2020 Offensive Play Calling: Ole Miss

College football fans had a pretty good inkling the Lane Train would get Ole Miss back on track. Sure, the Rebels have sat inside the SEC’s top5 in Explosive Play Rate for the last half decade. But as Grove Roamers know, this program was in need of some renovation. Though creating big plays hardly has been an issue for Ole Miss’s offense even prior to Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby arrival in Oxford, it certainly didn’t hurt to sustain those kinds of play while helping this offense find more consistency. The defense is still a wreck and is currently off the rails, but the Rebels offense immediately showed it can go toe-to-toe with anyone. While sporting its best Explosive Play Rate in three seasons, Ole Miss saw its overall Success Rate increase over eight percentage points in year one of Kiffin’s rule. In addition to that, they finished inside the conference’s top3 in Points/Play, 3-and-Out Rate, Touchdown Rate, and percentage of snaps that generated at least 15 yards.

Though Ole Miss featured plenty of interesting wrinkles like Jet motion, Pop Passes, two-quarterback sets, and misdirection runs, a good amount of its offensive foundation was based on pretty conventional stuff. To get a better idea of how this offense aimed to operate, I looked at snaps when Ole Miss was either up or down 18 points. That way, less garbage time snaps skewed the output and gave us a better depiction of their true play calling in the heat of battle. With that parameter applied, I examined this offense’s favorite run and pass plays, the looks that gained the most yards, and the Lane Train's most successful concepts from 2020. 

MOST FEATURED RUN CONCEPTS

1. Inside Zone Slam Read: 11.4% Play Share, 3.85 Y/A, 49.4% Success Rate

Though Lane Kiffin and Jeff Lebby did a lot of remodeling with Ole Miss’s offense, the one thing they didn’t touch was its core run concept group. Sure, Inside Zone Reads experienced a double-digit dip in play share year-over-year, but they continued to anchor the Rebels' efforts on the ground. Like the majority of zone teams, the Slam Read was this offense’s lead look. As is custom with up-tempo teams, Ole Miss overly aimed to steal a quick chunk of yards, get the defense on its heels, and hit them with various wrinkles off of this concept. Moreover, I’m sure you noticed that despite averaging less than four yards per carry nearly half of the Slam Read’s reps in our parameter found success. 

The Slam Read was the Rebels’ favorite concept on all four downs. But naturally, it saw most of its work occur on firsts. Often as the initial pawn to loosen up the defensive front, this look had trouble finding success on early downs. Ole Miss’s middling 42.9% first down Success Rate and 3.17 Y/A dropped to 39.1% and 2.96, respectively, on seconds. If not for the concept’s courageous showings on later downs, its bottom line would’ve been among the worst in the SEC. More than doubling the next-closest look in reps, the Slam Read boasted a 60% Success Rate on the money down, and all five of its tries on fourth worked. 

Think of this play as a chisel that initially creates a small crack in the concrete. The Slam Read did its job admirably picking away at the defense and creating vulnerabilities; but rarely did it ever bust a big one. Including all of its snaps, less than a tenth of its carries went for more than ten yards with only two topping 20. Most times, the bells and whistles paired with this look birthed this offense’s big gainers. Attempting to make defenses dizzy and to create more cushion for the pushin’, Ole Miss commonly motioned blockers and outlets in various ways on RPO designs. But even though the offensive braintrust loved to get crafty in that sense, a little less than half of this concept’s tries were RPOs in our sample. That said, it’s not like those attempts deserved more calls on the play sheet. These snaps delivered soured results ala a 43.2% Success Rate and 3.22 Y/A. 

