Film Room: Inside Notre Dame's RPO System - Part I

Notre Dame’s offense will have some carryover from what it has done in the past, but there will certainly be some unique aspects brought in with offensive coordinator Chip Long.

In past seasons, Notre Dame has used RPO’s – which stands for Run Pass Option – but under Long the Irish RPO game will look quite different, and it will be expanded. RPO’s are a much bigger part of Long’s offense.

Notre Dame will push the tempo on offense in 2017, and making RPO’s a part of that system will give the Irish offense a great deal of flexibility, and will make its offense much harder to defend.

Below is Part I of Blue & Gold Illustrated's break down of the RPO system. You can also read Part II and Part III.

An RPO is a play-call in which the offensive coordinator makes a run game call, and the offensive line, running back and at times the tight end (depending on the formation) are blocking for the called run play.

On the same play call, the wide receivers will run a pass concept, which varies from formation to formation, from call to call or from gameplan to gameplan.

At no point does the quarterback make a check to the run or pass. The call is made and everyone executes the assignment they were tasked with. Only the quarterback has an option in this concept. The quarterback will make a read on a specific defender which will tell him to either hand the ball off, pull the ball and run (with a possible late throw), or to pull and immediately throw the football.

What this does is forces the defense to be prepared to defend a run play or pass play at the same time. It’s not like a play-action pass which looks like a run but is actually a pass. This is a call in which a run or pass can happen every time the call is made.

The primary benefit is an effective RPO system makes it much harder for defenses to insert extra defenders into the box against the run. If that happens, the quarterback has the opportunity to pull the ball and get it to a receiver that is either uncovered or in space with a chance to make a play.

Make no mistake, the primary reason that Long designs RPO’s will be to make it easier to run the football, and the punish a defense for overcommitting to the run. When evaluated for success, getting at least four yards anytime the ball is pulled is considered a win for the offense. That is the same as a run, you want a minimum of four yards every play.

Another benefit for the offense is it increases the odds that on each play it can make the defense wrong. What this means is if a run is called the defensive coordinator could make a call that puts his unit in position to defend the run call. Same with a pass call. It makes football very much a chess match.

RPO’s – when designed and executed effectively – make it much harder for the defense to win that chess match. It often creates more guessing by the defense, and often times creates more mistakes. Often times you’ll see more blown assignments from a defense when it is facing an up-tempo offense that effectively uses the RPO system.

Much like any play call or design, each week the offensive staff will look to take advantage of specific formations that give it a possible advantage. Whether that means creating individual matchups of an offensive player that is better than a defensive player, a formation that gives the offense numbers or a formation that gives the offense a leverage advantage, the offense will look to design advantages.

Once the offense aligns, the quarterback must identify his read. How this player is defined is different from system to system. Some call that player the force player, some the adjuster, some the conflict defender. Regardless of what that player is called, the quarterback has to identify who that is, and that defender will determine what to do post snap.

In these breakdowns, that defender will be called the “read key.”

The read key is usually the force player to the field, and is often a linebacker in the boundary.

In this clip, Memphis is running a zone play to the left with a screen being run by the receivers. The quarterback will be reading to the left.

He must identify the read key, and in this instance the force player is the defender inside of the cornerback. The highlighted player will tell him whether to give the ball or pull it and throw it.

Often times the read key on boundary throws is a linebacker, and when he’s outside the box it’s easy to identify him. There are times, however, when the LB stays tucked in the box. When that happens he is still the read, but it does add a bit more to the post-snap read.

When running an RPO, the quarterback has two options at the snap. If he sees a leverage or numbers advantage he can simply catch the ball and throw it outside. If the defense is lined up in a fashion where the quarterback does not have the automatic throw, he will then receive the snap and carry out the mesh with the running back, putting his eyes on the read key to determine whether to give the ball to the back or to pull and throw the ball.

That is the double option possibility for the quarterback. In some looks, the quarterback has a triple option look that involves him pulling the ball and running it outside, although the throw possibility still remains in that read.

Let’s work through a few plays to show the basic read and responsibilities for the quarterback.

We’ll begin by showing a clip that works with Diagram 1 from above. Here is the pre-snap look and the read key for the quarterback.

The offense does not have leverage or a numbers advantage into the boundary, so the quarterback will have to read out the play. At the snap he will get into his mesh with the back and get his eyes on the read key.

There are two options for the quarterback on this play. If the read key comes down hard he will pull the ball and immediately throw it out to the screen, where the offense will then have a numbers/leverage advantage. It will have a blocker for the cornerback and the ball carrier will have an in-space matchup against a safety coming from distance.

