Pistol offense
Hey MGoBlog,
I’d actually been working on writing a diary about the pistol offense so as to break it down and show its various advantages and disadvantages and then ask the community’s thoughts on this. But I see that Chris from Smart Football (http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/) has just posted something about the pistol on Doc. Saturday’s site (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Deconstruct…-?urn=ncaaf,176983).
It’s a little bit more overview than what I was working on so I might still finish the diary just to learn some more about the offense. My question is what do you guys think of this in general?
I was working less on the pistol FORMATION and more on a complete pistol OFFENSE. I think that the idea of being married to having the HB behind the QB is limiting. I think it’s an excellent basic package, but I’d really like to see some plays where you have the man in motion and time the snap so that the snap goes off, gets to the QB, and then the QB can read the defense and hand the ball off to the man in motion (who is running parallel to the line and is very close to the linemen) or keep it and do something else (whether that be run himself or pass it) with the HB providing pass protection. That way you can have a TE on one side of the line and the HB providing pass protection on the other side. The QB should then have adequate time to make a deep throw if necessary. Then you can start really messing with the defenses head by changing up the wide receivers. You can see where this could turn into a long diary since there are so many little adjustments that could be great.
The summary of my diary thus far is appropriate for this part.
1. The pistol allows a run play more easily than the shotgun and almost as easily and effectively as taking snaps under center
2. Misdirection/being hard to read can allow you to just plain embarrass the defense
3. Can pretty easily pass out of the pistol formation
4. Gain most of the advantages of the shotgun formation without all of the disadvantages (although you don’t gain the full advantages and there are definitely some disadvantages of the ‘gun present in the pistol)
There was obviously more but that's the gist of what I actually wrote so far.
So, thoughts on any of this? Will we see this start to spread out into the upper echelons of college football? Or will is just be used by the Wolfpack and occasionally by other teams as a trick play/weird formation that you don’t show too often?
And would anybody still be interested in me finishing that diary? If not, then I’ll put it on the back burner.
that Ohio State will be running the Pistol on occasion this year?
If you go here: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-153/Pistol-offense-catching-on-in… it does sound like OSU might be installing something like it but not as their basic package. If you follow the link that they use for Tressel using more the pistol or wildcat, there are not actual quotes by Tressel himself saying that they're going to do that.
I think that OSU occasionally did some pistol formation stuff last season but not a lot. As for the wildcat... yeah that's pretty inevitable with Pryor as their QB.
Indiana is supposed to be going to the pistol as their basic formation so I'm already resigned to the idea that I'm going to have every Indiana game this year to better understand the offense.
He was referring to his players carrying hand guns.
You da man!
(point)
running away from the police with one doesn't count.....
LSU uses the "Pistol" formation from time to time, I believe.
I didn't watch any LSU games last year but I've heard (courtesy of wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_Offense)
I was working on researching my diary entry so I was starting to try to find some film of teams using the pistol formation. I hadn't gotten to searching for LSU film yet so I have no idea how successful is really was. I was mostly just trying to find complete game footage of Wolfpack games. Highlight reels can only tell you so much, I'd like to see how it worked down after down.
I remember LSU using it on a couple of posessions in the MNC title game against OSU.
Thanks, that should be easier to find than Wolfpack games. I'm sure that some LSU blog has a torrent of it somewhere.
Do you happen to remember how Les used it? Although I'm starting to understand how to run the formation, I still don't have a great grasp of the strategy differences from play to play versus a more typical RichRod spread offense or a pro-style offense.
If you don't remember or can't describe it that's fine, either way I'll have to find the tape and watch and analyze it.
I recommend watching Nevada. They run exclusively Pistol offense. It's a very fun offense to watch. It's basically a combination of singleback, shotgun and single wing offense.
I was planning on doing that. I'd gotten to the stage in my diary writing/research that I was looking for film. I was hoping to find complete games for the Wolfpack but all I could find after a brief search I could only find highlights.
