I Have to bring this up again since Baylor and TCU will probably be ranked 2 and 3. Last year Michigan State, had one of the best defenses in the country, beat Baylor 42-41 but it could have gone either way in the bowl game. Does it take a great defense to beat the spread offense with enough defensive backs to cover everyone? We might see one of them in the Championship game this year.
Spread vs Pro Set Offense
- Thread starter rutgersdave
- Start date
I think any given week the best spread teams are capable of beating anyone. But that one week where the team is out of sync they lose. Oregon had some incredible teams that could score multiple TDs in under a minute but there was always that one week where a team wouldn't turn the ball over and Oregon's offense would struggle to set the pace of the game.
In the end there is a few things that really matter. Solid line play, smart and safe QB play, and solid consistent tackling. The teams that do that the best win bowl games every year.
In the end there is a few things that really matter. Solid line play, smart and safe QB play, and solid consistent tackling. The teams that do that the best win bowl games every year.
We saw two of them last year with Oregon and OSU. They were more ground based spreads but either is fine with me, whether it's air raid or read option whatever.
I've been advocating switching to a spread for some years now. I just see it as the best avenue to outperform your perceived status on the college landscape. For a pro set how far down the college program totem pole can you go, Wisconsin/MSU/Stanford so not that far down. But if you look at spread teams how far down can you. You've seen teams like NIU/Fresno/Memphis and teams like TCU/Baylor/ASU/Oregon/Ole Miss/Miss. St etc...making appearances in the top 25 and in some cases really taking it up a level as program. You would think these programs have no business being what they are but they've done it and on the back of some sort of spread. I don't think most, if not all of them, would have done it implementing a pro style offense. The spread is not some guarantee and it could fail but it's the best avenue IMO. Even if it did fail, I'd hire someone else and try again.
To me trying to create a high powered offense is the way to go and that's usually going to come in the form of some sort of spread. I've posted stats of teams that finished in the top 25 the last couple years and IIRC 7-8 of the teams in the top 10 on offense including names like NIU/Fresno finished in the top 25. About 4-5 in the top 10 defense did and no one that was "unexpected" like those mid majors. There's a reason so many teams run it, it's the best shot to level the playing field somewhat. Obviously everyone can't be successful with it but it's the best chance IMO.
While I see offense as the best avenue to overachieve your perceived status on the college landscape, it doesn't mean you can just let the defense crumble. I think a byproduct of a spread is that your defense will be softer/weaker. Our hasn't been good the last few years anyway so it's not like it matters much. You can't have atrocious defense, give me something top 50-70 in scoring/total defense and top 20-25 scoring/total offense and I think you have a good chance to land up somewhere good over time.
I've been advocating switching to a spread for some years now. I just see it as the best avenue to outperform your perceived status on the college landscape. For a pro set how far down the college program totem pole can you go, Wisconsin/MSU/Stanford so not that far down. But if you look at spread teams how far down can you. You've seen teams like NIU/Fresno/Memphis and teams like TCU/Baylor/ASU/Oregon/Ole Miss/Miss. St etc...making appearances in the top 25 and in some cases really taking it up a level as program. You would think these programs have no business being what they are but they've done it and on the back of some sort of spread. I don't think most, if not all of them, would have done it implementing a pro style offense. The spread is not some guarantee and it could fail but it's the best avenue IMO. Even if it did fail, I'd hire someone else and try again.
To me trying to create a high powered offense is the way to go and that's usually going to come in the form of some sort of spread. I've posted stats of teams that finished in the top 25 the last couple years and IIRC 7-8 of the teams in the top 10 on offense including names like NIU/Fresno finished in the top 25. About 4-5 in the top 10 defense did and no one that was "unexpected" like those mid majors. There's a reason so many teams run it, it's the best shot to level the playing field somewhat. Obviously everyone can't be successful with it but it's the best chance IMO.
While I see offense as the best avenue to overachieve your perceived status on the college landscape, it doesn't mean you can just let the defense crumble. I think a byproduct of a spread is that your defense will be softer/weaker. Our hasn't been good the last few years anyway so it's not like it matters much. You can't have atrocious defense, give me something top 50-70 in scoring/total defense and top 20-25 scoring/total offense and I think you have a good chance to land up somewhere good over time.
Not a fan of the spread offenses. I'm not saying they aren't effective at the college level, however, it doesn't lend itself to having a good defensive team. When teams that run a pro (2 back or 2 TE) offense have some extra time to prepare they tend to have more success against spread attacks. Typically spread offense teams have defenses that have problems stopping the run and really don't play sound gap defense. I heard Mack Brown talk about this yesterday regarding all the spread teams in the Big 12 now. He stated that when Texas went to spread offense, their defense typically lacked toughness and didn't tackle well. He stated that you need to have balance ...have concepts of both in the offense...like Ohio St, etc. Baylor may be one of the best teams in the country, I would still take a team like Alabama , LSU , USC over them. Granted those teams tend to recruit the very best players. I don't bother watching most games from the Big 12, to me, it's not sound football and the games are boring to me. Literally, no one seems to be able to stop anyone. Some may find teams scoring 90 or 100 points exciting...I don't. Give me a well played 28-24 game anyday.
