Follow The Leader

Changing Trends Set the Pace in Football
by: Richard Scott
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When the University of Texas whipped out the wishbone in the 1960s, it didn't take long for college football programs all over the South to follow the trend and come up with their own version of the triple-option.

When Florida coach Steve Spurrier brought a wide-open passing attack to the run-oriented SEC in the early 90s, it didn't take long for the rest of the conference to pick up on the trend and discover the joys of passing.

When Nebraska and Kansas State starting using press-man defensive attacks with success in the 90s, opponents were quick to jump on the trend and add more pressure packages to their overall schemes.

Trends. Good or bad, they're a part of our daily lives. Just look at the players. When many of today's coaches played college football, perhaps they wanted to wear their hair a little longer, or grow a mustache and sideburns and wear jeans or bellbottoms. Today's players want to pierce their tongues, dye their hair, cover themselves in tattoos and wear baggy pants that hang down past their underwear. Where in the name of Robert Neyland did all that come from? Then again, the late Gen. Neyland wouldn't recognize the game today, would he?

Not with all those spread offenses, multi-dimensional run-pass quarterbacks, zone blitzes, press-man defenses and quarters coverages.

If one team does it and it works, other teams are quick to copy. That makes it a trend. Look back at the history of football, and the cycle of the game seems to revolve around trends and responses to those trends.

So what's next?

Fewer scholarships? Fewer roster players? Fewer coaches? Smaller budgets? Fewer tight ends, fullbacks and linebackers?

More passing? More spread offenses? More points? More blitzes? More risks? More player specialization? More multi-million dollar contracts for coaches? More women?

More women?

Yes, it appears likely. Now that Division I-AA Jacksonville (Ala.) State has used a scholarship soccer player, Ashley Martin, to kick extra points and short field goals this season. Duke and Colorado both had female kickers on their rosters in recent years, but neither one ever kicked in a game.

OK, so one woman kicking field goals won't revolutionize the game, but there's no doubt the game is changing, for better or worse, depending on your perspective.

As Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe said, "As the players are getting bigger and faster, the field gets smaller. Offenses will have to spread the field and use all of the field to be successful."

As a response, "To match up with the spread offenses, defenses will have to get even faster and more athletic," said Louisville coach John L. Smith. "Linebackers are going to have to be more effective in pass coverage while not compromising their ability to stop the run."

Those thoughts proved to be common threads in a survey of Division I-A coaches, who volunteered to share their opinions on a variety of important topics and trends affecting the game today:

WHERE DO YOU SEE OFFENSES GOING?

There's definitely more passing than ever before, but more teams are passing out of spread formations that also allow them to run the ball in non-traditional ways. Oklahoma, Northwestern and South Carolina all exceeded expectations last year, and all used the spread formation extensively and still produced excellent results in the running game.

"There tends to be a general swing to the spread offense," Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. "The throwing game has become the popular way to go. Rather than a 50-50 balance, it is not uncommon to see 70-30 split in favor of throwing for many teams."

There are reasons for that shift, according to Purdue's coaching staff.

"We see the spread-type offenses continuing to develop," said Scott Downing, Purdue's assistant head coach under Joe Tiller. "They create more open space and stress on the defense. They allow a less athletic team to compete with a more athletic one."

Cincinnati coach Rick Minter sees more of the "passing game with athletic quarterbacks. Northwestern's rise to the top of the Big Ten is the standard."

But what about the running game? Coaches have long believed that good teams must be able to run the ball and stop the run in critical situations, and that's not likely to change. What will change, however, is the way teams run the ball.

Dirk Koetter, first-year head coach at Arizona State: "Because defenses are being so aggressive with the zone blitz, and putting eight or nine guys in the box to stop the running game, we think offenses will have to become more creative in finding ways to run the ball. Those would include, but are not limited to, forms of option, the fly sweep package and using the QB as a runner from the shotgun."

Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower agreed, saying offenses will be "more multiple, wide-open schemes with the ability to run the option from each formation."

Akron coach Lee Owens added, "Players continue to become more and more skilled, and fans continue to expect a wide-open offense. The philosophy today is pass to get ahead and only run to stay ahead."

The way teams run the ball could even come full circle in the near future.

"Right now you can see a lot of programs spreading the field and using the pass more. That's where things are going right now," Smith said. "After the majority moves in that direction, somebody will have success pulling everybody in and using the wishbone. Everything goes full circle."

