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Interesting Ciarrocca Video Breakdown

I love football. I never played organized ball but I’ve been watching it for decades. I’ll be the first to admit I really don’t know much about the Xs and Os of the game when it comes to formations and play design. Videos like this help me to understand how complex the game really can be and how little I truly know about the game I love. Thanks for sharing.
 
Right? I felt like I needed a stack of Xeroxed red Nittany Notes to keep up. And yes, I’m dating myself haha. Amazing to think guys like Ciarrocca can process all this in a matter of seconds and change the play call before the play clock runs out.
 
Ciarrocca Video

This guy is pretty thorough. I got PTSD since he picked last year’s loss to breakdown, but this got me excited for what’s to come. Hope he can do for Cliff what Brady did for Burrow.

I absolutely love the Xs and Os. I have always dreamed of writing about football when I hit first retirement. Last year, Sean Clifford was a squarish peg stuck in a roundish hole but ultimately, Rahne not capable of adjusting Moorhead's office to a mobile pro-style passer. I expect a quick transition as Penn State as Moorhead's offensive philosophy and think the delayed start to the Big Ten season will give us an advantage.

On the flip side, the breakdown highlights every one of Brent Pry's limitations and why the defense hasn't improved since Bob Shoop left. In order for the team to take a major step forward and be a legitimate playoff threat for the first time, we'll need an upgrade on defense as well.
 
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Ciarrocca Video

This guy is pretty thorough. I got PTSD since he picked last year’s loss to breakdown, but this got me excited for what’s to come. Hope he can do for Cliff what Brady did for Burrow.

Not to burst your bubble, but ANY D1 Coach could break down taper just as thoroughly and efficiently as KC does. Many on here who believe that Franklin is an idiot would be shocked to realize Franklin can break down a film just as thoroughly. I am not being critical of KC. I do like the hire. Just saying that ALL of these D1 coaches can break down a game film like they are Rain Man counting a deck of cards.
 
I absolutely love the Xs and Os. I have always dreamed of writing about football when I hit first retirement. Last year, Sean Clifford was a squarish peg stuck in a roundish hole but ultimately, Rahne not capable of adjusting Moorhead's office to a mobile pro-style passer. I expect a quick transition as Penn State as Moorhead's offensive philosophy and think the delayed start to the Big Ten season will give us an advantage.

On the flip side, the breakdown highlights every one of Brent Pry's limitations and why the defense hasn't improved since Bob Shoop left. In order for the team to take a major step forward and be a legitimate playoff threat for the first time, we'll need an upgrade on defense as well.

The problem I had with the staff last year when it came to the Xs and Os and the game-plan scheme was that I felt we did not play to our personnel strengths enough. I never felt Clifford was a "squarish peg in a roundish hole". Rather more just a first year starter. We compared him to Trace McSorley of 2018 and 2019 when Trace was a veteran 2nd & 3rd year starter because those were our most recent memories of Trace. And a 1st year starter was going to compare pretty bad to a veteran starting Trace McSorley. I think athletically wise Clifford compares "OK" to Trace. And is definitely athletic enough for the Offense Rahne/Franklin wanted to run.

But my biggest issue was adjusting to personnel. I thought coming off the 2018 season and heading into 2019 our strength at TE was greater than our strength at WR. It was my feeling that we had 2 legit NFL caliber TEs in Friermuth and Bowers. Both those guys were capable pass catchers. At WR, we had a bunch of unproven guys who struggled the previous year with drops. So why have so many sets featuring 3 and sometimes even 4 of these guys?? They have plenty of 2-TE sets. I guarantee they have plenty of plays in the book with 2-TEs. So they did not even need to re-invent their play-book. Just go to more of those 2-TE sets and play to your roster strength of 2 NFL TEs.
 
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Just go to more of those 2-TE sets and play to your roster strength of 2 NFL TEs.

Not to mention the RB rotation, which was irrelevant at times as we'd seemingly sling 3 straight passes and punt. Or how we'd try to run Slade up the middle every time we handed off to him.
 
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Not to mention the RB rotation, which was irrelevant at times as we'd seemingly sling 3 straight passes and punt. Or how we'd try to run Slade up the middle every time we handed off to him.

