Team Study - Alabama RPO Offense

A look at when and what RPO concepts were used in the 2021 Alabama offense

Alabama finished last season with the #7 ranked offense (488.2 yards per game) in FBS football. They were #3 (52%) on 3rd down conversions, and #75 (150 yards per game) rushing. The passing game did the heavy lifting for them as Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young led the #7 passing offense with 338.2 passing yards per game.

For the season Bryce Young was 336/547 (66.9%) for 4872 with 47 TDs vs 7 INTs. Their leading rusher (Brian Robinson Jr.) averaged 5.0 yards per carry and had 271 attempts. The previous season Mac Jones was 311/402 (77.4%) for 4500 yards with 41 TD v 4 INT and their lead rusher (Najee Harris) averaged 5.8 yards per attempt.

Base Down (1st/2nd) - Open Field

Over the 15 games Alabama had 729 base down plays. With 280 being some form of RPO - either a post snap read or pre snap gift read. These 729 plays were 54% efficient, which is a good number, it creates a 4% house edge for Alabama in success rate. On their 280 RPO snaps their efficiency increased to 59.6% which is a great number. HOWEVER this really means the rest of their base down snaps operated at 50.6% efficient, a shade above a 50/50 toss up for getting the yardage needed to move into getting a first down.

*Interesting stat for another time - RPO plays averaged 6.31 yards per attempt, non RPO plays averaged 6.72 yards per attempt.

Third Down - Open Field

We know their offense converted 52% of 3rd downs overall from NCAA stats, from my open field study I have them at 49.5% converted in the open field. Their RPO snaps converted 53.3% of 3rd downs attempted which means the rest of their plays were significantly lower. With 3rd down you must consider the situation each play is used, in Alabamas case 14/15 RPO snaps occurred on 3rd and 1-3, with the remaining snap coming with 56 seconds left in the 4th quarter as they tried to run the clock out on Cincinnati. When you compare non RPO plays on 3rd and 1-3 in the open field they converted 31/41 (75.6%) of snaps.

*Running RPO plays on 3rd and 1-3 was not as good as the rest of their offense, or conversely was the rest of their playbook boosted by teams having to defend RPOS?

Redzone

Alabama had 150 base down plays in the Redzone (10 per game - great stat to know when game planning) of which 52 were RPO concepts. They had 51 snaps of 3rd/4th down of which 0 were RPO concepts.

Further Analysis - Open Field Base Down RPO

Formational use in the open field (base downs):

3x1 (TE off the ball) - 26.5%
2x2 (TE off the ball) - 19.3%
3x1 (TE Open) - 15.3%
2x2 (TE Wing) - 7.6%
1x3 (Nub TE) - 6.2%
2x1 (TE in backfield) - 6.2%
2x2 (TE Open) - 4.7%
4x0 (TE off ball) - 4.4%
2x2 (TE on ball) - 4%
*everything else was less than 3 total snaps (or below 1.1%)

3x1 and 2x2 formations with the TE off the ball were almost 50% of snaps. Within each formation set you saw use of stack and bunch variations. Getting into each variation evolved through the season from a motion in to a motion across the formation or a late motion from the TE.

Play Selection was really divided into 4 concepts:

Inside Zone - 44.2%
Stretch Zone - 35% (including any mid zone)
Counter - 9.1%
Power - 6.9%
*everything else was less than 5 total snaps or below 1.8%

Route use:

Separating routes from formations and run concepts we see the following used as the primary Pass Option:

Alpha - 33% (now screen to outside receiver, with inside receivers blocking - primarily from bunch or stack)
Lion - 12.8% (2 slants to a 2 receiver side, Alabama has the inside receiver outside release any LB/inside 2nd level defender, unlike most teams that fight for inside release)
Option - 12.1% (#2 with an option route at 5 yards, #1 MOR)
Orbit - 9.2% (A receiver on a deep bubble action around the backfield - everyone else blocks)
Bubble - 6.6% (Inner most receiver bubbles - others block)
Stubble - 5.1% (One receiver runs bubble and the others run slants)
Bravo - 3.7% (now screen to middle receiver with others blocking - 3x1)
Slide - 3.3% (TE goes across the formation on the snap behind the LOS and the receivers block - saw this in the title game several times)
Bow - 2.6% (TE releases on arrow on same side - receivers block)
*everything else less than 6 total snaps or below 2.2%

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