Why do I see so many fans hating Butches Power Spread Option Offense? Why are they asking for a Power I? Spread option seems to be the trend in college football. I remember when Fulmer and David Cutclif ran the I at Tennessee. Everyone complained it was outdated and too conservative. Mayer was running the spread option at FL and TN fans wanted TN to run it.
Now we run the spread option and the more I learn about it the better I like it. It is amazingly flexible in the variety of ways you can attack the defense. At the same time it doesn't require elite athletes to be successful.
When we ran the I you had to outman the opponent head up. If we couldn't win the LOS the offense died. Zone blocking and the stretch plays allow a small quick lineman to outposition the defender.
I understand the advantage of the I in short yardage. Just because zone blocking and stretch plays are the staple in the spread doesn't mean you have to use it in short yardage. Even from the shotgun you can run with a lead blocker and use man blocking schemes. We have done it on occasion.
So for the volnation members hating Butche's system is it the system that you are opposed to or the play calling?
Please don't make this another discussion about Debord.
First things first , spread teams are as diverse as dog breeds. Oregon is a spread that is predicated off of the zone read. All plays work off of the zone.
Tebows Gators was the wishbone spread out with Tebow actually playing a fullback QB hybrid and spreading the extra player to another offensive option. Malzone's system
was the wing T all spread out. Peyton ran a 'passing' spread most of his pro career. The Fun and Gun was a balanced spread. There are many more variations.
This stuff about us being a spread option team ?? We are not an option team or a zone read team by any stretch of the imagination. You see option and zone plays
a very small percentage of the time and other plays are not built around these concepts. I am 99% sure that some of these 'reads' that JDs is missing , are not reads at
all but designed handoffs. I cant fathom why else a guy as bright as JD would miss so many high school reads. We are no more a 'zone' team or an 'option' team than we are
a 'wheel route' team. You see that a a few times a game too.
The way this offense is supposed to work is simple..ha ha. It is predicated on a layered west coast passing attack , based out of the Rich Rod spread philosophy. The west coast is
is read in layers rather than left to right. It requires a super accurate QB that makes quick decisions and with all the crossing routes, alot of anticipation. Think Joe Montana here.
Guys like Manning, Brady, Breez all are guys that have been successful with these systems or aspects of it. This is not the kind of QB JD is.
Since JD cant hit intermediate passes in this system, the defense puts a lid on the top and attacks the gaps with numbers. They hold the middle and then sell out to
the sidelines or react the the run wherever it goes. If there is no run, they attack the QB right through the gaps.
Power running means having more hats at the point of attack. Because we cant hold the middle of the field and the defenses are attacking downhill, we never have more hats at the point of attack.
We cannot be considered a 'power running' team.
The blocking scheme lends itself to this. This passive zone system has a lineman get in the path of the first man in his zone. The pass blocking and run blocking techniques are similar
At no point do the linemen fire out and hit the defenders. This can be done in man or zone. I dont like this passive system and as long as it is in place it will continue to make
linemen and coaches look back.
So to say that these 'spread' systems dont require top notch athletes in this case is not accurate. You need a pure west coast passer and elite receivers. An interesting thing happens when we get
far behind ( except with Bama ) . They run the zone reads . Actual zone reads. The defense stretches to the sidelines and opens the tackle box for the running game.
This is what JDs cannot accomplish with intermediate passing...but he can with his legs.
So if we were a pure zone read team, I think our offense would dominate from the opening whistle. Simplify the pass tree, turn the QB loose running , and attack the tackle box running.
Play action ! yes Butch , this mystical play is legal !
The I formation would give us power running ( more hats at the point of attack ) Set your 240 lb back back 4 yards deeper and hammer the line. Again that mystical play action!
This style would open the boot game for JD. Plenty of RPO options. The I opens up the option game and we have a guy that could be a great TE.
All in all what I would like to see happen here is to put the players in positions that accentuate their abilities instead or trying in vain to perfect a system.
Run the QB early and often. Simplify the passing tree. Play action. Vince Young, Tim Tebow...its been done.
