Buffs Film Room: How Sean Lewis created one of college football's most potent offenses

In one of his first moves as CU’s latest head coach, Coach Prime hired Sean Lewis to be the Buffs’ offensive coordinator.

Lewis was the head coach of Kent State from 2018-2022 when Coach Prime and Colorado came calling. The Buffs were willing to buy out Lewis from his head coaching contract for $750,000 to lead the offense in Boulder.

In his five years at Kent State, the Golden Flashes only went 24-31. With Dustin Krum as Lewis’ starting quarterback from 2019-2021, despite the record, Kent State was one of the most dynamic and explosive offenses in the country.

In Krum’s final year with Lewis in 2021, Kent State ranked 5th in the country in yards per game (494.6), 10th in plays per game (75.1) and 30th in points per game (33.0).

In this edition of Buffs Film Room, we take a deep dive into Lewis’ offense and how his scheme is an even more modern take on current college-football trends.

Everything has an option

RPOs, read options, pre-snap motion and misdirection have become commonplace in college football but Sean Lewis cranks it up another 10 notches.

Nearly every single play Lewis calls has an option attached to it, sometimes multiple options. Lewis had good success at Kent State with Dustin Krum at quarterback but as Krum got wiser and more experienced, the Golden Flash offense began to soar.

As I noted in the Shedeur Sanders film room, Sanders is a smart and cerebral quarterback but don’t be surprised if there are some growing pains as he settles into Lewis’ offense.

This play has three options for the quarterback: a shovel pass to the h-back, tucking and running or throwing downfield. Watch how this play affects Buffalo’s second level. No matter what those linebackers decide to do, Lewis has a counter.

Later on against Buffalo, Lewis adds another wrinkle to this shovel option. Kent State flows heavily into the boundary with the shovel and speed option aspect we saw before but now the slot player comes back around on an end around with two linemen leading the way.

Pre-snap, this look screams QB sneak. But Lewis is one step ahead and calls a perfectly timed speed option out of this formation.

This clip is from 2022 with Collin Schlee at quarterback. The play starts off like most zone-read options do but Kent State lines up their h-back to the boundary and then run him underneath the line to the field side flat.

Here is another variation of that same RPO flat option.

Lewis also has these funky, outside zone, read options that almost look like inverted veer. Instead, Lewis’ wrinkle is having the left guard wrap around the center for an iso/insert block. The left guard creates a massive lane for Krum to run through on the read-option pull.

Here we have a power RPO to the field with a slant flat concept attached to the backside. This is a more convenient RPO but as you’ll begin to notice, Lewis loves pulling his backside linemen at nearly every opportunity.

Now we have a jet sweep read option that plays out beautifully. The sideline-to-sideline action of the jet sweep in conjunction with the left tackle and guard pulling upfield and kicking out create a natural crease for Schlee to run into. The left tackle has a free run up to the safety!

Power run game is the backbone of the offense

As previously mentioned, Lewis loves pulling linemen across the formation to gain a numbers advantage in the run game. Guard/tackle (GT) power and counter are the base plays that make most of this offense work and make sense. 

But as we will get into, the h-back and center are also utilized to pull across and make big blocks in Lewis’ offense.

There is jet motion and an h-back lead across the formation but this is essentially a power read. Lewis has the weakside receiver tagged to run a curl on this play also.

Here is the play in its most bare form, GT counter-read. Krum reads the strongside end, pulls the ball and follows his right tackle for a first down.

In addition to the power run game, Lewis will spread the defense out in empty and let the quarterback run standard QB draw if the numbers are there.

Here we have the center pulling across to kick out the strongside defensive end and once again the tackle seals off a defender to create a big hole for Kent State.

As we move on to the passing game, keep in mind how Lewis likes to pull across linemen and use motion throughout his play design.

Breaking down the short passing game

We’re going to start off with some common college football staples that Lewis has adopted into his playbook.

We will also discuss how Lewis uses formations to create voids on the defensive side of the football.

Mesh is included in some form or fashion in nearly every football playbook across the country. It’s an easy play for the quarterback to read to hit a receiver in stride. Lewis likes to be more aggressive on his mesh calls as he likes to use the running back down the sideline on a wheel route. While this offense is a variation of the spread, Lewis employs these condensed formations often to try and get players running wide open in space.

Now he has split his receivers out as far as possible and stacked them on top of each other. This creates a simple read for the quarterback where they can take advantage of whichever side of the field the defense chooses to neglect. In this case, it’s to the top of the screen and the receiver has to make one move and he’s churning out yardage.

This is pretty sick, Lewis is toying with the defense here. Jet motion coming across the formation, right guard and tackle pulling across the formation, running back pitch action to the boundary and then the h-back leaks out underneath to the field side for a simple pitch and catch for a touchdown.

Here we have a simple rub play that gets the outside receiver with the ball on the run.

Lewis also loves this middle screen with the slot receiver. This one was perfectly called and resulted in a touchdown as Northern Illinois blitzes.

This is another beautifully designed RPO. Lewis has the left tackle immediately running upfield to block on the perimeter for the screen and the quarterback reads the end that lined up in front of the left tackle. If the receiver doesn’t slip, this play is out the gate.

Lewis loves to push the boundaries of the rules when it comes to his RPOs also. This play was called back on offensive pass interference as the field-side receivers are blocking more than one yard down the field. But it’s the thought that counts right?

Depending on how the defensive backs are lined up and playing receivers, Lewis will teach his wideouts to read coverages and run certain routes. In these cushion situations between the defensive back and receiver, Lewis will take the easy curls all day. Can’t go broke taking a profit.

Taking what the defense gives you is a pretty cliché statement that is used often when talking about play callers and offenses, but Lewis gives his team an opportunity for a positive play on every snap.

He’s also not afraid to attack defenses and go for the big play.

Expect plenty of deep shots and big plays

As mentioned above, how the defensive backs choose to line up on Lewis’ wideouts determines what routes are going to be run.

If they’re lined up in press or near the line of scrimmage, Lewis is going to allow his players to test yours.

Krum identifies this matchup pre-snap. He sees how much space his receiver has to the field side and throws it up to let his man make a play.

Slot receivers have a lot of freedom in Lewis’ offense. You will often see them running option routes underneath defenses but you’ll also see them screaming up the seam like they are here.

Same exact situation here: the defensive back is playing on the line of scrimmage and Kent State is willing to test Washington one-on-one over the top.

Once again here.

Here we have a high-low read with the boundary receivers running a post and a dig over the middle of the field. This was a great throw by Krum that should have been six.

This play has broken for some massive plays in the NFL over the last few years, PA leak. Leak is basically a throw-back concept that has the offense flow one way while usually a tight end tries to sneak across the formation to the backside of the field. In this case, it’s the h-back and it’s not a very big gain but this play is designed to score or rip off chunks of yardage.

Finally, odds are you’ll see this at least a few times while Lewis is the play caller for CU. Simple inside zone RPO with a glance route.

These are just 27 plays that begin to highlight Sean Lewis’ offense. The more games you watch from his tenure at Kent State, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.

Lewis and the Golden Flashes saw some regression in terms of the offensive stats and efficiency but when he had a veteran quarterback, Kent State was cooking on a weekly basis.

For Colorado, the challenge will be how all their new players and pieces fit together and if they can all learn the offense and get on the same page early on.

When you factor in this offense and the number of talented players CU could have on their roster this year, the sky is the limit for the 2023 Buffs offense.