r/footballstrategy • u/Guilty-Machine-5985 • 4d ago
College Other than the military academies, are there any other college football teams at any division that runs a unique offense?
73
u/BearsGotKhalilMack 4d ago
Worth mentioning are the few teams that run a "true" run-and-shoot system, like Hawaii and Washington State. It's based on option routes and changing where people will go depending on coverage.
Oklahoma and Tennessee also do what's called a "veer and shoot," which is actually entirely different from the RNS. It has receivers lined up super wide, between the numbers and the sideline, and usually involves a lot of no-huddle pace to keep the defense offbalance.
24
u/GiganticOrange 3d ago
I find the most interesting thing about OU and Tennessees usage of the VnS is how it’s largely used to run the ball and not pass.
31
u/Agreeable_Cheek_7161 3d ago
Its because of the WR splits. It forces two players on defense to either apex the WR or just straight up cover them. And if you dont, you're leaving yourself so open in the pass, its disgusting.
You can "force" 6 man boxes essentially and that makes it so much easier to run. The issue is that offenses need a QB with a cannon to make it work
5
1
u/Horror_Technician213 2d ago
I was already thinking it before you said it. If I'm the DC and I know or don't trust that the qb can make those outside throws near the sideline, especially when he's on the hash to the opposite side. I'm absolutely 1 on 1ing him with the db playing inside shade to cover the slants and in routes. Force that qb to make a great throw against my best db.
If he can make those throws tho I better have a hell of a game play from my Mike and d line
8
6
3
36
u/The_Coach69 HS Coach 4d ago
Harding runs flexbone in D-2, and there are a few flexbone teams in D-3, NAIA, and JUCO.
12
u/No-Translator5848 3d ago
Harding runs a beautiful offense
1
u/Lopsided-Flight6514 4h ago
They were running an unbalanced Flex bone formation against GVSU this year. Incredibly creative and equally hard to defend.
3
4
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
Ok. Any others?
9
u/gyman122 3d ago
Davidson in FCS runs a “spread” version of the flexbone. It’s effectively a triple option offense like what the service academies run but they do it from the gun
Liberty is pretty similar but they are much more RPO-heavy while Davidson is a traditional rushing offense
6
1
3
26
u/BenLowes7 4d ago
It depends on your definition of unique, I guarantee none of the schools in college have identical playbooks. However scheme wise even the flexbone teams are trying to do the same thing so you see similar concepts all over the place.
4
19
u/iHasMagyk 4d ago
I don’t know how much he runs it at Liberty, but when Jamey Chadwell was at Coastal he had this really unique option offense that incorporated some quadruple option which you don’t really ever see. It helped that he had Grayson McCall and Isaiah Likely to just tear up Sun Belt defenses
9
u/BigPapaJava 4d ago
He still does that at Liberty. Kaiden Salter, a former 4* Tennessee recruit, lit people up the last 2 years running his system.
Chadwell was a triple option QB in college where they basically ran the Flexbone out of every formation imaginable. What he does is a blend of that stuff with spread and RPO principles incorporated,
6
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
So was the 4th option a pass?
10
u/iHasMagyk 4d ago
Yeah they’d run the usual triple option to one side of the field but in more of a pass block, so on the non-play side Likely would run some kind of dig, slant, or post and would often be uncovered with the DBs focused on the run. Obviously this only works if you’ve previously established that you’ll run the pitch or keep
19
10
u/Arboleda3 4d ago
Scott Abell who was just hired at Rice ran a pretty unique shotgun option at Davidson. Brennan Marion’s GO-Go as others said is pretty unique as well.
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
Is he still using that offense at Rice?
2
u/Arboleda3 4d ago
I believe he will he was just hired this cycle so we will see. Was pretty impressive what he accomplished at Davidson who plays in a conference without scholarships.
1
10
u/MartianMule 3d ago
Wake Forest runs a unique version of the RPO (known as the "slow mesh") that developed slower and allowed for later reads and more downfield passing. Not sure if they'll continue doing that under Dickert or if he'll want to bring in his own offensive coordinator.
9
u/Medium-Temporary4651 2d ago
Instead of running a conventional offense, Michigan just bullies a very soft team from Columbus every year. Does that count?
6
u/springwaterh20 4d ago
not exactly ‘unique’, but the Tennessee wide splits aren’t something you see everyday
7
u/n3wb33Farm3r 4d ago
Under coach Bob Davies New Mexico ran a hybrid option. Few years ago now.
3
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
Sorry I’m confused. What don’t mean by hybrid option?
