2012年9月4日星期二

Trends In Offensive Football

Since the beginning of the game, ideas about offensive, or defensive and special teams, play have trickled down from the professional game to the college game and on down to the high school game. It seems that ideas from the college game have really played a big impact on the high school game. In the 1970s the success of the triple option run from the wishbone at schools like Alabama and Oklahoma or the veer circa Houston saw high school programs across the Wisconsin Badgers Football Jersey country attempt to mimic these schools\' offensive systems. In the 1980s it was the I-formation. In recent years the system of choice has been the \"Spread\". Of course, some schools have copied a Texas Tech-Mike-Leach-type spread offense with emphasis on throwing the football and others have implemented a more run-oriented spread offense a la Urban Meyer\'s Utah and Florida teams.

The next trend I believe we will see trickling down to the high school ranks will involve tight ends and fullbacks. Take a look at the best college football programs in the country right now. Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Wisconsin...each of these programs has a similar offensive philosophy. They play with a tight end and a fullback and will line up and come at you with a strong power running game. While they do incorporate the use of the shotgun or some spread offense concepts, their offensive schemes rely primarily on a power running game which utilizes a tight end (or tight ends) and a fullback. Among the current AP Top 10, only Oklahoma State, Clemson, and Oregon are truly spread teams. Arkansas is more a of a hybrid utilizing spread principles but doing so with a TE and a FB with emphasis on the run game. Even Boise State, from which you will see almost anything, plays primarily with the TE and the FB on the field.

While the trend toward running some sort of spread offense continues at the high school level, defenses, as a result have shifted toward schemes that help them defend the number of spread teams that they face in a given season. Many high schools have opted toward the 3-4 or the popular 3-3-5 or 3-5-3 to better defend the spread offense. These defenses utilize speed and quickness and tend to use the blitz more often to help shut down spread offenses. Because of the emphasis on speed and quickness, in these types of schemes you do not see the typical \"big\" defensive lineman. As more and more high school programs begin to deal with these types of defenses geared to stop Wisconsin Badgers Football Jersey spread offenses, I believe you will see Wisconsin Badgers Football Jersey a shift back to an offensive style that uses a TE and a FB and stresses a power running game.

Go to the following link and check out Wisconsin. ( http://youtu.be/X0nYDqpLzx0 ) The Badgers run a multitude of power runs utilizing both TEs and FBs and shred the Minnesota defense. Of course, no offense to Coach Kill and his staff, but the Gophers are not one of the country\'s elite defenses, however, the Badgers were very effective against Nebraska in a 48-17 victory earlier this season. Wisconsin racked up 231 rushing yards, led by Monte Ball\'s 30-carry, 151-yard performance. Currently ranked seventh in the country in rushing yards per game, Wisconsin relies heavily on a power running game. I believe we will begin to see teams get back to a style of offense that is similar to that of teams like the Badgers and Stanford, Oklahoma, etc. While these teams emphasize the power runs, they still employ facets of the spread offense (which we all know fans love to watch). On the sideline, though, coaches know that putting the ball in the end zone and keeping the other out is what wins games. They will do whatever it takes to do so and if that means getting after it with the power running game, I think you\'re going to see it more and more in the near future.