With all the pre-season hype on Deshaun Watson, I figured I would look at some of Clemson's offensive schemes. One thing that takes Clemson's offense to an elite level is their clever use of formations especially empty formations. With the threat of Watson running in the empty set, the defense really has to decide if they are going to attempt to load the box against empty formations and leave themselves vulnerable to one on one match ups on the outside or play zone and give Watson the ability to run inside. Clemson has lots of weapons beyond Watson which makes it so difficult for a defense to match up against them.
The game I focused on was against Boston College who actually led the nation in total defense. BC's defensive coordinator Don Brown just took the same role with University of Michigan this off-season so I wanted to take a look at his approach to slowing down Clemson's prolific offense, and his approach to stopping Clemson's empty attack.
The first clip is a very simple concept and read for the QB. Clemson starts in a 3x1 formation which the defense starts in a Cover 1 man to man. When the RB motions to Empty the defense checks to a 2 high look (or maybe even Cover 3 with safety slow in his rotation). This gives Clemson a 3 on 2 advantage to the trips side and Watson flips it out in space to Artavis Scott, who is outstanding in space, and Scott gets 10 yards. This is a very simple read for any QB. If BC would of stayed 3 over 3 on the trips side, he then has hitches to the 2 wr side with a QB draw option. He can either throw one of the hitch routes or run the draw. As you will notice the Offensive line is blocking the draw and not standard pass pro. The hitch on the top converts vs. press which gives a Watson a big play opportunity as well.
Clemson ran this play 5 times in this game. The next one they just started in 3x2 empty and got the same look so Watson again flipped it out for 5 yards. In the spread offense, this is the equivalent to the toss sweep of pro style offenses. Here is the clip below:
The 3rd time they ran it, they motioned to it like the first. Defense checked again to that 1 high look, but the safety was slow to get to the middle of the field, so this time, Watson took a shot to the converted fade and overthrew it but could of been a big play.
The 4th time they ran it, Clemson lined up in the empty set right from the start. It looked like Watson could of taken the numbers advantage but instead worked the draw option this time. So after the snap Watson shows pass and eye balls the OLB to the 2 wr side and once the LB drops to play the hitch, Watson tucks and runs for 10 yards. If the OLB stayed in the box, the Qb would of thrown the hitch. Watch below:
Clemson ran this concept 5 times and completed 3 passes for about 43 yards and ran it once for 10 yards. No matter what the defense tries, there is always an option that makes them wrong, which makes teams like Clemson very hard to slow down.
The next concept is below which is essential a stick concept to the left and a double slant concept to the right. Being, an empty, gives a clear picture for Watson in terms of how the defense is aligned and can throw this play based on leverage. He can throw to the WR who he thinks has the best leverage on the defense.
They ran this play 4 times. The first one below, he sees the MLB cheating to the trips side, so he works the double slant side.
The next time they ran this play the #3 WR had leverage on the LB inside of him so he checks to make sure overhang player plays the arrow by #2 and then puts the ball run on #3 on the stick. This is not an RPO. This is true 3 step play as you can see the offensive line cut blocking.
The third time they motion to empty and the defense stays in man and LB runs to the outside with the RB. This time he goes back to the double slant side as the #3 player running the stick didn't have leverage on the LB over him as that LB shaded his outside this time like the first play. This time he didn't pull the trigger on the double slant combination and scrambled for 4 yards. Even when you have him stopped, he still manages a way to escape and get yards.
The 4th time he had leverage on the stick route by #3 but for some reason didn't like it and turned to the double slant side a little late and misfired. So for this concept Watson was 2-3 and an efficient scramble.
The next concept is very similar to the stick and double slant concept. Now the all slant concept is to the the 3 wr side and the stick concept is to the 2 wr side. Again the QB checks the alignment of the defense and throws based off the leverage. The diagram is below:
In the first clip, Watson felt his best leverage was #2 to the trips side vs the pressed overhand player. He quickly catches, let's #3 clear, and throws #2 on the slant.
The second time, he gets even better leverage with the alley player outside of #2 and the ILB tucked in the box. This time the slant is even easier to connect. Again, another advantage of having a running QB is you get looks like this with 6 in the box vs empty.
The third time, they motion the RB out of the backfield to empty. Pre-snap it looked like a double a gap blitz look but motion bumped one of them out of the box. Pre-snap, Watson sees #2 with good leverage so he completes it again.
Another high percentage concept that puts a lot of pressure on the defense. That's the great thing about these easy throws in Empty, is there is always the potential for a home run play with one missed tackle since everybody is so spread out.
Another concept Clemson used out of empty was similar to a Smash concept, but instead of running corners with the slots, they run fades. If it's 1 high safety, the QB will read the corner. If he bails he will throw the hitch, if he squats he will throw the fade in the hole. This look is an obvious man situation so he will take his slot vs a LB/Safety type player anytime. The ball is a little overthrown and the WR does a good job insuring that it is not an interception. A backshoulder throw could of been very effective here. If a team did play 2 high, then the #3 up the middle because a potential big play as well.
The last thing Clemson does that is very simple but extremely effective and difficult for a defense is start in Empty and motion back to a 1 back formation. This is difficult for a defense because of the adjustments many teams will make. Clemson starts in an empty formation, which usually causes the defense to check to a particular defense, and then once they check, they bring the RB back in the backfield to run their base inside zone play, which causes them to check again. The multiple checks catch the defense out of position. Once they go back to trips the safety rolls to play 3 over 3 on the trips, and then when they run zone read the QB pulls the ball and nobody accounts for the QB. If Clemson just started in a 1 back set, the defense would of definitely had a plan to account for Watson, but the simple motion and defensive checks caused confusion. Here is the simple window dressing to the zone play that can wreak havoc on defensive coordinators.
Clemson is a talented, multi-formational team that plays with tempo, which is tough in itself. Then add Watson to the mix, and they instantly become a contender for the National Championship. When Clemson goes empty, defenses have to decide if they are going to keep 6 in the box to contain Watson's running ability which means either man to man defense or a numbers advantage somewhere, or they will play 4 or 5 in the box which means Watson has very good running lanes. Clemson took advantage of all those adjustments throughout this game.
The other advantages of the Empty Formations is it usually makes the defense check the defense which means 11 guys need to get the call and adjust properly and know their assignments. Many teams also use the same check throughout the game, so as an offensive coordinator, you are always trying to get the look that you want. So sometimes going Empty is the best way to gain predictability, because many teams have a default call to align to that formation whether it be a pressure or zone defense. The other advantage it gives the offense, is it limits the defense's ability to disguise their intentions because of the spread out alignment of the wide receivers. Qb's have an easier time reading a defense when they are in Empty. Clemson took advantage of that premise in the quick passing throws they used through out the BC game. The spread out receivers also give you the ability to throw short with the potential of a home run with one missed tackle. Empty creates a lot of space for skill players.
Empty is a formation used sparingly because of the lack of pass protection, but the Empty set should definitely be a weapon in every offensive system because of the advantages you can create.
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