Army's Offense

[DaHorra]

Army doesn't run the flexbone like GA Tech/Navy, as seen in NCAA 11, but rather some kind of veer option offense like the one Houston ran in the late 70's. It'd have to be a brand new offense (I haven't seen anyone else running it this year), for a team that I'm sure isn't on the forefront of the EA consumer consciousness, but it'd be nice to see in the game. I'll draw up diagrams on MS Paint if that would help.

[CObra-la]

Army has a pretty unique defense too. They run the old Double Eagle Flex defense that Arizona ran back when Teddy Brewski was there. Once I finish downloading the Rutgers game I'll add photos to that. I have some from the Army Navy game but they were mostly in a alignment similar to the 3-3-5 Bear the whole time.

[CObra-la]

[Eggl]

The first picture looked like a wing T formation, but judging by the second picture, it looked like the motion man more TE in motion to block and they just had a split back set that lots of high schools use to run the old fashioned veer.

The video you posted of the Cal Poly game looked like they were just running a normal flexbone.

[CObra-la]

its a mixture of a lot of things, Flexbone wishbone, offset I, and some Wing stuff...

Its pretty interesting to watch. difference in what they run and what army runs is their passing game, its more-prostyle passing than run'n'shoot.

[CObra-la]

Here is some stuff that I could find from Thebirddog. A site that focuses on Navy Football with some really really indepth analysis.
Army’s Wing Bone Offense.

As stated before Army's offense is mixture of Flexbone and Wing-T, hence, Head Coach giving the offense the name, Wing Bone.

The outside veer is a triple option play, but rather having a fullback running to the B gap, one of the two split backs runs off tackle. The quarterback starts moving down the line to get to the mesh point, giving the split back a different dive angle then we see in the Navy spread option. (Special Note to EA: This play SHOULD go in every option playbook. Not formation wise but play wise.)

With the split back veer, either back could be a dive back or a pitch back on any play.


Army gets a advantage of misdirection by having their two best runners in the backfield. They run a lot of jet sweeps as well, which also sets up counter plays. Here, as the safeties follow the motion and the threat of the sweep, Army runs a counter in the other direction.


Army’s misdirection plays envolve a lot from a Counter Iso with a pulling center which looks like a triple option play but its a predetermined hand off.

doubleO by phatphelix


Their staple passing play is play action in one direction, with the QB rolling out in the opposite direction.The play action gets the safety moving away from the direction of the pass.

On that last play, the motion drew the safety away, leaving a 1-on-1 matchup for the wide receiver. That was Army’s bread & butter pass play with Ali Villanueva, but it wasnt as successful without a 6’10″ receiver to throw to.

[bogeyexpress]

Nice vids and thanks for them.

[CObra-la]

"Double Dive" is a generic term thats used for the the "Belly Series" in Army's offense. As its been said before Army's Offense is a mixture of the Wing-T and Option offenses. This series of plays borrows a lot from the Wing-T Belly Series, but is somewhat different. What Wing-T coaches typically refer to as their Belly Series is really the “Outside” Belly Series. The play otherwise known as a Double Dive is typically referred to as the “Inside” Belly Series"

The Belly is a play that threatens 3 separate points of attack all to the same side of the defense, very similar to the triple option, except without the pitch and read issues. Although the play originated from the full-house 3 RB systems of the 50’s and 60’s, it has since evolved and been adapted to fit many different styles of offense.

The base is typically a 2 RB set with a Wingback lined up where a A-back would line up traditionally in the Flexbone, and you can run the Belly Series out of any 2-back formation (or any formation where you can motion to 2 RB's, like flexbone, DW, etc.):

From Army's Base Alignment:



Pre-snap the Wingback will motion to draw the linebackers attention. The first back (closest to playside) dives straight ahead, usually off center or guard depending on his alignment. The QB sticks the ball in his gut and rides it in either a give or a fake (in the game, this should be a pre-determined call with a give or a "Flash Fake"). The second back (furthest from playside) drives laterally for a step, and then drives hard to the offtackle hole or B gap, coming downhill. The QB will ride him with either a give or fake as well. Finally, when the QB has disengaged from the second back he will fake or run keeper around the end. All 3 points of attack are on the same side of the defense.

Some teams run it as an option, like midline or veer with the first ride. My suggestion is that EA implement this play as a predetermined call, as I feel it'll be best suited when it comes to running this series of plays.

Give us the option to run this play as a series concept, as it represents the primary series in the offense.


The rushing plays in the series are as follows:

BELLY- Base play, pre-determined give to either the first back or second back
BELLY KEEPER-Fakes first and second back, with QB keeper around the end, playside G pulls
BELLY COUNTER-Fake first man, hand outside to WB running backside counter (trap blocked), fake 2nd man
BELLY OPTION- Midline or IV blocking scheme, with option as to who gets the ball (QB or FB)
BELLY HANDBACK- A crossbuck, fakes the first man one side, hands back to the second man opposite side (similar to the WB Misdirection out of the Flexbone books, just a tad different)
BELLY TOSS- Fakes the first man, then option pitch toss to the second back following a pulling guard to the outside.

I'll try to go through the strategy of each so, just in case designers are checking this post out, they'll better understand the blocking on each play.