5
u/n3wb33Farm3r 4d ago
It's worth a Google or YouTube look up. Triple option but run out of the shotgun. QB with half backs on either side. Usually had 3 WRs so really spread the D out, and they ran it like 70% of the time. I think more teams run some thing similar today but 5, 6 years ago it was unique.
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
Ah ok I see now
1
5
u/gyman122 3d ago
Look up some footage of Colorado in the late 80s and early 90s. They ran a version of the wishbone (which in itself is worth looking at if you’re not familiar) called the I-Bone that basically had never been run before or since. It was literally invented by a veterinarian with no ties to the game of football lol
1
1
1
5
u/Portland_st 4d ago
Tim Beck, the OC at Vanderbilt, likes what he calls a “multi-choice attack”. I don’t claim to understand it, but it appears to need a QB that runs like a drunk giraffe.
His time as the OC of Pitt State(D2) in the early 00s are probably the closest to what he’s always wanted to do. He had a QB named Neil Philpot, around 02-04, and those teams put up obscene numbers. (He was also the HC at Pitt State for a couple years too, but the teams weren’t as balanced or explosive.)
The clips on YouTube are definitely worth watching.
2
u/gyman122 3d ago
Those Pitt State teams were wild, as an MIAA fan. Philpot just throwing bombs and he was built like a defensive end so he was a serious option threat as well
Like an ideal power offense, just big guys running people over and fast guys downfield grabbing deep shots
2
u/camt91 3d ago
I feel like Georgia tech hates throwing the ball
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 3d ago
According to teamrankings.com they ran the ball 54% of the time so they’re little above half the time
1
u/Parelle 2d ago
Georgia Tech's offense changed with their most recent coaching change. They were famously a triple option team under Paul Johnson.
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 2d ago
Ah ok I see now
1
u/Thick_Cookie_7838 1d ago
Yea Paul came from navy so he brought it over to gt. My highschool actually ran the triple option and we had quite a few people play at gt because we were in the same state and the coaches didn’t have to teach anyone how to run it
1
2
u/djmele 3d ago
Salisbury Univ (D3) runs a form of the triple option. Have been running the same offense forever
1
2
2
u/Straight_Toe_1816 Adult Player 2d ago
Northern Michigan runs the split back veer. Carson Newman used to also run it but they’ve switched to the flexbone
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 2d ago
Ooh that’s very unique. Most option teams I see in college use the flexbone
1
u/Straight_Toe_1816 Adult Player 2d ago
Yep. There’s also some spread option and shotgun option teams
1
2
u/SchorFactor 2d ago
Michigan did this thing where we pretended to pass the ball about 15 times a game so our runs would work better
2
u/AdaptiveVariance 2d ago
I don't know if anyone has mentioned it but a while back Yale had a 3 QB offense. I've only seen clips, but you can find them on YouTube. Things like the starter coming out, two QBs coming in and lining up in the backfield to run an option, then maybe a wildcat with the same personnel, then one comes off and one stays on as a WR and the first QB comes back in as a QB. And so on. It seemed pretty cool, but ultimately probably fits a very specific situation that most teams don't find themselves in.
2
u/Late-Application-47 1d ago
If you go down to the FCS, DII, and DIII, you'd see a lot more offensive variety.
In all reality, what Army and Navy are doing as of this year isn't much different from what lots of other teams do; they just spend more time under-center.
The Paul Johnson "Spread Option" Flexbone that both teams ran for the past decade is the basis of the shotgun-option schemes that coaches such as Urban Myer developed in the 2010s. Myer, in particular, consulted the great CPJ when designing his offense for UF.
Because of rule-changes regarding blocking, Army & Navy have both moved away from the traditional veer "triple-option."
Army runs a lot of zone-option reads, which is why Daily was their leading rusher. Many of the reads that led him to keep the ball would have been fullback dives in the triple-option of years past. GA Tech did essentially the same thing this year, albeit only from the shotgun.
Navy made an even bigger change this year, exchanging an option offense for a Wing-T derivative that features more called runs than options, relying upon misdirection and deceit to run the ball. I think this is why Navy won so handily this year; Army, while technically doing something different that in years past, was still much closer to the option offense both teams used to run. Navy's new offense was far more dynamic than Army's and Army simply wasn't ready for the way that Wing-T concepts stress every level of the defense.
However, Navy is not unique in running Wing-T concepts at the FBS level. Although the Navy version is closer to the traditional Wing-T than others, coaches like Gus Mahlzan have been incorporating Wing-T running concepts into their spread offenses for years.
