Monday, November 1, 2010

What Do The Last 10 Nat'l Champs Have In Common?

It goes without saying that none of them are my beloved Georgia Bulldogs. Getting past that, at least 80% of these National Champions ran an offensive scheme that people would label as a version of the spread. It comes as no surprise to people that understand offensive football strategy that the game is not "changing", rather, it HAS CHANGED. Check out this list of the past 10 college football national champions:
2000 - Oklahoma
2001 - Miami
2002 - Ohio State
2003 - USC/LSU
2004 - USC
2005 - Texas
2006 - Florida
2007 - LSU
2008 - Florida
2009 - Alabama
Of those 10, I would venture to say that only Alabama's team from last year, and the 2002 Ohio State team ran what one would call an "old fashioned" offensive scheme.

I am using this as a preface to my point. UGA is running an offense that the college game has passed by. Will it still work? Yes, and sometimes the Dawgs do quite well with the scheme we run. But, obviously, it's not leading us to our ultimate goal.

I once read somewhere that Steve Spurrier changes his playbook at least by 20% every single week. What do you guys think? Is it time for the Dawgs to re-vamp the offensive scheme we are running? And, please, do not give me a lecture about how we just finished a streak of scoring 40+ points for 3 consecutive games. I already know about almost every statistic that exists pertaining to UGA football.

10 comments:

  1. We absolutely need to revamp it...by hiring a new coordinator.

    Bobo did a decent job on Saturday, but at this point we need someone who can incorporate what we do with the talent we will have and think outside the box. Bobo is not the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would beg to differ on the scehemes of LSU, Miami and USC. These were defaintly not spread offenses. USC was Norm Chow and the west coast offense that majority time ran the ball out the I and never got in the gun. LSU was Saban, he plays smashmouth and they run basically the same offense that UGA runs w/ a few wrinkles. Miami was q/backed by the least mobile QB in history of NC QB's it was just athelete galor all around.

    Florida, Oklahoma and Texas were the only teams that I feel like ran the spread offense and Florida is the only one who ran the spread exclusively. Both Texas and Oklahoma would get in the I formation and try to pound it out some.

    Common factor in all this is great D's!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The spread as most people know was fathered by a Texas high school coach who saw his team get toasted, vowed it would not happen again. Some of us get to see very good high school spread offense. It is lethal and difficult to stop. I have said since Meyers became the UF HC, it would be difficult for the Dawgs to win the East due to their offense. Plus for three years I complained about Bobo.

    If you watch a spread team play on TV, mute the sound and watch the players, the plays / sets, and if possible rewatch it. You'll understand why it is awesome. Like Meyres said this past week it will wear down a D unless they are very stout.

    UGA has 2 spread QBs...Murray and Mason. Murray can run although he is not as big a Burton and Newton...but they do not come close to his arm...the kid a Boise is a older Murray. Watch him and picture Murray. Murray can put a football thru a button hole at 20yds.

    Yes, I've said the spread is the offense to put in Sanford Stadium...build it and they will come in droves. Sanford will need to be expanded. Remember Mason's former HC is now at Troy State as an offensive assistant. I thought Auburn and MSU would be the teams to beat in the West because of their spread offense (2nd yrs)...I am on track...do not be surprised if Bama loses to both.

    CMR would be very smart to change now that he has the QBs in fold...they are the key. Think of the I as a "V"...see how the set starts and is limited by that "V". Then think of the spread...53x100 yds to play in and it is all set closer to the line of scrimmage...due begin to see what is can do. Thanks Top Recruit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "spread" is less of a scheme and more of a philosophy. in fact, it's the anti-scheme scheme because it prioritizes relentlessly getting your play makers the ball over a faith-based commitment to a single way of running an offense.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kevin says:

    Growing up an LSU fan I use to see our best talent leave every year and LSU was mediocre. Saban came in and keep the talent in state and starting the winning of NC's. This is the biggest problem i see for CMR, the amount of talent that UGA loses is mind boggling. Cam Newton and Cameron Heyward just to name 2. You keep your talent at home and yall could run the wishbone (which i miss) and win. Too much talent leaving the state

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your math is way, way off. USC under Pete Carroll ran a pro style offense very similar to ours: two backs, lots of play action. I defy you to find any reference on the whole internet to Carroll running the spread. LSU's offense under Saban wasn't a spread, and calling what Miles does a spread is generous. Remember Jacob Hester? The fullback who was his best offensive weapon during 2007? Nothing spreadish about that.

    The 2000 Oklahoma team often played out of the I or pro sets. And if Miami QB Ken Dorsey was running the spread, he was running it very, very slowly. Four of those teams, at most, used the spread, and none other than Florida used it almost exclusively. You're just wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  7. can't help but notice how almost every UGA blog is blowin' up after that last loss.
    Oh, and Andy we never ran that play you were asking for last week.

    ReplyDelete
  8. All of you that don't realize that LSU, USC, OU, and Miami all had versions of the "spread" embedded deep within their offensive gameplans need to go back and watch film. If I had the time to site sources, I'd go work as a journalist. Maybe I'll find the time to prove my point later this week.

    ReplyDelete
  9. In case anyone cares...as an offensive coordinator, I would/have based my offense out of a pro-set I formation, as does UGA. I also knew how to spread it out when I needed to. It can do wonders for opening up holes in a defense when they know they must defend legitimate 4 and 5 receiver sets that spread the field. It all starts with "spreading" the o-line out, then the receivers. Then by design, the defense has to "spread" out as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm no football coach, but from my experience it seems that teams with mediocre-to-good players do MUCH better under a spread type offense than a traditional pro offense. There are certain teams (Alabama) with such exceptional talent that the pro-set works (and works really well) for them, but not every team has that sort of talent.

    Look at the Colts and Patriots (and to a lesser degree, the Chargers). These are teams that usually don't even pretend to have a running game, and yet they are pretty damn successful year in and year out. Instead they work a lot of quick slants for short yardage/high percentage passes. Wear down a defense for a while with these hard-to-defend passes, then go for the long ball with your Randy Moss/Reggie Wayne/AJ Green types.

    If there are any super Georgia stat nerds out there, I'd love to see a breakdown on run plays/pass plays for the first 5 games versus the last 4 games. Anecdotally, it seems to me that Georgia is passing the ball a lot more often, and I don't think anyone would disagree that they've played considerably better over the last month. Hell, even the running game is looking better (which my guess is because you've got the DBs backing off a little bit to defend the pass).

    But at any rate, my football expertise doesn't extend much further than what I've learned in Madden, so I could be and probably am totally wrong.

    ReplyDelete

 

UGABlog.com is not affiliated in any way with the University of Georgia.