Clemson’s Winning Touchdown

As I woke up the yesterday morning after the Clemson vs. Alabama National Championship game, I had this message on Twitter from a former player: 

The play definitely looked familiar. It has been in our playbook for as long as I have had a playbook. The significance of the play for my former player was that it was the play he scored on his senior year. The previous night though, I laid there thinking 'Clemson just won the National Championship on a really simple play that we run frequently.'

It got me thinking two things that sometimes get forgotten about the game of football:

1. Football creates memories that players will never forget. This player remembers the exact play that he scored on a few years ago and will always remember "Rodeo Rub". This is what coaching is all about!!! It is our job to help our players create positive memories that they will remember forever.
2. Football is Football no matter the level. Clemson scored on a play that could be run successfully by 1st graders. The level of football really doesn't matter. The game is the same and the plays are very similar. So what is the difference? One significant difference is time available to practice. In the case of Clemson, they lined up empty, motioned the back into position to lead block and ran the play. The more time you have, the more wrinkles you can have. A youth team that practices three times a week would just put the line the back up correctly from the start and run the play.

The Play = F Trips Stay Rodeo Rub

• F-Trips- Tells the F (RB) that he is going to motion to his normal alignment on the play called.
• Trips- Tells the rest of the recievers where to line up.
• Stay= Tight End is going to block and secure the Edge.
• Rodeo = The protection for the lineman and the Qb sprint out right.
• Rub = The Route Concept.

The play looks like this on paper:

The Rub route is a great play on the goalline or any short yardage situation. It is exceptional versus man coverage and givest the QB a run or pass option to score. In that situation for Clemson, it was the perfect call. Deshaun Watson is a threat with his feet and Alabama was in cover ZERO.  If Renfro was not open, Watson would have just tried to run the ball for the score. It would have looked like QB Sweep.

Here are a couple clips. The first is the play the player above was Tweeting about. The rub is non-existent and the defender did a great job, but our guy just made a play! The second play shows how even the slightest rub can be the difference.

It was an excellent play call by Tony Elliot (Clemson OC)! It was also a subtle reminder about the simplicity of the game of football and the affect the game has on our former players!