Suggestions to negate the HUNH.

gamersfuel

All-American
Jan 20, 2008
4,174
89
72
Auburn/near a cow pasture
Do like teams use to do against the wishbone. Pound the qb into the dirt every play. It may not actually slow things down, but he will make more mistakes.
^^^^^^ put Foster in and assign him to the QB and force him to pitch no matter what.. after a few drives and Foster licks that fast pace wont be so fast and you will probably get some fumbles.
 

graydogg85

1st Team
Feb 7, 2006
934
169
62
Huntsville, AL
Do whatever LSU has done the past two years to Texas A&M and in 2013 against AU. Chavis doesn't seem to have a problem stopping the HUNH offense.
Blitz with reckless abandon. He uses a lot of run blitzes with corners and safeties...really fast guys who can get into the backfield untouched if the play is diagrammed correctly. They blow things up in the backfield on early downs and the offense never gets on track. Of course, you are practically guaranteed to give up a haymaker or two going this route (which LSU generally does), but Chavis seems to consider this the lesser of two evils and it's working for them.

To be fair, Chavis defends most styles of offense in this manner, which is why he's not without his detractors.
 

PacadermaTideUs

All-American
Dec 10, 2009
4,072
289
107
Navarre, FL
I've been thinking this for some time now, have someone assigned to the QB and always - AWLAYS - plant him in the dirt.
I forget now which NFL coaches were asked, but the question went to several about how they planned to respond to the HUNH read option making its way into the league. I believe specifically it was in response to the skills that Kaepernick and Cam were bringing. Almost to a man, the answer from the NFL coaches was to attack the "point of exchange" and bury the QB every play.
 

Nolan

Hall of Fame
Jul 4, 2006
5,591
679
137
Oahu
Do like teams use to do against the wishbone. Pound the qb into the dirt every play. It may not actually slow things down, but he will make more mistakes.
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but isn't the QB eligible to be hit during all of this read option, misdirection type stuff? If so, then yeah, hit him over and over and that will degrade his ability to make plays.
 

PacadermaTideUs

All-American
Dec 10, 2009
4,072
289
107
Navarre, FL
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but isn't the QB eligible to be hit during all of this read option, misdirection type stuff? If so, then yeah, hit him over and over and that will degrade his ability to make plays.
It also removes the "option". It becomes a hand-off. Every play.
 

uafan4life

Hall of Fame
Mar 30, 2001
15,608
7,414
287
43
Florence, AL
Another poster hit the nail on the head with regards to the barn and other read-option / run heavy HUNH teams...

...treat it like the wishbone and have the first guy into the backfield simply tackle the quarterback.

Every time.

If the defender is within a couple of steps of the handoff - a virtual certainty with the read-option - then the Quarterback is fair game to be tackled, regardless of whether he hands the ball off.

If you make Nick Marshall pick himself up off of the ground 40-50 plays per game, that offensive pace will slow down quite a bit.
 

Coach25

1st Team
Sep 1, 2014
389
379
82
The big thing about playing *U is not getting stuck inside or suckered outside if your the lb's. The way to keep that from happening is either the d line get penetration or eat up multiple blockers. Where they get you is when a guard or h back is pulling through a hole and can get to the second level to your lbs. If they are out of position, they torch you for huge yards possibly a touchdown. Like other posters have said if you can get penetration or can take on multiple blockers and clog up the middle it should force the ball outside every time on the sweep or running outside tackle. By doing that, it allows your lbs to roam and make plays (as long as they can't get blockers into our lb's.) If they can't get blockers to second level they have no consistent run game.
 

pigsinspace

1st Team
Jan 26, 2011
609
27
47
Gang tackle whenever possible and take your time getting off of the ball carrier. Have a big guy fake an injury in that pile. Throw in an extra knee to the gut or an elbow under the facemask on the bottom of the pile.
 

CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
12,757
94
67
Play defense like KSU. Seriously though, AU doesn't have a true power back this year like they had Mason last year so they are not nearly as effective at running between the tackles. This should enable Bama and other teams to be able to keep a better seal on the edges. Make NM beat you with his arm. He has very good arm strength but his accuracy comes and goes..
 

