Photo by Lorene Hale
LOGAN – Utah State defied convention multiple times in its win over New Mexico, running not one, but two fake kick plays. Both worked and aided the Aggies in defeating the Lobos in a crucial win for USU’s bowl game hopes.
Aggie fans are already quite used to head coach Blake Anderson’s aggressiveness on fourth downs and it’s helped the team more than it has hurt. Even fake kicks have cropped up in the past. Anderson opted for a fake punts against Boise State and New Mexico last year, and also ran a fake punt against UNLV this year . But surely no one expected Anderson to run another fake punt AND a fake field goal inside the same game.
Given the circumstances of the game, with unhelpful weather and the offense playing as poorly as it was, Anderson said he “felt like (the fakes) were necessary.” He also saw opportunity in each of those plays and careful study were behind each. There’s still some luck involved, though, and as Anderson noted of these fake kicks, if “you call them and they work you’re a hero. You call them and they don’t everybody’s going to think you’re an idiot.”
These kinds of plays are incredibly risky. It calls for putting the ball in the hands of players who are in no way the kinds of playmakers who usually handle the ball. Punters and kickers are punters and kickers for a reason. They don’t do well with running or throwing the ball. But in a weird way, that’s also what can make these plays work so well at times. Who better to run or throw the ball than the guy nobody expects to even have the ball?
LSU punter Brad Wing worked with that logic when he took advantage of lazy defense on this fake punt from 2011 (the TD was indeed taken back due to a penalty on the punter for celebrating during the play).
The Aggies took advantage of this same possibility when running Kotsanlee on the fake punt Saturday. Seven of the 11 New Mexico players are sprinting backward to help on a punt return that was not to be. Two UNM players are on the other side of the formation and that left two blockers to get two Lobos defenders and Kotsanlee is just enough of an athlete to gain not just the three necessary yards, but 10 yards in total.
“We saw an opportunity based off of something that we caught on film and felt like the way we would execute it would kind of attack what they do,” Anderson said. “It just so happens that everybody did exactly what they were supposed to. Don’t know how much more yards we could have gotten. We got just enough. It was really just another opportunity, especially with the wind the way it was, to steal a possession. We were in the wind at the time. Didn’t really want to miss that opportunity.”
As for the fake field goal, Anderson said Special Teams Coordinator, Nick Paremski and Special Teams Quality Control, Bobby Dodd, brought the play to him on Sunday, Oct. 30. The final product of that play had shades of a fake run by Oklahoma against Iowa State on Oct. 29.
Here’s Utah State’s version for comparison.
There are differences, mainly in the fact that USU didn’t run any pulling action and just blocked it straight up. But the key similarity is the toss from the holder to the kicker. The original design for USU’s fake called for a direct snap to the kicker who would then run the ball. They changed that after watching Oklahoma’s version.
“We thought the toss that they used seem to fit really, really well,” Anderson said. “The exchange was clean and it did fit and I thought it helped with the dynamic of the play.”
A major key to this play working is how New Mexico runs its PAT defense. Watch the third player from the left on UNM’s front (he’s line up just to the left of Alfred Edwards, No. 72). That’s Syaire Riley, No. 36 and he stunts to the outside.
Riley stunt to the outside gives Edwards the chance to help Weylin Lapuaho on his block and also get to the linebacker. As you can see from the broadcast’s replay, that block from Edwards enabled the touchdown and not just a short gain. Alfred wasn’t the only one to make a big block as Calvin Knapp destroyed his man, driving him into the end zone, almost beating the runner, Connor Coles to the blue-painted grass.
One might consider Riley diving to the outside simply luck, but knowing he’d do that is a product of film study. Riley has often done this same move on PATs throughout the season. Here’s him doing it against Boise State. And for bonus points you can also watch No. 6, Ronald Wilson –the same man Knapp drove back into the end zone – defends the PAT lazily.
This is by no means uncommon on the film from New Mexico’s PAT and field goal block units. Anderson and the coaching staff saw these details, Riley stunting to the outside and Wilson going half-speed, and knew they could take advantage of it. And they did.
All of this breakdown has so far ignored the star of the show, Coles himself. When the graduate kicker caught wind of the fact he was the star of this kind of trick play, it certainly caught him off guard. While it’s the dream of any kicker to run the ball for a touchdown, Coles said he “never even asked” for this kind of play would be installed and never expected it.
“I always thought if I was going to get a touchdown I’d have to get a strip on kickoff cover or something,” Coles said. “When coach told me we were installing it that week and I was the guy that was running it in, I was a little bit surprised but super-excited.”
The play worked really well in practice all week according to both Coles and Anderson. Coles thought it was working too well.
“I asked my special teams coordinator,” said Coles, “the hole’s not going to be that big on gameday right? And he said ‘No, I think it is.’”
In the moments before, Coles had to battle a “different feeling” than he’s used to when trotting out to kick field goals and PATs.
“Field goals, once I get back there it’s something I’m really comfortable with I’ve been doing a lot of years, lots of reps so I kind of fall back into my training,” Coles said. “With (the fake) I was feeling a little bit like, well I’ve been running it through practice but I haven’t practiced getting hit or anything like that so I was a little bit nervous about how it was going to work out.”
As for what Anderson thought of the play. Well, he didn’t watch.
“I didn’t watch the play,” Anderson said. “Called it and then I turned around and started walking the other way.”
After the game, Anderson was able to have some light-hearted banter about Coles, who had come into the room prior the following comment.
“We ran it in practice the other day from a little bit further out and (Coles) had to stop and take a break between there and the end zone,” Anderson joked. “He doesn’t run a whole lot. Luckily we were just far enough that nobody could catch him.”
Coles said he practiced his ball security during the week, adding that he “had to google how to read blocks and things like that this week.”
A third special teams play made a huge difference in the game. Mid-way through the third quarter, the Aggies punted the ball away. But on the end of Kotsanlee’s 51-yard bomb, Jer’Marius Lewis muffed the punt and USU’s Jamie Nance was right there to recover it on the bounce.
When asked about Nance after the game, Anderson praised Nance not just for his ability and accomplishments but also how far he’s come as a player.
“He’s got unbelievable speed. That’s why he’s out there at that particular position. he takes a lot of pride in that. He loves that role and has been impactful,” Anderson said. “He’s made some mistakes along the way out there at times with some early contact. And he’s gotten better and better, I thought he was right where he needed to be and couldn’t have come at a better time to me in terms of how the game was going.”
Teams get out of special teams what they put in. Utah State put effort into its special teams plays this week in a huge way and it paid of in a huge way. Coles, Kotsanlee and Nance get their names on the stat sheet but guys like Knapp and Edwards earn their salt on these plays as well. The coaches also designed these plays perfectly with the help of attentive film study. Anderson summed up the special teams play the best.
“Everybody did a great job.”