Agree. I do not understand the need early in the season to feed that 4-RB rotation. IMO, it took about 1 or 2 games to see that Journy Brown was our best RB and needed the majority of carries. Cain was our 2nd best RB and should have received 2nd team snaps at RB. No need to waste snaps on Slade & Ford. It did not exactly take the skills of a great football evaluator to see this after just a few games. I've been around many teams, the only thing I could think of was practice. Coaches do not like to "reward" guys with game snaps or spots on the depth chart based on practice. I do not know. Maybe Journey Brown was just not a good practice guy. Did not take practice serious enough in the eyes of the coaches????? I do not know. All I know is that by the 1st/2nd game it was obvious Journey Brown could do things on the field Slade & Ford were not capable fo doing and Brown was our best RB. Taking him off the field for any RB not named Cain was a head-scratcher.
 
It's nice to see someone finally break down that Game. it confirms our defense was out coached
 
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I can assure you guys that’s it not rocket science. There are a handful of coverages, and most teams will be predictable in what coverages they play in the given situation. The OC uses formations and personnel groups to force the defense to play a coverage they are anticipating. The play called, or checked into, will have routes and route combinations that are built to attack the given expected coverage. There are of course many variables from there such as the D breaking tendencies or disguising coverages, or certain players just not being good enough to exploit the opportunities provided by the defense.

The guys that rise to the top are usually the most detailed oriented, the best teachers or have some innovative ideas in the way of concepts. With all that said I am very happy to have Ciarocca on board as I think he is a major upgrade over Rahne.
 
It's nice to see someone finally break down that Game. it confirms our defense was out coached
I don’t think they were out coached relative to schemes. What we did on defense was just fine. The stuff we did on Saturday would have worked. The problem I see is, the stuff we did Monday - Friday, especially in the secondary, is horrible. From their play that day, it doesn’t appear they are coached during the week. If you want to say that is being out coached, fine by me
 
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Ciarrocca Video

This guy is pretty thorough. I got PTSD since he picked last year’s loss to breakdown, but this got me excited for what’s to come. Hope he can do for Cliff what Brady did for Burrow.
In watching these the d never changes up from their original positioning on each play. D needs to do some shifting to disguise coverages and confuse the QB and receivers.
 
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I can assure you guys that’s it not rocket science. There are a handful of coverages, and most teams will be predictable in what coverages they play in the given situation. The OC uses formations and personnel groups to force the defense to play a coverage they are anticipating. The play called, or checked into, will have routes and route combinations that are built to attack the given expected coverage. There are of course many variables from there such as the D breaking tendencies or disguising coverages, or certain players just not being good enough to exploit the opportunities provided by the defense.

The guys that rise to the top are usually the most detailed oriented, the best teachers or have some innovative ideas in the way of concepts. With all that said I am very happy to have Ciarocca on board as I think he is a major upgrade over Rahne.

My issue with Rahne wasn't necessarily his play calls but his sequencing of plays.
IMO KC is a major upgrade in play calling and how to attack a defense.
 
The problem I had with the staff last year when it came to the Xs and Os and the game-plan scheme was that I felt we did not play to our personnel strengths enough. I never felt Clifford was a "squarish peg in a roundish hole". Rather more just a first year starter. We compared him to Trace McSorley of 2018 and 2019 when Trace was a veteran 2nd & 3rd year starter because those were our most recent memories of Trace. And a 1st year starter was going to compare pretty bad to a veteran starting Trace McSorley. I think athletically wise Clifford compares "OK" to Trace. And is definitely athletic enough for the Offense Rahne/Franklin wanted to run.

But my biggest issue was adjusting to personnel. I thought coming off the 2018 season and heading into 2019 our strength at TE was greater than our strength at WR. It was my feeling that we had 2 legit NFL caliber TEs in Friermuth and Bowers. Both those guys were capable pass catchers. At WR, we had a bunch of unproven guys who struggled the previous year with drops. So why have so many sets featuring 3 and sometimes even 4 of these guys?? They have plenty of 2-TE sets. I guarantee they have plenty of plays in the book with 2-TEs. So they did not even need to re-invent their play-book. Just go to more of those 2-TE sets and play to your roster strength of 2 NFL TEs.
I agree with you, Kiber, about the TEs last year and I share the disappointment in not featuring Bowers more; I thought he was a stud. I am interested to see if we utilize Kuntz/Strange/Theo this season. This implies the young WRs are not quite ready. IMO WR is the only position that may prevent PSU from being an elite team and if we can offset that "deficiency" by relying on the TEs more, that would be smart.
 
