As evidenced by the link I posted, the idea that there are 2 plays, a hail mary and a draw, is wildly inaccurate. Not trying to be an ass, just making sure we’re clear. Technically Leach’s playbook has fewer plays than a typical college playbook, but that is because the offense revolves around the mastery of a few simple concepts (go here if you care to learn more) that can be executed from almost any formation they line up in. But the keyword there is “master”. A successful Tech quarterback must have a full grip on what is going on on the field, both with his own offense and what the defense is doing, to be successful. This is why you don’t see many young QBs starting there; it takes a few years to pick up the system.

Without being fortunate enough to catch Tech on a rare bad day, there is really nothing you can do to fully shut down the offense. Drop a lot of guys back, and you’ll get hit underneath and with the run. Send the blitz, and you’ll get hit with quick slants. Bring up the safeties, and yep, over the top. What you can do, and what Muschamp did very well, is mix up your looks (blitz/coverage, man/zone), pressure at the line, and try to throw off the timing. If you can manage to get a sack then great (just like any offense), but basically, just be disciplined, and hope for incompletions on 2nd/3rd down.

As for the O-line, leach has certainly been good at recruiting large players, even if they aren’t the best football players coming out of high school. Or they don’t have the academic credentials to play at a better college (have you seen his linemen?). The key to the low sack percentage is how wide the splits are. It is almost difficult to tell the line apart from the wideouts because the stand so far apart. This accomplishes a number of goals. It pushes the DE’s away from the quarterback because they have to line up so far to the outside. It causes the defense to project their play, because it becomes obvious if a linebacker/corner is going to blitz or not, and if they are what their point of attack is. And it allows the QB to get a better look downfield during the play, because he can simply look between the linemen instead of having to look over them.

Mack has done a good job of making sure his D-coordinators have been adequately prepared for the Tech offense over the years. With good coaching you can remove the advantages that an offensive scheme may provide, and once you do that, the extra talent is what wins games.

 . . . because I don’t underestimate MrLeach. We don’t have to estimate him, because TTech has put up such incredible numbers of the last decade or so. All because of Leach’s AirRaid offense. Its amazing. And befuddling, at least to me. I know if isn’t really sandlot, it just looks that way to me. What I wanted was exactly what I got from you guys: a bunch of links and technical savvy. Thanks. It is getting clearer. I am not a football guru and it has been killing me trying to figure out what teams are trying in order to defend Leach.

Which reminds me, technically speaking, how did OU actually accomplish the beat down of TTech last year? Was is sheer talent? Scheme? Planets aligning? Home field advantage? Did TTech just choke? What?