I don’t think I’ve ever seen a quarterback sweep work. And that wasn’t a busted play, it was clearly a quarterback sweep.
We spent three years or so criticizing a mediocre offensive line, and then lost our best one to the portal. On the QB sweep, literally one Wildcat player (Covey) executed his block successfully.
On that play Lang, who is a tall guy who motions, and not a tight end, lined up in a three point stance, a true tight end. The left side defensive end basically bull rushed Lang immediately, driving him into both Wrather and Thompson. So one Duke DE took out the three down linemen in the direction of the play. Thompson was trying to engage the wrong guy anyway, and his assignment was in the backfield immediately.
Gordon totally whiffed on his dude — who made the tackle. And lead blocker Porter actually laid a decent shoulder on a dude, but he had to deal with three. Again, three guys were neutralized by one Blue Devil, basically on the snap.
Wright went backwards rather than diving, meaning that there was no choice but to call a pass on fourth. If he had gone to the ground when it was apparent that nothing good was coming (which was immediately), it could have been 4th and 5 and the run would be a possibility. But there were literally five untouched Blue defenders running full speed at him — and he went backwards trying to make a play. You can’t really blame him, because his coach and his OL and his TEs all let him down. But he could have been better.
So, it was a bad call, executed poorly, by a team without much blocking talent. A triple-whammy.
I’ve watched the play 30 times because I hate myself.