2. Inside Zone Bluff Read: 7.19% Play Share, 5.24 Y/A, 52.0% Success Rate

Ole Miss’s 2nd-favorite play was the Slam Read’s brother concept. Despite averaging almost a yard less in SEC play year-over-year, this split zone read finished as the Rebels’ most dependable run look. Despite being repped 27 less times than the Slam Read, it produced three more ten-plus yard carries by volume. Though better in comparison, Bluff Read’s 15.3% Explosive Run Rate still looked up to the team’s 19.0% overall clip, which was good enough for the SEC’s 2nd-best. In our sample, 44% of this concept’s reps were off RPOs. Though half of these such attempts worked situationally, Bluff Read’s overall bottom line trumped the returns off those designs. The pair of IZ Reads owned similar RPO Rates, but eye candy was more common on Bluff than Slam Read attempts. While slide, flats, and slants were common route tags for Slam Reads, Bluffs typically turned to hitches, bubble screens, and Omaha/quick-outs. RPO design or no, Ole Miss was one of three SEC offenses to utilize “inertia Jet motion” on this design. Rather than allowing the edge-setting trapper flow from a stationary off-set or “sniffer” position, a tight end aligned in the slot shot across the formation and thwapped the end man on the backside of the zone. 

The Bluff Read consistently was near the top of Lebby’s play sheet, but the concept logged its most tries against Arkansas. In that Week 4 tilt, the look generated nearly 22% of its season-long output across its 21 outright attempts — or about 30% of its yearly total. In our sample, the plurality of its snaps occurred on first down where its metrics were slightly lesser than its overall line. While its brother concept experienced its worst attempts second downs, that’s where the Bluff Read was its best self. Only seeing three less tries than the lead look, our concept in question sported a 56.5% Success Rate and 5.78 Y/A in those spots. 

3. Outside Zone Read: 4.75% Play Share, 5.48 Y/A, 48.5% Success Rate

With Ole Miss’s two primary runs looking to hit the B-gap between the bookends, its secondary ground concepts either aimed to get speed to the outside or make over-anxious fronts pay with misdirections. Of the three beta looks, the Outside Zone Read logged the most tries in our sample thanks to the offensive braintrust’s belief in its ability to win on firsts. In our parameter, the Outside Zone Read was just as popular as the Bluff Read to start a set of downs for this offense. Nearly 70% of this concept’s tries took place in those spots. With that, the look’s production was heavily influenced by these snaps. Moreover, the Outside Zone Read’s bottom line closely resembles the 6.22 Y/A and 47.8% Success Rate from its first down attempts. Though it differed from Ole Miss’s two primary Inside Zone Reads by having more than half of its tries come off RPOs, it too saw its figures worsen on such snaps. Not by much though… its Success Rate only plummeted ten percentage points. 

The Rebels were 2.5x more likely to suffer a TFL on Outside compared to Inside Zone Reads, but they averaged considerably more rush yards before attempt, which led to more big gainers on average. When looking at the volume numbers, our concept in question logged a half-dozen explosive carries over the course of the season. Duh, that’s not a lot. But by a rate basis, a 15.8% clip is still more-than-serviceable. Jerrion Ealy almost doubled Snoop Conner in attempts, but the latter was only out-gained by four yards. Over a fifth of Ealy’s such attempts resulted in a loss, and his two lone ten-plus yarders didn’t come until the last two games of the SEC regular season. In addition to being more incendiary on this look, Conner rocked the best Success Rate among Rebel running backs (62.5%). He finished with just as many failed runs as explosive carries (3). While Corral didn’t do much on Inside Zones, three of his four OZ Read keepers found success with one resulting in a fresh set of downs. All in all, this concept’s best day came against Mississippi State. In the Egg Bowl, this look racked up four of its seven explosive carries while sporting an 85.7% Success Rate

4. Counter Read: 3.74% Play Share, 5.62 Y/A, 50.0% Success Rate

With the zone-heavy run scheme, Ole Miss had to have some sort of misdirection to prevent opponents from honing on its easily recognizable blocking flows. Though perimeter-oriented options like the Power Veer or Power Toss Read combined to own the 4th-largest play share of any concept group and Y-Insert tested foes on occasion, the Counter Read easily was this offense’s go-to changeup when it wished to deviate from its core zone plays. Kiffin and Lebby had their troops focus on two primary wrinkles. The first is rather ho-hum and conventional. While some offenses like to ask their backside guard and tackle act as this design’s lead blockers, the Rebels were more-than-okay asking their tight ends to get their hands dirty. With the initial down blocks feigning a zone flow, our backside guard pulls and “traps” the end man on the line. Then, our trusty tight end cleans up the carnage through our newly created hole after the backfield sells the action. On this basic Counter, both pullers initially are aligned towards the strength of the formation before working the weakside. That last bit is important in order to differentiate Ole Miss’s two wrinkles. This offense showed off a sophisticated tweak on a number of reps that called for the play to attack the strongside. But unlike on Powers where our “trapper” and “wrapper” exchange roles, our tight end pretends to execute a split zone flow against the grain before redirecting back towards the strength of the formation and performing his job as the concept’s lead blocker. Since split zone flows were common in this offense, I really enjoyed seeing a literal counter off of that concept. 

