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And to clarify, I'm just relaying the Hail Varsity guy's observation. I have not rewatched the game. I do remember Dylan checking down A LOT in the OSU game. So it's plausible he checked into some screen plays.
The test will be to watch for it this week vs UCLAbia. If none of Dylan's checks result in screen plays then we'll know they would have removed that as an option.
I fear they might still try it though since we're at home and weather might be bad so it might be viewed as a higher % play (than a downfield 40 yd pass). Will be interesting. We'll all be watching for it. And Rhule is aware of that, which makes this stuff kind of fascinating. The fish bowl, etc.
A check down by DR does not have to be a 40 yard pass downfield, though. Usually it shouldn't be IMO. It should be a check down to an easier, more successful type of play taking advantage of where the defense is stunting or shifted to stop. 40 yard pass plays downfield are not often high percentage completions.
But if DR is coached to check down to screens/bubble screens commonly - we have seen these are not being executed to be blocked well at all, and these plays usually fail. This is still on the coaches/OC IMO if those are the check-downs that are given as options.
And again - if we could or were blocking well on these screens say 50% of the time, then it wouldn't be a bad play or check down. But we've had so many instances this season that show that we are incapable of executing these plays well enough to work. Often they lose yards for us, putting us behind the sticks even more. Put in some easier check down options that make sense from what we have seen we can't do properly - it isn't that complicated.