The Flyover defense vs the Veer and Shoot offense: Round I

We finally got a high profile matchup between these two schemes when Josh Heupel's Tennessee took on Brent Venables' Oklahoma.

When Tennessee took on Oklahoma last Saturday, it was a moment I’d been awaiting for a long time.

No, no, not just because I’d been anticipating the collapse of Oklahoma football and it started to crumble apart that night. Because Brent Venables ignored my advice for how to defend Tennesee’s Veer and Shoot offense and did something way cooler. He unveiled a 3-3-5 Flyover package which I figured he had in the bag but didn’t realize he was holding back for this moment.

Venables used the Flyover to totally befuddle Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2019 semi-finals while with Clemson and has used it now and again for the last few years at Oklahoma, particularly in 2022. His new defensive coordinator Zac Alley used it as his base defense at Jacksonville State before Venables brought him to Norman. As down as I am on Oklahoma’s prospects under Venables, I’ve been equally impressed with him and his staff’s ability to problem solve in Norman and produce defenses.

So, snap one against Tennessee, and we get this:

Let’s gooooooo!