Prelude to a play

Sporting News, The, Sept 7, 1998 by Terry Frei

Wiley also calls out the defensive alignment to Keller, the fullback. "I'm looking at the offensive line splits, too," Wiley says. "Then I look at the defensive front, then the linebackers, then if it's a pass I'm trying to find the guy who might be chasing me."

The linemen get down in their stances.

We're far enough along in the game to guarantee that even the smells are inescapable. This game is on artificial turf, eliminating some of the grit that the purists love. Even on artificial turf, though, the honest smell of sweat is pervasive. Sweat--football is about sweat, not perspiration--has spread under the clammy uniforms. It dings through and to T-shirts and pants and pads, and is dripping off the ridges of the eyebrows and into the eyes.

Kurt Murphy is making the blocking call, essentially which way the line will "slide" in pass protection. It can be as simple as "right" or "left" or corresponding code words. "That lets the people on the other side know they're on their own," he says. If it's too noisy, as it often is, the calls are "relayed" down the line, center to guards, guards to tackles. Sometimes the calls are "dummies," designed to camouflage the real call and perhaps mislead the defense.

Miller and Boston are positioning themselves to sprint at the snap. Miller, the flanker, needs to be off the line of scrimmage, and Boston, the split end, needs to be on it. In no-huddle situations, they can simply stay outside between plays and just make sure that whoever is on the tight end side is off the line of scrimmage. On this play, they're in their usual alignment and, especially if it's a pass play, they're looking ahead--in more ways than one. Against the Mountaineers, they won't be working against the same cornerback each play, since West Virginia aligns Nate Terry on the short side of the field and either Charles Fisher or Perlo Bastien on the wide side.

"I'm looking at how the comer is playing over me and to see how close the safety is to the hashmark," Miller says. His goal: Determine if he will be going against man-to-man coverage, a two-deep zone with the safety backing up the corner, or maybe a zone across the field.

Even before the snap, the receivers are thinking of the possible adjustments they might have to make in their routes after the snap-and are hoping that Germaine is interpreting the defense and the Buckeyes' adjustments the same way. "If they're in (a two-deep zone) and you're supposed to run a 10- to 12-yard out," Miller says, "you have to know that you're not going to be able to run that, that you're probably going to have to take that up the sideline and stretch the defense. You have to be thinking about making a big play in the hole between the corner and the safety." And if they look inside and spot a linebacker--perhaps West Virginia middle linebacker Mark Plants--itching to blitz, the receivers have to be conscious of shortening their routes. A 15-yard pattern becomes a 12-yard hook, for example. If it seems to be the sort of risky blitz that likely will leave someone unblocked because of overwhelming numbers, Miller and Boston have to be conscious of being "hot" and looking for the ball quickly.