Regardless of what rendition was called, Ole Miss featured Counter Read equally on both sides of the center. Though the Rebels might not have preferred either in terms of reps, the numbers heavily favored runs towards the left. In addition to logging six of the concept group’s seven explosive carries, these attempts pooled together for a solid 78.6% Success Rate. Only a single Counter Read to the left resulted in a loss all season. Everyone saw at least half of their such tries work. Looking at the other side of the center, only one rusher accomplished that feat, Elijah Moore. Plus, he was responsible for the lone ten-plus yarder to the right. No other Rebel topped seven such yards. In fact if we were to omit his output, Ole Miss averaged negative rush yards before contact and failed to see a single rightward Counter Read try find success. 

While the rest of Ole Miss’s favorite run looks soured when operating as RPOs, the Counter Read’s figures slightly improved to the tune of a 5.94 Y/A and 52.9% Success Rate. Since two-thirds of the ones in our sample were categorized as such, these inflated the concept’s bottom line. RPO or no, this was largely an early down play. It was pretty mediocre on first and second downs as the look delivered a blah 43.5% Success Rate. But thanks to being perfect on the money down, the Counter Read was the only other run play besides the Bluff Read to rock a 50% Success Rate in our sample. 

5. Outside Zone Off-Tackle: 3.74% Play Share, 4.56 Y/A, 29.6% Success Rate

Don’t let that header fool you. Most of the Off-Tackles Ole Miss dialed up in 2020 were wide split zones. But since I pooled the two looks together when charting, here we are. Unlike the Outside Zone Read that saw consistent usage, Off-Tackles didn’t show up in this offense until Week 5 against Auburn. And even then, this concept was only repped twice. After taking the Vanderbilt game off, the rest of its tries occurred from Week 7 on. Of the 26 Off-Tackles in our sample, 23 occurred in the three game stretch versus South Carolina, Mississippi State, and LSU. Predominately coming from the pistol, these were much more straightforward in nature than reads or RPOs from the shotgun. Without the ancillary aspects testing defenders’ collective attention span, these proved to be easier to stop. With the exception of a couple of reps, Off-Tackles were exclusively deployed from trey formations with an off-set tight end or “sniffer”. Though its Y/A was ballooned by four explosive carries, less than a third worked situationally. 

Off-Tackles logged half of their attempts on second downs. Though a 4.62 Y/A and 38.5% Success Rate are rather lousy on the surface, these tries ballooned the concept’s bottom line. Less than a quarter of Ole Miss’s remaining Off-Tackle plays found success. Ealy received the most snaps but was horribly inefficient. Sure, he didn’t suffer a TFL and donned an okay 4.55 Y/A. But, no carry eclipsed ten yards and his individual Success Rate brought down the team’s average. Connor provided to be even less consistent. Even though he secured an explosive gain, two of his five such tries resulted in a loss. Parrish Jr. by default ended as this look’s “best” producer. While being responsible for three of Off-Tackles’ ten-plus yard carries and one of its two scores, he was the only Rebel running back to see at least a third of his such tries find success. 

MOST FEATURED PASS CONCEPTS

1. All Verts: 4.17% Play Share, 5.93 Y/A, 27.6% Success Rate

Though concept groups like Floods and Slant Variations each owned a higher play share, no one pass play out-repped All Verts in our sample. Belief in this play came from its innate ability to overload backends and test opponents down the field rather that its returns. On the surface, Ole Miss’s numbers on this concept were right at the league average. But when you dig a little deeper, it’s very apparent this team struggled to produce much value. Regardless of parameter, 22 of the 31 called All Verts resulted in either a sack, scramble, or throwaway. When targeted outright in our sample, only 4/15 attempts found the mark. After Week 2, this concept only mustered a single completion the remainder of the year. 

