OT (Unrelated to Michigan) - Discussing the next 'new offense'
There's the traditional smashmouth offense, the west coast offense, the spread option, the triple option, the pistol, the wishbone... I would like to take some time to speculate as to what the next big offensive evolution will be?
I think we may begin to see, as the next big scheme, what is becoming more common as a trick play - a quarterback lined up in the shotgun with a second in the slot or out wide that tends to run screens. I don't know if I necessarily see that as an evolution though... the pistol was an evolution because it created a new base formation, allowing for downhill running while giving the quarterback space to run, too.
Thoughts?
October 5th, 2010 at 1:30 AM ^
The Flying V.
Book it.
October 5th, 2010 at 4:40 AM ^
quack
October 5th, 2010 at 7:00 AM ^
I mean quack.
October 5th, 2010 at 10:42 AM ^
Outlawed for a century? Change the rulebooks!
October 5th, 2010 at 1:31 AM ^
I would think that's something very hard to predict. If I could, then I would be the next new innovative coach somewhere, but I'll give it a shot:
You get the biggest people you can find and line 10 of them up on the line all next to each other. You then snap the ball to the one tiny (5'4") guy on the team. The mammoths then converge around the small guy in a circle, but because they are so big, they can form 2-3 rings around him. Then they all move in a massive, impenetrable blob down the field for a touchdown.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:51 AM ^
When you inevitably institute this in the future, would you please name it the "Ker-Plunk" offense?
October 5th, 2010 at 2:24 AM ^
I like the Ker-Plunk offense. The best part would be after the touchdown when the blob doesn't dissipate, but instead just slowly makes a loop and continues its way back to the sideline but adding the hand-rolling gesture/dance from Remember the Titans as a celebratory measure. I was thinking about calling it the "Raging Battle Turtle" formation due to its slow moving, shell-like nature, but after they started the Wildcat, I feel like animals are overdone, and Brian Kelly put it over the top with the "leprechaun formation".
October 5th, 2010 at 1:41 AM ^
There's the A-11 offense that was created by high school coaches out in California, which is pretty much an uber-spread. It has since been banned (for the most part) in college football (the only exceptions are situations where it is obvious that a kick may be attempted), but it's possible that a team could adopt this formation on fourth downs.
Here's the link to the basics about the offense:
October 5th, 2010 at 7:13 AM ^
I wouldn't have been too surprised to see some lower tier team try the A-11, but like you said, it's illegal.
October 5th, 2010 at 1:51 AM ^
3 qb backfield?
October 5th, 2010 at 2:24 AM ^
Psshh, I want to see eleven QBs who can run and catch on the field at all times. No less than fourteen laterals per play. Remember Michigan/Nebraska and how that almost worked despite relying on guys who rarely throw and devote almost no time to practicing that? Could you imagine a team that practiced nothing but this: for twenty hours a week? (Kidding by the way, but would seriously buy season tickets to any team that installed this as their primary offense at any level, effective or not).
October 5th, 2010 at 2:25 AM ^
You would enjoy rugby then.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:56 AM ^
Even though we're kidding around, it's late so I'll mess around with the hypothetical. Someone could hate rugby and still appreciate an offense like this in college football. Turnovers are far less significant in rugby thereby muting the thrilling risk/reward aspect it presents. Plus it's less fun to watch everyone on the field essentially on the same page. A radical change in offensive scheme (did that left tackle just throw down field?!) may open too many packages for an NCAA team to effectively prepare for in limited practice time and (presumably) only one opponent running a scheme that their base defense might be ineffective against.
/putsdownthetequilabottle
October 5th, 2010 at 4:36 AM ^
That would work during a game, remember it took half the Nebraska team and band on the field to stop Michigan. If it takes an 11+100 D to stop a play, then go for it!
October 5th, 2010 at 4:41 AM ^
Had to neg you for bringing up a painful memory
October 5th, 2010 at 2:32 AM ^
Personally, I think Matt Millen is a misunderstood genius, who was well ahead of his time. Just draft wide receivers and put eleven of them on the field at a time. Mike Mayock talks about putting an athlete in space; well, what about ELEVEN ATHLETES IN SPACE (BITCHES)!?
October 5th, 2010 at 3:48 AM ^
Every team already has 11 athletes playing offense.
October 5th, 2010 at 2:41 AM ^
Isn't it fairly obvious by now that cloning Denard is the only option?
October 5th, 2010 at 7:31 AM ^
A USC blog hypothesized a punt based offense during the Tom "The Bomb" Malone era at USC. Unfortunately, video footage has been lost to history (YouTube wasn't as ubiquitous in 2003).
The idea was that teams would so fear his punting prowess that USC's opponents would simply allow USC to score in order to prevent him from hitting the field. Malone was an undrafted free agent in 2006 and went to the Seahawks.
Rodriguez tried this last year with Mesko. He simply walked up to Kirk Ferentz before the Iowa game and told him that if Stanzi threw a pick six every series, he'd agree not to put Mesko on the field. As you'll see below, Ferentz panicked and did as he was told for the first series. Stanzi, as you'll see below (only watch the first minute kids), followed the coaches instructions. Unfortunately, being the patriot he is, he couldn't simply give in without a fight and decided to try after his first Stanziball*.
