Posted on 11/09/2023 9:54:27 AM PST by wgmalabama
This is an entire series about the wishbone offense, creation, adoption and I assume it’s demise as I am still watching the series. Each is a boy 20 minutes long.
I never played sports growing up. Both my sons have state championships in a sport at different ages. Mainly because I believed athletic competition was as important as other things. I might say that was wrong now but was right at the time.
Anyway, this was a great but low volume series on the college wishbone offense and I found it informative and entertaining. I have no OCI with this video.
Imagine the wishbone, with a few adjustments, played at a modern fast paced no huddle offense.
Rules changes were the main demise of triple option football (regardless of what formation was used). In the early nineties, rules changed to where offensive linemen could extend their arms and use their hands. That was a huge deal as pass protection became relatively much easier.
Then you have all the recent rules that give preferential treatment to wide receivers and quarterbacks. It has literally transformed the game from a contest where every inch of ground is fought over to “basketball on grass”.
I don’t buy the argument that only defensive players have gotten faster and bigger. EVERYONE has gotten faster and bigger and that includes players on offense too.
Modern football is more akin to Canadian football/Arena Football/Flag Football than it is to classical football pre-1990.
Plus, wishbone teams have trouble recruiting the best talent because they want to play what the pro’s do.
I may drop after 4. 🙂
1. Rules changes for Offensive Linemen made it MUCH easier to pass block.
2. Coaches began to put their most athletic linemen on defense.
3. Coaches slowly figured out how to defend it.
Correct. It’s where you go to be competitive.
“I always wondered what happened. It worked so well, and then..... it didn’t.”
Its demise was simple (and it was Notre Dame that killed it in its second Cotton Bowl game against Texas In January, 1971): Don’t follow the ball; tackle everyone.
Bear Bryant went on to win several championships with Alabama with the Wishbone.
Navy is running a modified wishbone this year:
https://www.stripes.com/sports/2023-08-16/refined-navy-offense-emerging-newberry-10996804.html
“The Midshipmen will not be a team that throws the ball 30-40 times a game, Chestnut said, emphasizing that the triple option is still the base. The most notable change has been utilizing both under-center and shotgun formations but keeping the fundamentals the same for the offensive line.”
Army has decided to go shotgun, apparently due to rule changes:
https://theathletic.com/4417216/2023/04/17/army-football-monken-triple-option-shotgun/
“But starting this fall, Army’s opponents will no longer have to defend the under-center triple option. This spring, Monken is doing the unthinkable and moving his team to a primarily shotgun offense. He felt he didn’t have a choice in the wake of an under-the-radar NCAA rules change last year that eliminated blocking below the waist — known as cut blocking — anywhere but inside the tackle box.
That familiar quarterback pitch to a running back sprinting around the left side of the line? The one that teams like Oklahoma and Nebraska once employed to win national championships? Turns out it’s a lot harder to spring the runner if a blocker can’t cut the oncoming linebacker flowing toward the perimeter.”
The wishbone is still a thing of beauty when it’s clicking. Many posters have pointed out some of the reasons for its demise, but I will add one more. You have to put up with a fair number of fumbles, which is ironic in light of Darrell Royal’s dictum about passing the ball (”only three things can happen, and two of them are bad”). I think modern coaches are (correctly) more turnover-averse than they were 50 years ago. Relatedly, it’s tough when your offense requires perfect execution over 15-18 plays to score; too many chances for things to go wrong.
Not against Notre Dame. Other teams tried other defensive tactics, but only the plan to tackle everyone who is in the backfield — which was Notre Dame's tactic — was successful. It was very basic, and it worked. That was Ara Parseghian’s brain child.
But it would likely be very successful again, for a while, as few remember how to defend it. Army and Navy seem to use variations of it frequently. They seem to come up with quick fullbacks, the key to the wishbone's success.
Woody Hayes said that long before Darrell Royal
Actually it's four, two good, two bad. Completion, good. Incomplete, bad (but not ALL bad as a clock stopper). Interception, bad. Pass interference call, good. Free yards and first down.
Oops...I forgot the holding calls (bad on the offense, good when on the defense). And the false starts...so darned many false starts!
That's just a smoke-screen excuse, really. Air Force is successful with the triple option this year - though very very weirdly, they lost to Army -
Monken is polishing his creds with pro-bound kids, wanting to get into a different program (leaving Army), proving he can coach the "pro stuff" & not that "antiquated" triple option...
In short, the triple option is a very successful offense (as is the double wing, frankly), and does not depend on 'cut blocking' outside the tackle box.
Do that now and you'll get a defensive holding call. And you can't even go low and hard to take out the blockers any more.
Hit the QB high- roughing the passer Hit the QB low- roughing the passer. Hit the QB hard, fair and square in the midsection, but land on him- roughing the passer.
I've read Coach Wyatt's blog for over 20 years...he's the nation's premier football historian imho, outstanding.
https://coachwyatt.com/ (click on "News...")
Well....I don’t doubt that Army has a history of coachs trying to run pro-offenses over the past 20 years and it definitely hasn’t helped them in the Army-Navy tally.
Go Navy! Beat Army!
USNA ‘89 ;-)
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