Three of the Rebels’ completions came inside the hashes with two of them coming on throws less than 15 yards downfield. Corral only connected on a third of his deep chances while going o’fer outside the right hash. Moreover, his stat line was a nauseating 0/9 with an INT on All Vert throws to the right. No matter where they were thrown the ball, Braylon Sanders, Chase Rodgers, Dontario Drummond, Damarcus Thomas, Jerrion Ealy, Jadon Jackson, and Jonathon Mingo failed to haul in a single try. Both of Corral’s picks on this look came targeting the latter. But, I feel I should mention a third of his All Vert attempts were charted as uncatchable. Kenny Yeboah led the way in targets (3), catches (2), and yards (69). But again, all the splash gains occurred during the first two weeks of the season. In addition to Yeboah's explosive catches against UK, the concept’s longest completion came in the opener versus Florida via a 51-yard Elijah Moore bomb, which was his only All Vert try all year. Along with the traditional four-vert pattern, Kiffen and Lebby featured “Seattle” — a slot switch variant commonly seen from trip bunch sets — and designs with a weak side slot option. 

Despite the underwhelming figures, Ole Miss wanted to use this pattern aggressively. It was often paired with play action and saw the majority of its reps take place on first downs, where the look just so happened to produce its best numbers. There, All Verts boasted a 9.2 Y/A and 40% Success Rate. All three of this concept’s explosive completions occurred on that down. With only scrambles buoying the rest of the output, it’s easy to see why its returns worsened in other spots.

2. All Curls: 3.88% Play Share, 6.96 Y/A, 62.9% Success Rate

Though hitches were common RPO route tags, all of its production in our sample game through the dropback game. Uncomplicated and straightforward, it helped Ole Miss pick on linebackers who were already winded by the Rebels up-tempo attack. With said foes providing cushion, curls and hitches found plenty of voids to secure easy completions underneath. Defenses dropped, and the Rebels stopped…and found plenty of success. However, usage was certainly sporadic. All Curls was saved for opponents who liked to present the Rebels a deep zone shell. Roughly 75% of this concept’s tries, regardless of parameter, came against Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Indiana. Kentucky was the only other opponent to defend this look on at least four snaps. Despite the inconsistency on the script, no other SEC offense targeted All Curls more than ten times in 2020. (Including all snaps, Ole Miss logged 35 such attempts). 

Ole Miss exclusively ran All Curls out of 2x2 formations. The symmetry presented pre-snap which defender provided the most space between him and his man. Sticking with the theme of balance, the concept was well-distributed across the three downs, but it saw the plurality of its reps occur on first downs. Each spot experienced at least a 54.5% Success Rate as the concept’s clip increased on each passing down before settling in at 71.4% on thirds. Along with being Ole Miss’s 2nd-favorite pass play on the money down, it was also it’s 2nd-most successful as its Y/A climbed to 9.71. 

3. Vertical Shots: 2.59% Play Share, 8.83 Y/A, 27.8% Success Rate

Various Vertical Shot plays combined together for the honor of being this offense’s 3rd-favorite. Like the Rebels’ previous two concepts, these looks are far from complicated but became all the more dangerous when defenses were gassed. But like All Verts, consistency was hard to come by. Four different subconcepts logged at least three targets in our sample: Solo (isolated streak or fades), Slot Fade (or smash fade for some), Divide, (“989” for the old schoolers), and Goalline Fades (my least favorite play in football). The latter two looks combined to go 0/7. Only one of the four Slot Fade targets found its mark, which so happen to occur on the look’s first try of the season in Week 1 opposite a Pivot concept. Isolated deep routes birthed the best gains; and by default inflated the group’s bottom line. All four of its successful completions game against LSU. Three of them occurred on snaps where Solo was paired opposite a Stick concept. Two resulted in TDs both of which were directed to Braylon Sanders. The other try came off a pugnacious pattern that played off its seldom-used Y-Insert run play. After feigning as a power lead blocker between the tackles, tight end Chase Kelly sprinted down the middle of the field on a bullet route with the rest of the offense setting up a fake screen action, also known as “Fox” in some circles. Kelly’s 57-yard catch was the concept group’s most explosive snap of the season. Though charted as Pop Passes, a few red zone attempts featured a similar action that helped bring in a couple of scores.  

