I watched a few Temple games but not all of them so of course I could have viewed an unrepresentative sample.
Offense:
• In general, it is going to be a big adjustment for the GT fanbase; most of us understood the GT offense and knew how it worked. In most cases, we knew it better than most announcers and other fanbases. So, we have a lot to learn. I might butcher some descriptions below so please correct me.
• Multiple, Multiple: lots of different player packages and lots of different formations.
• When talking about personnel they basically use this number scheme: 21, 11, 20, etc.:
o First digit is the number of Running backs.
o 2nd digit is the number of TEs
o The remainder (5 total skill players) are WRs.
o 21: 2 RBs, 1 TE, 2 WRs
o 20: 2 RBs, 0 TE, 3 WRs
• I think the OC said his base formation is 11 but since we are so RB heavy and TE light you will see more 20, 21.
• They were switching personnel and formations constantly. Sometimes they do go up tempo and didn’t switch much.
• They used a power I formation for short yardage/goal line with QB under center.
• They liked to throw in trick formations or plays. One time they had 3 QBs on the field at one time, 1 of the QBs was in shotgun and another was standing directly behind him. Not sure what the purpose was.
• They used wildcat a few times. We have good running QBs so we might not use this BUT I could see Oliver subbing for Johnson to run this package since he is a dynamic runner. Unlike for most teams, defenses wouldn’t know it was wildcat since the “RB” was a QB.
• Even though they did sub a lot: they had a few key players that got the ball a lot. More or less, if we have great players, they are going to get the ball regularly.
• I think overall, we are going to be a better running team than Temple. I think (hope) our QB play is going to be better overall. Temple did have good WRs.
• It is hard to tell without reviewing the stats but they did seem to play a lot of different players and rotate a lot. They finished well at the end of half and end of game.
• The negative: I thought the QB threw a few stupid INTs and had a lot of passes knocked down at the LOS. Hope it was a talent/experience issue and not a coaching issue.