Either way, the point is to score more points. The era of grinding out 7-6 victories is history.

Tulsa coach Keith Burns predicts, "More up-tempo games with a continued emphasis on the passing game, like Arena football."

"You can't win games anymore scoring 15-18 points per game," said Vanderbilt coach Woody Widenhofer, whose extensive pro and college experiences comes from the defensive side of the ball. "You've got to average in the 20s just to have a chance to win because there are so many good offenses out there. There's too much talent, too much speed and coaches are too sharp, so teams are going to score points."

WHAT ARE DEFENSIVE SCHEMES EVOLVING TO?

With more teams going to spread offenses and passing the ball both more frequently and effectively, college football teams are responding with more speed.

In some cases, that means using five defensive backs all the time instead of nickel situations. Mississippi State, South Carolina and UAB were among the programs using variations of the 4-2-5 with positive results last year. Defenses are also using more hybrid positions (strong safety/outside linebacker, or defensive end/outside linebacker) that allow individual players to play to their talents (usually speed and quickness) and away from their weaknesses (usually a lack of size for traditional positions).

"To defend the wide-open offenses, more and more defensive teams are playing five and six defensive backs, even on run downs," Owens said. "The defense needs to have more players who can cover a receiver, rush the QB. The big physical linemen who can't run, can't play."

New Georgia head coach Mark Richt and Cincinnati's Minter are seeing more zone blitz and more up-field pressure than ever before. Bower said defenses are doing more things to disguise coverages and "trying to stay ahead of the offenses by giving several different looks and schemes, trying to cause confusion with the players on the field to make them non-aggressive. By doing so, this takes the game out of the coaches' hands."

With more multiple run-pass quarterbacks able to beat teams with their arms and their legs, and with the use of more option plays out of numerous formations, "You've got to be able to handle the option in every defensive scheme you line up in," said Widenhofer, "because you're going to see it in some form."

Koetter sees defenses trying to "stop the run on run downs with eight or nine guys in the box and the safeties having a great understanding of where to 'fit' into the open gaps. On pass downs, everyone incorporating some zone blitz schemes in much the same way that many teams copied Buddy Ryan's ('46') Bear defenses of the mid-1980s."

Sometimes conference opponents dictate the trends coaches see, both currently and in the future.

In the Big 12, Solich sees, "There seems to be a shift away from the even scheme defenses back to the odd or '50' defenses. There are more zone coverage teams coming back rather than man-to-man."

In the Big 10, however, Illinois coach Ron Turner sees that "defensive schemes are becoming more aggressive with more movement, more blitzing and more man-to-man coverage."

In the SEC, Cutcliffe sees that defenses are "much more aggressive in nature - more people willing to play man-to-man coverage and blitz." Cutcliffe's defense, coordinated by veteran assistant Don Lindsey, will be one of those teams this year. "We know we're going to take some risks, but those are risks we're going to have to take. We just have to take calculated risks."

WHICH RULE CHANGES ARE ON THE HORIZON?

The game is constantly evolving and growing, which can be positive and negative, depending on the situation. The impending changes that will re-shape the future of the game reveal that the NFL is having a big impact on the college game, for better or worse.

Turner, a former NFL assistant, isn't alone when he sees changes in the area of "instant replay, clock management more like the NFL and pass interference called like it is in the NFL."

Like Turner, Cutcliffe agreed with most of the coaches when he said, "Attempts will be made to speed up the game, such as not stopping the clock after first downs. Keeping time like the NFL may be on the horizon."

The reason? It's simple, according to Solich: "Pressure is coming from TV networks to make this happen."

Just because the coaches see these changes coming doesn't mean they agree with them.

"We are not in favor of continued rule changes just for the sake of change or speeding up the game for television," Koetter said. "We already have the greatest game on the planet. Leave it alone!"

Downing added: "We think we have an outstanding game the way things are at present."

WHAT ISSUES CONCERN COACHES THE MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE GAME?

There are so many issues concerning coaches these days, but foremost on the list is the possible reductions in scholarships and roster sizes. Of the coaches who responded to the survey, that concern was the most frequent response.

"Football is the big money maker," Solich said, "and watering down the sport too much will hurt the product we put on the field."