4. Cross: 2.30% Play Share, 15.0 Y/A. 50.0% Success Rate

When all of its subconcepts pooled together, no concept group commanded a higher share of Ole Miss’s plays in our sample than Floods. Cross, a “weakside” variant, ended up as the favorite look of the bunch. With Moore and Yeboah being menaces on the inside, this pattern suited their strengths well. Plus, their strengths as weapons in space were accentuated when the Rebels turned to play action, which is a common tactic to pair with this Flood on all levels of football. Even if the run fails to ever be established, backers always itch to stop a ground threat. Once they step up to stop the run, Cross sends a route or two through the newly vacated voids in the middle of the field. Though not all of Ole Miss’s Cross designs utilized play fakes, the majority of them did. Some used max protection and others overloaded the defense with outlets. Opposite the core concept, Ole Miss would either sport Hoss, the aforementioned Fox, a slot bubble, or tag an overtop post coming from the other side of the formation. 

In our sample, Cross was predominately an early down play. Of its 16 chances, only one occurred on third down. Despite a 16-yard gain, that rep still ended in failure. Cross logged most of its tries on seconds. Though its 13.9 Y/A was the worst across the downs, the concept’s 55.6% Success Rate was its best.  Some games, like the bowl win against Indiana, preferred this look more than others. But, it still showed up in most games.  Only the Auburn and South Carolina contests failed to log a Cross target all year regardless of the score. 

5. Tosser: 2.30% Play Share, 7.25 Y/A, 56.3% Success Rate

Including all of this offense’s snaps, Slant Variations were the only pass concept group to boast at least a 5% play share. And despite topsy-turvy usage, subconcept Tosser wound up as the Rebels favorite Slant combo and among its most-repped pass concepts. This dual slant pattern was featured on 36 snaps (or about 4.5% of Ole Miss’s plays) and outright targeted 20 times. Yet, four games saw this concept displayed once or not at all. Three-fourth’s of Tosser’s production came from the Kentucky, South Carolina and the Indiana games. The love this look received in the Rebels' bowl win certainly put it over the top and qualified it for this list. Across its eight snaps versus the Hoosiers, Tosser was targeted six times and delivered three completions including a 21-yarder on the game’s first play. 

Though half of its featured reps over the course of 2020 saw Tosser opposite a swing screen or on an RPO design, less than a third of its targets met that criteria. The dropback game was responsible for most of this look’s output in our sample. Tosser was doubled, paired with Slap combos (slant+flat), a couple of shot plays, and helped set up Sluggos. Along with mirroring the concept to both sides of the formation, quite a few of these snaps utilized wide power play action. Like on Cross, a play fake entices backers to fill their run gaps as the slant crosses through the void they just vacated for a quick strike. 

6. Hoss: 1.87% Play Share, 11.9 Y/A, 69.2% Success Rate

With a good portion of Ole Miss’s pass game coming from up-and-down concepts on a vertical route tree, this curl+seam combo allowed the Rebels to test opponents down the field while setting up easy completions underneath. Though there were snaps where Hoss operated as the primary pass pattern, it was overly a complimentary design for other looks such as Cross, Shock (inverted Stick), Sluggo, and Dagger. The curl+seam combo was featured on a healthy number of snaps, but it only logged 13 attempts in our parameter. Yet, it earned enough tries to crack this list. Considering only five concepts received over a dozen reps should illustrate how well-distributed Ole Miss’s passing game was. Though there were a few favorites, Kiffin and Lebby overly aimed to keep defenses in the dark. Seven other concepts logged between seven and 12 attempts in our sample. 

