Spread Offense: Virtually Unstoppable?

mm42

mm42

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Who agrees with the conclusion of this article:

Fact: Of the top 10 teams in the nation in total offense this week, nine run some form of the spread offense. The nine have a combined record of 23-2, and eight of the nine went to bowls last year. And that doesn’t include BCS players Florida at No. 12 and West Virginia at No. 16. Opinion: Time to eat some crow. We were dead wrong about the spread. As it has diced up superior defenses (WVU over Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl, Boise State over Oklahoma in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, etc.), this speed attack, with the right athletes, has proven virtually unstoppable.
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http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/SPORTS03/709190334/-1/SPORTS03
 
I'd like to see what ratio of total college teams run "some form of spread offense," as well as what ratio of the NCAA's worst offenses run "some form of spread offense." I'd also like to see what their definition of "some form of spread offense" is.

beej67,
reminding stingtalk that Tech runs "some form of spread offense" on many of its plays
 
I'm with the school of thought that any offense is unstoppable with the right athletes. I also don't think the spread is anything new either as it's just another version of an option offense.

Just like the arguments for the spread offense winning games there are arguments against it. Boise State's spread didn't do to well against UGA or Washington a couple of weeks ago. WVU didn't fair to well against USF last year. Then again their defense hasn't really done well against anyone.

The spread offense is a great offense, but, like any offense, you have to have the right athletes for it to be most effective. Also, these spread offense coaches are only successful running a spread offense and their success is highly reliant on recruiting the perfect players for their system.

In this media jock sniffin' world we live in, any offense that features a quarterback that can move a little bit gets a "spread" offense identification. I even heard some jackleg at ESPN refer to UGA offense as a spread type offense when DJ Shockley was taking snaps. That couldn't have been any further from the truth.

It's chic to call an offense a "spread" offense. If anything there will be a shift in defensive recruiting if the spread does prove to be superior. SEC recruiting changed in the 1990's to stop Spurrier. LBs got a little smaller and faster. LBs have room to get smaller and faster. If the spread is unstoppable, you'll see smaller faster d-lines to handle the small quick o-lines and a LB core full of guys with the speed and quickness of corner backs.

But I have a hard time believing that with the evolution of today's athletes being bigger, faster, and stronger will allow sustained success of the spread offense on a wide scale. Nebraska's option used to be unstoppable too, but that was snuffed out.

Like I said, I think any offense is great with the right athletes in place. I still want to see how UF does against a good defense. UT is in a bad place right now on defense.
 
beej67 said:
I'd like to see what ratio of total college teams run "some form of spread offense," as well as what ratio of the NCAA's worst offenses run "some form of spread offense." I'd also like to see what their definition of "some form of spread offense" is.
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Yeah, but if you do that you'll ruin all of the fun the spread offense lovers are having and their self proclamations that they've reinvented football because they have a quarterback that can run and sub 250lb offensive lineman.

The spread offense reminds me of hypercolor shirts and tight rolled acid washed blue jeans. Real cool for a little while and yes, it was rad to get the ladies to breathe on your shirt, maybe you even got your wife that way, but one day people will look back and laugh.
 
It's just a matter of time until defenses catch up. This is the nature of football. A new offensive system comes along and is all world, and then a defense figures it out finally. That's why offenses progress.
 
The trend I see is any time any team throws the ball downfied in 3 WR formations or larger, the announcers call it a 'spread' offense. They called Fridge's offense a 'spread' offense, even though we ran lots of stuff out of the I, hell, sometimes even the wishbone. Bond's "Tashard at QB" formation with Bennett split wide could be considered a 'spread' offense even though there are only 2 WRs on the field.

I think the "spread offenses gain more yards" thing is a self fulfilling prophesy, because any offense that gains lots of yards gets called a spread offense by the journalists, even though they're often nothing like each other.
 
beej67 said:
The trend I see is any time any team throws the ball downfield in 3 WR formations or larger, the announcers call it a 'spread' offense. They called Fridge's offense a 'spread' offense, even though we ran lots of stuff out of the I, hell, sometimes even the wishbone. Bond's "Tashard at QB" formation with Bennett split wide could be considered a 'spread' offense even though there are only 2 WRs on the field.

