Pinkel says advantage of spread offense fading

Ok, but how many teams can even come close to Texas' ability to recruit enough d-players to shut down the spread?

Not too doggone many.

And Texas is ineffective too without the right coaching.
 
Throughout the history of football, offense has created schemes, and defenses have adjusted. Wishbone, single wing, now the spread. Defenses will eventually catch up, and the offensive gurus will be back at it again.
 
I remember my Dad recounting SMU running a spread when Don Meredith was there. If I'm not mistaken, they sprang it on Ohio State and almost walked away with a big victory. I think Woody Hayes even went to the SMU bus or dressing room to congratulate the Mustangs.
 
Not sure about when Meredith was there, but Ohio State and SMU did hook up in the opening game of the 1968 season. SMU was essentially running Tiger Ellison's offense (oddly enough, Ellison was the QB coach at tOSU that year). They lost the game 35-14, but Ohio State's D had to make a few key stops in the red zone and scored a late TD to put the Mustangs away.

EDIT: I just looked it up. RomaVicta was referring to the 1958 season (and oddly enough, it too was a season opener). The score was 23-20.
 
You sly dog, you edited your post while I was in the process of opining it as being '58, not '68. I'm pretty sure '68 was Danderoo's last year with the Cowboys... and they did open with tOSU in '58 and damn near beat 'em, too. My uncle, the original longtex, made it to the game in Columbus and came back singin' the praises of Meredith.
 
Wow, Shark. How fun to hear another account. My Dad has often spoken of that game. He had always been a Texas fan and wanted to come here to school, but he pursued my mother to SMU after the war. (WWII)

I loved watching Meredith as a kid when he was playing for the Cowboys.
 
While elements of the spread may have been around for 50 years, it took longer to reach its saturation point because of the nature of the offense. If it was a running offense (more conservative) more coaches may have adopted it sooner, meaning that it ran its cycle quicker.

No offense, Hpslugga, but the spread offense will soon become passe. What will be the next cycle? The Wildcat or a variation? Who knows?
 
That's hilarious. Texas has more talent cross the board, better execution, better playcalling, and a better gameplan, and Pinkel wants to blame the spread.

Any moderately talented defense should have the advantage when the QB isn't a threat to run, the RBs aren't effective running, and the defense can get away with only having 3 DLs engaged with the 5 OLs.

As an aside, If I were starting a football league from scratch I would only require 4 offensive lineman, giving the QB 6 eligible receivers. I think that would be fun to watch.
 
Pinkel is correct, and the spread will soon be fading from popularity. I have an idea with what the outmoded offense will be replaced-it may surprise, even shock a lot of people. The quarterback will take the ball from the center, turn around, and hand it to a guy standing a few paces behind, who will then advance the ball forward. This trick play will become to be called a "run." Mark it down.
 
Pinkel is full of ****.

When I was in HS in the late 70's there were no summer camps, no 7-on-7, nothing.

Now that the Texas high schools and their coaches are out of the dark ages, the passing game is really becoming refined at the HS level. Its no coincidence that 25 Texans are starting at QB for Div I schools.

If anything, the spread has evolved into a great ball control AND scoring offense. And I am not sure anybody runs that better than Texas right now.

What Pinkel is worried about is the novelty of the spread is gone. Well, now you are back to execution. That is an area where until this year Tech especially had excelled and I am sure they will again.

Mizzous problem is they havent excelled in the spread when they really had to execute against good teams. Thats football Gary.
 
^
Exactly. In fact, there is nothing novel in the NFL now, and the teams just keep doing it. And to no one's surprise, the best teams are the ones that, like you said, execute the most consistently. There's a reason that Brady and company set all those records in 2007. There was absolutely nothing novel about what they were doing. They scored those points because they were perfectionists to a fault and kept the foot down on the pedal for 60 minutes. It's not like defenses just stood idly by watching Welker catch pass after pass or Moss catch a bunch of long TD's, dazed and confused wondering what the Patriots were doing. It happened because they manufactured it. The same thing happens in college. If novelty is all an offense has to go on, they're going to lose and I want them to lose.
 
I heard Troy Aikman say last week that in the NFL offenses were becoming more dependent on the passing game and the QB. The days of lining up and running the ball every play were over. Defenses were just too fast. The big play in the passing game is the difference maker (paraphrase).

I think this trickles down to college and HS football as well. Offenses are becoming more complex, and the spread is used from HS to the NFL.
 
Bullzak nailed it. Gary, it's called "execution". See, GT, running an "out-dated" offense, but executing that offense brilliantly.
 
In my estimation, the current version of the Wildcat (still not known enough to become the traditional base of the offense) is:

1. Not more reliant on the forward pass than the other offenses run by NFL teams.

2. A cycle that has its roots in the single wing. Is it a more highly evolved single wing - for some teams. Some teams have less creativity and options in their play calling than the single wing did 10 years ago. I almost cringe to see it now at the HS level, because teams are going to run the QB up the middle or hand off to the man in motion on the "jet" or "racer" sweep. The single wing had at its basis much more movement, misdirection, and also passing.
 
To teams like Missouri which are typically less talented than the top teams they are playing in this league, the "advantage" of the spread has been its novelty. Now that defenses are being designed and coordinated to slow it down, that "advantage" really is fading, so in that sense I agree with the thread title.

As has been pointed out, now it comes down to execution, and Pinkel's team just can't out-execute teams that have a lot more talent, and better coaching.

For several years, the spread has served to level the playing field and give inferior teams a chance to win. Now, that advantage is being diminished. The spread isn't going to go away, because it has been around in one form or another for decades. But the advantage that some teams had from running new and unique versions of the spread is definitely fading.
 
I understand what you're saying, I just don't agree with you entirely.

And Mack Brown himself has described the specific steps he has taken to defend the spread. When the spread was new-- novel-- he did not have the correct personnel nor did he know how to use them. Over time he, and more specifically his defensive coaches, have adjusted in order to defend it, because they had no choice in a conference with so many spread offenses.

The novelty is fading, not because it was a gimmick offense, but because it is no longer new, and defenses are adjusting in both personnel and scheme. Texas certainly has great advantages in that our defensive coaches have access to a steady flow of some of the top talent in the country.

I'm actually agreeing that it will continue to be used, that it's not going away. But its effectiveness can most certainly be limited by teams who have top talent, and top coaching, and have taken the time to adjust to it. Because it is no longer new.
 
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