One More Article About Coastal Carolina
As our beautiful Chants ride off into the Sunset
Note: I appreciate that none of you berated me for the lack of an article on Christmas. I desperately needed the break. We should be back to the regular three a week now, with the premium posts on Monday and Friday.
Coastal Carolina’s race for an unbeaten season died on the last snap of the year, at the hands of a football program created to advertise a mega-church. It did so after a missed kick in overtime by its consistently reliable kicker, shortly after a defensive pass interference so blatant that the referee watching it was too stunned to throw a flag. What a stupid, cruel sport.
That it happened against Liberty specifically certainly makes the end of Coastal’s run worse, given Liberty’s whole deal, but that it happened at all serves as a heartbreaking final stanza for a team that was easily the most enjoyable and exciting story in college football this season. That stinks. It doesn’t erase those 11 wins though.
So, rather than letting this loss put a damper on what was an otherwise delightful season from the Chanticleers, I figured that for one last time (at least this year, I’m sure that Jamey Chadwell will have more for us in 2021), we could take a look at some of the absolutely gnarly shit that this Coastal Carolina offense was working with, including a few looks that I haven’t seen from it this season. Granted, I haven’t watched every CCU snap this season, but if these are truly new wrinkles, hats off to this staff.
We’ll start with those new looks, or, at least the plays that are new to me, beginning with this RPO.
Basic offset two-back formation to start, which I’d be willing to consider the base formation for this offense. The h-back motion before the snap forces a defensive rotation, which makes things easier on Grayson McCall, with his read based primarily on the boundary linebacker. If that linebacker drops into coverage, McCall hands off to the deep back, with the h-back serving as a lead blocker on a pretty standard dive.
If the linebacker fits the gap, as he does, McCall pulls the ball and just has to wait for Jaivon Heiligh to cut on his skinny post. He has single coverage on the outside, and with the linebacker playing in and that high-safety rotating before the play, McCall is just trying to put this ball inside so that Heiligh can box out the cornerback for one of the easier forms of a contested catch that you can generate as an offense. The throw is money, and Coastal has a nice gain.
This is the kind of RPO that doesn’t work without strong play design and a good understanding of how to manipulate a defense with motion and backfield movement. Coastal Carolina only has one route here, because the other receiver is blocking, as is the h-back and the two halfbacks once McCall pulls the ball. That means that if the linebacker forces a pull and a pass, Coastal has to be pretty damn sure that its one receiver is going to be open.
To do that, you have to attack one specific area of the field with a lot of different looks, as you would on a more traditional passing play with multiple routes. That linebacker and the safeties have to be in conflict with the action in the backfield to create a one-on-one opportunity for Heiligh on the outside with the cornerback, because this does not work if that cornerback has help. The extra step that the safety in the middle of the field takes inside as Coastal is selling this handoff is just enough to create that isolation on the outside and allow this play to work.
Another solid pass design here that I haven’t seen before from Coastal Carolina. This one is straight play action rather than an RPO (I believe, though I’ve been wrong before). McCall fakes a sweep with a pulling guard, drawing those linebackers in once again and then throws right into that vacated space in the middle of the field to the h-back, who just has to sneak off of the line and into a seam route. It’s poor here from the Liberty slot corner, but this is another one of those plays that works because Coastal Carolina understands how to put defenders into conflict.
That guard pull enough to really sell the run to those linebackers, and the h-back is purposefully lethargic and directionless at the very beginning of the route to give the slot corner a reason to keep his eyes in the backfield, rather than on the seam route.
One more play action, then onto the rushing attack. This is, again, a pass all the way, with a hard sell in the backfield rather than an actual read. Coastal Carolina is actually running this play fake off of its traditional triple option look, which I would love to see spread around the nation, because lots of teams have triple looks but very few have play fakes off of those looks.
Here, McCall sells the inside handoff fake and then flashes out with a pitch option, as he would on the usual triple option, before ducking back in for a pass. The defense, having never seen him pull the ball back in after that hard step outside, is completely fooled, specifically in the box. That leaves room down the field, and with two underneath routes (on on either side of the field) to distract the secondary, Coastal Carolina again creates a one-on-one for a cornerback, and a simple throw for McCall to the inside shoulder for a very pretty touchdown. When you run the option as well as the Chants do, this play is pretty much guaranteed to work if you can block for it well enough.
There wasn’t anything brand new in the rushing attack and it was actually a bit of a slow day on the ground for the Chanticleers, but this variation on the triple did catch my eye. This could be a larger part of the Coastal Carolina offense in 2021, especially if it maintains mobility up front.
Rather than the usual zone blocking that Coastal Carolina pairs with its triple option looks, this one had dual pulling guards, both away from the outside speed option. The theory here (and it’s a good one), is that if the halfback is running inside, you can assume that he’s doing so with a numbers advantage, because McCall only hands off when the isolated defensive end stays put.
So, that means that Coastal Carolina now has five box defenders to deal with, rather than six. So, slip that tackle on the isolated end side of the line into the second level, let your center block down on the defensive tackle, take on the other defensive tackle with the left guard, leave the back side end for the other guard, and slip both the right tackle and that tight end into the second-level. That’s a completely accounted for defensive line, two offensive linemen down the field to deal with two linebackers, and a loose tight end that could, in theory, get to the third level. Because the center is blocking down, towards that isolated end, the halfback should just ride right behind the pulling left guard, tucking in-between those two defensive tackles while he reads his blockers at the second-level and looks for the clearest lane, which would be to the outside here, right past the tight end, who is looking for someone to seal off to the inside.
Obviously, the defensive end does not stay put here, so Coastal moves onto the speed option and McCall notches a good gain. However, there’s a ton of potential in that dual-pull look. Keep an eye out for that in the Coastal offense next season.
In fact, just keep an eye out for the whole damn offense. It wasn’t the end to the year that Coastal Carolina was looking for, but with McCall returning, along with presumably the entire staff, this team is going to be a Sun Belt title contender with an electric offense once again next fall.