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Why I Like... Unbalanced Formations

Why I like… Unbalanced Sets
(Photo by Coach Eien @bruceeien)

If there is one thing that Dinosaur Offensive coaches love to talk about, besides running the ball, it would have to be Unbalanced Sets.  Old school Wing-T and Single Wing guys will hang their hat on being able to cause conflict with the defense by using Unbalanced.  However, it isn’t only old school coaches using it; many Spread coaches are seeking ways to use Unbalanced in their offenses.  
  
Unbalanced Wing-T

For my part I am most familiar with the Wing-T’s use of Unbalanced formations.  One common way to go unbalanced in the Wing-T is to simply go X-Over (See diagram below). 




In the normal Wing-T formation the X is split off to the weak side of the formation, but in the X-Over we simply align him split to the Strong side/TE side.  One downside to this formation is that due to the alignment of the X, the TE becomes ineligible in the passing game which may limit you.  How do we fix this?  Well, you could go with an Unbalanced Tackle Over formation where you switch the Weak Tackle and TE (See diagram below) in this formation you get the clear Strength to the Unbalanced side while still keeping the TE eligible in the passing game. 



Unbalanced Single Wing

The Single Wing offense is basically built for Unbalanced, for more information see 
https://theinsidezone.com/football-101-the-single-wing



Unbalanced Spread

Two of my most popular blog posts so far have both been written about Unbalanced formations from a Spread Offense 

Coach Singleton's X Over Formation: 
 https://obsessedwithoffense.blogspot.com/2017/12/unconventional-formations-1-coach-slade.html

Coach Eien's Stupid Sweep:  https://obsessedwithoffense.blogspot.com/2017/12/unconventional-formation-2-bruce-eiens.html

(Photo of Coach Singleton's X Over Formation from Spread @slade248)


In my honest opinion, if you run a Trips set you are basically in Unbalanced.  I love Trips with a TB aligned to the trips side with the threat of a push motion/route.  If I were to run a Spread and I had a Trips formation like the one above, I would put my biggest receiving threat on the weak side by himself and see how the defense handles it.  If I get 1 on 1 I’m going to test that all night.  If they give your receiver a cushion, I will send out Quick screens or 3 step Hitch routes for free yardage and hope he is athletic enough to gain a few yards or break it for big yards.  If my Dude is enough of a threat that they need to double cover him that would make my Trips side more effective and more difficult to defend.  See, us dinosaur coaches aren’t Spread illiterate. 

Choices, choices, choices…

When the offense comes out in an Unbalanced set it forces the defense to make a choice: do we move over to match the unbalanced or do we stay where we are?  This sometimes can be a difficult choice for a DC because if you stay where you are you are essentially outflanked on the boundary and will die by Sweeps and attacks on the C Gap.  But then, I you attempt to match the unbalance you may expose your defense to weak side attacks like Counters and PA Passes.  If you choose to defend the boundary you tend to leave your middle exposed to Dives or Wedges or Traps.  Basically, choose your poison coach. 

Trades and Shifts

If you really want to give some DC nightmares start adding simple Trades and Shifts into your offense.  Each defense must decide on how to align to the offense; usually it’s going to be either they are going to align to the offensive run strength or they will use a field side/boundary side alignment.  If the defense aligns to strength, then lining up in one formation then quickly trading into another and running a play will mess with them something horrible.  Many times, you can catch the DL still scrambling to match the strength which gives you a huge advantage up front.  Imagine you are a DC facing a Wing-T team breaking the huddle, lining up in Strong Left then trading into an Unbalanced Right formation, then running toss to the weak side.  I know that I would hate facing that possibility every snap. 

Conclusion

If you run Unbalanced sets I want to talk to you because I am considering ways of incorporating different unbalanced concepts into offenses.  Either follow me on Twitter and hit me up or comment down below.


Stay Obsessed.  

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