In probably his greatest failure to date, Rodriguez didn't trot Mesko out on the offense's first first down and the opportunity to change football forever passed.
*Stanziball is a registered trademark of BHGP.com
October 5th, 2010 at 7:48 AM ^
were "new", it might show something. But shoot, most of those are as old as classic I-Formation power ball, and even "modern" spread and shred first showed up in the 30's, I think.
Closest we're gonna get to a "new" offense is the hybridizations we're starting to see now, with teams running a base set, plus sets out of I, in the triple option, single wing and more. I don't know if those count yet, because they're only being run as gimicky type stuff, but PSU's "SpreadHD", while a terrible name, is a step in that direction.
October 5th, 2010 at 9:04 AM ^
it's important to note as Smart Football has done (and other posters on this thread) that these "new" offenses are really hybridizations off of classic formations / offensive theories. For example the "spread" offense was really the result of having faster players and playing toward traditional defensive strategies of having mass on force, that is outnumbering offensive players with the ball with defensive numbers. As we continue to see faster bigger players evolve in college football, I would expect to see an offense that deploys multiple decision maker players (i.e. QB's) in a single formation but spread out to confuse the defense. I saw some video of this last night on Big Ten Vault with a 1957 offense where the formation looked like this:
WR T G C G T TE
QB1 WR
RB QB2
QB1 stood kind of sideways to the center but had his hands still in the position to take the snap.
The center could snap the ball to QB1 or QB2 thus allowing two different
options plays available to offense at any time. As more athletic Qb's develop, this could
be a way to get multiple atheltic QB's on the field at the same time
while still having the defense respect the pass threat.
October 5th, 2010 at 9:16 AM ^
You beat me too it. I was going to post up the two QB option deal and wonder if we might even see it at Michigan.
Devin Gardner and Denard Robinson in. Devin supposedly has a higher ceiling as a passer so have him take the snaps. He can run or throw. Or he can hand it off to Denard who can do the same. Here I would see Denard as a hybrid, half QB and half Percy Harvin multipurpose player. Have Dee Hart, Smith or Shaw in as the RB.
With Gardner's redshirt gone we might as well get the best potential play out of the guys and if we land Dee Hart then a Hart, Robinson, Gardner would be a scary backfield.
As much as a I love Denard I worry he'll have a hard time winning over scouts to play QB in the NFL simply because he isn't 6' 3" or whatever that magic number is for QB height. Going into the NFL as a Harvin style player might be better for his career goals.
Otherwise I think in about 5-6 years the Power-I will rear its head to a degree. A lot of the country will convert over to the spread simply because they're sheep and if your entire conference has structured its defenses to value primarily lateral speed, taking 6 big guys in a jumbo set, a massive FB and a big old RB might work shocking well.
October 5th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
I was thinking this too. If Devin Gardner continues to progress as he has and as Denard did, he will be too good to keep off the field. I think we see a package where they are both on the field. They can either line up as QB/RB or one can line up as a receiver. I think that Denard would usually be the RB for read option plays because that allows him to take the side that is closer to the QB Iso, which he has shown is his play.
I don't think it will be as gimmicky as it sounds, but having them both on the field doesn't allow for the defense to fully prepare for what they are about to face.
October 5th, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^
I was thinking you stick Gardner in as QB. Robinson is #16 and on one side, Hart on the other side as #18 (because 16 and 18 looks fairly close). Ball snaps, ball is handed to Hart. The entire secondary has to go "Wait is thar #16 or #18?" If it is #18 they can come off their coverages and move up to stop the run. If it is #16 they have to respect the pass until the guy is clearly across the line of scrimmage.
I would think aside from the speed and skills on the field, you'd have a lot of openings where the defense backs think "Hey Hart has the ball, stop the run, stop, oh that's Robinson and he's pulling up to pass to the WR I just came off of, unh-oh." On the flip side, you'd get hesitation to commit to run stopping and potential open holes for the RB. If the DB isn't quite sure who has the ball it provides an opening for the WR to just block them out of the play since they'll never see it coming or else that half step slow reaction that springs the back.
If nothing else it would get the average carries per game down for the QBs.
October 5th, 2010 at 9:14 AM ^
I believe smartfootball predicted a couple years ago that the next "hot new offense" would be the jet/fly offense. I think the wildcat in the pros is usually run as a jet sweep/fake with an unbalanced line. So maybe we won't see an entire offense based on the jet/fly but maybe we will.
October 5th, 2010 at 9:34 AM ^
It will not be that overanalyzed, overthought, overcoached, debacle of an offense put on the field by Florida on Saturday. Whatever they are running, it is time to rethink it. Perhaps Florida ran a Tebowand only Tebow offense, because that looked washed up. It looked as though Meyer was actually attempting not to get first downs or move the ball. Here is an idea, play football Urban, not this newfangled puzzle that you put on the field that own team cannot even decipher. That was ugly.