In our 18S preseason prediction survey, receiver depth was voted as the biggest concern heading into the season.  Between Kevin Austin’s decision to turn pro, Avery Davis’s preseason injury, and some spotty recruiting at the position the last few years, the top receiving threats are Michael Mayer (a tight end), Lorenzo Styles (a true sophomore), and… hopes and prayers?

Luckily for offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, he has a trio of talented and versatile running backs to work with.  And he’s found (perhaps by necessity) some clever ways to utilize these running backs in both the running game and the passing game.

So step into the 18 Stripes Film Room as we take a look at Notre Dame’s use of two-back formations.

Down The Seam

The Irish are down 7-0 to Cal but are on the edge of the red zone.

Drew Pyne lines up with Chris Tyree to his left and Audric Estime to his right.  Michael Mayer is in the slot to Pyne’s right.

 

Before the snap, Estime goes in motion to the left.  This causes the safety to come down to cover a quick throw to Estime in the flat.  This leaves a linebacker (circled) as the default defender on Tyree.

 

When the ball is snapped, Pyne immediately looks towards Mayer and pump fakes.

 

Mayer is always going to be a threat in the red zone, so the pump fake forces the safety to move in Mayer’s direction.  And with the other safety (red circle) occupied by Estime, the linebacker covering Tyree (circled) has no safety help over the top.

 

The linebacker blows the coverage and lets Tyree run right by him for an easy touchdown.  Perhaps he thought there was a safety behind him, but Estime’s motion and the fake to Mayer took them both out of the play.  Either way, Tyree one-on-one with a linebacker is a matchup Rees will take any day.

Here’s the play in full:

The Wheel Route Is Always Open

Let’s move to the North Carolina game.

In this play, Pyne is flanked by Logan Diggs on the left and Tyree on the right.  Michael Mayer is out wide by himself at the bottom of the screen and Lorenzo Styles is lined up as a wing back.

 

Once again we see presnap motion by one of the running backs.  This time Diggs heads out to the flat, causing the outside linebacker to follow him.  Diggs will continue running towards the sideline then turn up on a wheel route.  After the snap, Styles will run across the formation on a quick route out to the flat.

 

Pyne fakes the handoff to Tyree.  This freezes almost the entire UNC defense.  The defensive end, middle linebacker, and safety (circled) all stop to respect the run.  The cornerback cover Mayer as he runs downfield.  This leaves a linebacker to cover both Diggs and Styles at the same time.

 

The linebacker must cover someone, and he chooses Styles.  This leaves Diggs uncovered on the wheel route.

 

The wheel route is always open, folks.

Here’s the play in gif form:

Harrumph, Fullbacks

We move to the Shamrock Series, with the Irish in the red zone on their opening drive.  Pyne is in the pistol with Diggs behind him and Tyree next to him in a sort of “pistol I-formation.”  I guess this makes Tyree the fullback.  Harrumph.

We have more presnap motion as Diggs heads to the flat.  Joe Alt and Jarrett Patterson will pull around to fake a run to the right but Pyne will hand off to Tyree on a sweep to the left.  The idea is to get the BYU defense moving one way and run it the other way with Tyree to get him into the open field.

 

Pyne hands the ball off and tries to sell the fake.  Unfortunately the BYU defense is not fooled.

 

Tyree has defenders bearing down on him, but he uses his athleticism to still get 3 yards.  This play didn’t quite work out as intended but it was a clever idea.

RTDB, Tommy

All these plays are nice, but how can Rees use these two-back formations in the standard running game?

The Irish line up in the pistol I-formation again with Diggs and Tyree.

 

Tyree goes in motion and two BYU linebackers (circled) shift over to account for it.  But there’s nothing fancy about this play.  Pyne simply hands off to Diggs on a straight ahead power run.  Josh Lugg pulls from his right guard spot to block the defensive end and Michael Mayer blocks the outside linebacker.  Tyree’s motion moved two defenders away from the direction of the play to give Diggs more room to run.

 

The Cougars do a pretty good job plugging the hole but Diggs bounces outside and follows Mayer’s block.  With the other linebackers on the other side of the field, there’s simply no one else to make a play on Diggs.

 

The guy with the best chance to make a play on Diggs is wearing number 98, which is a bad sign for BYU.  The safety ends up making a nice tackle to hold Diggs to only 8 yards but it could have been worse.

Final Thoughts

Tommy Rees is a polarizing figure in the Notre Dame fanbase, but I think he’s done a solid job in his 2+ years as offensive coordinator.  His offenses have a distinct identity (there will be tight ends and the damn ball will be run) and he did a good job turning the offense from a disaster into something approaching a strength the past two season.  That’s not to say he’s been perfect (no more runs on 2nd and long please and maybe try to avoid these early season disasters altogether) but he’s done a fine job overall.  The plays I’ve highlighted in this post show Tommy’s willingness to play to the team’s strength and scheme up some nice plays.  Hopefully this continues and the Irish offense keeps moving the ball and scoring points.