Wing-t in College football

Here is a fantastic Wing-T team, I believe they even use shoulder skills:
www.pugetsound.edu/x5988.xml

Question for you wing-t lovers:

Why there is not more College team playing Wing-T?

I would agree with Coach Goodnight that popularity is a factor. I don't think that it is a logical idea, but it still exists. If you are a running back, how about a run-oriented offense?

I would also guess that the relatively small number of Wing-T HS teams means a smaller pool of players oriented for the system. Fewer pulling and trapping linemen available, as opposed to the crop of "step left/step right" linemen. I honestly don't know how difficult or easy it would be to turn a "zone scheme" lineman into a "Wing-T" lineman.

Many of the college Wing-T teams seem to put up good numbers offensively. I guess that I'd like to be a part of that. Maybe the fact that there are few Wing-T college teams helps them put up the good numbers, as preparing a Wing-T scout team might be harder than a spread or I-form scout team.

I wonder if the wing T would be successful on the major college level? Could it be like the flexbone veer at Navy and now GT, where b/c so many people are unfamiliar with it, that it becomes extremely successful? I know that I have been to clinics, and when you try to talk to alot of major college coaches about defending the wing T they simply say-"we dont see that."

I think the Wing-t is one of the most common offenses in HS football.

I think the backfield action is too slow. The trap is fast hitting, but the buck sweep or jet sweep are just too slow of developing plays. Also, the reads are too easy for college players and the read-breakers (influence) plays are too slow to develop as well. Most college LBers are not going to come under those down blocks and most college DL are not going to get blasted by double teams all day without knifing, and most college secondary players are not going to fly up to the LOS just because the trap and sweep are coming at them.

It is a little league - high school offense these days and not many Delaware Wing-T teams winning state championships in big high school level.

George..you obviously don't follow HS football in the "Big Staes" very closely...the Wing-T is WELL represented across the country in every state at the playoff/championship level.

I'd say that the main reason(s) that Wing-T is not a staple offense at the collegiate level is because...
1. Money (as Phantom said)...points on the board puts people in the stands...usually passing offenses do this so out goes the Wing-T. Although they are NOT WT, just look at all the heat Bryan Stinespring is catching at VT because his 2-TE run based offense was winning last season...but not pretty enough like OK or TX.
2. Harder to find 6-7 quality RB's who WANT to buy into the team concept of shared carries at the big-time level. It takes away some of the individual athleticism to run designated holes vs. a Zone team that allows the RB an ability to use his athleticism to make plays...theory is why limit a good/great RB to one decision on every play as it starts. Get 3 good RB's and let'em be athletes.
3. Easier to make a relationship between zone blocking run techniques with most pass blocking schemes in the dropback game as opposed to the wing-t.
4. Defensive Speed...to fast overall for the Big-uns to pull and such and still be effective. It's why more & more OT's are former TE's from HS, just bulked up. Counter gap schemes work well because there is always a solid surface (usually playside) working in tandem somewhere. Wing T asks frontside to be more active in the trapping/pulling scheme which creates a problem with speed on the opposing side.

Close as I can tell, it's a matter of "Who can I learn from who's active at my level (or close to it) right now?"

I've been trying to get the sidesaddle T revived. (Basically a fly oriented version of wing T that you can also run most single wing plays from or get a quicker pass drop from your QB.) Coaches here, though, want to learn details I can teach them from experience, which I don't have except for a little skeleton practice with children. I ask, what difference does it make what I can do with a youth football team with it, when it was run by college varsities in the past? The only answer I can think of is that those college coaches aren't around now to give them detailed tips on operating it.

But it probably also has a little to do with looking weird in the sense of unfamiliar. The sidesaddle T has the QB facing a sideline to take the snap. Hugh Wyatt warned those who would implement his wildcat (which had 2 QBs -- although one was designated FB, because he would otherwise be the sniffer in a DW formation -- almost under center, although lately I see he's moved them back a little more) that they could easily be discouraged by observers who would think the standard DW looked weird enough, let alone this variation. Wing T doesn't have anything as foreign looking as those formations, but is subtly different enough from the common offenses these days to revolt some observers.

BTW, the buck sweep isn't any slower developing than any other standard kind of sweep, and the fly/jet sweep is actually faster. (The pitch sweep in the I formation is a relatively slow sweep in that I've seen the ballcarrier have to kill a little time for the blocking to develop.) Maybe that says that these days any sweep itself is viewed as a slow developing play! Wow, does that make me feel out of it!

Augustana (Illinois) was one of the top collegiate Wing-T teams for years. However, they ditched the Wing-T two years ago because they were losing recruits to the other conference schools like North Central, Illinois Weyselen, Wheaton, Elmhurst, and Millikin that used more spread concepts.

A real shame, but it is what it is, I guess.

Most teams that claim to be "shotgun Wing-T" really aren't Wing-T at all.

Coach Plaa's is. It has the buck series, the belly series to name a few.

Bellvue Washington, the team to break the De La Salle streak of 151 games ran the Delaware wing-t to do it. I think that is pretty much "the big time".

Dan Sharpe from Joliet Catholic High School in Illinois has won six state titles and about 85% of his games running the Wing-T. They have been 6A the last few years (8A is the biggest classification in Illinois).

Speaking from experience against UPS, it was an amazing offense for a school determined to turn their program around. I actually think some of the more down-trodden D.III schools should try turning to the Wing-T and similar offenses instead of trying to go air raid or shot gun veer. UPS was a mother-lover to practice and play against because, even as a goofy-@ss fly team with a partially deranged HC, we couldn't give a good look or simulate nearly well enough. When you have to have a WR in one play to give the option look and a normal QB the next to give the PA look, it's rough to feel really prepared. We never lost to them, but damn if they didn't have the ability to make good teams play bad.

Well, even if they're not going to run it that doesn't mean that Creehan has forgotten it. If you're a WTer in that part of the country a visit there may useful.