I am interested to see if we utilize Kuntz/Strange/Theo this season. This implies the young WRs are not quite ready. IMO WR is the only position that may prevent PSU from being an elite team and if we can offset that "deficiency" by relying on the TEs more, that would be smart.

I don't think we'll see them to no great extent more than what Rahne used 2 TEs. It's just not in KCs history to do so. Of course, he's never had a TE like PF before at his disposal so it will be interesting to see how he uses him.

KC has also taken lesser rated WRs and gotten better production out of multiple ones. The freshmen don't worry me on that front. If they can catch, they'll likely play.

Additionally, I suspect we are going to run the ball first and foremost. Big year from JB would be 1200 yards in the shortened season minus 2 cupcakes. That will be the first goal of this offense.

Clifford going into his second year will be of interest too. His reads, his accuracy, his touch. All should improve. Not to mention our potential with Levis as a red zone / short yardage QB similar to what KC used last year with his backup.
 
I agree with you, Kiber, about the TEs last year and I share the disappointment in not featuring Bowers more; I thought he was a stud. I am interested to see if we utilize Kuntz/Strange/Theo this season. This implies the young WRs are not quite ready. IMO WR is the only position that may prevent PSU from being an elite team and if we can offset that "deficiency" by relying on the TEs more, that would be smart.

IMO, the best coaches are the ones who each & every year can adapt to their personnel. They do not change their philosophy. They do not re-make everything. They simply can adapt to their 85 man roster. When Nick Saban has a Greg McElroy or an AJ McCarron as his starting QB, he features his OL and his run games. And it results in Heisman RBs. When he has a Tua T. as his starting QB, he throws more and it results in a superstar QB and superstar WRs. It's knowing the roster and playing to the roster strengths. IMO, if anything from last year was a "squarish peg being hammered into a roundish hole", it was the Pass/Run ratio to a group of WRs who suffered from drops the previous year in 2018 and a group that was in-experienced.
 
This is getting quite a bit off the original
topic, but I am wondering if Clifford has less nervous energy hampering him when playing in empty stadiums. He seems to get way too "hyped" before big games.
 
IMO, the best coaches are the ones who each & every year can adapt to their personnel. They do not change their philosophy. They do not re-make everything. They simply can adapt to their 85 man roster. When Nick Saban has a Greg McElroy or an AJ McCarron as his starting QB, he features his OL and his run games. And it results in Heisman RBs. When he has a Tua T. as his starting QB, he throws more and it results in a superstar QB and superstar WRs. It's knowing the roster and playing to the roster strengths. IMO, if anything from last year was a "squarish peg being hammered into a roundish hole", it was the Pass/Run ratio to a group of WRs who suffered from drops the previous year in 2018 and a group that was in-experienced.
A capital BINGO on that one!

CJF first year the OC tried to make Hack a RPO QB.....bad move. Then Rahne did well his first year but failed to adapt when Barkley emerged as a generational running back. Several games he had less than 20 carries and 75 rushing yards. Plus when teams keyed heavily on Barkley RR never used misdirection with a second back to force Ds to defend the whole field. Last year’s Four Pony offense shoulda been the Two Horsemen.

A top notch OC adapts to what talent he has, to what the Ds are doing, adapts to games conditions. Haven’t seen a lot of that at PSU for five years.
 
I can assure you guys that’s it not rocket science. There are a handful of coverages, and most teams will be predictable in what coverages they play in the given situation. The OC uses formations and personnel groups to force the defense to play a coverage they are anticipating. The play called, or checked into, will have routes and route combinations that are built to attack the given expected coverage. There are of course many variables from there such as the D breaking tendencies or disguising coverages, or certain players just not being good enough to exploit the opportunities provided by the defense.

The guys that rise to the top are usually the most detailed oriented, the best teachers or have some innovative ideas in the way of concepts. With all that said I am very happy to have Ciarocca on board as I think he is a major upgrade over Rahne.
Ricky, don't call that QB ........draw. It is the only call you like. You can use if you are desperate.......Send off in a letter.........to someone else.
 
A capital BINGO on that one!

CJF first year the OC tried to make Hack a RPO QB.....bad move. Then Rahne did well his first year but failed to adapt when Barkley emerged as a generational running back. Several games he had less than 20 carries and 75 rushing yards. Plus when teams keyed heavily on Barkley RR never used misdirection with a second back to force Ds to defend the whole field. Last year’s Four Pony offense shoulda been the Two Horsemen.