I think the "spread offenses gain more yards" thing is a self fulfilling prophesy, because any offense that gains lots of yards gets called a spread offense by the journalists, even though they're often nothing like each other.
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Exactly. Anytime there are offensive players spread across the field now, they say "spread" formation. Oh and the direct snap is now called the "wildcat" formation.

I think there is a push on ESPN right now and they're no longer saying "quarterback". They now call that position the "Tebow" position.

"Who played tebow for GT in 2005?"
"Oh, that was Reggie Ball. He was the tebow back then."
"He was a great tebow."
"...........................?"
 
BarrelORum said:
It's just a matter of time until defenses catch up. This is the nature of football. A new offensive system comes along and is all world, and then a defense figures it out finally. That's why offenses progress.
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Don't tell WVU fans that. They'll think you're disrespecting the Rod and his invention that will never be stopped. Then they'll take you to a mine shaft and, well, let's just say it's not as fun as going to the dentist and having him baking soda blast your eyeball for 20 minutes.
 
FWIW, nobody's going to stop WVU for another 4 years at least. That new hotstuff RB they have there is every bit as good as their starter. They frighten me.
 
beej67 said:
FWIW, nobody's going to stop WVU for another 4 years at least. That new hotstuff RB they have there is every bit as good as their starter. They frighten me.
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Noel Devine is a beast, but I'm afraid his past is still a good part of him. Even FSU stopped recruiting him. Deion tried to keep him straight and became a foster-like parent, but Noel refused to follow rules and Deion had to let him go.

I hope the kid is straight and maybe going to WVU was a way to get out. We'll see.

They still are a spread offense team which means they are not good on defense. They have to out shoot good teams and that doesn't work when 1-loss from the Big East eliminates you from MNC contention.
 
I once heard Rodriguez, at WV, say that in a more traditional offense all the linemen have to make a good block to spring a play. He said with his spread offense only one OL has to make a good block. I think there is some truth in that observation. I like the spread offense, or Rod's version of it.

I watched him tear us apart at the Gator Bowl when everyone else seemed to be having trouble scoring on us. Tenuta couldn't make ANY adjustments or we would have won the game because their defense was so bad...
 
gtyellowjackets said:
I once heard Rodriguez, at WV, say that in a more traditional offense all the linemen have to make a good block to spring a play. He said with his spread offense only one OL has to make a good block. I think there is some truth in that observation. I like the spread offense, or Rod's version of it.

I watched him tear us apart at the Gator Bowl when everyone else seemed to be having trouble scoring on us. Tenuta couldn't make ANY adjustments or we would have won the game because their defense was so bad...
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would be nice to have that kind of offense with our OL
 
What he left out is that all the OL have to make some kind of block though. Remember, Samford ran a spread too.
 
GTKyle said:
would be nice to have that kind of offense with our OL
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Cause our OL is sooo horrible. Only one actually makes a good block per down.

I don't even understand comments like this. Seriously, can we just agree that our OL is not as good as some of us thought, but it is certainly not as bad as it looked last Saturday night.
 
haywire83 said:
Cause our OL is sooo horrible. Only one actually makes a good block per down.

I don't even understand comments like this. Seriously, can we just agree that our OL is not as good as some of us thought, but it is certainly not as bad as it looked last Saturday night.
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I know, it's like when someone says something like "it's a lot bigger than everyone thinks" and someone HAS TO say "that's what she said."
 
It would be wonderful to have WV's offense with our OL. Their offense works. Great. Strangely, though, it's very similar to the Nix offense, which didn't work. It all goes back to having a fast playmaker at QB, IMO.

Think back to VT / Mike Vick days. They ran a traditional I form offense, mostly, and only really had 10 plays in their playbook, and still whooped tail because they had a playmaker at QB who was really fast.
 
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