Ready To Run

by Nestor on Feb 20, 2008 5:11 PM PST in Football

Chris Foster from the LA Times sat down with CRN and Norm Chow for a little interview. The result is delicious.

CRN talked about how he is working with Chow to devise an offensive scheme that is centered on running and protecting the ball, which will bleed our opponents to death:

* Question: Have you settled on an offense?

Neuheisel: "We're formulating a scheme. I don't know if it has the moniker that all the trendy offenses have now. I certainly wouldn't call it Spread or the West Coast. I think where Norm is centered on is just being able to run the ball and protect the ball. It sounds overly simplistic, but if you can do both those things you can force defenses into a position where now big plays are available.

"That doesn't necessarily sound exciting. 'Run the ball and protect the ball' sounds very conservative. But I think if you can do both of those things successfully and commit to both of those things, the excitement then comes because the field now opens because you have to stop the run. You will bleed to death if you don't stop run."

Chow: "We're going to run the ball. To win in this game, in any league, you have to run the ball. I don't think we're going to revolutionize football. We're going to continue to do things that [Neuheisel] and I know best.

"I think now it is a matter of what skills what kids can do. We're not going to ask our kids to do something they are not capable of doing. Right now we put in base stuff that will fit just about anything, then we'll wait and see."

The two coaches talked about how they share similar offensive philosophies:

* Q: Have there been any differences in philosophy between you two?

Neuheisel: "It's been interesting to me how few there have been. Sometimes you have this picture of the 'geniuses' in the game as being, 'My way and only my way.' But the ones who are the real geniuses are the ones who realize that other people have ways to do these things that might be better. They are open to those kind of suggestions.

"I smiled as the first conversation went on because it sounded like I was talking to [former UCLA offensive coordinator] Homer [Smith]. Homer and Norm have a lot of similarities. They have gone their own path. But in terms of their beliefs and the core of how they teach it, they do things in a unifying way."

Chow: "As long as there are two people there are always going to be differences. That's good. I told him, 'I made a policy that I would not go to work for an offensive head coach.' I have only been at a few places, but they have always been defensive guys. I broke my rule going with him because he is such a good guy and very willing to work together. Philosophically, we're very much alike."

You can read the whole interview here.

One of the things that made the Trojan offense under Chow so deadly and efficient was that Chow kept everything simple. If I can remember correctly Trojans basically ran 8-9 base plays under Chow. But it was the unpredictability of how those plays were sequenced that threw their opponents off. More on Chow's simplistic approach from Wayne Drehs of ESPN, in a article he wrote few years ago when Chow was over at Southern Cal:

Norm Chow remembers clearly the day he learned that college football players were of a different breed.

It was a handful of summers ago when Chow, then the offensive coordinator at BYU, was recording the voice overs for a video playbook each player was to study. Realizing the boredom his players would face watching the video, Chow inserted a message toward the end of the tape: any player still watching should call Coach Chow for a $100 reward.

"And guess how many guys called me. Just guess," Chow recalls. "One. And he was the center, the all-American boy who went on to medical school, married the cheerleader, all that stuff. Now what does that tell you?"

It told Chow to simplify. And that's just what he's done this summer at USC, installing his wide-open, pass-happy offense with a playbook about half as thick as the one used by former coach Paul Hackett. Instead of worrying about precise footwork and perfect mechanics, Chow is instructing junior quarterback Carson Palmer to merely relax and find the open man.

I imagine Olson et al. are going to hear the same message this spring.

I think it will take a while for our offense to gel under these guys. Our best RBs - Bell and Carter - are going to sit out most of spring practice. We will have to see how Dean and Knox fit in when they arrive in Westwood late summer. There is also the uncertainty around how Ben Olson will adapt to his third OC in three years. Cowan is out as he will be rehabbing from surgery. And Craft will just try to fit it as he comes in as a transfer. Then there is the question of rebuilding an offensive line which has underperformed in last two years. So I wouldn't be expecting any magical results next season.

However, just from hearing these two you can sense how confident and secure these guys feel about their vision wrt to what they want to do with our offense. We didn't get that sense coming out of our football program last five years or since the days of Homer Smith.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

These are exciting times.

Nestor is right, of course, to tamp down expectations. Rome was not built in a day after all.

The overall professionalism, however, is impossible to ignore. I was selling my twin brother just the other night on picking up some season tickets. And, I told him all about the rigorous training schedule the football players are being subjected to, my point being was that our line was porous last year and we couldn't keep a QB healthy. I don't think that is going to be a problem this year.