Do you know where I might find complete games for them? As I said in a previous post, it's important to see how well it operates on a down-by-down basis and not just at highlight reel points.
downloading games from youtorrent or something similar to it. I'm sure that they have games to download. It'd be cool if RR can implement this offense to go along with his spread option offense but it requires precise and intricate footwork from the QBs if they want to pull this off.
Nevada runs the Pistol and their coach Chris Ault kinda sorta pioneered it.
I cant wait to see the Pistol run up and down the field against the Irish on the first Saturday of September. Sadly, it will ruin the much anticpated matchup of 1-0 teams the following week.
Book It.
I completely forgot that ND plays Nevada in the first week. I'm definitely going to have to DVR that game. Thanks for the tip.
It'll be interesting to see how Tenuta tries to stop that offense. That could be very revealing for the formations strengths and weaknesses.
The interesting thing is Nevada's pistol runs the same basic running plays that Michigan's spread option incorporates. The zone read, etc. It's essentially a veer-based run game, so I will be watching to see how ND can handle a running QB for sure.
I've always found the Pistol interesting, but really don't see it becoming main stream. The problem seems to be that, while it provides much flexibility, it does not appear to excel at any one thing.
For example, if you want to do traditional HB runs, a single-back formation works a little better becauses the direct snap is easier on both the QB and center, eliminating (or significantly reducing) the potential for timing problems.
For single-wing style plays, the traditional depth of the QB is actually an asset as many of the initial running lanes for a back taking a handoff are somewhat horizontal in nature (they involving letter a DE penetrate, for example).
For passing plays, you have the disadvantage of a shotgun snap (the QB's eyes are not always on his receivers) without the full advantage of the shotgun (depth).
That said, since the Pistol is such a Swiss Army knife, it makes up for these disadvantages because it can do so many things from one formation. So, those threats may slow the defense.
Of course, many of the negatives can also be eliminated through practice, but I think that is exactly why you won't see this offense go mainstream - I just cannot see a team like OSU committing to running it as the primary offensive system. Nevada's success with it has certainly garnered it attention, and beating ND would only help that, but it's still an oddball offense and will likely remain so unless a team running it goes on a multiyear run (WVU with the spread-and-shred).
Just my two cents.
Building on this argument, I don't think the pistol forces defenses to be as disciplined as a spread-option attack like ours. This is primarily because of the emphasis placed on spacing and the philosophy that we will attempt to score on every single play. Not to say that the pistol doesn't force disciplined defense, it just doesn't emphasize defending the entire field.
On a slightly separate note, I think the most compelling thing about RR's offense is the play-calling. If you ever watch a WVU game, there are times where the offense just purrs. Defenses simply get gashed because of an inexplicably (at least by me) abstract aspect to the sequence of plays that McGee/Rod put together. I will venture to say that we will see some of this in the 2009 season.
If anyone with some actual football knowledge would care to comment on the sequence of plays, I would be quite interested.
Just to add an agreement; I think we'll see more of those "gashes" because the offense will be much more versatile this year. I think Tate's accuracy, plus his slippery speed on the option will work wonders.
Opposing defenses will actually have to make half-time adjustments because we won't be running gut, zone-read, and bubble screen plays in consecutive order because that's all the team can do. This playbook, when fully developed, is extensive and very dangerous.
It's really great to see Nevada getting some hype these days. I'm a student there, and I've always found it disheartening that we can't manage more than about 17K fans at games. Maybe, just maybe, if we can finally knock off BSU (last game on the blue turf went to 4 OTs, game tying TD was dropped at the last second last year), UN will get some support from our community.
I think that we'll surprise some people this year. You can't have an offense as good as ours and fly under the radar.
And really, if OSU used a complete pistol offense they would be world-beaters. Pryor is like Nevada's QB, only stronger, faster and much more talented. Add that to their steady stream of great RBs and receivers, and their talented (yet poorly coached) OL, and you have the makings of a really great offense. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, offensive ineptitude is the norm on their coaching staff. They need a Chris Ault, who is BTW a really nice guy. Met him and his wife at the airport once. He couldn't have been more gracious and kind.
Anyway, sorry for the rant from the lone Nevada fan on the internet. Mark that game with ND on your calendars. You just might like the results.