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Week 4 Film Study: Texas' defense is for real - and so is Kentucky's O-line

Tim Warner / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Here's a look at some of the more intriguing film-related developments from Week 4 of the college football season:

Todd Orlando's Texas defense is on the verge of elite

Saturday's all-Texas battle saw two defensive masterminds pitted against each other, as Todd Orlando and the Longhorns came out on top over Gary Patterson and the Horned Frogs.

Texas hasn’t had a truly elite defense in almost a decade, and hasn't ranked in the top 10 in defensive efficiency since 2009. Even defensive savants Manny Diaz and Charlie Strong failed to thrive despite top recruiting classes.

But Orlando catapulted the defense into the top 25 in defensive S&P+ a year ago, and the unit has built on that success this season.

Crucial to Orlando's system is the latest innovation in defensive football - the so-called "Tite" front. It’s an early-down package that covers all the interior gaps along the defensive line. Texas' defense uses big bodies to plug both A-gaps and B-gaps, which are the lifeblood of a spread-to-run offense:

Oliver Connolly

Some teams, including Alabama, have opted for a "Bear" front in recent years, putting three defensive linemen directly over their opponents - a nose tackle over the center and a pair of defensive tackle or ends over each guard.

Orlando's Tite front is a little different. The two defensive ends shade the inside shoulder of the opposing tackles before knifing into the B-gaps. Their goal is to stymie any interior runs and shut down any kind of gap-scheme designs (in which linemen pull and move in space, attacking a specific gap).

Orlando switches up the linebackers' roles, too.

In most Bear looks, the team is running some version of a "Strike" front, with five players on the ball - three down linemen and two stand up linebackers. Both looks still ask the outside linebackers to rally to the outside gaps. With Texas, however, the linebackers shuffle back off the ball. They play read-and-react football, and they play it fast:

Orlando likes to run the Tite out of a 3-3-5 or 4-0-4, typically from a three-safety set. It gives the team all kinds of diversity on the back end, as every kind of disguise and coverage principle known to man is in play. Up front, they’re able to have mass (three down linemen) and speed (three linebackers).

It worked like a charm against TCU on Saturday. Texas owned the early-down exchanges and TCU couldn’t get onto its regular schedule. When Patterson’s guys were finally able to move the chains, they were stonewalled in the red zone, settling for field goals rather than touchdowns.

Orlando’s front was the star of the show, as the three down linemen caved in every interior run. TCU's playbook was limited, and most plays became hat-on-hat-type runs, with the Longhorns knowing exactly where the Horned Frogs were going to go. Not surprisingly, Texas won those matchups:

TCU was forced into more horizontal designs on early downs. That’s fine when you’re facing a side like Ohio State and you think it’s your only shot, as Patterson and Co. did a week ago. But against Texas, which TCU has bulldozed in recent years, it left the offense stuck in the mud, facing unmanageable third downs:

Still, Orlando’s defense isn’t perfect. The secondary remains a concern, and it's not like the group is filled with young pups. Four of the five starters in the defensive backfield are juniors or seniors. There’s only one underclassman.

And despite their obvious progress, they still commit basic errors. The group was consistently caught napping on Saturday, biting on double-moves, pump-fakes, and head-fakes.

You get beat once, that’s fine:

You get beat a second time, it’s a concern:

Get beat a third, and you've got a problem:

A veteran group needs to be savvier. Orlando wants his guys attacking downhill. They play a trail technique, off-man, and then drive hard toward the ball. It’s supposed to create more turnovers, and it does. The downside comes against double-moves when the pass-rush doesn’t get home in time.

Communication has been a consistent issue all season. Maryland torched the group in Week 1 with a series of switch releases - receivers crisscrossing at the line of scrimmage - and with funky jet-motions:

That shouldn’t happen to a pair of seniors. I mean, they literally ran into each other and then hugged for a good 5 yards.

That’s the only nitpick, though. It’s a sizable one, but not something that will break the backbone of the defense. This is a top 15 unit in the country. Easily.

Tom Herman has begun to pair that defense with an offense that's showing some signs of life, leaning on the quarterback run game the way his old mentor Urban Meyer often does when things look grim.

Look out. Texas isn’t back, back, but this year’s team has proven to be positively zesty. We haven’t been able to say that with conviction for some time.

Kentucky’s O-line wins marquee matchup

Kentucky is good. Let’s start with that.

Its defense has been a nice surprise. The unit can rush the passer with just four and dabbles with some exotic blitz looks. Star linebacker Josh Allen helped overwhelm a Mississippi State offensive line that was reeling all evening.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats' offense fared much better. Kentucky’s group lays claim to being the third best in the SEC, behind only Alabama and Georgia. It has the power to maul folks off the ball at the point of attack on basic inside runs, and the athleticism to run more intricate gap-scheme stuff with linemen pulling all over the shop.

Running back Benny Snell has been the top beneficiary, as the Heisman hopeful racked up four touchdowns on Saturday night. He did plenty of damage on his own, creating 90 of his 165 yards after first contact, per ProFootballFocus. But his gang of blockers did tremendous work creating a consistent surge against one of the top defensive fronts anywhere in the country.

