Once obscure and mysterious, the spread offense has become a staple of Saturday afternoons, with more and more coaches changing their playbooks to a variation of the spread.
But it is still as mystifying and misunderstood as it was a decade ago. To understand the spread, you must understand its beginnings and how it became the monster it is today.
The first spread offense doesn't look "spread" at first glance, but the Triple Option is considered the earliest form of a spread attack.
Used since the early 1900s, the triple option was the favorite offense of the early part of the past century, with such powerhouses as Navy and Notre Dame using it as their playbook.
The Triple Option has its name because of the three possibilities in one play. The Quarterback has to read the defense both pre- and post-snap and decide which option is the best depending on the defensive alignment.
This play is from the University of Houston's playbook during the 1960s, from coach Bill Yeoman's tenure, and it's called the Houston Veer, one of the variations of the Triple Option.
As the ball is snapped, the fullback (back to the right of the QB) goes straight through the 4 hole (between the Guard and Tackle). The Quarterback's job is to read the Defensive tackle (T). If he goes straight downfield, the QB gives the ball to Fullback and now fakes the option to the Halfback.
The FB is now one-on-one with either a safety or a linebacker and the play has a great chance of gaining at least four yards (Option 1).
However, if the Defensive Tackle goes inside, squeezing to the 4 hole, the QB fakes the handoff and keeps the ball. Now he has another read to make. The Defensive End on the Tight End side is not blocked and the QB's job is to read him.
If he takes away the option man (The Halfback), the QB keeps the ball and runs downfield. If the first fake was convincing, the linebackers will jump the FB's run and the QB may have open field to run (Option 2).
The third Option is used when the DE squeezes down and takes away the QB's running lane. The QB then pitches the ball to the HB, who now has blockers downfield and a chance to break open a big run (Option 3).
As you can see, all three options, if executed to perfection, lead to big gains of yardage. But the Triple Option is one of the most complicated offenses to run. It takes time and the right personnel to run it, and the defense doesn't always play it the way the offense wants it to, leading to much confusion in the backfield.
While the Triple Option diminished in users, it was still very successful during the '80s and early '90s (See: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma Sooners). But more teams started to adopt the West Coast Offense during that time period, and the Triple-Option became less of a common formation. It is used nowadays only by the Air Force Academy, Georgia Tech, and Navy.
During the 1970s, another unorthodox formation surfaced. The Run and Shoot was popularized by head coach Darrel "Mouse" Davis at Portland State University.
2 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
David Wunderlich about 1 year ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but all a "spread" offense means is that you have receivers going from sideline to sideline. You can see the spectrum of spread offenses through Rich Rodriguez's career from a pass-heavy spread at Tulane to a more run-based attack with Clemson and especially West Virginia.
The point is that using all of the horizontal space creates more running lanes, and whether the ball carrier gets it via pass, pitch, handoff, or snap doesn't matter. That's all there really is to the spread philosophy.
Also, the old-time triple option was not a spread offense because all the players were bunched together around the ball.
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John Pate about 1 year ago
Great article! I didn't follow football much until I started going to Ohio State and I've been playing catch-up. Thanks!
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