Film Study: Washington Football at UCLA
Washington lost at the Rose Bowl to UCLA. The team's defensive struggles led to the offense pressing too hard for big plays. The Huskies had won four games in a row.
Jake Bobo torched the Washington secondary on UCLA's 3rd & 4. UCLA uses a shotgun 2x2 formation with no TEs attached to the formation and a pre-snap motion flaring Charbonnet out to field. Bob is on the LOS as the up man in a stacked look to nearside of the boundary. The formation draws the defense into a single-high coverage. It also makes the free safety back into deeper alignment. UCLA didn't have a lot of game planning before this game. They didn’t have to go off of a specific stacked WR look. By stacking WRs, you force the defence to pick their poison.
Bobo is able to run through the half-press with relative ease and gets to work on Cook out in space. Cook is a safety, so he can't keep up with Bobo in 1v1 coverage. Fabiculanan didn't help Boba, because he was in a single-high alignment.
UCLA scored a touchdown on a play that was similar to one that Washington used in their game. Chip Kelly's team used a similar formation with Bobo aligned in a stacked look to the boundary. This time, Fabiculanan is aligned shallower in the middle of the field and Cam Bright is brought further out over the slot.
Bobo cuts inside Cook on a skinny post and scores a touchdown. Bright is held in place by play action towards the boundary. Cook is on an island with Bobo and is not getting help from the inside.
Penix threw a bad pass on 3rd & 7 to McMillan. The defense was prepared for it. UCLA is playing a hybrid coverages. Penix read it as Cover 3 Cloud. The play was called out of a 2x2 shotgun set. It was a similar play to the one called earlier in the game on Odunze's TD. They are playing split field Cover 6. #22 is the nickel player. He was playing on the Cover 4 side of the play. This allowed #4 to take on McMilan's seam route. On the next play Penik threw the pass into the baited window.
Washington lost to UCLA on a basic play. UCLA starts in a tight 2x2 formation with 11 personnel. The Bruins motion receivers across the formation. When the offense changes formation, the defense checks into Cover 4 Lock. This puts the field safety in man coverage against the single side WR. The weak spot in this adjustment is that the flat side of the route has to be covered by an LB coming from the box.
Penix throws his second interception of the game on the last play of half. UCLA is playing a Cover 6 with a box corner Smash concept to the boundary and a double post concept (a Cover 4 beater) to field. The defense plays the routes perfectly. Penix makes a mistake by trying to play too much hero ball. The game ended with Washington winning. It was the first down of a 1st-down situation. Washington won the match. They are now playing at UCLA. Their next game is at home. they are playing against the Bruins on September 14th. This is the second game of this season.
The Huskies are in Tempe for a second straight game in hostile territory. ASU is a program that is trying to right the ship after a few dysfunctional years under Herm Edwards’ lame duck leadership. The interim staff needs to circle the wagons and get their team refocused.
Bobo and the UCLA offense are playing from a 2x2 formation. Bobo is aligned to the field and plays a stacked WR look. Dom Hampton and Julius Irvin are in coverage. The defense is in a single-high shell. Since the WR stack is on the side of the formation, Hampton elects to play off coverage instead of a press alignment against Boba. The main take away from the game is that Bob was getting picked on in the coverage by the defensive adjustment.
