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This play pretty much changed the momentum of the game, as South Carolina beat the Miami Hurricanes 24-21 to open up SEC bowl season.
I am going to break down the play that we called “steamers” at South Carolina.
Quarterback Dylan Thompson knew exactly where he wanted to go with the ball. He used his head and eyes to move the safety and then hit Pharoh Cooper on a “seam” route. Steamers was one of my all-time favorite plays because you can really manipulate the defensive backs and fire the ball.
Lets break it down.
The formation here is called B-Trips right. That’s 11 personnel: one tight end, three wide receivers, and one running back. The tight end and two of the three receivers line up to the right, while the running back and third receiver line up to the boundary.
Steamers is when the tight end and all three receivers run seam (steak) routes. Here, Miami is in press coverage on the boundary receiver, so the receiver knows to run an “occupying” route. Basically, he looks like he’s running a hitch and just moves around.
Miami has one high safety and only rushes three. The safety covers the tight end that’s running a “wahoo steamer,” which means he runs a seam but up the opposite hash. Once Thompson stares down the tight end and manipulates the safety with his eyes, Cooper has nobody covering him. Thompson turns his head and eyes to Cooper and hits him.
The field corner is responsible for the deep third of the field, but he has a receiver that is also running a seam right in front of him, so he has two receivers in his zone. The safety should be in the middle of the field in this cover 3 look, but Thompson moved him brilliantly and threw a dart to Cooper in the void. TOUCHDOWN COOPER.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