This interview with an emphasis on the running game is great news. It tells me we will be hard to beat, our QBs will take less hits, and the passing game will open up for big plays.

I'm cool with that.

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. John Wooden

by MexiBruin on Feb 20, 2008 5:24 PM PST 0 recs

$100 for studying the video playbook?

Is that legal? Or was the point that it was a just a test and that the player didn't actually get $100? Maybe the other guys didn't call because they didn't want an NCAA violation? :P

by ranelar on Feb 20, 2008 5:25 PM PST 0 recs

Homer Smith --

For all of you youngsters, I hope Chow can bring back the success and excitement we had under Homer Smith.

Back when we were taking such strong stands in favor of changing the HC, us geezers wished for you young 'uns the same experiences with football that we had under Prothro.

It looks like the table is being set to give you memories that will last through geezerhood.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Feb 20, 2008 5:59 PM PST 0 recs

For the geezers in training,

I highly recommend Homer Smith's web site: link.

It is chock full of home-spun, Ghandiesque wisdom about foot ball. For example, there are literally dozens of articles about easy-to-overlook topics, such as understanding the clock, managing the clock, the need for the quarterback to understand when the clock starts, and the like. It reminds me of Coach, taking time to practice his players on putting on their socks and lacing up their shoes.

With RN and Chow's philosophy of keeping it simple, sticking to basics, and coaching this kind of mental awareness and agility, I think you're right, 66. I think we're all in for some treats.

by Bruinut on Feb 20, 2008 8:28 PM PST up 0 recs

Norm Chow's Passing Offense

This is basically it.

A PDF of his BYU playbook.

And a speech Chow gave on the basic concepts.

by Chronicles on Feb 20, 2008 6:27 PM PST 0 recs

Very cool stuff

I will have to read through it. Does someone want to blog it in the diaries?

by Nestor on Feb 20, 2008 6:28 PM PST up 0 recs

I guess I'll never be a quarterback

The only part I got out of that was that it was very simple. How on earth can a guy taking a full load of courses remember all that stuff?

It's a heck of a lot easier to learn an opera role than a QB role. I have lots more respect for those guys now.

by Fox 71 on Feb 20, 2008 8:12 PM PST up 0 recs

That was simple

Imagine all the crap our poor guys had to go through in order to learn the WCO. Chow's offense really only uses 1 basic formation that I see with a set of variations based on what it is designed to do. The WCO has multiple formations with all the variations, bells and whistles. It is great when you can keep a team together for 4+ years with a QB able to run it. The fact we had a team learning that type of offense and going to class earning good grades, just shows the quality of mind we had/have.

Reading this lecture gives me hope for a quick turnaround. The team should come out relieved by the weight lifted off their shoulders in the form of a playbook. Fewer formations, and more emphasis on fundamentals of the game. It seemed that before the motions and formations gave away the play, where this method is more about tailoring the play to the strengths of the players on both sides of the ball.

Also this gives me hope for our Defense, because they will have to fight against a more fundamentally sound offense.

I can't wait for the Spring Scrimmage.

by isodore on Feb 20, 2008 9:19 PM PST up 0 recs

Toledo's Playbook

Here.

WARNING: CONFUSING AS HELL.

You can find all sorts of college and pro playbooks here, including Homer Smith's 1992 UCLA passing game. Like Chow, he only had about 8 basic passing plays. You run those plays out of a lot of different formations and looks, but the reads stay simple, and the movements of the WR in Smith's system are timed to the drop of the QB.

That link also has one of Bill McCartney's solo back playbooks from Colorado, though I'm not sure if it overlaps with Neuheisel's time there.

Here are Norm Chow's reads for his base passing plays. If you follow along with the links above, you can see that it's pretty easy. The QB will check to see if an uncovered rusher is blitzing, then generally reads off of the MLB or one or both of the safeties.

by Chronicles on Feb 21, 2008 1:10 AM PST up 0 recs

It's so refreshing

to have a new philosophy in place. CRN and Chow's remarks about adapting the offense to the players is exactly what so mnay have been waiting for. I'm willing to bet Carter, Bell and other injured players will be able to pick up the offense pretty quickly when they are ready to go. The biggest concern remains the O-line, but I'm sure we will see some fireworks and glimses of what will come in 09 and beyond when the offense really opens up. I'm excited and can't wait for spring. Go Bruins!

by Bruins095 on Feb 20, 2008 7:04 PM PST 0 recs

"mad props"

i think i mentioned before that i was buddies with jp losman in that spring quarter when he was a ucla qb. we had a class together and the poor guy was in there trying to figure out toledo's playbook. it was hairier than a french porn movie from the 60's...
on a side note, i am incredibly jealous of all the kids at ucla right now. howland for bball and the holy triumvirate (sp?) for fb. i am a survivor of ucla's darkest days, 98-03. toledo and karl driving drunk at the wheel of our football program and steve lavin's attempt to flush our basketball program down the toilet. i think i deserve a medal, or complimentary psychotherapy...
wish me luck on the bar next week guys and gals, i'll need it!