Like a lot of looks, Hoss experienced its highest usage on first downs. That’s also where the curl+seam combo saw its best returns. Across its six such tries, five worked. Though its Success Rate dwindled on each subsequent down, Hoss still rocked a 50% clip on thirds while donning a 14.5 Y/A, its best figure on any down. Though some sack and scramble attempts fudged the numbers, only two of Hoss’s pass attempts fell incomplete. 

TOP YARDAGE GAINERS

1. Inside Zone Slam Read: 304 yards, 3.85 Y/A, 49.4% Success Rate

With the most reps on Ole Miss’s script, the Slam Read managed to secure the most yards for this offense in our sample. But again, this concept produced plodding results. Regardless of parameter, only eight of its 85 attempts went for more than ten yards; Those tries accounted for about 41% of this concept’s yards. If we were to take out those runs, the Slam Read would have a stat line of 178 yards, 2.56 Y/A, and 36.4% Success Rate — far from the rest of this offense’s top yardage gainers. Though usually the most featured look week-in and week-out, this concept saw its highest usage in Week 3 versus Alabama. Across 16 reps (19.6% weekly play share), seven snaps gained three yards or less. Only one wound up as explosive, a 26-yarder on a 4th and 1. Three of this concept’s ten-plus yard carries came against the only defense worse than the Rebels in Vanderbilt, but only one landed in our parameter. To reiterate, the Slam Read’s role in this scheme wasn’t to consistently break open big plays, but rather force defenses to defend it. Once opponents overcommitted to curb this unassuming Inside Zone Read, other elements to this Ole Miss offense opened up. 

2. Deep Double Move: 302 yards, 43.1 Y/A, 100% Success Rate

Though some of the Lane Train’s fun wrinkles fell through the cracks while writing this piece, I was glad to give Ole Miss’s Deep Double Move patterns a spotlight. All seven of these looks targeted in our parameter were completed with two of them resulting in points. If you forgot, one of tuddys generated the best celebratory clipboard toss in college football history. As the passing game’s focal point, Elijah Moore was an obvious player for defenses to eliminate. Of course as is, he was a hard man to stop. And once opponents tried to guess where he was going and oversold on the backend, Lane flexed his West Coast roots with multi-breakers. More times than not, it was a slant-and-go. On his four attempts/catches, Moore totaled 203 yards as well both of these look’s scores. He also commanded the only other Deep Double Move not a Sluggo in our sample — his deep Out-N-Up in the Egg Bowl. Throw in a Dontario Drummand explosive catch and a ten-plus yard scramble from Matt Corral and these looks pooled together to total the 2nd-most yards for this offense in our sample. A mere three yards prevented them from being tops. All in all, these seven completions accounted for 5.8% of Ole Miss’s total yards when disregarding our parameter. 

3. Inside Zone Bluff Read: 242 yards, 5.24 Y/A, 52.0% Success Rate

Despite being more efficient than its brother concept, the Bluff Read lost a good amount of yardage by the cutoff point of out parameter. Though the Slam Read only missed out on 40 yards, essentially a third of its split zone counterpart’s output occurred in garbage time. Still, all four of this concept’s 20-plus yard carries fell in our sample. Two of them came against Alabama and secured a quarter of the look’s season-long production (31% when you include the remaining tries against the Tide). The Bluff Read’s longest carry on the season was a 39-yarder against South Carolina. Later in the game, Kiffen and Lebby used the action to set up a 59-yard overtop post to Braylon Sanders. 

When combined, the Slam and Bluff Read were undeniably low-floor plays. Nearly 56% of their attempts gained less than three yards even though half found success. The Rebels overly struggled to create space for their rushers as they only averaged 1.87 yards before contact on this concept group. The QB-run aspect failed to bring much value. Both Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee each sported a 40% Success Rate and saw their individual Y/A fall under four yards. Jerrion Ealy was Ole Miss’s best option on these looks. Even though Henry Parrish Jr put up similar a Success Rate (55.5%) and YAC average (2.8), Ealy led the way in Y/A (5.25) while logging a team-high 65 attempts off Inside Zone Reads.