A top notch OC adapts to what talent he has, to what the Ds are doing, adapts to games conditions. Haven’t seen a lot of that at PSU for five years.
Rahne was never the OC when Barkley was here.
 
A capital BINGO on that one!

CJF first year the OC tried to make Hack a RPO QB.....bad move. Then Rahne did well his first year but failed to adapt when Barkley emerged as a generational running back. Several games he had less than 20 carries and 75 rushing yards. Plus when teams keyed heavily on Barkley RR never used misdirection with a second back to force Ds to defend the whole field. Last year’s Four Pony offense shoulda been the Two Horsemen.

A top notch OC adapts to what talent he has, to what the Ds are doing, adapts to games conditions. Haven’t seen a lot of that at PSU for five years.
"CJF first year the OC tried to make Hack a RPO QB"

No he didn't. What games were you watching?
 
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A capital BINGO on that one!

CJF first year the OC tried to make Hack a RPO QB.....bad move. Then Rahne did well his first year but failed to adapt when Barkley emerged as a generational running back. Several games he had less than 20 carries and 75 rushing yards. Plus when teams keyed heavily on Barkley RR never used misdirection with a second back to force Ds to defend the whole field. Last year’s Four Pony offense shoulda been the Two Horsemen.

A top notch OC adapts to what talent he has, to what the Ds are doing, adapts to games conditions. Haven’t seen a lot of that at PSU for five years.

CJF and Donovan tried to make Hack and RPO QB? Huh what?
And RR was only the OC of Barkely final game the Fiesta Bowl.
 
CJF and Donovan tried to make Hack and RPO QB? Huh what?
And RR was only the OC of Barkely final game the Fiesta Bowl.
We're actually both wrong. Rahne was OC for two Saquon Barkley games - the Gator Bowl after the 2015 season (interim after Donovan was fired) and the Fiesta Bowl after the 2017 season (after Moorhead left).

Barkley had 35 rushes for 206 yards (5.9 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns in those two games.
 
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We're actually both wrong. Rahne was OC for two Saquon Barkley games - the Gator Bowl after the 2015 season (interim after Donovan was fired) and the Fiesta Bowl after the 2017 season (after Moorhead left).

Barkley had 35 rushes for 206 yards (5.9 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns in those two games.

Good catch I completely forgot about the Gator Bowl.
 
Watch that first play again... focus on Parsons.

Had he faked a drop back into coverage and immediately broke off into the backfield, good chance that pass is hurried and results in an incompletion, or a sack/TFL. The Minnesota games was, IMHO, one of his worst games.
 
Any analysis of last year’s Minny game that doesn’t point out how our D line is getting wrestled is worthless
 
Ciarrocca Video

This guy is pretty thorough. I got PTSD since he picked last year’s loss to breakdown, but this got me excited for what’s to come. Hope he can do for Cliff what Brady did for Burrow.

Great segment. Love that breakdown. KC should have some fun calling plays for our guys.

One of the issues you also saw with the PSU defenders on that tape is they weren't smelling plays and getting into lanes. Hoping that improves this year.
 
PSU safeties consistently exposed in this rundown. They were never "over the top" but always chasing to a point where the ball had already been delivered. And the linebackers were slow to recognize when the RPO had advanced passed the "R" option.
 
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Watch that first play again... focus on Parsons.

Had he faked a drop back into coverage and immediately broke off into the backfield, good chance that pass is hurried and results in an incompletion, or a sack/TFL. The Minnesota games was, IMHO, one of his worst games.
Ok thanks chief
 
Something rarely mentioned about Croc, I think besides his clear maturity and improvements he can impart on our offense, I'd like to think he can help out defensively in terms of game prep and keys. Lotta offenses, Ohio State being one, that run some of this very stuff(tempo, numbers, RPO).
 
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reminds me of a lot of JoeMo but with a more verticle game based off of slants.

BTW, I think the first play he evaluates was simply a blown coverage. The S blew the coverage because the corner had the flat to cover.
 
I look forward to Coach Ciarrocca's system with Penn State's talent. Overall better QB, RBs, and TEs, with equal or better OL. Should be fun to watch.
I don't know if I'd say better or worse, just different. RB's and TE's, yes, I'd say yes, overall better. Really no question there.
 
You arguing with yourself again?
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