No one has been able to block Jeffery Simmons or Montez Sweat this season. They're simply too big, too strong, and too agile - essentially pros playing on Saturdays. Still, Kentucky’s line did an admirable job of pushing them back in the run game.

The whole unit worked in concert, sealing double-teams on Simmons before someone glided up to the second level to take on a linebacker. That’s no easy feat. The Bulldogs' off-ball crew is equally frisky.

Logan Stenberg stood out. Kentucky’s left guard showed immense core strength and hand usage in what's likely to be his most difficult assignment this season:

Watch how he’s able to latch and kick Mississippi State’s defensive end, who had knifed across the face of Kentucky’s left tackle toward the B-gap. This isn’t normal:

As we can see, Stenberg rode the initial exchange. The end came with a nice speed-top-power move, but Stenberg didn’t panic. He moved the defender with his lower body and controlled him with the upper body, flipping his hips and angling the defender out of the play. It opened a huge alley for Snell.

Overall, Kentucky didn’t do anything overly fancy. It was simple: line up, drop the pads, and mush the defensive front:

By the fourth quarter, the dam was set to burst:

The play above was a split-zone design. The offensive line drives the line of scrimmage in one direction (everyone kick-stepping together), while a tight end crashes across the line to seal off an unblocked defender on the backside of the formation.

And the Bulldogs' front looked gassed. Kentucky’s lineman began elevating to the second level with ease. Look at the snapshot of the line of scrimmage as Snell receives the ball:

Bunchy Stallings, Kentucky’s right guard, pinned Simmons at the point of attack, washing the star defender out of the play. And look who’s up at the second level, taking care of the final defender before Snell’s run popped: our guy Stenberg.

Give Kentucky’s play-calling duo of Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw some credit, too. They knew they couldn’t dial up more complex, gap-scheme designs, as those involve a lot of moving parts.

That’s a dangerous proposition against a front like Mississippi State’s, which sports three players with next-level, get-off-and-go speed. They can end any kind of gap-scheme run before it begins, by beating a blocker to his set point as another lineman pulls from his spot. The timing becomes disrupted and the play is given no chance.

Some games are about what you don’t call, rather than what you do.

It takes a play-caller confident enough to back away from something that’s typically a team strength, knowing it’s not the way to beat a particular opponent. The Gran-Hinshaw brain trust did just that, relying mostly on traditional zone-running concepts and trusting their guys up front to win one-on-one battles. Their trust was rewarded.

Snell will deservedly grab the headlines, but I assure you Mississippi State’s front won’t get manhandled like that again this year, unless it’s Alabama … and Alabama isn’t normal.

One Sooner concern from a funky Army game

It’s hard to pick out many long-term impressions from a peculiar game like Army-Oklahoma.

Army held the ball for 44 minutes, showcasing the triple-option at its efficient, destructive best. The team's opening touchdown drive lasted nine minutes, totaling 16 plays. It was a death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts approach.

And it worked! Jeff Monken’s team churned out 4.3 yards per rush attempt. They completed some crucial fourth downs, and played the game at their own tempo.

It became a battle of physical and positional leverage - both with pads under pads, and in terms of where players were in relation to others. Oklahoma couldn’t get off the field. Army consistently out-leveraged the defense to the perimeter, winning the numbers game outside even when its line was whipped inside:

The triple-option had OU's linebackers and secondary playing in a gear they’re not used to. They struggled to pick up receivers in the passing game - the result of new landmarks (closer to the LOS) - and to key on the run:

Defenders struggled to find the ball. Army consistently put boundary corners in conflict: Attack the quarterback, and he’ll pitch it to the guy outside; squeeze the outside runner, and the quarterback will carry it himself.

Still, Oklahoma hung on to get the job done. Chalk it up as a survive-and-advance win against a one-off opponent and system.

One bugaboo to keep an eye on is Kyler Murray’s lower-body mechanics. Those are going to matter a lot.

Murray is a scintillating talent - a Heisman candidate with style, only his style also has substance. He’s been electric in the first few weeks both throwing and running the ball. The issue, however, is when he has to shift from his initial read. His field vision is outstanding; he bounces through progressions effortlessly. It’s his feet that are the issue.

Murray can get sloppy. He consistently fails to reset his feet when asked to move from one target to the next. His fails to marry his eyes to his feet. Throws, inevitably, wind up off-target. The ball still leaps out of his hand, but his accuracy wanes:

This is the very next throw. Check out the difference:

Murray predetermined the throw. He was able to sync up his eyes and feet. Freeze the play, and you could draw a straight line from his head to his target foot. He put the ball in the perfect spot.

Footwork has been a prolonged issue for the junior, dating back to his days with Texas A&M. He got away with errors against UCLA. His offensive line gave him all the time in the world against an undermanned Army front. It was the perfect chance for the quarterback to run through plays as though they were seven-on-seven passing drills. Yet, his footwork was still, frankly, lazy.

Murray is too good - and too smart - to have great plays compromised by sloppy footwork. He's also faced minimal pressure through the first four weeks, so it's a concerning issue he must get ironed out before OU deals with stiffer competition.

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