4. Cross: 240 yards, 15.0 Y/A. 50.0% Success Rate

Only two games targeted Cross at least three times in 2020. Naturally, those games were responsible for much of the concept’s production. Over 46% of its output came off its three completions against Alabama alone. But the Rebels would have to wait unlit the SEC regular season finale before this offense would log another explosive Cross attempt, which came via a scramble. Along with the 35-yarder in the bowl game, a quarter of this concept’s snaps birthed a gain of at least 20-yards. As Ole Miss’s alpha receiver, Elijah Moore logged the most targets (6), catches (4) and yards (88). For whatever reason, Kenny Yeboah was only targeted once on this concept. Based on the results of his 68-yard scoring try against Alabama, it’s fair to question why Kiffin and Lebby felt like only featuring Y-Cross on two snaps the remainder of  2020. 

5. Wheelie Switch: 208 yards, 26.0 Y/A, 62.5% Success Rate

Across the SEC, this Switch Variation saw a noticeable uptick in usage. Probably because targeting wheel routes work. What do you all think? While that sounds overly simplistic, this wheel + post/dig combo is fantastic at disorienting two-deep coverages or match pattern assignments. Don’t believe me? Then why the hell is the Wheelie Switch among this offense’s top yardage gainers despite only logging eight targets?  Though part of the Lane Train’s many tertiary passing looks, its potency can’t be denied. The concept’s best day came versus South Carolina where its three attempts generated two completions, 77 yards, and a TD. A couple of the reps featured a design the Rebels used a few weeks earlier to snatch Wheelie’s longest gain of the year — a 60-yard wheel to Kenny Yeboah. And, we can’t forget the highlight John Rhys Plumlee provided in the bowl win. From a two-back set, the former Rebel passer hauled in a 44-yarder in crunch time. 

6. Sail: 203 yards, 25.4 Y/A, 62.5% Success Rate

In our sample, Floods combined to be Ole Miss’s most targeted pass concept group. And while Cross was the favorite variant by this offensive braintrust, Sail was the most electric and consistent. Just like the Wheelie Switch, this strongside Flood only logged eight tries in our parameter but gained over 200 yards. Exactly 80% of this concept’s yards came against arch-rival Mississippi. This concept was certainly rewarded by the two explosive catches it birthed, but it also benefited from an 81-yard touchdown scamper by Matt Corral. Over the course of the season, most were of the two-man variety just consisting of a vertical and deep out/corner. But this offense became the latest SEC offense to dabble with the R-Sail wrinkle — a version that asks a back to run the outbreaker rather than a receiver. 

MOST SUCCESSFUL CONCEPTS

1. Deep Double Move: 1.01% Play Share, 43.1 Y/A, 100% Success Rate

With only seven reps across two concepts in our sample, you can put an asterisk by this concept. But since all these attempts found their mark, I felt it deserved a little more love. Interestingly enough, all four of the Deep Double Moves outside of our parameter failed to see a completion yet gave two successful scrambles. Three of these snaps occurred in Week 1 in which Ole Miss featured a pattern with a Post-Corner opposite a Slot Fade. After the game, however, that pattern was retired for the rest of 2020. From then on, Sluggos were the preferred Deep Double Move. Ole Miss connected on a 46-yarder against Alabama, two 30+ yarders against Vanderbilt, the crown jewel 91-yard attempt against South Carolina, and a 36-yarder in the Egg Bowl. Throw in Elijah Moore’s 53-yard Out-N-Up connection, and you have the SEC’s most successful offense targeting Deep Double Moves. 

2. Hoss: 1.87% Play Share, 11.9 Y/A, 69.2% Success Rate

While Hoss’s usage was sporadic, the design was hella-consistent. Every single completion birthed a successful try. Including its brother concept Comebacks, this group put up a combined 84.6% Completion%. Only one connection failed to deliver either a first down or a TD. Almost of quarter were responsible for an explosive gain. Focusing solely on Hoss: like a lot of looks that see wishy-washy reps, most of its production was tied to one singular week’s output, which was Week 2 against Kentucky. It didn’t take long for the look to make a difference. Opposite a Smash concept, Jonathon Mingo logged a 31-yarder on the afternoon's second snap. Along with its four other tries against the Wildcats — or 38.5% of its attempts in our sample — Hoss racked up just under half of its total yardage. Outside of a sack, the concept was perfect that day. On the year, Hoss’s longest gain came against Vanderbilt where Elijah Moore hauled in a 39-yarder on 3rd Down. 

