Had a long conversation with the Fourth Wiseman of OSU football upon my return from Europe. LONGGGG conversation, so I will paraphrase the best that I can---but it was part stories, part info and part random thoughts..
here goes.....
"When Tom Herman was tinkering with the OSU offense in 2012 he was approached by a couple of guys with a novel idea. They wanted to apply "game theory" to the Ohio State offense, and see how closely it related to real life success on the field.
Now Tom had heard a lot of pitches--but this one was particularly impressive because it was being made by the two leading programmers on the #1 college video game in the world. Why had they come to him then, and that point in time? Well both had gone to Stanford, but one had grown up a Buckeye fan, while the other one rooted for Notre Dame, and hated Michigan---so they figured who better to go to than the Buckeyes.
Their pitch was simple----let us have access to things that Ohio State is doing on offense and we will run simulations against standard and variable defensive fronts and formations--and we will give you all the data on how it sims out. Tom as skeptical at first, but over time he found that these guys were uncanny in their ability to see things that might not have been obvious to the naked eye or the game tape. They had the benefit of running millions and millions of variations of the same play while changing single variables---and then interpreting the outcome.
Once of the most interesting observations they made was that if Ohio State was ever able to establish a second "pivot point" on the offense, with another player that possessed similar skills to the QB(run, pass, throw) that the OSU offense would become even more formidable. They called this position the "U Back"(short for Ultra Back). Their descriptor was a player that was more athletic than a normal qb, but maybe was lacking in accuracy on his passes or in reading defenses---but presented a legitimate triple threat at another point on the field.
In their simulations the Ohio State offense averaged 7.4% more points when this player had above average athleticism. 9,8% when he had superior athleticism. Defenses consistently struggled to cope with the fact that they could not target their defenses at the traditional inflection point(the QB) and had to account for a second threat.
When the programmers came to camp the next season in Fall 2013 they had offered up the idea that Braxton Miller would be the ideal guy at that spot---if of course, they were ever able to find a capable replacement for the two time league MVP as the starting QB.
Fast forward to 2015 and the programmers made their annual pilgrimage (this time without Tom) and after they watched the team they reached out to Tom at Houston(where he was running a practice). They excitedly told him all they'd seen and then almost as an afterthought said "we finally found the perfect guy to play the UBack---Braxton Miller"
Tom said that Meyer had probably already figured that out.
They then said "well when Miller goes there is a kid here that would be perfect, but we aren't sure what his name is.
Tom said "what's his number?"
their answer? " #6...moves like a gazelle out there....we put him in our simulation and OSU scored 107 points the first game out...."
Thought it was funny that Gibson affected them that way.....LOL
This week Herman has reached out to Meyer....short and sweet....his message? "Love Ed, but plays need to come down from the box, especially if you want to go fast"
take it FWIW
here goes.....
"When Tom Herman was tinkering with the OSU offense in 2012 he was approached by a couple of guys with a novel idea. They wanted to apply "game theory" to the Ohio State offense, and see how closely it related to real life success on the field.
Now Tom had heard a lot of pitches--but this one was particularly impressive because it was being made by the two leading programmers on the #1 college video game in the world. Why had they come to him then, and that point in time? Well both had gone to Stanford, but one had grown up a Buckeye fan, while the other one rooted for Notre Dame, and hated Michigan---so they figured who better to go to than the Buckeyes.
Their pitch was simple----let us have access to things that Ohio State is doing on offense and we will run simulations against standard and variable defensive fronts and formations--and we will give you all the data on how it sims out. Tom as skeptical at first, but over time he found that these guys were uncanny in their ability to see things that might not have been obvious to the naked eye or the game tape. They had the benefit of running millions and millions of variations of the same play while changing single variables---and then interpreting the outcome.
Once of the most interesting observations they made was that if Ohio State was ever able to establish a second "pivot point" on the offense, with another player that possessed similar skills to the QB(run, pass, throw) that the OSU offense would become even more formidable. They called this position the "U Back"(short for Ultra Back). Their descriptor was a player that was more athletic than a normal qb, but maybe was lacking in accuracy on his passes or in reading defenses---but presented a legitimate triple threat at another point on the field.
In their simulations the Ohio State offense averaged 7.4% more points when this player had above average athleticism. 9,8% when he had superior athleticism. Defenses consistently struggled to cope with the fact that they could not target their defenses at the traditional inflection point(the QB) and had to account for a second threat.
When the programmers came to camp the next season in Fall 2013 they had offered up the idea that Braxton Miller would be the ideal guy at that spot---if of course, they were ever able to find a capable replacement for the two time league MVP as the starting QB.
Fast forward to 2015 and the programmers made their annual pilgrimage (this time without Tom) and after they watched the team they reached out to Tom at Houston(where he was running a practice). They excitedly told him all they'd seen and then almost as an afterthought said "we finally found the perfect guy to play the UBack---Braxton Miller"
Tom said that Meyer had probably already figured that out.
They then said "well when Miller goes there is a kid here that would be perfect, but we aren't sure what his name is.
Tom said "what's his number?"
their answer? " #6...moves like a gazelle out there....we put him in our simulation and OSU scored 107 points the first game out...."
Thought it was funny that Gibson affected them that way.....LOL
This week Herman has reached out to Meyer....short and sweet....his message? "Love Ed, but plays need to come down from the box, especially if you want to go fast"
take it FWIW
