I have come to the conclusion that the Spread offense will never totally die as this offense was the great equalizer that forever balanced the power of college football. In the last ten years, any school with a great quarterback could beat you on any given Saturday. Alex Smith at Utah, Kellen Moore at Boise State, Andy Dalton at TCU and RG3 at Baylor could all whoop your ass on their best day. Not to take anything away from the accomplishments of these programs, but I truly feel like the glory days of the Spread being the dominant offense in college football is over. Smash Mouth football is upon us in a major way. Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Miami, Stanford, and Georgia are running with the next wave of college football. It seems to me that Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan and USC are also in the process of moving towards this type of play in their respective programs- albeit less ardently.
Offense:
The formula includes 21, 22, 31 and 32 personnel on offense and hybrid 3-4 /4-3 look on defense. The personnel groupings don’t matter so much as the emphasis on a grinding power game with dynamic use of tight ends and play action passing. Also integral are either single back formations or the use of an h-back or fullback.
Stanford did an awesome job with Andrew Luck managing a bruising running game with multiple tight end sets, while Miami had a field day this year running Lamar Miller out of similar formations. Alabama and LSU also employ similar tactics in this ground and pound style but the Tigers and Bama are more traditional in that they don’t “overload” the tight ends as much as Miami and Stanford in order to gain leverage. Regardless, the philosophy is all the same: run the ball down the opposition’s throat and let your athletes impose their will all 4 quarters of the game.
The physicality of this approach is what I love about the whole equation: Hat-on-Hat football for 4 quarters and take a victory into the locker room. It makes even more sense when you consider that with the implementation of the Spread, seemingly every position group on defense has grown smaller and faster in order to keep up with the high flying offenses that rule by air. However, the brilliance of Big Boy Ball comes into play when a 260 pound fullback hits your 225 pound middle linebacker in the mouth for the fifth time. You have to be big to play big for 4 quarters or eventually you will lay down.
In both the literal and figurative sense, physicality and a scheme that lends itself to that causes a lot of problems for smedium (yeah, I said it) defensive teams designed to stop 4 verticals and not 26 power. Moreover, this type of football is “Pro Style” so it is easier for Nick Saban, Brady Hoke, Bob Stoops and Al Golden to sell to elite recruits that they will be ready for the NFL by playing in this type of program.
Defense:
On the opposite side of the ball, the same philosophy comes into play. Hence the term, “Smash Mouth”; it’s not about any one defensive or offensive scheme, but about the combination of the two and the emphasis on “slobberknocker” football as the great Keith Jackson would say. The Spread has reaked havoc all across America. Consider the Orange Bowl last night, where West Virginia and Clemson put up 103 combined points. Big Boy Smash Mouth Defense is designed to stop both the Stanford and West Virginia type offenses of the world.
The key is stopping the run with 6-7 men max so you don’t have to load the box until you want to load the box. Alabama does a great job of this in their 3-4 alignment. By stopping the run with 7 men up front you can be a lot more radical with your movements in pass protection on the back end of your defense. LSU does the exact same thing out of their 4-3 alignment; both programs use huge defensive lineman to clog the offensive line and let bigger inside linebackers flow to the ball to stop the run. I talked recently with the Oklahoma Defensive Line coach Jackie Shipp and he said that, “we are getting away from finesse football and the typical DE-DT we are looking for now is about 265+ coming out of high school.” Building a bigger, stronger defensive line in order to eliminate the run is the new wave. In order to play good defense these days you have to huge guys up front and a well-seasoned secondary. Alabama and LSU have that this year and that’s why they are about to hook up in a monster rematch for all the marbles. Guys like Mark Barron for Alabama and Eric Reid for LSU are premier safeties but the bulk of their success is that they are coverage first DBs. As good as they are in run support, they are not needed for run support like their counterparts on other teams. That is why LSU and Alabama have been successful…big boys up front getting the job done with an opportunistic secondary behind them.
It takes the whole gamut of defensive talent to get stops in this era of no-huddle spread madness and you need players- particularly defensive lineman- that can excel in the 3-4, 4-3, and various nickel, dime and long distance packages a team may employ. Smash Mouth football is starting to take back its rightful place in college football. Remember that when your favorite college team puts the spread to sleep in its history books. Smash Mouth Football is here to say.
Peace,
Broccoli