Evolving the Option: The Pop Pass and the Future of Football

RTR91

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I want to see how well he does this year before I go that far. Don't get me wrong... what he has done at Auburn is impressive but it was basically an otherworldly player in 2010, and then last year it was a practically new offense than his earlier time at Auburn.

He was less than impressive in 2011 at the barn, and didn't set the world on fire in his one year at Arkansas State. Now we've had an entire off season for defenses to really break down film of everything they did last year. I will bet Coach Saban could probably recite every single play they ran last year. I still expect them to be good, and I still expect them to put up good numbers. But I'm betting we see a good bit of drop off from a year ago. We'll see.
I had to go look at the stats to see how his offenses at Auburn and Arky State compared. This is what I found:

20092010201120122013
Scoring433577334454553
Points/Game33.341.225.734.939.5
First Downs266344227319334
Rushing Yards27562987237026814596
Rushing Yards/Game212284.8182.3206.2328.3
Passing Yards28573002202233862422
Passing Yards/Game219.8214.4155.5260.5173
Total Offense56136989439260677018
Yards/Game431.8499.2337.8466.7501.3
3rd Down Percentage40%53%36%47%47%
Touchdowns Scored5575425873
Red-Zone Scores95%86%84%87%89%

2011 was the only year he didn't average at least 33 points per game, 400 yards per game, or score more than 50 touchdowns. Remember Chris Todd was the starting QB in 2009. He was anything but an athletically gifted QB.
 

TideEngineer08

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I had to go look at the stats to see how his offenses at Auburn and Arky State compared. This is what I found:

20092010201120122013
Scoring433577334454553
Points/Game33.341.225.734.939.5
First Downs266344227319334
Rushing Yards27562987237026814596
Rushing Yards/Game212284.8182.3206.2328.3
Passing Yards28573002202233862422
Passing Yards/Game219.8214.4155.5260.5173
Total Offense56136989439260677018
Yards/Game431.8499.2337.8466.7501.3
3rd Down Percentage40%53%36%47%47%
Touchdowns Scored5575425873
Red-Zone Scores95%86%84%87%89%

2011 was the only year he didn't average at least 33 points per game, 400 yards per game, or score more than 50 touchdowns. Remember Chris Todd was the starting QB in 2009. He was anything but an athletically gifted QB.
I certainly give him credit. He is not a flash in the pan. But I just want to see consistency at one program through personnel turnover and the natural cycle of good luck/bad luck. They are due some bad bounces this year and we'll see how they react.

I'm just not ready to crown him king of the world and put him above Coach Saban like some in the media are. The main thing I get from last year's Iron Bowl was our offense's inability to convert when we had a chance to bury them. We're talking a different story if our offense can simply manage 1 yard on 2 plays against one of the poorer defenses in the SEC last year.
 

mittman

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Jun 19, 2009
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Looked like HaHa didn't roll over. Cyrus played it right, IMO.
Hard to know, but everyone seems to blame Cyrus. I like the fact that you did not just jump to that conclusion. Coach Saban said he was supposed to be bracketed.

Edit:
I think we had a lot of problems in the secondary handling who should have been the deep guy on specific plays. I think almost everyone got burned except Landon. Geno, HaHa and Cyrus all did without a doubt. I have no doubts we will be much better against them and this type of play this year. Lots of mistake film to study.
 
Last edited:
Hard to know, but everyone seems to blame Cyrus. I like the fact that you did not just jump to that conclusion. Coach Saban said he was supposed to be bracketed.
Just seems he played the receiver, he came off to cover the qb and the play was made. He had no help on that side.


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JDCrimson

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My comment on this article is if these offensive concepts do in fact take root then I think it will eventually have a negative effect on college football. Its obvious that offenses are now fully exploiting with the rule book allows and it shows just how much of a substantial advantage they have over offenses. If there indeed are no consistent ways to stop it and games like Auburn v Mizzou become the norm each weekend, fans will lose interest. The most popular sport in the world is soccer because its a continuous game with very limited scoring. Whereas, professional basketball has relatively little defense and lots of one on one offense which we all know has lost its appeal over the last 20 years.

I think the CFB rules committees will have to really look at this evolution and see if it truly is good for fan interest because quite frankly I lose interest in a scoring fest. The appeal with football is really with defense imo.
 

mittman

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Jun 19, 2009
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My comment on this article is if these offensive concepts do in fact take root then I think it will eventually have a negative effect on college football. Its obvious that offenses are now fully exploiting with the rule book allows and it shows just how much of a substantial advantage they have over offenses. If there indeed are no consistent ways to stop it and games like Auburn v Mizzou become the norm each weekend, fans will lose interest. The most popular sport in the world is soccer because its a continuous game with very limited scoring. Whereas, professional basketball has relatively little defense and lots of one on one offense which we all know has lost its appeal over the last 20 years.

I think the CFB rules committees will have to really look at this evolution and see if it truly is good for fan interest because quite frankly I lose interest in a scoring fest. The appeal with football is really with defense imo.
I'm in your court here, but I am starting to think I am in a constantly shrinking minority.
 

BamaMoon

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Apr 1, 2004
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It's where the ball is, not the body.
Me too, but the rule clearly says his entire body and nothing about the ball. We did not get the call on the play or after the replay.
I checked it earlier today, a violation occurs when the whole body crosses the neutral zone (LOS). So technically, NM was within the rules when he threw the ball because all of his body was not over the LOS.

The real question is about linemen (ineligible receiver) down field and that one could have been called on one of the Barn linemen who seemed to be beyond the 3 yard limit.
 
Edit:
I think we had a lot of problems in the secondary handling who should have been the deep guy on specific plays. I think almost everyone got burned except Landon. Geno, HaHa and Cyrus all did without a doubt. I have no doubts we will be much better against them and this type of play this year. Lots of mistake film to study.

That's why I believe we will win the SEC this year, and frankly the whole thing. This will be a much improved TEAM.
 

crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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Me too, but the rule clearly says his entire body and nothing about the ball. We did not get the call on the play or after the replay.
Yup, thanks!

ARTICLE 2. A forward pass is illegal if:
a. It is thrown by a Team A player whose entire body is beyond the neutral zone when he releases the ball.
b. It is thrown by a Team B player.
c. It is thrown after team possession has changed during the down.
d. It is the second forward pass during the same down.
e. It is thrown from in or behind the neutral zone after a ball carrier’s entire body and the ball have been beyond the neutral zone.
 

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