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Found this ...I really like your take on the unbalanced line. I hadn't thought about that and it struck a cord. If you go WAY back to single wing concepts the unbalanced line was a primary look. Back in the late 1970's, N.Quincy HS still ran that offense, so I'm trying to remember what we had to do to defend it..... OK some of it is coming back. IIRC, we were normally a 5-2 team (now called a 3-4 alignment) with a monster (now called a SS in the box) and a rotating 3 deep secondary. But because the unbalance single wing I went with a 6-2 alignment to stop their strong running attack, Making sure the kids recognized where the unbalance was and adjusting the DL was critical.
Oh its all coming back. I stole an old dallas cowboy tactic of aligning their DT's off the LOS a couple of steps so they could stunt more easily. Remember. Fortunately N.Quincy had a lot of good formation tendencies so I would have the LB on each side of the 6-2 call gap stunts for the 3 DL on each side depending on what backfield formation they saw. I turned out to be very effective, but was a b!tch to prepare for.
OK the nostalgia trip is over, and getting back YOUR point, running an unbalance line against an unprepared defense could be devastating. THEN after that, forcing opposing defenses to need to take time to prepare for it in the future is a great advantage whether you run it or not that week., They STILL have to prepare for it. I'm starting to love the idea of running an unbalanced line for a series or two then go back to balanced formation for a while then go back to unbalanced for a critical 3rd and short.
Now we need to get a quality C (Andrews or Hudson) Then draft his replacement and add OG depth. Now with the OL set and the 2 TE's who have decvent (we hope) back ups in Assaisi and Keen) and we CAN create a lot of offensive looks that will create a LOT problems for defenses.
COOL TAKE
Not sure what the %'s are in the NFL but in general I bet no one is preparing for it week to week. In fact I bet the only teams that are truly worrying about it are the teams running it/likely to run it?
Fun little wrinkle to throw in. Especially with some RPO/RO mixed in. Plus it'll be cool as hell to see Brown, Onwenu & Shaq clearing out half the field.
"Defenses aren’t practicing for these formations week in and week out, with only 3.5% of all snaps coming from an unbalanced formation last season. They also have to make a decision on how to line up against these funky sets. With the no-huddle tempo that most college teams utilize, there is a chance of creating confusion when, for example, an opposing team's cornerback lines up on his side of the field only for no receivers to line up in front of him.
These decisions by the defense tell the offense which side of the field to attack. If the defense leaves two secondary players, a cornerback and a safety on the backside of the formation, the offense can work the opposite side. With the nickel back compromised by having to run out to play against the offense's No. 2 receiver, it leaves a big bubble for the team to exploit.
When defenses want to roll everyone over to the strongside of the formation, these unbalanced sets really come to life. Southern Mississippi led the country in counter plays specifically because defenses rolled over to cover their slot receivers. When defenses put four defenders over three slot receivers, the Eagles pulled their offensive linemen and hit defenses with some force to the backside."