TCU plays defense, too. http://grantland.com/features/hard-knocks-playing-defense-with-tcus-gary-patterson/ As good as the offenses at Oregon were, they did get stopped in big games. Spread offenses rely on tempo and confusion to be effective. Pro style offenses require superior o-line play and consistent execution to be effective. They also require a QB that can read entire defenses instead of just one guy. The two big reasons that RU has struggled to be effective with the pro-style system are a lack of even adequate o-line play and OCs in the last few seasons who, with the exception of Friedgen, never taught QBs how to read defenses.
I agree spread teams tend to have weaker/softer defenses as I said above. That is a drawback but I take a look at everything in totality and on balance I think it's still the best avenue to outperform your perceived status on the landscape.
Really, I couldn't care less what we do, all I care about are lots of Ws and being ranked in the top 25 as often as possible. It's just after observing enough football and seeing what's been going on around the college landscape, I think a spread is the best play to improving ourselves.
I've also said I think it's much more plug and play friendly. How many times have we heard we're too young in this position group or that position group or this person is hurt or that person is hurt. To some degree those can be legitimate excuses but it's college football. Players are always graduating, faces are changing, people get hurt. You have to adapt to the environment you're operating in and a spread seems to lend itself better to that. We've seen in with Brian Kelly at Cincy using multiple qbs, Baylor has had various qbs and keeps humming, OSU last year, Oregon to some degree although struggling a bit this year but still doing okay on offense at least. So while it may not be a cure all to the changing faces on your team, I think it's better suited to handle it.
I think TCU 6 players to injury and off the field issues on defense but they're still able to perform, Memphis lost 8 starters and 5 backups and their defensive coordinator and they're still doing okay so far. To some degree the offense is able to make up for the defensive deficiencies. Eventually it may catch up to them but at least it's something to counterbalance the losses. I think a defense in the 50-70 range on scoring/total should be good enough, it can't be something that is in the 90s/100s. So I think if you can eventually create a mediocre, not great, defense and couple with a strong offense you'll land up somewhere good.
Really, I couldn't care less what we do, all I care about are lots of Ws and being ranked in the top 25 as often as possible. It's just after observing enough football and seeing what's been going on around the college landscape, I think a spread is the best play to improving ourselves.
I've also said I think it's much more plug and play friendly. How many times have we heard we're too young in this position group or that position group or this person is hurt or that person is hurt. To some degree those can be legitimate excuses but it's college football. Players are always graduating, faces are changing, people get hurt. You have to adapt to the environment you're operating in and a spread seems to lend itself better to that. We've seen in with Brian Kelly at Cincy using multiple qbs, Baylor has had various qbs and keeps humming, OSU last year, Oregon to some degree although struggling a bit this year but still doing okay on offense at least. So while it may not be a cure all to the changing faces on your team, I think it's better suited to handle it.
I think TCU 6 players to injury and off the field issues on defense but they're still able to perform, Memphis lost 8 starters and 5 backups and their defensive coordinator and they're still doing okay so far. To some degree the offense is able to make up for the defensive deficiencies. Eventually it may catch up to them but at least it's something to counterbalance the losses. I think a defense in the 50-70 range on scoring/total should be good enough, it can't be something that is in the 90s/100s. So I think if you can eventually create a mediocre, not great, defense and couple with a strong offense you'll land up somewhere good.
You know one other thing that crossed my mind is that while a spread team can be softer and you'd think they'd get knocked in the mouth, it's not always the case. It's more likely to be the case for an air raid type spread like Baylor/TCU but teams like Auburn/OSU can be quite physical.
And if you look at it they don't do so bad. Baylor lost to MSU last year but IIRC MSU made a late game comeback and regardless it was a close game. Oregon beat MSU last year where they pulled away and lost a close one this year even though they are no where near the team from last year. Look at the teams Alabama has lost to as of late and if any one could punch another team in the mouth it's Alabama. They lost to Utah, Oklahoma, OSU, Auburn and Ole Miss two times in a row in like forever all teams that run some version of the spread. Conversely this past week they played Georgia who runs a pro style and they chewed them up and spit them out.
I'm not saying we're going to turn into the next Baylor or Oregon, we can hope though, but I think it's just the best chance to improve ourselves. There may be a transition period and it could fail at first but I would still keep trying til you find that guy who can implement it here correctly.
And if you look at it they don't do so bad. Baylor lost to MSU last year but IIRC MSU made a late game comeback and regardless it was a close game. Oregon beat MSU last year where they pulled away and lost a close one this year even though they are no where near the team from last year. Look at the teams Alabama has lost to as of late and if any one could punch another team in the mouth it's Alabama. They lost to Utah, Oklahoma, OSU, Auburn and Ole Miss two times in a row in like forever all teams that run some version of the spread. Conversely this past week they played Georgia who runs a pro style and they chewed them up and spit them out.
I'm not saying we're going to turn into the next Baylor or Oregon, we can hope though, but I think it's just the best chance to improve ourselves. There may be a transition period and it could fail at first but I would still keep trying til you find that guy who can implement it here correctly.