is the Leprecat extinct?

[monty]

After the mind boggling loss to Michigan and the disastrous 3rd and short plays in the second half of that game it got me wondering.

Where is the Leprecat formation (Irish Wildcat Formation) we saw used so much in the Sun Bowl last year? I thought for sure we would see this at least every game this season and I have not seen it one time yet. I think having Theo back there with Cierre adds a dimension that might be good on these 3rd and short plays for us to have a secondary threat back there. We know Tommy is not going to run on these plays so why not throw a wrinkle at them when we tried to run up the gut on two straight 3rd and short plays?

Anyone else wondering where the Leprecat is?

 

[Riddickulous]

The Wildcat/Leprecat was only a fad. It's fading quickly.

 

[TerryTate]

I haven't seen many teams run it at all this season.

It's pretty predictable now. Defenses know how to contain it.

 

[Veer option]

If I recall correctly the wildlepracat wasn't even that successful against Miami.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

When we're in our base personnel set (Jet), the defense doesn't know whether to expect a run or a pass.

When we line up in the Leprecat, they can be 99% certain we're running it. Predictability is not a good thing in CFB.

The problems in short yardage situations can be addressed in a lot of ways, most of which don't involve completely telegraphing our run/pass intent.

 

[monty]

From what I remember it worked out well in the Sun Bowl, but hey I was pretty drunk.

I just thought we would see it more to get Theo the ball, maybe a couple passes here and there, a reverse maybe.

All I know is that 3rd and short was nasty without a good lead blocker.

 

[mick2]

unless you use golson or hendrix as the wildcat qb

 

[Veer option]

The problem I have found with the predictability of the wildcat is that teams never attempted to pass out of it. It just morphed into a zone/read, sweep formation, so defenses never had to change their personnel to counter it. I presume that if teams got rid of the QB in the formation and used either a RB or WR to pass the ball somewhat effectively it would force teams to respect the pass as well as the run. Which would in turn open the defense allowing for more lanes for running.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Whatever happened to using the pistol offense? ND lined up in the pistol offense successfully the second half last year.

 

[JughedJones]

Kelly said it is a game to game situation.

Maybe Hendrix.

Maybe Saturday.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I just thought we would see it more to get Theo the ball, maybe a couple passes here and there, a reverse maybe.

Agreed on this point. I'd love to see Theo get the ball on some Jet sweeps or the occasional reverse.

All I know is that 3rd and short was nasty without a good lead blocker.

That was Mike Ragone's job. We're definitely feeling his absence in short yardage situations. It seems the staff doesn't think any of our other TEs block well enough to ask them to play FB.

 

[Rocket89]

Can we get Jonas and Cierre in the backfield with Rees at the same time though?

 

[Veer option]

That was Mike Ragone's job. We're definitely feeling his absence in short yardage situations. It seems the staff doesn't think any of our other TEs block well enough to ask them to play FB.

Welch and Koyak need a couple more off seasons with Longo.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

That was Mike Ragone's job. We're definitely feeling his absence in short yardage situations. It seems the staff doesn't think any of our other TEs block well enough to ask them to play FB.

Yea I miss Mike..

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Can we get Jonas and Cierre in the backfield with Rees at the same time though?

Has Kelly ever used a Regular set? I can't recall ever seeing it.

 

[IrishGiant]

Yeah, and I remember when the "run and shoot" was all the rage.

 

[monty]

Would be very interesting to see when either of the young guys come in for that change of pace, maybe in a blowout game but you would not want to show too much.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Yeah, and I remember when the "run and shoot" was all the rage.

The spread is a derivative of the Run & Shoot I believe.

 

[IrishGiant]

The spread is a derivative of the Run & Shoot I believe.

Its an alternative to the Run and Shoot. No one uses the run and shoot anymore. At least not that I've seen (at least the original 1980's kind)

 

[ACamp1900]

It's a stupid ten man formation against 11 men on defense... the sonner it goes the way of the Dodo the better imo.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Its an alternative to the Run and Shoot. No one uses the run and shoot anymore. At least not that I've seen (at least the original 1980's kind)

I think June Jones is running the same run & shoot at SMU that he ran with the Falcons. I could be wrong on that though.

 

[ACamp1900]

The run and shoot when used best, was aimed at figuring out the coverage schemes via motion, then adjusting the routes of receivers according via hot routes...

and it was most definately a passing offense...

the spread's main goal is to spread the defense into one on one situations where back or receiver will, in theory, have to make one man miss for a big play to occur... can be run heavey or pass heavy or balanced according to personel or preference. I see high school teams that run the spread that never throw the ball all dman game.


BUT to say the spread came somehow from the run and shoot... I suppose you could make a case for it in more than one way.

 

[irishff1014]

We are doing pretty good job of runing the ball without using this.

 

[IrishGiant]

The run and shoot when used best, was aimed at figuring out the coverage schemes via motion, then adjusting the routes of receivers according via hot routes...

and it was most definately a passing offense...

the spread's main goal is to spread the defense into one on one situations where back or receiver will, in theory, have to make one man miss for a big play to occur... can be run heavey or pass heavy or balanced according to personel or preference. I see high school teams that run the spread that never throw the ball all dman game.


BUT to say the spread came somehow from the run and shoot... I suppose you could make a case for it in more than one way.

I think the death knell of the run and shoot was when Houston allowed the Bills to come back from 30 something points down in the 92 playoffs. If they had actually run the ball, no way the Bills come back. I remember people calling it the "Run and shoot yourself in the foot" after that game. While it didnt disappear immediately, it lost alot of its appeal.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

I think the death knell of the run and shoot was when Houston allowed the Bills to come back from 30 something points down in the 92 playoffs. If they had actually run the ball, no way the Bills come back. I remember people calling it the "Run and shoot yourself in the foot" after that game. While it didnt disappear immediately, it lost alot of its appeal.

The Run & Shoot's fatal flaw was its inability to run the ball. The Spread doesn't have that problem (see: Auburn, Oregon, Oklahoma, 2011 ND, etc.)

We are doing pretty good job of runing the ball without using this.

Because we aren't using the Run & Shoot. The Spread is perfectly legit.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

I'd still like to see Jonas come out of the pistol with a head of steam...

 

[Veer option]

Problem lies with the pistol you need a qb who is somewhat of a credible threat to run the ball.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Problem lies with the pistol you need a qb who is somewhat of a credible threat to run the ball.

That's a good point, but ND ran it last year with Rees and Crist.

 

[Veer option]

Crist could/can actually run a little downfield, Tommy has decent lateral movement but his forward running ability has much to be desired.

 

[fitz_bu47]

I know some of you will laugh, but Kansas has been using a wildcat set this season w/ a lot of success. It worked well against Ga Tech in the first half, it was 24-17 at halftime. KU has about 6-4 star recruits on the roster, and 4 of them are rb's, and their o-line is decent. So Saturday they came out w/ a tailback in shotgun, w/ a back about a yard behind him, and one to each side, like a shotgun inverted bone. It was pretty sweet, they kept it pretty vanilla though, mostly zone read off of it, and had some success.......Now as far as even slowing down Ga Tech's option, that was another story, and was very hard to watch.