Film Room Favorites: KU vs. Oklahoma
The Kansas Jayhawks earned one of the most important wins in program history this weekend by downing the Oklahoma Sooners 38-33. It wasn’t always beautiful, in fact at times it got quite ugly, but the perfect combination of the right play calls and clutch execution led to KU scoring the upset.
That’s where this week’s Film Room Favorites comes in. There’s a lot of fascinating, thrilling and sometimes maddening tape to break down from this game, and we’re going to dive into some of the most important efforts that led to the win.
Unsurprisingly, that starts with some of the highlights from a wild afternoon for the current QB1.
FOURTH AND THE GAME
It wasn’t a pretty weekend for Jason Bean. He threw two fourth-quarter interceptions, one of which was an awful decision and one of which was an awful throw.
But to his credit, and he deserves a ton of it, he battled and fought until the very end. He came up clutch at the most important moment of the game, a fourth-down conversion that was maybe the biggest play of the season so far for Kansas.
This isn’t necessarily the most schematically unique play we’ve seen from the Andy Kotelnicki offense, but it was the perfect play at the perfect time.
First of all, and this is personal preference more than anything, but I don’t think this was an especially well-conceived defensive strategy by Oklahoma. You can understand keeping a spy on the field to try to neutralize Bean’s rushing ability, but only sending three pass rushers on the most important play of the game just isn’t very smart. That’s only amplified by the fact that pressure and chaos caused those two aforementioned interceptions. Why not try to make his throw as difficult as possible?
Where this play design really succeeds is with how much space it creates and how big of a throwing window it creates. KU is running a dagger concept to the field side of the play, with Luke Grimm running a vertical route from the slot while Lawrence Arnold follows behind with a deep in-breaker. Underneath, Mason Fairchild and Quentin Skinner run crossers in the middle of the pattern. Working in tandem, these concepts spread the defense out thinly, with Grimm clearing out the MOF coverage and the crossing routes widening the passing lane. All Bean has to do is make an accurate throw to Arnold and he does just that.
Arnold probably should have gone down in bounds to force OU into using a timeout, but you can rationalize why he’d head for the sideline with KU out of timeouts. Either way, this was the most important snap of the game, it saved the game and re-wrote Bean’s narrative for the day.
CALLBACK!
At the start of the fourth quarter, on a drive that eventually saw the Jayhawks take the lead, KU got creative with a couple of different assets and picked up an important first down.
This is a fun play, but it’s not a new one if you read our offseason film room series, specifically our deep dive into how Kansas can effectively use two quarterbacks simultaneously. Back in that film study session, we had two plays that conceptually merged in this play from this weekend.
First, a snap directly to Devin Neal, who then hands it off to the quarterback on a pass play:
Next, a 180-degree turnaround handoff to Bean, who goes from runner to passer in one swift movement:
The KU offense is so good at using staple concepts and attacking you in diverse ways out of them. In the play from this weekend, the Jayhawks blend together the direct snap to Neal, which was doubly dangerous due to how often KU ran out of the Wildcat this week (more on that later), with the turnaround handoff to Bean. The result? The defense flows left with the run action, Bean gets a free roll with no pressure back to the right and has a relatively easy completion on the move to the always-reliable Grimm.
Plus, watch OU defensive back Billy Bowman (2) near the top of the screen. He initially wants to get depth, which could have complicated the throw at least a little bit, but he has to respect the threat of Bean taking off and can't drop back fully. There are so many little pieces of this play that harmonized beautifully.
HISHAW’S HUGE DAY
Neal isn’t the only Kansas running back who should have an NFL future. Daniel Hishaw came up big for the Jayhawks multiple times this weekend, including when he scored the first of his two touchdowns.
Hishaw runs the ball so powerfully, almost as if he desires and thrives on contact. And that approach usually works, given how often he bowls over defenders. But he has some shiftiness in his skill set, too, and you can see that on display here.
First, the blocking out in front. With Fairchild on the right end of the formation picking up the edge pressure, right tackle Bryce Cabeldue is able to climb to the second level and he eliminates a linebacker. Neal, the right-side running back in the double-barrel shotgun set, gets out in front as a lead blocker and, after initially flashing in front of a pursuing weak-side defender, dislodges a defensive back just enough that he can't catch up to Hishaw around the corner.
That brings us back to Hishaw's run. The player Neal originally screened, Casen Calmus (29), is put on skates thanks to a hesitation bounce out by the tailback. From there it's all about speed, kicking into another gear and beating everyone to the pylon.
We harp on this every week, but for as dynamic and effective as the running backs have been this year, the offensive line and overall blocking schemes for Kansas have been pristine throughout the season, and this time it helped to spring an early touchdown.
THE REAL DEAL
All right, let’s get to Neal.
For the sake of honesty and background information, I hate the Wildcat formation. I feel like it’s played out and generally ineffective. But, when you have ball carriers like KU does and an offensive line like KU does, maybe those plays are a little bit more potent. This wasn’t even the only time the Jayhawks ran out of the Wildcat to great effect against the Sooners.
This effort by Neal is immaculate, and in the face of adversity on this play. After getting stonewalled going downhill into the line due to interior penetration and an unchecked edge defender, he's able to reverse course, dodge a would-be tackler and reaccelerate outside. Hishaw slipped and nearly got in the way, but Neal navigated the obstacle and got near top speed as he raced along the sideline. What's more, he broke a tackle to net a couple extra yards.
He’s just so good, that’s really all there is to it. Throughout this season’s film studies, we’ve touched on all the different things he does that make him a Sunday-caliber running back. Keep this tape in the “Why You Should Draft Devin Neal” file as well.
READ LIKE A BOOK
We didn’t get a perfect all-encompassing look at this play from the broadcast copy, but this view of the pick-six by Mello Dotson in the first quarter gives us the best look at why he was able to intercept the Dillon Gabriel pass.
This is the kind of technique you want to see on teaching tape. His stance is open to the quarterback and he's giving the receiver a slight cushion, not playing too far off as to make it an easy completion and not too close as to risk getting burned vertically. Dotson reacts to the receiver pulling up short, reads Gabriel all the way and jumps the route.
It was an awful pass by Gabriel, a long throw on third down and short that he never should have made. But that doesn't take away from the excellent instincts and heady play by Dotson.
Smart fans read last week’s Wednesday Walkthrough and knew that KU’s starting boundary cornerbacks, Dotson and Cobee Bryant, would have to be good in this game for the Jayhawks to win. Well, Dotson scored on this pick-six and Bryant wasn’t targeted a single time. Score one for the bloggers.
This win meant so much to this Kansas program and it won’t be forgotten soon, and it shouldn’t be. However, there’s a lot of football left this season and a major test is coming up in Ames next weekend against the Iowa State Cyclones.
If the Jayhawks want to continue the momentum from this victory and fend off the scary vibes that come with night games at Jack Trice Stadium, they’ll have to be sharp again. That includes taking far better care of the ball, defensive consistency and the right mix of creative play calling regardless of who lines up at quarterback.
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