I apologize in advance for bringing over content from another site. I really do. Network Reb is an very knowledgeable and respected poster on 24/7. I give him full credit for his thoughts. I thought his take on our offensive scheme was a very interesting perspective.
Credit to Network Reb:
Advance warning that this is going to be a long post. If you have a hard time getting to the end, go find someone who went to school in the 1960s or early 1970s and they can read it and interpret for you.
One thing that has never been asked or explained is why Ole Miss changed their entire offensive scheme in 2024. I never saw it mentioned on any Ole Miss media site nor on any podcast. To me, that was the story of the year. Now that the season is over, I went back and looked at some footage from the first 4 Kiffin years to compare them to this year. There are a lot of fundamental differences that I saw that explain why our running game disappeared.
As background, I am an offensive line guy. When I’m at the game, I always watch both teams’ OL. For example, at the Georgia game I was so focused on the LOS that I didn’t even notice that Simmons had substituted for Dart until the next morning when I saw highlights.
Kiffin’s original scheme starting in 2020 was largely borrowed from the Art Briles Baylor offense with very wide receiver splits, lots of RPOs and wide OL splits. The OL in that scheme depended on using a lot of pulling within the OL to give them angles to block the DL and create cracks for the backs to run. It didn’t depend on having mammoth linemen, it was based on having lean, athletic OL that could move.
Like any scheme, there are strengths and weaknesses. One weakness of that style OL play is that it’s vulnerable to delayed blitzes from linebackers and safeties who run through the gaps that are created when the OL pull for traps and double teams. Ole Miss had problems with delayed blitzes several times in those years but overall the gaps created by the OL led to Ole Miss being the top running offense in the SEC.
Another problem that style offense has is in short yardage and goal line offense. In those situations, the traps and movement just don’t work and the type lineman needed is the 350Lb behemoth who can push back the DL.
For unknown reasons, in 2024 Ole Miss completely changed its offensive philosophy. I think some of us fans noticed but it was never brought up in press conferences. We changed to a pure gap scheme and brought in a bunch of very large but much less athletic OL. And that philosophy change caused the returning OL to beef up considerably and lose their mobility. For example, I hardly recognized Reese McIntyre from 2023 to 2024 because he changed his whole body.
The 2024 scheme depended on the OL to largely remain static and push their opponent back instead of moving diagonally and creating gaps. We all know here at the end of the season that the decision to change was a failure. For the most part they tended to play too high and with very poor footwork. When we had superior talent in the first 4 games, the running game was terrific. But in SEC games, instead of pushing the DL, they fought to a quagmire and didn’t create any running lanes.
Why did we go that route? I have a couple of theories.
One theory is that Kiffin saw that that Alabama and Georgia won national championships using that gap-style OL scheme. Playing offensive line, it is the ideal scheme to overpower opponents, improve pass protection and excel in short yardage situations. He decided to emulate those teams and went out and brought in a bunch of much larger OL that played that scheme on their prior teams. The problem is that Alabama and Georgia had multiple NFL guys on their OL. None of the transfer OL we had in 2024 would ever be confused with Laramie Tunsil or Greg Little. The Briles scheme doesn’t require NFL talent at OL to be successful.
Theory 2 is that he knew that he had an elite third-year QB and a deep WR corps and decided that Ole Miss would win via the pass. He decided to change to an OL style that would be better for pass protection. He also knew that the only quality RBs he had were smaller and more change-of-pace than a traditional SEC lead back. I think he knew that the run game wouldn’t be emphasized with an elite passing game so the new OL scheme would be good enough, if not as explosive as in past years.
Even with the complete change of OL philosophy, 2024 was a perfect storm of problems for Ole Miss on offense. Nobody mentioned it all year, but in 12 games we had 8 different starting offensive lines. No position group needs cohesiveness more than the offensive line and we had absolutely no consistency.
We were also snake bit with injuries on offense. For the last third of the season, Ole Miss was missing its best running back, its best wide receiver and its best offensive lineman. Considering that, it’s a wonder that we won as many games as we did.
So what does 2025 look like? Will we return to the Briles-style OL philosophy? None of the younger or returning OL are the hulking type that we tried in 2024, so I have a feeling that the prior scheme will make a return. I hope so, it was a lot more fun seeing runners break into the clear than being swallowed up for a one-yard gain.
