on one of your WRs, you keep going empty and throwing to that WR, b/c you have a personnel advantage there, until they stop you. If they don’t stop you, you keep doing it.

You can also go empty b/c you want to help your QB run game. I was breaking down film of Patrick Lewis, and began to review the A&M-Tech game from last season (his first start). I think just about every one of Jerrod Johnson’s scrambles came out of the empty set, and he kept the ball b/c every time we went empty your defense either split the LBs out to cover the WRs, meaning the middle of the defense was deserted, or only one LB was in the middle, which was just an open invitation for an OL to trap that poor sucker, and to run right up the middle behind the OL. It was really a poor job of coaching and scheming by Ruffin McNeill.

As for the so-called ‘prairie dog’ look, A&M went no-huddle for the majority of offensive snaps last year, and I think the offensive skill positions got the call from the sideline, so they looked. I think the offensive line got the call from the QB. The offense ran a total of 1,053 plays last year in 13 games, or 81 offensive plays a game, so I would say making sure you get the calls off in time or making sure you run enough plays isn’t an issue.

Looking at that video, scoring points and racking up yards. Ill take that any day of the week. Yeah the offense changed, from Leach’s to Brown, and thats about really all that is. I do like seeing the 5 WR sets, just means more of your skill guys on the field, so theres a better chance to get a mismatch on the defense. Im still very intrigued by the whole “pod” set with 3 WR’s around a RB. The spring game cant come soon enough.

I think it is important that we keep a running back in the backfield, especailly with the talent that we have at running back. When you play top defenses, like Texas, OU, and Nebraska, the key is protecting the quarterback. In addition to pass protect, the running back can get the ball in open field, and that is where they get most of their yards. And with the receivers we have this year, Batch should have alot of open field ahead of him. And when you add the element that Brown is going to add a few QB draws, Bath will get to hit some of those defensive backs. He is going to love it. I cain’t wait for the Spring Game and the first College Game Day. Go Red Raiders.

That sure looks like Air Raid to me. I’m pumped for next season. Now let’s fatten up Sheffield & we’ll be all set.