Spread-ing History

by dcrespo7 on Feb 15, 2012 10:11 PM MST

I am sure someone is working on a piece regarding the spread offense but I want to point out my inspiration regarding a not so new phenomenon - Spread Offense (http://www.milehighreport.com/2012/2/14/2799308/questions-about-the-spread-offense). Thanks to Scrappy, I decided to dig in a bit.

Now the first article I've linked in the article above covers a lot of basic terminology, concepts and philosophy while the second link enclosed 48 universities currently running some form of the spread offense.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=4340650

1958: High school coach Tiger Ellison conceives run 'n' shoot offense.

1962: Mouse Davis refines run 'n' shoot; 79-29 in 15 years coaching high school.

1984: USFL's Houston Gamblers, led by quarterback Jim Kelly and offensive coordinator Mouse Davis, set a pro football record with 618 points.

1989: Houston Cougars QB Andre Ware wins Heisman Trophy.

1990: Three NFL teams (Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Houston Oilers) operate run 'n' shoot.

2000: Paul Johnson wins his second FCS title with Georgia Southern.

2004: Nevada coach Chris Ault creates pistol offense.

2005: West Virginia wins Sugar Bowl 38-35 over Georgia in Atlanta.

2006: Hawaii QB Colt Brennan sets single-season record for touchdown passes with 58.

2008: Florida coach Urban Meyer guides Gators to second national title in three years.

Pretty intense the history associated with this offense but what stands out is the reference to Jim Kelly prior to joining the Bills and their miraculous run at four SB (a feat I consider incredible incredible). What I also find interesting is that there are two first round picks from the Meyer's school of QB in both Alex Smith of the 9ers and our very own, Tim Tebow (how about that exciting run against the Saints). After a long search Bowling Green's QB for 2001 and 2002 was Josh Harris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Harris_(American_football).

Now I had no idea where I was going with this but one thing was clear to me and that is a coach can win many college games. Produce a great amount of men ready to give back to communities throughout the US. The real challenge lies in the ability of those few who do make the NFL and transfer some of the success from college into the pros. You can't succeed without failure and that is the biggest compliment a competitor has to keep them grounded.

I hope this satisfies some of thirst for useless tidbits. Interesting how things will play out during free agency, the draft and then the many organized practice sessions.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Comments

Interesting article

Just a side note about the run-and-shoot, which is a technique almost any offense can use, not just the Spread Option or Read Option.

As for the Option in relations being a long term NFL offense, in terms of it’s use compared to college, I don’t think so, using it on that many players in a game would cause a struggle that would be hard to overcome without supreme execution by all offensive units. But in terms of being used a few times a game, it becomes a potent weapon. When used in conjuncture with the Spread, like we ran at times this season, the Option can be very useful. Other teams used the Option, just not as often as we did, only using it 5-7 times a game. These teams would include Carolina, Cleveland and Jacksonville, but a handful of others did as well. So I do believe the Option can be used as a tool within another offense, from watching it be used this season, both by Denver and other teams, it’s most effective when used a few times a game rather than the majority of the offense plays.

I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.

by Topher Doll on Feb 15, 2012 10:28 PM MST reply actions