'63 '69 '70 '05
< 25 Posts
It's the offseason, so cut me some slack... but I was reflecting a bit...
Option football… wishbone or not… is a thing of beauty when it’s run by a team that can do it well. You have to have a tough, durable QB that can make those split second reads… a bruising FB that take a beating all game long whether he has the ball or not (like a Worster or a Leaks) and two HBs that are cat-quick on the outside.
DE stays outside, give it to the FB… you’ll take 3 or 4 every time, right? DE closes down, pull it out and start watching the LB. LB wants to drift out to cover the HB… turn it up inside of him… maybe even make him commit further with a good hard fake pitch before you turn it up. LB takes the QB… pitch it to the HB… and with a lead HB blocking the CB and the SE blocking the Safety… with a little luck you have the defense outnumbered and run for a while.
To think… all those reads happen within split seconds as the play unfolds. However, I realize the offense is dated with the speed of today’s defenses makes it a much more difficult proposition.
One of the best wishbone displays in recent memory came during the high school AAAAA Division I State Finals in 1996 between the Lewisville Farmers and the Judson Rockets. The Farmers won 58-34… and bloodied Judson’s nose like I had never seen it done before… just flat ran over and around the Rockets. It was wishbone perfection with very good reads and fakes… Judson had no answer for it the entire game. If my memory serves me correctly… the Farmers ground game was so effective… they didn’t even attempt a single pass the entire game… it was run, run, run.
So… best option QB ever? Tough question… but…
There’s a reason James Street was called “Slick” Street… as one of the very first wishbone quarterbacks (arguably only the 2nd one behind Bradley) he was a VERY smooth wishbone operator. He wasn’t the fastest… but he could read the option and give it to the man with the best chance of making some yardage almost every time. As I've heard some describe… a magician. I wish some of the young-uns had a chance to see him.
I liked Marty Akins… but for some reason when running the option I remember him calling his own number a little too much… whether something was there or not. Anyone one else remember this?
Also Richard Ritchie at Texas A&I in the mid-70s… he was very good too. Not real big… but a great executioner of the offense… and would remind you of James Street. Gutty, a leader… and just had those “oh-so-hard-to-come-by” intangibles. Geez… those A&I teams of the mid-70’s in NAIA Division I… scary good.
And finally… a name you don't often hear mentioned… but I’m sure will bring a few “oh yeahs” to those that do remember. Mike Washington… QB for Texas Lutheran’s back-to-back NAIA Division II national championship teams in 1974 & 75 while playing for Jim Wacker… and a gentleman that now works in Admissions for UT. Mike Washington was an undersized (5’ 10”, 170 lb) kid from Austin that was cat-quick with an extremely shifty and elusive running style. Much like Vince Young many years later… Mike Washington was a threat to score every time he had the ball. Some may call BS… but I assure you… the man was good. Without Washington… Texas Lutheran… as good as those teams were… would not have won as much as they did.
His junior & senior years they lost only one game… 17-14 to Howard Payne… and… again if memory serves me correctly… that single loss ended what had been a 17 game winning streak carried over from his sophomore and junior years. As far as winning streaks go… A&I was right on TLC’s heels… and quickly eclipsed that mark as part of their very memorable 42 game winning streak from 73 to 77 and national championships in ’74, ’75 & ’76… with the ‘76 team winning games by scores like 77-7, 63-2 and 58-7.
The very center of the small college football universe was located in south Texas in the mid-70’s… and both Washington and Ritchie had a lot to do with that.
Anyway… my $.02.
Option football… wishbone or not… is a thing of beauty when it’s run by a team that can do it well. You have to have a tough, durable QB that can make those split second reads… a bruising FB that take a beating all game long whether he has the ball or not (like a Worster or a Leaks) and two HBs that are cat-quick on the outside.
DE stays outside, give it to the FB… you’ll take 3 or 4 every time, right? DE closes down, pull it out and start watching the LB. LB wants to drift out to cover the HB… turn it up inside of him… maybe even make him commit further with a good hard fake pitch before you turn it up. LB takes the QB… pitch it to the HB… and with a lead HB blocking the CB and the SE blocking the Safety… with a little luck you have the defense outnumbered and run for a while.
To think… all those reads happen within split seconds as the play unfolds. However, I realize the offense is dated with the speed of today’s defenses makes it a much more difficult proposition.
One of the best wishbone displays in recent memory came during the high school AAAAA Division I State Finals in 1996 between the Lewisville Farmers and the Judson Rockets. The Farmers won 58-34… and bloodied Judson’s nose like I had never seen it done before… just flat ran over and around the Rockets. It was wishbone perfection with very good reads and fakes… Judson had no answer for it the entire game. If my memory serves me correctly… the Farmers ground game was so effective… they didn’t even attempt a single pass the entire game… it was run, run, run.
So… best option QB ever? Tough question… but…
There’s a reason James Street was called “Slick” Street… as one of the very first wishbone quarterbacks (arguably only the 2nd one behind Bradley) he was a VERY smooth wishbone operator. He wasn’t the fastest… but he could read the option and give it to the man with the best chance of making some yardage almost every time. As I've heard some describe… a magician. I wish some of the young-uns had a chance to see him.
I liked Marty Akins… but for some reason when running the option I remember him calling his own number a little too much… whether something was there or not. Anyone one else remember this?
Also Richard Ritchie at Texas A&I in the mid-70s… he was very good too. Not real big… but a great executioner of the offense… and would remind you of James Street. Gutty, a leader… and just had those “oh-so-hard-to-come-by” intangibles. Geez… those A&I teams of the mid-70’s in NAIA Division I… scary good.
And finally… a name you don't often hear mentioned… but I’m sure will bring a few “oh yeahs” to those that do remember. Mike Washington… QB for Texas Lutheran’s back-to-back NAIA Division II national championship teams in 1974 & 75 while playing for Jim Wacker… and a gentleman that now works in Admissions for UT. Mike Washington was an undersized (5’ 10”, 170 lb) kid from Austin that was cat-quick with an extremely shifty and elusive running style. Much like Vince Young many years later… Mike Washington was a threat to score every time he had the ball. Some may call BS… but I assure you… the man was good. Without Washington… Texas Lutheran… as good as those teams were… would not have won as much as they did.
His junior & senior years they lost only one game… 17-14 to Howard Payne… and… again if memory serves me correctly… that single loss ended what had been a 17 game winning streak carried over from his sophomore and junior years. As far as winning streaks go… A&I was right on TLC’s heels… and quickly eclipsed that mark as part of their very memorable 42 game winning streak from 73 to 77 and national championships in ’74, ’75 & ’76… with the ‘76 team winning games by scores like 77-7, 63-2 and 58-7.
The very center of the small college football universe was located in south Texas in the mid-70’s… and both Washington and Ritchie had a lot to do with that.
Anyway… my $.02.