Across The Face

by rb bruin on Feb 20, 2008 9:50 PM PST 0 recs

Good luck, rb

I have no tips for you that will mean anything, but you'll get what I have anyway. Bear in mind that I took the exam well before you were born, so there are relevance issues.

You will forget something (I forgot to take my number, and was thus relegated to the doofus line with a few other morons to get it), and you will think that someone slipped up an threw some graduate Theoretical Physics question in on you. Don't panic.

Remember the stuff from your bar review courses.

Remember IRAC.

Remember English 1A. The guys reading these exams will have seen an enormous amount of crap in their time. If you take a little time to write well it will make an impact. If you see that you're starting a sentence with the word "because," stop and re-write it. That's inverted sentence structure and in my opinion it is truly the mark of a bad writer. The exam graders are looking for people who will be good lawyers and I think they will give you the benefit of the doubt if you write well.

Get some sleep. I don't think the incremental fact learned at 3:00 a.m. the night before the exam will take you from a fail to a pass.

Don't get blasted after you finish the thing. Resist that temptation. It will just give you a headache at a minimum, and could lead to tragedy. (There are stories, believe me.)

Have confidence. Your competitin will include people who did not pass the first time. You probably know the stats about the likelihood of passing when you fail the first time. So some of your competition will have a strike or two against them, meaning that you have an advantage. You also went to UCLA, so you have an advantage. You also read the BN -- no, wait. I take that part back.

OK, I'm done.

by Fox 71 on Feb 21, 2008 4:58 AM PST up 0 recs

Bar Exam Tips

Fox's advice is very good.

Having read 1000's of law school exams in my teaching career, I'd like to give you a few more.

But, first I want to reinforce something Fox said: Above all, be literate. Be clear. Be concise. Write legibly. The readers will not give you the benefit of the doubt if they cannot read or understand what you are saying. Neatness counts. If you can, type.

Think before you write. When I took the Cal Bar, many, many years ago, we had 8 one hour essay questions a day for 3 days. I did the same thing on every question. I outlined for 40 minutes and typed for 20. I wanted my answers to be clear, well organized and concise. I wanted them to flow and be persuasive. I was a very fast typist -- so I could take that time to outline before writing. You should find your own pace. But, do not start writing in hopes that along the way you will see all the issues and deal with them. It won't happen.

Look at the facts very carefully. If the question is well written, every fact will be related to an issue.

These questions are multi-issue questions -- the better to spread out the people taking the test. (This also applies to law school tests.) You must spot the issues and write about them. If there are 10 issues, each worth 10 points, writing about one issue for an hour and killing it will also kill you. How do you find all the issues? READ THE FACTS CAREFULLY -- they trigger the issues. A well written exam does not have extraneous facts. They are there for a reason.

Don't fall into the trap of spending too much time on an issue because you know it well -- and because you are a little afraid of the issues you don't know.

When in doubt, write "policy". State the arguments on both sides and figure that somewhere there is law that supports each. If in doubt, stay with policy and avoid direct statements of black letter law.

Fox is also very right -- take a deep breath when they pass the test out. Take a minute to look around you. Watch the people panic. Take another deep breath and tell yourself that this will not be all that hard. And, then, calmly, with a sense of purpose, go for it. If it helps, realize that there are a good number of people thre who have not had the education necessary to pass the test; that accounts for the low pass rates. You are not one of them.

Long story why -- but I never read the BAR outlines. All I read, over and over, were the tables of contents -- even for the courses I never took in law school. If you've really studied hard, try reading the tables as a review technique. You'll be surprised at how much you really know.

I graduated from law school during the Vietnam War. I didn't know it, but there was an induction notice waiting at my folks home for me to report 2 days after the exam. My folks wisely didn't tell me. The wife of one of my classmates told him the night before the exam started that she was leaving him. Both of us passed.

I think I have the lowest (oldest Cal Bar number in this community.) I know all of us wish you the very best luck on the test and can't wait to welcome you to the profession.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Feb 21, 2008 4:18 PM PST up 0 recs