This Saturday (12/13/2008) will unveil the Heisman trophy winner for the 2008 college football season. The three finalist are all quarterback's from spread offense systems. You have last year's winner, Tim Tebow from the Unversity of Florida - Texas Longhorn's Colt McCoy, and Oklahoma Sooner's Sam Bradford.
Last week when West Virginia's Pat White broke the all-time NCAA QB rushing record against Louisville, I had mixed emotions. One part of me was so happy for Pat and his WVU teammates while the other part of me was sad that an era was coming to an end. With college football down to two more games for most teams (some only one), I would only get to see #5 in the old gold and blue twice more... man, that stinks!
When I started this site about a year ago, it was an easy choice on who's mold I wanted the logo of "SpreadOffense.com" made from, I figured that the most inspiring spread offense player(s) over the previous 3 seasons was Pat White (and his partner in crime at the time, Steve Slaton). Hence, I made them the second and third WVU players that a logo was molded after (the first being Jerry West, who's the mold for the NBA logo). This upcoming Saturday (December 6th at 8:00pm, televised on ESPN2), West Virginia plays the University of South Florida at West Virginia for Pat White's final home game as a Mountaineer. WVU is officially making it a Pat "White Out" event, meaning everyone in the stadium is being instructed to wear 'White' clothing in honor of #5.
The Mountaineer's will make a bowl game this year so that will be Pat's last official game, but do yourself a favor and tune in Saturday night for his last home game.
If you love the modern day spread offense... You'll love seeing the 'Magician' one more time in front of the home crowd.
Thank you Pat White... I can't wait to see you in the NFL.
An area of the spread offense that drives defensive coordinators crazy is the pre-snap motion that many offenses use to out-man or gain an advantage on the defensive alignment. This changes the strength of the offense, and the defense must react quickly to re-align. To view a recent article with diagrams on simplifying the pre-snap motion offense out of the spread, go to: http://www.spreadoffense.com/ssp/spread_offense_motion_plays
OK, now it's getting serious down in Miami with the spread offense. If you saw the game or highlights of their last game vs. Seattle, Ricky Williams went untouched from 51 yards away out of the triple option set. It looked like a Steve Slaton run from his old West Virginia days when him and Pat White would drive defenses nuts.
How often do you see an NFL running back go 'untouched' for 50+ yards (well, see the video below)?? NFL defensive coordinators, look out!! I think 2011 has arrived a little early.
With the impressive passing performance of Texas Tech last night vs. Texas, we thought a pass diagram with a little pre-snap motion out of the spread offense would be an appropriate post.
Great play by Michael Crabtree at the end of the game.... and a heck of a throw by Graham Harrell to his back shoulder.
If you haven't seen The Golden Hurricane of Tulsa run the spread offense yet this year, do yourself a favor and watch them this Sunday night at 8:00pm ET (It's a Sunday night college special) vs. UCF (Central Florida) on ESPN.
Back in February, SpreadOffense.com posted a Q&A session with Herb Hand, co-offensive coordinator at Tulsa.
#19 (BCS and Coaches Poll) Tulsa is averaging 56.6 points per game, and QB David Johnson has thrown 31 TD's. Tarrion Adams is the leading rusher for the Golden Hurricane, averaging 5.9 yards per rush.
Auburn University fired offensive coordinator and spread offense guru Tony Franklin on Wednesday just ten months into his tenure.
Tommy Tuberville, the head coach at Auburn said he remained committed to the spread offense, but a change in play calling and style was required and he was going with his 'gut felling' on the decision.
"It hurts. It hurts bad," Tuberville said on Wednesday. "It's a difficult situation. It's a difficult thing to do in the middle of the season. My responsibility is to this football team and it always will be. Tony's a good person. When it all comes down to it, it's about production. I didn't think over the last few weeks we were making any progress."
Tuberville hired Franklin from Troy last December after firing Al Borges. Franklin led the offense in the Chick-fil-A Bowl — a victory over Clemson that created a lot of excitement over the new offense at Auburn.
Auburn plays Arkansas this Saturday in an SEC battle.
After the first 5 weeks of the 2008 college football season, it's obvious that Missouri's spread offense lead by Chase Daniel is the most exciting and diverse in college football.
Through four games, Daniel has completed 101-of-133 passes for 1,412 yards, 12 touchdowns and one interception.
Not to mention one of the most exciting skill players in the country, Mr. Everything Jeremy Maclin.
To read more about Missouri's recent win over Nebraska, Click Here.
The spread offense in college has been sort of taking it on the chin the last few weeks, with the likes of Auburn and West Virginia having a difficult time getting their offenses in gear so far (Thank God for Missouri...what an offense that is!) this year.
Then out of the clear blue, this past Sunday saw the emergence of the 'South Florida Spread' (no, not Matt Grothe and the USF Bulls in Tampa), the Miami Dolphins!
That's right, the Dolphins of the AFC East took the New England Patriots behind the wood shed with some solid defensive play and a taste of the Arkansas 'Wild Cat and Wild Hog' Offense made so famous by Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.
