"Nick Saban thoughts on LSU, what needs fixing and NFL player who made him smile"

[WALL-E]

Nick Saban thoughts on LSU, what needs fixing and NFL player who made him smile

By Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
Published October 23, 2017, 01:16:49 PM

There were a few things to discuss Monday morning in Birmingham. Read more...

[Chechem]

On the pistol formation: Saban said defenses get set based on where the running back is when they're in shotgun. When in pistol, it's not possible to do it the same way so the "defense declares itself and we can get ourselves in the best play because you can run equally in each direction."

The pistol isn't new for Bama, but I don't recall it being discussed by CNS recently.  First time I recall it being used extensively was when Mark Ingram emerged as a star.
 

[ricky023]

I believe this was originally used for short yardage situation was it not? That is so the special RB could get that 1st down or really short TD whichever way he chose to run. RTR!

[Chechem]

I believe this was originally used for short yardage situation was it not? That is so the special RB could get that 1st down or really short TD whichever way he chose to run. RTR!

It was our primary running formation back about 2009.  Modified since.

[SUPERCOACH]

I was thinking about this just the other day.  Not just the pistol, but any formation were you have an odd number of guys lined up on the ball and the same number on each side of the formation.  In other words, a symmetrical formation.  In that case, how does the defense decide which way is the strong side?

When I played back in high school it pretty much all came down to which side the TE went to (most of the time).  In any case, you never had a symmetrical formation because of the fullback.  You always had 4 guys lined up behind the ball in the center of the formation, leaving 7 guys to split between the 2 sides.  One side was guaranteed to have more than the other.  But now a days with pistol formations and 12 personnel, it happens all the time.  I suppose you also had the same issue with the wishbone, way back in the day.

When I was thinking about this, I was pondering it from the defense's perspective and how do they decide which way to line up.  I never thought about why the offense did it in the first place.  But when I watched CNS explain it in this clip yesterday I realized just how brilliant it is for the offense.  They don't care how the defense decides, but whatever the defense decides the offense can always run the play to the weak side if they want too.  Pretty clever.

 

[Chechem]

I was thinking about this just the other day.  Not just the pistol, but any formation were you have an odd number of guys lined up on the ball and the same number on each side of the formation.  In other words, a symmetrical formation.  In that case, how does the defense decide which way is the strong side?

When I played back in high school it pretty much all came down to which side the TE went to (most of the time).  In any case, you never had a symmetrical formation because of the fullback.  You always had 4 guys lined up behind the ball in the center of the formation, leaving 7 guys to split between the 2 sides.  One side was guaranteed to have more than the other.  But now a days with pistol formations and 12 personnel, it happens all the time.  I suppose you also had the same issue with the wishbone, way back in the day.

When I was thinking about this, I was pondering it from the defense's perspective and how do they decide which way to line up.  I never thought about why the offense did it in the first place.  But when I watched CNS explain it in this clip yesterday I realized just how brilliant it is for the offense.  They don't care how the defense decides, but whatever the defense decides the offense can always run the play to the weak side if they want too.  Pretty clever.

 

Good points, SC.

Also, it works better today than when I played, because the hash marks were moved in.  No longer is there an obvious wide side of the field, as there was when Bama ran the wishbone.

I played defensive end back then, so I've got the same perspective as you about this.

 

[ricky023]

The one thing I think in these formations is what we use to call the "Notre Dame Box." In high school we played a team that ran this and I have to say they were hard to stop but once we figured it out we could tear that RB up. RTR!

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