Other concerns included:

Koetter: "Reduction of scholarships, reduced practice time for spring football, not allowing skill development with a ball like some other sports have, and the drop-off in youth football are our biggest concerns."

Bower: "I-AA programs jumping to Division I-A with no conference affiliations, which makes Division I-A as a whole weaker," and "the alliance of Bowl Championship Series schools forming a conference by themselves and all other schools suffering."

Smith: "I would like to see the eligibility expanded from four to five years."

Some coaches are concerned the game isn't changing for the better.

Minter: "Try not to make (college football) the NFL with time concerns and the hi-tech concerns, i.e., helmet communication and sideline-to-press box computers."

Cutcliffe: "Integrity of recruiting, academics, and on-the-field behavior. We must protect the great parts of our traditions."

Downing: "Sportsmanship, or a lack thereof. It appears that people want to draw attention to themselves for routine plays, and the team effort is being overshadowed by individual antics. Whatever happened to being a gracious winner?"

Recruiting remains a hot issue for coaches, and one coach who did not respond to our survey request, Penn State's Joe Paterno, did raise some concerns about recruiting at the recent Big Ten's annual preseason media event.

Paterno and his staff set a trend five years ago by pursuing early recruiting commitments from prep players prior to their senior year of high school football. Early commitments have become a regular habit now at many programs, but Paterno is reconsidering the practice.

"I think we created a three-headed monster," Paterno said. "I really do. We wanted to jump on some people early. Now everyone is doing it. I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do.

"Kids are now being forced to decide early, sometimes without taking an official visit. It's bad for our coaches, too, because now there are no summers. We have players on campus every week. It's very difficult for the staff because recruiting is now an ongoing thing.

"It's something we have to address. I don't know how it should be handled. Something I didn't envision happening has happened."

To our surprise, none of the coaches listed agents, gambling, early departures to the NFL or boosters breaking rules among their biggest concerns. Then again, could that be because those are the issues that are often beyond the control of coaches? Coaches often say they try to focus on the things they can control, and it's possible that more and more coaches are feeling overwhelmed by those issues.

Or ... perhaps those are just subjects for another story.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY ISSUES WILL AFFECT THE GAME THE MOST?

Just check out the ads in this issue of American Football Monthly, and it's obvious that technology is staking out a serious role in the game, right alongside blocking, tackling and other fundamental elements.

The use of technology in strength and conditioning will continue to help coaches build bigger, stronger, faster players. Technological advances will also help officials do a more accurate job of making calls, such as first downs and field goals, and possibly even Instant Replay if it becomes affordable for colleges. Hopefully, improved equipment should do more to protect players from injury instead of just surrounding them with more dangerous armor.

But what about the direct use of technology in coaching? The use of digital technology will continue to change the way coaches study, prepare and plan during the week and on game day.

Having players play a few hours of "NCAA Football 2002" on PlayStation2 will never replace live practice when it comes to teaching and preparing players, but coaches who refuse to take advantage of credible new resources will miss out on some valuable tools for scouting, self-analysis, play design, gameplan preparation and recruiting evaluations.

"The technology of actual coaching changes constantly," Solich said. "Technology used in preparing for an opponent will continue to change with the computer innovations. We went from 16mm film to videotape years ago, and we are now able to do our video work on digital discs. Instead of exchanging video with opponents, information will be shared over the Internet."

Koetter added, "Affordable digital game and scouting analysis is the biggest time saver and best teaching tool around. Interactive playbooks and simulated training for specific positions will also become more readily available and affordable in the future."

On the field, the use of communication devices in helmets and lap-top computers to communicate with coaches in the press box might not be popular with some coaches, but they will change how the actual games are played and coached.

"Communication equipment between the field and the sideline will probably be the next major step someone will want to take," Downing said. "It would eliminate sideline signaling and running plays in with players."

Then again, no matter how much the game changes, it will always stay the game at its most basic level. Whether you pass or run, spread it out or line up in the I-formation, run man-to-man or zone, operate the clock like the NFL or keep it the same, or use computers or chalkboards, success still comes down to blocking, tackling, throwing, catching, turnovers, protecting the quarterback, field position, special teams and outscoring your opponent.

Isn't it nice to know, in a world that's spinning so fast and changing so quickly, that some things never change? s
To compete with spread offenses, defenses will have to become more athletic.

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