Post by spreadattack on Apr 29, 2007 13:28:42 GMT -6
oguru said:
To me you run the spread becauser you can not physically match up with your opponents on the schedule. You stillw ant to be physical and everything. However you just can't line up and go head to head with the other teams in your conference. Therefore you try and spread people out and get mismatches. This is what Northwestern and Urban Meyer have done. The whole basketball on grass thing to me is the old Run N' Shoot. Throwing the ball 60 times a game. Urban Meyer runs a run first offense as did Northwestern when they were totally spread.I would actually partially disagree. I think Northwestern "spread out" because they couldn't match the Wisconsin's, Michigan's and Ohio St's in size and strength. At this point I think Meyer "spreads" for the same reason Ohio St or Texas with Vince Young "spread"--they have the size, but their bigger advantage is speed.
This is why I think the spread is not so much of an "equilizer" anymore. You "spread out" and the teams you face have LBs and safeties who are fast enough to cover your receivers (and fast enough to react to your run game). Meyer at Florida, on the other hand, has four-track stars out there.
I guess it boils down to the fact that the spread is a kind of double edged sword. It creates "one on one matchups" but, in many cases, there's nothing very good about one on one matchups. Or at least rubs (man) and spacing routes (zone), etc, are better. On the other hand, if you're Urban Meyer with the Florida talent, or Texas with Vince Young at QB, or Ohio St with Ted Ginn and another first round receiver, "one on one" matchups are just fine and dandy. (Note: Meyer is able to be "run-first" because of the threat of pass created by his spread and his speed. Make no mistake, the "spread" is only a good running formation because there is the added threat of passing.)
But if you're Purdue or Northwestern or Oregon, and you go "spread" and they have 4 or 5 good athletes and covermen who can also play run, you haven't done yourself any favors.
I admit in HS it is a different calculus. But this is where I see the spread these days. Not as an equilizer but as an amplifier.