The Film Room: SC Interception

Let’s take a look at Prentiss Waggner’s interception against South Carolina. It was a great play by Swaggner, but he had to have some help throughout the the beginning of it. Here’s the play.

Let’s break it down.

We’re in a 4-2-5 nickel right now, and Byron Moore is in at nickel back over the slot at the bottom of the field.

Here’s the play broken down. The slot is going to run a seam route, and the split end is going to run a hitch as the check down receiver. The running back is going to leak out of the backfield.

This is the defensive alignment. A neat twist to this defensive call is Ben Martin’s coverage of the SC running back. We’re in a cover three, or some variant of it. Jac Smith is going to take the flats on the left side, and Waggner is taking the flats on the right. The safeties and corner take deep thirds, and the linebackers and B Moore take the underneath zones. USC’s play call is not a bad one. The seams are vulnerable in a cover three, but Tennessee does a great job of covering that up. B Moore checks the guy to about ten yards, which is the depth of his zone, and then the strong safety picks him up at that point. This shows great discipline in coverages, not abandoning zones, knowing where your zone ends and the other guy’s picks up. This is one of the reasons Eric Gordon is high risk player, because he chases aggressively, sometimes leaving his zone and leaving a gap in the defense. He also intercepts Jordan Rodgers in OT for the win, so whatever.

Ben Martin in coverage. There’s something you don’t see everyday.

1. He’s actually doing a pretty good job.

2. Connor Shaw* checks the seam, and it’s simply not there, forcing him to check down. The problem for him is that Waggner has been sitting right on top of the curl for quite some time. Sucks for you, Connor.

*Not Stephen Garcia, Mac.

It really was a nice break and catch on the ball.

JUST GET OUT OF HIS WAY. HOW IS THAT HARD?

I wanted to do this play to show how a great defense works, not that I think UT is great at this point. When people say football is a team game, this is what they mean. It took great coverage to make Shaw check down, allowing Waggner to make a great play. It takes everyone doing their part to win games. Needless to say, on the return, not everyone was doing their part.

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