3. Switch Variations: 1.58% Play Share, 21.6 Y/A, 63.6% Success Rate

Though Wheelies didn’t qualify by themselves due to insufficient sample size, their concept group just met my arbitrary cutoff point. Ole Miss targeted eight Wheelies, two Scissors, and a wheel+curl combo when either up or down 18 points. Four separate receivers logged an explosive gain, but none finished with more than one. Though obviously a great bang-for-buck vertical pass play, Switches just made this list thanks to its successful scramble attempt. Not that a 60% Success Rate on dropbacks is bad, but it wouldn’t have been among this offense’s best. 

4. All Curls: 3.88% Play Share, 6.96 Y/A, 62.9% Success Rate

Again, the reason why All Curls succeeded wasn’t rocket surgery. The concept very much operated like a backyard pitch and catch between a father and son. Though I like to get into the weeds with schematics, there’s simply no need to dissect this short porch pattern. Since the underneath curls and hitches to space laterally stretched defenders pre-snap and presented a clear avenue where to go with the ball, Rebel passers didn’t have to waste too much brain energy on these snaps either. Of the 23 All Curls outright targeted in our sample, 20 were caught; two others were dropped. Like you’d expect, Elijah Moore was the leading target on this look. He caught all seven of his tries for 74 yards and five first downs. Across the year, the Egg Bowl was this concept’s best outing. Along with racking up nearly half of its yards in our sample, eight of the 11 targeted All Curls found success versus the Bulldogs. For whatever reason, Corral favored targeting the left on this concept. Disregarding our parameter and looking at all attempts, 60% of his targets and 70% of his yards came on such throws. 

5. Slant Variations: 4.89% Play Share, 7.35 Y/A, 61.8% Success Rate

Like All Curls, it’s not exactly brain science why slants provided consistent wins for Ole Miss’s offense. These combos also presented quick, underneath completions against sagging coverage that was maximized the Rebels’ spread modus operandi. No matter the subconcept, Slants were rocksteady. Each variant put up at least a 56.3% Success Rate and 7.0 Y/A. In our sample, 70% of these concepts were completed; and of those, two-thirds resulted in a fresh set of downs. Of the 21 completions, only four failed to result in either a first down or a TD. Despite being a short passing concept, a tenth of its targets in our sample went for 20 yards or more. All in all, half of the Slant Variations’ tries in our parameter occurred on RPO designs. Though a good amount of Ole Miss’s ground game faltered on these snaps, our concept group as a whole hardly wavered on the bottom line. I hope you’re sitting down for this next part, because it can be quite the shocker for those ill-prepared to receive the news. Regardless of the rendition, Elijah Moore was Ole Miss’s favorite and best target. Across his ten such tries, he compiled nine catches, 88 yards, and seven first downs. His lone failed attempt was an uncatchable pass. Jonathon Mingo was the only other Rebel to log over five Slant Variation targets. Despite snatching both of this group’s TDs, he finished with as many drops as catches on these looks (4). 

6. Mesh: 1.87% Play Share, 10.8 Y/A, 61.5% Success Rate

Since Ole Miss’s onslaught though the air was mostly figuring out ways to get Elijah Moore the ball, this offense had to operate through a good deal of muck. When faced with sticky man coverage, this offense occasionally turned to Rubs. Meshes emerged as the seldom-used concept group’s most-repped look. With a volatile sample size, this look made the cut thanks to four successful scramble attempts, which accounted for 46% of this concept’s total yards. Still when pooled together, Rubs generated a 78.6% Completion%. Ole Miss’s main-man Moore caught all five of his such chances for a team-high 58 yards. Four of his catches went for either a first down or a TD along with the concept’s longest gain of the season.