Our offense this year most resembles: Stanford under Harbaugh,
though we have better overall talent. Luck was better than Book, but that gap has narrowed, and I would take our personnel over theirs across the board.
As popular as the spread has become as a tool to overcome a talent deficit, sound, fundamental football with the right combination of strength and speed is a winning formula. It is how Wisconsin has been a perennial power without 5-star talent, and how Nebraska in the '90s dominated without recruiting top ten classes.
Seems Tommy Rees recalls that an effective power running game can be a quarterback's best friend.
Replies to: Our offense this year most resembles: Stanford under Harbaugh,
Somewhat different, though
Jim Harbaugh ran a run-heavy version of the West Coast Offense. He'd have a fullback playing in the backfield at least half of the time. David Shaw still uses a fullback to this date with that same offense.
We're running more of a K-gun type offense, but now with a heavier emphasis on a balanced attack. In previous years, it was a similar offense, but with a higher pass to run ratio. Friday's game was pretty darn close to a 50/50 mixture of run / pass.
It's actually less of a classical "spread" offense than most other spread teams, and inching closer to a pro-style K-gun offense that Jim Kelly ran back in the Buffalo Bills' heyday. Ian Book progresses through his WR1 through WR3 or WR4 reads, and then takes off, whereas with most spread teams, a quarterback usually does a WR1 and WR2 read, and then takes off running, unless WR3 or WR4 is obviously wide open.
Nice analysis. Thanks. I would note Tremble as TE plays FB/H-back alot
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Two knowledgeable posts. Thanks. Why this is the ND board to visit.
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What jrdjr84 said^^^^
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I think ND has found a great happy medium
Tommy certainly loves the elements of power football but he also played in the spread offense. Kelly certainly is a spread guy and has that knowledge but seems to have let Tommy makes this offense his own. They have found a healthy mix of both that makes their offense really unique in today’s game.
It’s great to watch now and really exciting to see what happens when they have some explosive guys at the outside that start to get mixed in in the years to come.
Nice post, agree completely. Harbaugh is too dumb to remember what he did at Stanford
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Bama and Clemson w/ Trevor look pretty pretty formidable.
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