In this case, it was Ronnie Brown who was in the shot-gun orchestrating the famous spread offense formation, surely under the tutelage of Miami's quarterback coach David Lee, from you guessed it... The University of Arkansas.
On Sunday, Brown gained 113 yards on 17 carries and the Dolphins out gained the Patriots 461 yards to 216.
Ronnie Brown, typically used as a tailback, received six direct snaps resulting in four touchdowns (three runs, one pass).
This will be interesting to see how it develops as the year goes on, will you see this package every week by Miami? Will other pro teams consider trying this or a similar spread offense/single wing package with a great athlete?
Time will tell... remember our prediction on the college spread offense making its way into the NFL - click here - Maybe it'll happen sooner!
Many spread offense's are pumping more and more rushing yards out of their athletic quarterback's (QB's). One of the simplest, yet effective plays out of the shot-gun is the QB Sweep (see diagram #1 above). This is also a great play to put in with your Tailback (TB) because it allows him to do what he is used to doing.
The QB will simply read the block of the #3 receiver (or inside slot). If the they get the hook he will sweep outside. If they kick-out, the QB will cut up and inside the block.
If you really want to keep the defense honest, compliment the QB sweep with the inside slot counter trap (see diagram #2 above). This could be either an inside hand-off or flip (schuffle) toss.
Pat White, the 4 year starting quarterback of the West Virginia Mountaineer's highly productive spread offense and a leading preseason Heisman candidate in 2008 broke another Mountaineer record on Saturday, this time not with his magic leg's, but with his arm.
White threw 5 touchdown passes against Villanova, a top 'sub-division' football program that consistently challenged the Mountaineer offense by placing 8 and 9 guys in the box in an attempt to slow up the anticipated 'zone read' rushing show by White and Noel Devine.
When new Mountaineer head coach Bill Stewart hired Jeff Mullen as the WVU offensive coordinator in early 2008, he did so knowing that Mullen was a 'take what they give you' type of offensive coach, something the Mountaineer's have been accused of ignoring the past few years under the past regime of Rich Rodriguez.
Mullen stated after the the 48-21 West Virginia win Saturday, “I was pleased with his decision making. Fundamentally and athletically, the kid has been blessed before I ever got a hold of him”. “I was just real happy with where his eyes went to on every pass play in order for those completions to occur."
“I’m a guru right?” Mullen joked. “There were a number of times today and during Patrick’s career when you go, ‘Wow, that wasn’t a very good call and then old #5 gets you out of that bind. He’s certainly a blessing to coach.
White finished with career highs in completions (25) and attempts (33). Six incompletions were the result of drops or poor receiver play, an area Mullen and Stewart expect to improve on.
Pat White, who has been compared at times to Vince Young looked more like Steve Young versus Villanova, standing tall in the pocket and firing accurate passes from his strong left arm.
This latest development out of Morgantown must be sending shivers up the spines of defensive coordinators having to face White and the Mountaineer's this year.
Just when you thought the 'game plan' executed so well by Pittsburgh and South Florida last year against the Mountaineer's powerful run game was a possible 'formula for success' (then again, White was hurt and not 100% in both of those games...), Patrick White shows us yesterday that his hard work in the off season and guidance from Jeff Mullen (previously at Wake Forest) has really improved his passing ability, giving the WVU offense the much needed balance it has needed the past three years.
The Mountaineer's have a great challenge ahead of them this week as they head to East Carolina, themselves coming off a great win over a ranked Virginia Tech team.
College Football made some revisions this off-season to its 266 page rule book that will significantly help an already established offense that runs out of the no huddle spread offense in 2008 and beyond.
The 25 second clock, that was once reset after officials marked the ball, is now a secondary player. This year, a 40 second clock starts immediately at the end of every play. Only for reasons such as a penalty, time-out, or measurement will an offense receive a full 25 seconds from the spot of the ball.
This could be tough on offenses that rotate personnel often into the game, and it could have a big impact on a team huddling prior to coming to the line of scrimmage.
Chalk one up for the no-huddle spread offense teams out there in college football, you're ahead of the game and this important rule change.
Check out an article on this subject by Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com below:
As the 2008 College Football season draws closer, we thought this video of all of Tim Tebow's touchdown's last year, his heisman trophy season would get you in the mood for some serious 'spread offense' (or single wing.... looking at the video).
In this article, I will present how we defend against a predominately pass offense that runs just some zone read in the spread offense. The first thoughts in my mind are down and distance and where the ball is on the field. Our calls will change as the field become shorter, the score of the game and time left on the clock. I classify my thoughts in four general categories: A. Five in the box , B. Five and a half in the box, C. Six in the box and D. Seven in the box.
To read more, visit this article with diagrams at:
You can hear about it everyday from fans with even the most basic knowledge of the game of football. It is something that some spread offense coaches meticulously strive for, despite the fact that there are no points awarded for it, and some of the most successful coaches at any level completely disregard it. “It” is balance in play calling.
