My Alabama friend keeps saying "I don't know why I buy into Oregon every year, and get the same thing." It has had me thinking, and this is my summation.
Since the advent of the spread offenses, I don't think teams have had championship success like people have thought they would. As the level of competition, and athlete, increases, the effectiveness of the spread offense, decreases. From Pop Warner, to high school, to college, it's like a pyramid. And in the NFL? No can do. I think that is because they take simply advantage of teams with inferior athletes and teams therefore look unstoppable. In fact, they look so unstoppable at times, that people gulp down that Kool-Aid at alarming rates. (Brian Griese, I'm talking to you.) Teams like West Virginia (under RichRod) and Oregon just look like out of control buzz saws, at times. Until they play an athletic defense, that is. It is on that point that I want to make the distinction, as I see it, between the power spread, and quirky spread to run, like Oregon utilizes.
In the power spread, principles of the pro style offense remain. The quarterback takes drops and progressions in the passing game, and they use counters and traps. The veer option seems to me to be very similar to the running game that Eddie George ran all the way to New York City, which is why Ohio State fans found Urban Meyer's offense palatable. It was different, in many ways VERY different, but it felt familiar because of the running in between the tackles. (Thank you, El Guapo) Remember the contrast to three yards and a cloud of dust, when he got hired? And, the vertical passing game is very much a part of the overall effectiveness of the power spread.
In the spread to run offense, it seems to me that the vertical passing game is not a staple, but a by-product; the offense seems gimmicky. They ball needs to move quickly into space, to a created mismatch, in order to be successful. And, therein lies the difference. When teams don't know what Oregon is going to do, they can't stop it. (KState 2012, Florida State 2014) Furthermore, when teams do know what Oregon is going to do, but have inferior speed/athletes, they can't stop it. (The entire Pac-12.) But, whenever they play that team that has the personnel to match up with them, it's game, set, match. (Ohio State 2010, LSU & Auburn 2011, Ohio State 2014). Urban's power spread offense? You know what they're going to do, and you can line up for it, and anticipate it, and still get beat by it. It doesn't require them to outnumber you, because it uses principles of blocking that create the space required, it creates vertical passing angles, and it creates breakdowns. They can line up across from you, tell you what they're doing, and do it.
Woody Hayes would be so proud.