If the read key stays outside, drops or tries to play games with the quarterback, the quarterback will simply hand the ball off to the back.

In this clip, the read key doesn't commit to the box, so the quarterback correctly hands the ball off. With the running back attacking vertically on the inside zone, it's harder for the read key to crash down inside and make the play.

The line is blocking for the inside zone and the back is running a pure inside zone. What the RPO action does on this concept is it keeps the read key outside, so the defense has three defenders trying to cover two receivers on each side of the ball. The field force player isn't going to be a factor on inside zone away from his direction.

The safety is staying back initially to help defend the screen, so what this action does is allow the offense to face a five-man defensive box. With five blockers and a running back, the offense has a numbers advantage in the box, which makes it an easy 9-10 yard gain for the back.

Here's another example of this type of play/read.

This is a different formation for Memphis, but the concept is the same. It is running a RPO with an inside zone action from the line, tight end and back.

Navy is trying to use its force player to the field to discourage the offense from throwing the ball to the perimeter while also staying tight enough to defend the run. This clip shows that while a good idea in theory, it's hard to execute in reality.

Navy chose to defend Memphis for much of the game with a Cover 2 look into the boundary. What this does is allow the defense to get a force player into the boundary without sacrificing one of the box defenders. What this does is allow the boundary outside linebacker in its 3-4 defense to stay on the edge.

This look gives Navy the option of having a six-man box against this trips look by Memphis. Memphis counters by putting its tight end in position to stay involved in the run game. With the force player staying outside in an attempt to defend the perimeter pass game, this allows Memphis to get six blockers and a back against a six-man box, so the offense has a numbers advantage.

The force player is being taught to take away the perimeter pass with his initial footwork and then crash on the run. He does this, closes down and helps make the tackle, but the offense gets a body on a body in the box, giving the back a vertical run lane.

By the time the force player gets to the back he's already picked up five yards. Easy win of the offense.

Again, the goal for the offense is to gain numbers advantage with the objective of opening up run lanes. These clips show how the offense can get numbers advantages in the box. A defense will try to counter by adding an extra defender from the safety level or inserting one of the perimeter force players at the snap.

That is when the pass option becomes the go-to.

The defense is cheating the field force player down, so he is in better position to crash the box. In this situation, Long calls an inside zone to the offense's left with a seam release by the tight end and a hitch by the outside receiver.

With the tight end working out the offense is potentially outnumbered in the box. The offense has five blockers and a back against a six-man box. When the numbers are even its advantage defense because to a two receiver side the offense is not running the triple option version of the RPO.

The quarterback will get his eyes on the inside linebacker, who is now the read key. If he stays in the box the quarterback will pull and read inside out from the tight end seam to the outside hitch.

At the snap, the linebacker steps down so the quarterback immediately pulls the ball and bangs the hitch route against the soft cornerback. If the cornerback would have squatted the route would have likely converted to a fade route.

The quarterback could have also hit the seam route, but it would have been a tougher throw with the safety sinking initially but then squatting.

Here is another example from the same game with a different route combination.

The read doesn’t change for the quarterback.

The linebacker stays tucked so he pulls the ball and throws it out to the tight end on a slide route with the outside receiver running off the cornerback.

With the defense concerned about the run – Memphis rushed for 277 yards in this game against South Florida – the result is a simple catch and throw to the tight end for an easy 12-13 yard gain.

This clip is similar to Diagram 3. Navy is running a different coverage structure in order to add an extra defender to the box. Navy decides to go with a Cover 1 look that allows the safety to come down as opposed to staying back in the Cover 2 look shown above.

With Memphis keeping its tight end in to block, Navy has been forced to add an extra defender into the box so it is no longer outnumber. In order to accomplish that is brings the safety down to cover the slot receiver so that both outside linebackers/force players can get in the box.

Memphis had good early success running the ball, but with Navy set on stopping its run game – the Tigers had just 135 rushing yards on 27 carries – Memphis relied more on throwing the ball out of its RPO’s. Adding the extra box defender put the receivers in more advantageous matchups, which you can see below.

With the extra defender in the box, the read for the quarterback is easy. He is going to pull and execute an inside-out read to the field slants. With the safety off against the slot receiver that is the read, and the quarterback gets the ball out quickly for an easy 9-10 yard gain.

Tomorrow we will publish Part II of this breakdown. In it we will get into different route combinations, different formations (and how they change the read) and the triple option version of Long's RPO system.

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