Chalk Talk: The Counter Bash

In last week’s article, I discussed the Zone Bash play as an intro to Bash schemes (“back away” schemes). In this article, we’ll look at another one of the more common Bash schemes you see throughout college football – the Counter Bash. Specifically, this article will focus on GT Counter Bash (meaning the Guard and Tackle will be the pulling linemen).

A typical GT Counter play can be run either without a read element, such as in the clip below where Ohio State runs GT Counter against Notre Dame and the Tight End (Cade Stover) stays in to make sure the backside edge defender doesn’t have a free path into the backfield:

Or with a read element, such as in the following clip where Georgia runs GT Counter Read and Stetson Bennett is reading the backside edge defender:

However, GT Counter can also be run as a Bash scheme (GT Counter Bash). As GT Counter Bash is a Bash scheme, the RB going the opposite direction of the O-line’s blocking scheme. On GT Counter Bash, this essentially just means the RB will be going the opposite direction of the pulling O-linemen. Just like with Zone Bash, the front-side edge defender is left unblocked and the QB is reading him.

An example of Michigan running GT Counter Bash can be seen below:

As you can see, the RB’s path is the opposite direction of the pulling linemen, and the QB is reading the front-side edge defender (J.T. Tuimoloau) . Because Tuimoloau stayed outside, the QB kept the ball himself and followed his pulling linemen.

Michigan runs the same play (GT Counter Bash) in this next clip but, because Tuimoloau crashes down this time, the QB instead hands the ball off:

CONCLUSION

Bash schemes can be very effective because of their ability to influence the defense. They put the front-side edge defender in conflict, and the offensive line’s blocking path/scheme pulls the rest of the defense the opposite direction of the backfield action.

We’ve only looked at Zone Bash and GT Counter Bash because they tend to be the most frequently used Bash schemes, but there are other Bash schemes that can be run as well (Power Bash, Pin-Pull Bash, and Dart Bash would all be examples). However, all Bash schemes have the same common theme – the RB’s path is the opposite direction of the O-line’s path, and the front-side edge defender is left unblocked.