The Numbers Game – Red Zone Offense
I don’t have much to gripe about in MSU’s dismantling of Southern, but the red zone offense would be one.
Four trips inside the USM 20, and only one score. MSU was stopped on downs, threw an interception and missed a field goal.
25% is really bad. 50% is bad. You’d figure against a team like Southern Miss – a team State scored 49 points on, they would have had better success in the red zone.
State was 79th in the country last year scoring 80% of the time they reached the red zone. The Bulldogs scored touchdowns 63% of the time which was good for 55th.
1st possession
Drive started at the USM four yard line. MSU goes into the double Tight End I formation. Hereis what Coach had to say about it in his Sunday Morning QB:
"We hit it up inside good on 1st down for 2 yards. On 2nd down, we tried the little FB give and Brandon Hill let the DE crash down and make the tackle. If the DE makes that tackle- that means the play is tooooo slowwwww. Ran the option on 3rd down to the 1. I’ve watched the 4th down play about a dozen times now- the NG just got low and crawled on Day, Malone kicked out the DT and made a good block, Griffin blocked air. Instead of reading Malone’s butt like he is supposed to which will tell him where to block- he looks outside where Malone is pushing the DT. That tells me we dont run that enough to where everyone knows their assignments- because one of the most basics things on that play for the FB is to read where the bubble is opening. If Griff turns up inside and gets his body on the Mike- we score easily. He didnt, Mike meets JRob in hole untouched. Get back to what we do best – that ain’t it."
2nd possession
1st and Goal at the 10 yard line but an offensive holding moves the ball back to the 20. We are behind the chains right there so we throw an incomplete pass, then Prescott runs the ball five yards to the 15. On 3rd and Goal Prescott is sacked back to the 23. That can’t happen. Not with our field goal kicking – if we have made it to the 15 yard line we need to stay there. At is was, Westin Graves attempted a 40 yard kick and missed.
3rd possession
This is the one that worked. It was the Nick Griffin show. A 24 yard run got MSU into the red zone. An 11 yard run got the ball down to the one yard line, and Griff ran it in from there. Nicely done.
4th possession
Got inside the USM 5 yard line, and on 3rd and goal Prescott threw a bad pass that was picked off.
All of those possessions were in the 1st half. That’s a good measurement as Southern’s defense was not worn down yet.
How will MSU’s offense handle the red zone this year? The big explosive plays with touchdowns from the 23, 25 or 35 yard line aren’t going to be there every game. Better defenses will limit those big plays and we’ll have to execute in those critical situations. Those are the downs that can determine if you are a good or great team. The red zone scoring needs to be around 90% and touchdowns in the red zone need to be around 70% to have a really good team.
Hopefully we’ll see some improvement in the red zone offense this week against UAB.