Is the Spread Offense Really Spreading?

The spread is everywhere now! It's in FBS, it's in FCS, and it's even in high school. The spread is so popular because it allows players particularly the offensive line the ability to make mistakes and to be undersized, it also takes advantage of the lack of possible size and talent by spreading out the field and using speed.

So why isn't everyone running this spread offense? Everyone seems to think they are, but in actuality it's more like teams are running a four-wide offense. The spread is an offense run exactly the way teams like the Florida Gators, West Virginia Mountaineers, Oregon Ducks, and Utah Utes with a heavy number of options (read option most common) and vertical routes that stretch the field.

The spread offense is far less complex and gives the advantage to a player who is more athletic, but also has more basic routes not all the routes ran in the NFL like comebacks, hitches, and other intermediate routes.

So why does everyone call it the spread offense, and why is it that teams like the New England Patriots, Texas Tech, and the LSU Tigers get the "spread" tag? Well probably because we always see teams with a spread offense in shot gun we assume anyone who runs plays from shot gun is a carbon copy of Urban Meyer.

In actuality it's more of a dumbed-down pro-style offense that people are running. If you look at teams like USC, Florida State, Arkansas, and Tennessee they run a full-on pro-style offense, full of read-progressions, 3, 5, and 7 step drops and complex route running.

Though, it is harder for a player to learn it is the most effective offense and hardest to stop because it forces a defense to shift and reveal their defense the majority of the time.

The other teams like Clemson, BYU, Purdue, and Houston run a diluted pro-style offense. When you look at a team like BYU they run a true pro-style offense exactly like the Indianapolis Colts just more out of shot gun to make it easier for a quarterback so that they focus more on the progressions and less on their drop steps and things of that nature.

Personally, I do not hate the spread offense, I just get annoyed when I hear ESPN throw spread offense on the end of every team's name. For crying out loud, I think if they weren't sure that everyone would stop watching, Kirk Herbstreit may throw the word spread offense in when a team is taking a knee at the end of the game.

Seriously, I can see it now: "That right there is a Buckeye spread kneel down!" You know he has a man crush on Jim Tressell and the Buckeyes so I had to throw that in there for him.

Back to the topic though, I mean ESPN keeps calling Georgia Tech's offense, which is a triple option offense, a spread triple option.

So now you know that not every team runs the spread offense in fact teams are running more like an ultimate offense it's a combination west coast, spread, pro style, triple option, and heck even a little wing-T in there.

So no, the spread offense isn't expanding faster than the black plague, so respect teams like WVU, UF, and Oregon and give them the credit for running a real spread offense and stop deeming every team you see a spread offense team. Remember, just because you come from shotgun doesn't mean it's the spread.