CoastGhost

Suspended
Sep 5, 2009
5,650
80
67
North Carolina
I've been thinking this for some time now, have someone assigned to the QB and always - ALWAYS - plant him in the dirt.
That is my thought as well. Make the game 10 on 10 and assign the fastest, meanest guy on your team one job. Hit the QB on all 90 of their plays. Hit him in the locker room if that is where he runs. Accept a few penalties along the way but eliminate one option and take the spring out of his legs before halftime.

edited add - Of course, if it were that simple, the HUNH would be long abandoned and CNS would have lost ~1/2 of one game to it. :)
 
Last edited:

TerryR

BamaNation Citizen
Aug 12, 2011
55
0
0
Wetumpka, AL
the most important thing in slowing them down is two fold. the first thing you have to do is create a negative play or short gain on first down. if you notice a lot of HUNH teams tend to slow down if you win first down. the second thing is you have to pressure the QB with the four down linemen. I say pressure, not sack. although sacks are nice most of these teams employee a short quick passing game. the days of seven step drops are over, you can see that even in Bama's offense.

ok, three things. the defense MUST tackle well in space. Eddie Jackson has a knack for "shoulder tackling". the defender HAS to be sure to wrap up. the HUNH concept combined with the "spread and shred" passing game concept utilizes a lot of quick slants, screens and crossing routes that result in big plays if the db is not a sure tackler.

well four...forgot about one of the more important things. Your teams offense. RUN THE BALL with effectiveness. just look at the Texas Tech / Arkansas game if you need ay help figuring this out.
I think first down is the key generally. As you point out, if they're behind the chains down and distance it causes them to be more selective i.e., use some time to consider the next play. The Aubs have a tendency to run the same play twice - particularly up the middle - if they have a positive 1st down run. They did it to Ala last year regularly and I was frustrated out of my mind why Ala couldn't stop the run up the middle with a back or the QB. Laying the wood to the ball carrier would go a long way in helping stop this nonsense. I think K-State had Aub figured out and limited their run game last night pretty effectively. If Ala's defensive mindset can't figure it out, get somebody else's tape....This crapola has got to end just like folks figured out the wishbone and other passing fads. Football is won and lost at the lines of scrimmage and that should never be forgotten.
 

braggtd

Suspended
Sep 25, 2011
2,549
476
107
Not all teams are struggling with it. KSU did fairly well against a more talented Auburn team. Stanford has done very well against Oregan over the past few seasons. LSU did very well against JFF. I think it is a scheme thing. The problem is if you build a team and scheme to combat the quicker HUNH offenses you may suffer against the more physical teams. I don't bank on us stopping it....we just need to out score it (see last years TAMU game)! The days of dominant defenses are gone for now.
 

USCBAMA

All-SEC
Sep 21, 2001
1,860
105
182
Columbia, SC, Richland
Several things did-in the wishbone as a major offense of D1 teams. Liberal blocking rules, tighter PI rules, faster LBs and DEs, etc. But another IMO was the combination of scholarship limitations (wishbone teams could not carry carry 10 qbs anymore) and teams figuring out to punish the qb. Conventional defensive wisdom held that the qb was the lesser of 3 evils, so make him keep it. But somewhere along the line teams figured out to hit the qb early and often. Also with rules changes and more pass-happy teams emerging (Miami, FSU, BYU, etc.), top qb recruits decided it was more pleasant, and a better road to the nfl, to go throw the ball as opposed to running it. The wishbone died.

As others have already suggested, applying this same philosophy to the running versions of the HUNH and the spread/read option offenses will do wonders toward steering top qb candidates away from schools running these offenses. Comparisons to the wishbone need to be used often during recruiting, then kids like Cam Newton will be more inclined to play in a more traditional offense, one that better prepares them for the nfl (Tim Tebow may very well have nfl talent, he's just no better prepared for playing in the nfl than the day he stepped on campus at Florida).

Bottom line, it is time for defensive coordinators to start making it very unpleasant for qbs to run the ball.
 

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