Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Analysis of the Week - Lehigh

Lehigh flat out beat us this past Saturday. They were the better team, and I do not believe anyone would deny that. I wish them the best of luck in the FCS playoffs, and believe they will represent the Patriot League well. With that being said, I want to look at one play that Lehigh runs that crushed us on Saturday.

Coach Gilmore constantly preaches that one needs to simply: "Do your job!" If each player on either the defensive or offensive end simply "does their job" and takes care of their assignment, than we will be successful as a collective whole. Lehigh obviously made the "do your job" philosophy a very tall task, yet if Holy Cross defended a play that Lehigh has crushed opponents with all season, they may have found themselves in the game in the waning moments, rather than down by three scores. I look to PurplePeopleEater this week for the most accurate analysis regarding this play, as well as the play of the game for Lehigh:

IMO - that play just before half was pivotal (going into half 7-3 and with whatever momentum a last score holds, we had something positive..and the fact that we didn't allow more points in the first half would've been a key at half). And then that late first half score coupled with an early 3Qtr LU score really made it tough. 

But regarding that LU 1st half TD, anyone at the game can recall our "D" yelling that there was no LU players on the left side...I don't think we even had a cornerback or ayone out there as LU had no one there either. Upon the snap, the entire play rolled right but an LU player flared out of the pack and was all alone on the left. It seemed like the play was drawn out exactly like it ran (call it a 'trick' play but it was creative, affective and done exactly at the right time). That was the play of the game!!!

I remember sitting at my desk on the afternoon of October 30, the day that Colgate played at Lehigh, and decided to splurge on spending the $6.95 to watch this game online. Aside from being very impressed with how well Lehigh moved the ball through the air, I recognized that they continually went to this throw-back pass when absolutely needing a big play. Against Colgate, they ran the play once with their primary quarterback Chris Lum (a 9 yard TD pass to Jake Drwal), and ran it another time with their "Wildcat" quaterback Michael Colvin (a 7 yard TD pass to Alex Wojdowski). This was Lehigh's bread and butter when they needed to convert, and, sure enough, they burned us on it twice. 

The play at the end of the first half, that PPE alluded to, definitely was the major changing point in the game. Going into the half down 4 (7-3), instead of 11 (14-3) is a major difference, especially because Lehigh would be receiving the ball to begin the second half. 

Although PPE already explained the play, I will do my best to explain how it works as well. The main objective of the play is to have the entire offense, but more importantly the entire defense too, flooding to one part of the field. Lehigh accomplished this with having Chris Lum and the offensive line roll out to the right side of the field; the receivers all broke to the right side as well. What made this play, however, was how the Lehigh tight end Alex Wojdowski sold his block exceptionally well, and then leaked out to the wide side of the field. He was all alone, and while Anthony DiMichele was in position to potentially make a touchdown saving tackle, Wojdowski danced around him for six. DiMichele was sucked into the design of the play, and struggled to recover. 

Lehigh's offense is much more than just this one play--call it a trick play if you want--but this throw-back pass will definitely burn another team later in the season; I can guarantee you that. The Mountain Hawks did a great job of setting up this play so they were in a position to be successful when calling it. 

Look for my reactions of the game as to "What went right, and what went wrong" later today.

Kevin Doyle '11
KLDOYL11@holycross.edu

5 comments:

  1. Our guys practiced it all week long - just that play - and still they got sucked in

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  2. I am posting this here because I do not know where else to post.

    Much ado was made about the recent HCGLC meeting with BOT member Kevin Doyle. Is there a general update that can be provided to CCRR readers?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. They met with the head of the board, and his name is Kevin Condron. You must be mixing him up with me, as I am Kevin Doyle.

    As far as an update, I was told that the details really could not be leaked from the meeting, but that Kevin Condron was receptive and will take into account what was said.

    Who knows if this is mere lip service from Mr. Condron, but I suppose that is encouraging to hear.

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  4. Anthony DiMichele still would have had to cover 2 people. NOT LIKELY. He is good but not that special.

    Several things made that play work. Our outside lb was on a called blitz. NOT GOOD IDEA

    Coverage was being rolled to #85 all day because of his HUGE yds per game over the course of this season. CORNERBACK ON THAT SIDE WENT ACROSS FIELD WITH WIDE OUT.

    IT WAS JUST A SUPER CALL AGAINST THE DEFENSE WE RAN. ALMOST LIKE THEY WERE LISTENING TO THE CALL COMING IN FROM THE BOX.

    They won the chess match

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  5. Anonymous said...
    Our guys practiced it all week long - just that play - and still they got sucked in.

    **our guys also practiced 2 new defenses for 10 days that were to be used for most of the day. they were used for less than 3 plays total.these defenses were supposed to take advantage of our speed and put more people in the middle of field. we could have used that to catch the 2 QB'S and watch #85.

    ReplyDelete