Buck Sweep Gives UNC & Belichick Fits
Anyone who has coached the Wing T and the Buck Sweep or defended it knows that one of the things that makes it so explosive is the play can hit in different ways. Bill Belichick and his son Steve’s North Carolina 30 defense got a good dose of this Monday night vs the TCU Horned Frogs. This one play gained over one hundred yards and scored twice in the third quarter.
As most football coaches know, the Buck Sweep can out leverage your defense on the perimeter. However; it can also crease you inside of your contain player. This is exactly what happened to the UNC defense on two explosive touchdowns in the third quarter on Monday night
The first Buck Sweep touchdown didn’t take long to happen. It was the first play of the third quarter as TCU started the drive on their own 25 yard line. Belichick’s North Carolina defense lined up in a 30 defensive front with the Tackles playing a tite 40 technique.
The First Buck Sweep Touchdown Came On The First Play Of The Second Half
The secondary started in a two deep shell but the safety to the eventual Buck Sweep side actually dropped down into the box late. Here’s the thing about the Buck Sweep and Wing T offenses these days. They are not your Grand Pappy’s Wing T. The formations are spread all the way across the field. These formations and plays are more like Bill Belichick remembers from the 49ers in the NFL.
As you can see from the FirstDown PlayBook diagram, this was the case on this touchdown. Two TCU receivers were lined up out to the left and essentially ate pop corn and watched the play. The play side receiver did a great job of blocking the corner all the way down the field.
The meat and potatoes of this Buck Sweep, however, was the TCU offensive line. The play side Tackle had an angle on the 4I. Both Guards did a great job of kicking out the perimeter and pulling up to lead inside ro the touchdown. The North Carolina coaches will not like what they see on tape as the Nose and the back side 4I got badly reached.
Kendall Briles Went Back To The Well 6 Minutes & 21 Seconds Later For TD Number 2
Fast forward six minutes and 21 seconds later. Same play to the left for the same result. This time Kendall Briles did a good job of predicting the Belichick’s UNC defense would be in a Bear front covering up the Center and two Guards. This also meant they would be in man coverage.
Briles motioned the wide out on the left side across and that took the UNC corner with him. One less defender to block. The TCU offensive line and Tight End now had great angles vs the play side 3 technique. The Tight End actually blocked the play side Linebacker instead of the backside.
So, in a game that had so much hype, the irony here, as far as FirstDown PlayBook can see is that football plays and how you run them matter. TCU took the Buck Sweep, which is a play that our youth football and high school football coaches run every week and gave Bill Belichick, a Hall of Fame NFL coach fits all night.
