I think we all know the real, unedited version of this quote:

“There’s nothing hotter than a woman who is not only a Cal Football fan but also has the willingness to learn and understand the intricacies of football…and who is Nate Longshore.”

This of course opens up many options for the offense. They can run to the weak side (the side away from the TE). Notice all the green to the right of the offense and how there are fewer defenders on the offense’s right compared to the left. Or they can playaction run to the left (towards the strength) thus giving the illusion of a run behind the strength (the TE) but then send the QB on a naked rollout to the right with the fullback going out to the flat on the right who will catch the dump pass and run up the field towards the open green space.

Or the offense can shift the fullback over from the “weak” position to the “strong” position and thus be in a strong-I formation and run to the strong side. In the latter instance, if the defense hadn’t compensated for the added blocker on the LOS (the ineligible TE), then the defense might give up a bigger gain due to having fewer defenders at the point of attack than the offense. Additionally, the offense might have called a pass play in hopes that the defense comes down into the box to compensate for the ineligible TE and then have the WRs run deeper routes over the defense who was expecting run. I hope that all made sense - it’s sort of the end of a long day for me.

So my question for Hydro is: why would Cal intentionally line up in a formation where the tight end is ineligible?(Such as the weak I formation pictured above where the two wide receievers are on the tight end’s side.)

Unless it’s a trick play, or something designed to confuse the defense, doesn’t it limit the offensive options by removing the tight end as a possible passing target?

This article from SMQ does a great job of explaining the rules regarding linemen and eligible receiver rules.

The quick and dirty upshot? Seven men on the line of scrimmage. No more, no less. The five interior men are ineligible to catch a pass, where as the ones on either end (TEs or WRs) are eligible receivers. So, in the scenario you pose, if a WR lines up on the LOS outside of a TE, he would “cover” (take away the eligibility of) that TE.

A quick question about football rules regarding eligible receivers. I have often seen penalties called when there are not enough men on the line and seem to remember hearing announcers say that the receiver was not eligible to catch a pass “because he was covered up'’ i.e. there was a man on the line of scrimmage lined up to the outside of him in the formation.

In some of the Cal formations it appears that the WR is lined up on the line of scrimmage outside of the TE who is also on the line. In that case, would the TE be eligible to catch a pass?