Credit to Network Reb:
Advance warning that this is going to be a long post. If you have a hard time getting to the end, go find someone who went to school in the 1960s or early 1970s and they can read it and interpret for you.
One thing that has never been asked or explained is why Ole Miss changed their entire offensive scheme in 2024. I never saw it mentioned on any Ole Miss media site nor on any podcast. To me, that was the story of the year. Now that the season is over, I went back and looked at some footage from the first 4 Kiffin years to compare them to this year. There are a lot of fundamental differences that I saw that explain why our running game disappeared.
As background, I am an offensive line guy. When I’m at the game, I always watch both teams’ OL. For example, at the Georgia game I was so focused on the LOS that I didn’t even notice that Simmons had substituted for Dart until the next morning when I saw highlights.
Kiffin’s original scheme starting in 2020 was largely borrowed from the Art Briles Baylor offense with very wide receiver splits, lots of RPOs and wide OL splits. The OL in that scheme depended on using a lot of pulling within the OL to give them angles to block the DL and create cracks for the backs to run. It didn’t depend on having mammoth linemen, it was based on having lean, athletic OL that could move.
Like any scheme, there are strengths and weaknesses. One weakness of that style OL play is that it’s vulnerable to delayed blitzes from linebackers and safeties who run through the gaps that are created when the OL pull for traps and double teams. Ole Miss had problems with delayed blitzes several times in those years but overall the gaps created by the OL led to Ole Miss being the top running offense in the SEC.
Another problem that style offense has is in short yardage and goal line offense. In those situations, the traps and movement just don’t work and the type lineman needed is the 350Lb behemoth who can push back the DL.
For unknown reasons, in 2024 Ole Miss completely changed its offensive philosophy. I think some of us fans noticed but it was never brought up in press conferences. We changed to a pure gap scheme and brought in a bunch of very large but much less athletic OL. And that philosophy change caused the returning OL to beef up considerably and lose their mobility. For example, I hardly recognized Reese McIntyre from 2023 to 2024 because he changed his whole body.
The 2024 scheme depended on the OL to largely remain static and push their opponent back instead of moving diagonally and creating gaps. We all know here at the end of the season that the decision to change was a failure. For the most part they tended to play too high and with very poor footwork. When we had superior talent in the first 4 games, the running game was terrific. But in SEC games, instead of pushing the DL, they fought to a quagmire and didn’t create any running lanes.
Why did we go that route? I have a couple of theories.
One theory is that Kiffin saw that that Alabama and Georgia won national championships using that gap-style OL scheme. Playing offensive line, it is the ideal scheme to overpower opponents, improve pass protection and excel in short yardage situations. He decided to emulate those teams and went out and brought in a bunch of much larger OL that played that scheme on their prior teams. The problem is that Alabama and Georgia had multiple NFL guys on their OL. None of the transfer OL we had in 2024 would ever be confused with Laramie Tunsil or Greg Little. The Briles scheme doesn’t require NFL talent at OL to be successful.
Theory 2 is that he knew that he had an elite third-year QB and a deep WR corps and decided that Ole Miss would win via the pass. He decided to change to an OL style that would be better for pass protection. He also knew that the only quality RBs he had were smaller and more change-of-pace than a traditional SEC lead back. I think he knew that the run game wouldn’t be emphasized with an elite passing game so the new OL scheme would be good enough, if not as explosive as in past years.
Even with the complete change of OL philosophy, 2024 was a perfect storm of problems for Ole Miss on offense. Nobody mentioned it all year, but in 12 games we had 8 different starting offensive lines. No position group needs cohesiveness more than the offensive line and we had absolutely no consistency.
We were also snake bit with injuries on offense. For the last third of the season, Ole Miss was missing its best running back, its best wide receiver and its best offensive lineman. Considering that, it’s a wonder that we won as many games as we did.
So what does 2025 look like? Will we return to the Briles-style OL philosophy? None of the younger or returning OL are the hulking type that we tried in 2024, so I have a feeling that the prior scheme will make a return. I hope so, it was a lot more fun seeing runners break into the clear than being swallowed up for a one-yard gain.