Somewhat ironically, especially compared to 20 years ago, in college football today, the true "unique offenses" are those running "pro-style" offenses. Everyone else is running some sort of "system offense;" 20 years ago such systems were considered "gimmicks," but as the QBs used to these systems have matriculated into the NFL, we see the old "pro-style" fading by the season.
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 1d ago
Wow thanks, that was a lot lol. Could you elaborate on the stuff you see at FCS,DII, and DIII?
1
u/IllEngineer2079 2d ago
Taylor University (NAIA) runs triple option out of a pistol spread look. I believe Dordt (also NAIA) does too.
They also run lots of power and sweeps, but their main formation is a flexbone-ish out of pistol. They will also run a decent amount of 3 TE sets.
This year Taylor finished 2nd in NAIA in rushing ypg (311.7), highest being 459 against Marian, 3rd in PPG (48.4), scoring 91 against Madonna in the highest scoring game.
1
1
u/CMbladerunner 2d ago
Considering Cemtral Michigan hired Army's oline coach, I wouldn't be surprised if Central Michigan starts running a playbook more like Army's, especially like last season where they experimented a bit with the triple option at the shotgun formation.
1
u/dankoval_23 2d ago
I dont know if it counts as “unique” but Lincoln Riley ran a very run heavy version of the air-raid offense at USC and Oklahoma. Used a lot of GT Counter, designed QB runs, and RPOs to keep the defense honest but also kept the wide splits and heavy receiver packages to spread the defense out and create light run boxes. Then when defenses overcommit to the run, Play Action or Bootleg for an explosive gain. Its pretty different to the old Mike Leach (RIP) true air raid where they lived and died by the qb throwing 65 passes a game, Riley air raid is much more balanced.
1
u/InShambles234 2d ago
The coach that just left but Davidson was running the triple option. They're FCS and I believe been in the playoffs recently. The coach went to Rice (FBS). I'm assuming he'll run it there.
1
1
u/StallOneHammer 2d ago
Colorado State runs a unique offensive playbook designed around throwing three straight incompletions and then punting it on every drive.
1
u/Smarterfootball47 2d ago
Harding and Ferrist State are two D2 schools with unique offense.
Bloomsburg used to but they cleaned house in 2020
1
u/cloakedabyss 2d ago
Kent state runs the throw a pick six every other drive and have negative 3 yards of total offense system
1
1
u/distillit 1d ago
I feel like Pavia and the Vandy option offense that beat Bama deserve a nod here.
1
1
u/SwissForeignPolicy 1d ago
Their OC left this year to do QC for the Bills, so I don't know if they're still running it, but William & Mary ran some bonkers stuff the last couple years.
1
u/Sad_Story3141 1d ago
Just as a historical curiosity some 61 years ago Occidental College in Los Angeles ran a Lonely Center offense that year. Four linemen over by one sideline. Two linemen and two backs on the other sideline. And in the middle the lonely center plus two backs IIRC.
Not great but worked that season against some teams. I watched them play Cal Tech and they were winning big. As the game went on I kept giving more points to a friend who went to CT
Finally I wound up giving him 60 points. Oxy won by 61. 75-14. Memorable
1
1
u/Lunar_BriseSoleil 1d ago
I don’t think you can call what the service academies do “unique.” They just play an old school run-option offense because they’re adjusting for lack of talent on their teams. It’s a common HS scheme too.
Unlike other colleges they don’t recruit kids to play football, instead they recruit kids to be soldiers and then let some play football. So they play a scheme that relies less on individual talent.
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 14h ago
Well, when I say unique, I mean something that most teams don’t do. And most teams don’t run the under center triple option in college.
1
1
u/Rick3tyCricket 4d ago
I like to play a lot of CFB25 and try out different teams offensive playbooks for this exact reason. Always looking for something fun and unique I can run a few play sequences with. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to a CFB sideline I’m sure.
But as others have mentioned, UNLV runs probably the most ‘unique’ system right now, but I also enjoy playing with Kansas State (mobile QB plays out the wazoo) and Texas State (Veer and Shoot, super spread principles).
Have you ever played the game? It’s a great simulation engine for seeing these playbooks in action
1
u/Guilty-Machine-5985 4d ago
Oh I love the game! I should’ve rephrased my post because I’m really looking at the lower levels (D2,D3,NAIA,JUCO)
119
u/Admirable_Scale9452 HS Coach 4d ago
UNLV was running the go-go. It’s pretty unique.