![]() ![]() ![]() We are in a very transitory time, and to get a little perspective, it’s helpful to look at the strategic milieu that the modern spread came out of in the 1990s. I’m not sure yet that it will be the option, if for no other reason than we don’t yet know what defensive schemes will be dominant either. I generally agree with everything Andy and Stewart say, especially the point that whatever the dominant offensive strategy of the 2010s ends up being - and there may not be one - it will be a response to the defensive changes being undergone right now. It’s time to bring it back on a grand scale. So what’s the holdup? Johnson already has proven the option can work in a BCS conference. In option football, if you execute correctly, you’ve got enough people to block everybody and theoretically score a touchdown on most every option play.” “If somebody misses a tackle, you might go a long way. “Most of the zone plays you see now, if you block things perfectly, you may make seven, eight, nine yards,” Osborne said. Not true, said Tom Osborne, an option aficionado who coached Nebraska to national titles in 1994, 19. Most people think the option is a boring, grind-it-out scheme. ![]() How well? In Johnson’s second season at Tech, he won the ACC title. Paul Johnson, who probably has leisure suits and tearaway jerseys in his closet, has proven at Navy and Georgia Tech that the option still works. We’re talking about the holy trinity of the dive back, quarterback keeper or pitch. We’re not talking about the occasional pitch play. And since bell-bottoms and platform shoes have already enjoyed minor renaissances, it seems only fair that coaches bring back that staple of the ’70s football experience: the option. That shift in defensive philosophy means it’s time for a new-old offensive fad. ![]() More teams adopted a 3-4, allowing more flexibility to spy a quarterback who might double as a fullback. As the spread flourished this past decade, defenses adjusted. The future won’t belong solely to the pro/spread hybrid. I really believe if you can have a combination of all that stuff and confuse with different personnel groups, that’s what it’s all about.” “The great thing would be the combination of both - spread it out and throw it, then be able to do it with two tight ends and run the ball with some power,” said Erickson. Instead, the future is likely a hybrid of both systems. Spread gurus like Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen keep importing it at new locations, and Arizona State’s Dennis Erickson - a veteran of both levels - is one of several coaches implementing a version of former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid attack this season. So will the recent influx of NFL-influenced coaches like Washington’s Steve Sarkisian and USC’s Kiffin kill the spread? Not exactly. However, Alabama won the national championship with a more traditional, pro-style offense, Stanford defied the trend of recent upstarts by utilizing an old-school, smash-mouth offense and Nebraska’s disruptive defense showed it’s possible to shut down a wide-open attack like Texas’. Last season, the spread still thrived for teams like Pac-10 champion Oregon, Big East champion Cincinnati and 13-1 Florida. The spread and pro-style offenses will learn to coexistĬollege offenses constantly go in and out of vogue, which means the spread-offense craze is bound to plateau (if it hasn’t already). In their tag-teamed auguries for the next decade of college football, Stewart Mandel and Andy Staples reflect on the decade of the spread and look to the option offenses of the ’70s to predict what big things might come next:Ĩ. ![]()
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