Coming off a week one victory led by a strong 228-yard performance on the ground, the Red Foxes faced off against Bucknell, looking to string together their first win streak with head coach Mike Willis at the helm, but lost 34-23.
Even after the aforementioned week one victory, the Bison entered as favorites. Led by last year’s Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, graduate student quarterback Ralph Rucker IV, besting Bucknell was going to be a very difficult task.
Marist stepped up to the occasion, though, entering the second half only down three, but the Red Foxes ran out of gas in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 14-6.
Play #1
The Bison got on the board first with this unique inside zone variation. Split zone is a play in which every lineman will be responsible for their playside gap, and the playside tight end will go across the formation and kick out the backside edge.
Normally, split zone is done as an alternative to a zone read, a variation of inside zone that treats the backside edge as a read player for the quarterback, for offenses that do not have faith in the mobility of their quarterback. Rucker IV, however, can be effective on the ground. Because of this, they have the senior tight end Charlie Kreinbucher (No. 82) go across the formation to block the backside overhang defender, freshman Chase Hatton (No. 21), and they still read the backside edge defender, freshman Naheem Ridore (No. 55).
Although he should have stayed put and contained the quarterback, Ridore, expecting to take on a block from the tight end, lunges shoulder-first, losing his balance and opening a lane for Rucker IV to run for the game’s first touchdown.
Play #2
Down 10-0 in the 2nd, the Red Foxes needed to get points on the board, and they had a great play call to start the drive off: a bootleg pass from the hash to a field-side sail concept.
The play action fake towards the boundary got the defense drifting away from the field side, generating more space for the receivers to work with as they all ran routes to stretch the Bison’s zone defense. Redshirt junior quarterback Sonny Mannino rolling out here is a great way to take advantage of his high-caliber mobility to avoid pressure.
A sail concept is great for beating zone coverage because it has a short route, medium route and a deep route. If the routes are spaced out properly, traditional spot drop zone coverage is nearly incapable of covering it.
On this play, the flat defender, junior corner England Allen (No. 19), gets lost in space, and Mannino completes a pass to redshirt freshman wide receiver Lance Martinez (No. 7) right in between his zone and junior cornerback Takai Whitmore’s (No. 14) deep zone. Whitmore doesn’t step up to help play Martinez’s route because sophomore wide receiver Jack Melore (No. 1) is running another route deeper downfield that Whitmore has to respect.
Ultimately, this sparked the Marist offense, which scored its first points of the game later in this drive.
Play #3
On a crucial third down, the Red Foxes’ defense made it seem like Marist was going to maintain the momentum they started to build at the end of the first half. The sack was not just the result of some nice hustle by sophomore defensive lineman Braylen Ricks (#98); it was also the product of an interesting playcall from second-year defensive coordinator Mike Horan.
The Red Foxes ran a “sim-pressure” on this third down. A sim pressure is a play in which the defense sends four rushers, but at least one of these rushers is a disguised blitzer and at least one player who looks like he will be attempting to rush the quarterback drops back into coverage.
That is exactly what happens here, as both of the overhang defenders, redshirt sophomore linebacker James Kratochvil (No. 59) and redshirt junior defensive lineman Jalen Carpenter (No. 93), show blitz pre-snap, then drop back into coverage in the flats post-snap. This left three defensive players rushing the quarterback, but graduate student linebacker Garrett Carter (No. 8) blitzes the A gap on a disguised blitz when the ball is snapped.
This is difficult for offensive linemen to pick up because the responsibilities they have presnap drastically change post-snap. Sim pressures like this, when done right, are a slam dunk in third and long situations like this third and nine.
Even though Horan’s defense couldn’t get a sack on this play, the pressure made the play fall apart, and Marist started the second half strong with a three-and-out.
Play #4
Mannino and the offense needed to keep the punches rolling, and the decision to go for it on fourth down reflects the coaching staff’s understanding of that. Bucknell understood the importance of winning on this play, too, though, as veteran defensive coordinator Chris Bowers sent an overload pressure from the boundary.
Offensive coordinator T.J. Weyl’s playcall here was smart, with Mannino rolling out away from the pressure. He’s been having success with rollout passes all game long, so he decided to dial up another. The rollout can only save the quarterback a few extra moments, but he has to get the ball out quickly, which is why Weyl has to ensure there are checkdown options available.
Even if Mannino is rolling out away from the free rusher, the free rusher still exists and can affect the play. Mannino’s internal clock has to go off and make him get the ball out, whether there is an open man or not.
There were a lot of positives for Willis and his staff to hang their hats on; however, as is always the case after a loss, there are also clear areas for improvement.
After a loss like this, it’s important for the roster to look at what went right, like the rollout passing game, and build upon that before changing what went wrong for this young team.
Edited by Nate Shoemaker and Ben Leeds
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photos from Michael Lacroix-Fralish
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