Spread only works with a Cam or Tebow at QB?

[AUBourne 425]

Myth in my opinion.

[DyeCampAlum 335]

Absolute myth. Look at Oregon. Look at Tulsa under Malzahn. Look at Arizona this year. Lots of counter-examples.

[fishhawkeagle 0]

Absolute myth. Look at Oregon. Look at Tulsa under Malzahn. Look at Arizona this year. Lots of counter-examples.

La Tech, Boise State, West Virginia,

[NoALtiger 3,873]

Who says the spread only works with Cam or Tebow? Obviously that's not the case.

[alexava 6,973]

first problem is you seem to be calling gus' deal a spread and i dont think it is, he certainly dont like it.

[bwillaub 0]

I don't think I've ever heard or read this "myth". It certainly deserves no creditation.

[ellitor 33,114]

Chris Todd 21 TDs and 6 int's= myth busted.

[amsterjam 107]

Pat White

[ellitor 33,114]

Pat White

prototypical run spread QB.

[WarEagle10 77]

The spread is is not an O philosophy. It is a series of formations. Gus doesn't want to admit it, but he runs a spread. His spread attack is based on pace. Meyer runs a spread. His spread philosophy is different than Gus'. Leech runs a spread. His spread is far different than the previous two. We will continue to see more spread O's in college football. It is a very hard O to defend when run right. It forces D's to defend from sideline to sideline. But again, there are different spread philosophies out there. The RIGHT spread O will work in the SEC. We have seen two different spread O's win NC's out of the SEC.

[Weegle777 78]

Love the back shoulder throw to 81 in that vid. Heck of a throw.

[MIGMAN 16]

3 of the top 5 teams in the polls this week run the spread. Chizik was a fool for not allowing Gus to run the offense and for pushing him to the point of leaving. That decision will cost him his job at AU. 3 yards and a cloud of dust is dead.

[Strychnine 1,804]

The spread is is not an O philosophy. It is a series of formations. Gus doesn't want to admit it, but he runs a spread. His spread attack is based on pace. Meyer runs a spread. His spread philosophy is different than Gus'. Leech runs a spread. His spread is far different than the previous two. We will continue to see more spread O's in college football. It is a very hard O to defend when run right. It forces D's to defend from sideline to sideline. But again, there are different spread philosophies out there. The RIGHT spread O will work in the SEC. We have seen two different spread O's win NC's out of the SEC.

I loved our offense under Malzahn, though I wasn't crazy about it last year after it was slowed down. It was exciting, it scored points. When combined with at least a decent defense, we would have been in a position to beat any team we could have faced on any given day. I cannot blame Malzahn for slowing it down, I have a hard time believing tempo reduction was his idea. Most of the "spread" gurus have put their programs on the map. No one considered Texas Tech anything other than a rather easy win prior to Mike Leach. Look at Baylor, look at West Virginia. What makes the SEC so great is not just that everyone here tries to play great defense, it's that teams can stack talent on both sides of the ball. You bring Mike Leach, Art Briles, or Dana Holgerson here, give them a good defensive coordinator, and I'm pretty sure you'd see a monster emerge from whatever SEC team had the balls to buy into it.

In the 3 years he was here, even when his offensive philosophy was crippled, we won more than we lost with Malzahn on the sideline. I have no doubt that we would be undefeated at present (or 1 loss at most) were he still here.

[keesler 5,932]

Malzahn is gone - his offensive philosophy is gone - his schemes are gone - and AU's points are gone. May as well DWI.

[DyeCampAlum 335]

I'm not saying the spread is a magic bullet. Like others have said, every version of the spread is different. What Oregon does isn't what WVU is doing by far. And some spread teams can't move the ball a lick.

The big question with the spread in the SEC is whether you can go balls out, wide open, and have a defense hold up throughout the season. There's also the question of whether a defense that practices against the spread can sustain the pounding they'll face when Alabama, LSU, or Stanford shows up to play. Saban goes the way he does in part because he wants to protect that fabulous defense.

On the other hand, it's pure myth that you can't go up-tempo, wide open at the highest levels. The NFL is the highest level, and it's been heavily influenced by these high school and college concepts. Everything but read-option is on the table in the NFL -- and a couple of teams even break out the read option once in awhile.

While I'm rambling... you know who does a really cool job of balancing spread and defense? Northwestern. Somehow they manage to play competitive defense in the Big Ten while being all over the place on offense.

[Strychnine 1,804]

I'm not saying the spread is a magic bullet. Like others have said, every version of the spread is different. What Oregon does isn't what WVU is doing by far. And some spread teams can't move the ball a lick.

The big question with the spread in the SEC is whether you can go balls out, wide open, and have a defense hold up throughout the season. There's also the question of whether a defense that practices against the spread can sustain the pounding they'll face when Alabama, LSU, or Stanford shows up to play. Saban goes the way he does in part because he wants to protect that fabulous defense.

On the other hand, it's pure myth that you can't go up-tempo, wide open at the highest levels. The NFL is the highest level, and it's been heavily influenced by these high school and college concepts. Everything but read-option is on the table in the NFL -- and a couple of teams even break out the read option once in awhile.

While I'm rambling... you know who does a really cool job of balancing spread and defense? Northwestern. Somehow they manage to play competitive defense in the Big Ten while being all over the place on offense.

The beauty of that common question about the spread in the SEC is that it overlooks the other question raised. Can Alabama or LSU's vaunted defense sustain the pounding they'll face with HUNH, drive after drive. It's a different pounding, but still a pounding nonetheless. I think both defenses ultimately give way (assuming both sides have quality athletes), for different reasons. When that happens, I would rather have that quick-scoring offense on my side. Playing from 21+ behind takes both Alabama and LSU out of their comfort zone. 09-10, I was not terribly concerned if Auburn was down by 21. I did not feel like the game was automatically out of reach for us at that point, unless there was basically no time left.