Assorted links

1. Blue-Gray Sky breaks down the "devolution" of Charlie Weis's Notre Dame offense.

2. Rocky Top Talk analyzes zone running. Pretty good breakdown, and on the whole very informative. A few minor points though. First, the article seems to confuse the outside-zone and the inside-zone (it professes to talk about the "inside zone" but then talks about the "stretch sweep"); the two are different plays, with the "stretch" being the same as the outside zone and the inside zone going by a lot of names, from "belly" to just "zone."



Second, the article discusses the need to cutback the run but, based on the above diagram, the blocking is drawn up against the 3-4 defense, and the offense has a numbers advantage to the tight-end side. So I would want the runner to keep it to that side; otherwise he'd be possibly cutting back into a pursuing unblocked defender. Finally, the article mentions that zone blocking wants nimble, quick, smaller lineman. This is true sometimes, but other times not so: the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s with Emmitt Smith used zone blocking almost exclusively and had the largest offensive linemen in the NFL. But that is a matter of taste.

Anyway, all these are minor points. Check it out.

3. Speaking of the zone and zone-read, Trojan Football Analysis breaks down a video then-Utah-and-former-Florida-and-now-Miss. St.-head coach explaining the inside zone and zone-read, including game film. This one is a definite to check out for purists (read the Rocky Top Talk post then check out the one from TFA):



I'm working on a post about sort of "advanced zone-read" stuff, considering all the games defenses now play and the offense's responses, but for now this stuff can be your teaser.

4. Get the Picture on the BCS anti-trust morass and grandstanding.

5. WSJ Daily Fix on better basketball stats. And, speaking of basketball (and completely unrelated to football), I stumbled on this clip of Kobe Bryant spinning Vincent Yarbrough around:



Ouch.