As Air Force approaches its December 22, 2022 bowl game with Baylor, I would like to review one specific play that the Air Force offense has perfected. Here is Air Force’s 2022 schedule and they have had a great year so far sitting at 7-3. That play could go by many names like FB ISO or B Back ISO or Counter ISO, but I have been calling it Cutback. Their star running back #20 Brad Roberts runs it with great timing and power. Here is a view of that play from the Nevada game on 9/23/2022.
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This play is being run against a 4×3 defense for Nevada. I have seen Air Force run this play against any type of defense, but I think it is specially built to be run against a 5×2 with 4i DEs. I will show the blocking for that down below. Air Force runs this play with so many variations of motions and formations, but there are a few constants.
- One of the A backs is going to block vertical through the B or C gaps to either double team on a defensive lineman or (most likely) to ISO block on an inside linebacker.
- The B back is doing to work on a midline path to start and then bend back to the B or C gap. It is kind of like a trap path but just starting the cut deeper.
- The B back’s initial depth allows for him to do this cutback to get to the hole. This could also be done by telling the B back to be a little slow off the line if you do not want to change his depth.
- The QB puts his back to the hole like trap as he opens the midline type path. But then he gets some extra depth with his footwork. This allows the B back to get the ball deeper to allow for the cutback.
- There will typically be some kind of TE or very tight wide receiver who is doing a kickout on the play side.
- If the kickout is going well for this TE or WR I have seen that player release after a certain count and work vertical to a safety or corner. The B back is running so tight to the down block by the tackle typically that this initial outside defender usually cannot make the play if there is good initial contact. So working vertical like this does get a 2 for 1 sometimes.
So what is the big deal here? Why is this potentially a good play to add to your Triple Option attack? The point of this play is to slow down pursuit by the inside linebackers. As I explain in this post about running a different counter type play I call Slice, there are defenses that will respond by shifting extremely to your motion. This Cutback play can really help with slowing down that defensive adjustment.
Also, this is simply a way to get the ball to you ‘B’ back on a play that hits as fast as anything you can run. Get some good line splits to naturally create a seam for the hole for the ISO block and let the running backs get vertical quickly.
I think this play really looks a lot at the beginning like midline triple with a rev / twirl motion. Midline Triple is a staple play against a 5×2 defense with reading the DE and OLB. So as the defense is seeing the twirl motion and the QB opens like he normally would for midline triple the inside linebackers are going to want to flow. But now this play hits the opposite way the quarterback opened, because the pitch back did not go in motion, but instead ISO blocked straight ahead. It can look like this against a typical 3×4 defense…
The ISO block for the A back on the inside linebacker is typically easier here because that inside linebacker is probably leaning to his right. The OLB to the offense’s left typically cannot make a play here on the B back because how much he cuts back.
In the above picture we have a safety pretty much in the alley where we want to run. Could we remove him by going with a type of unbalanced formation? How does this look?
Now we have created a bit better of an alley for this cutback play. If we get the free safety to bite on the twirl motion and we could get our Y to wall off both the OLB and the rolled down safety we might get a house call!
Here is a final play of Air Force running it against Army in 2022.
Notice how the inside linebacker on the offense’s right widens thinking that midline triple is coming. This play was actually against a ‘5’ Technique on the left so it even hit a little quicker in the B gap since the offensive tackle simply blocked out.
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