SUGAR BOWL Auburn's offense made on West Coast

Offensive coordinator Al Borges is given credit for the rise of the Tigers.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The wishbone came and went. The veer fell out of favor. The run-and-shoot had its day in the sun, only to fade away.
Al Borges doesn't expect the West Coast offense to become a relic of football history.
"I don't think this offense will ever die," Auburn's offensive coordinator said Thursday, taking a break from Sugar Bowl preparations. "There will always be someone running some version of it."
The third-ranked Tigers are sure glad they switched to the offense that was developed by Bill Walsh in the late 1960s, a scheme centered around short passes and precisely timed routes.
On the way to Auburn (12-0) winning its first Southeastern Conference championship in 15 years, Jason Campbell completed nearly 70 percent of his throws, while Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown formed a dynamic alliance in the backfield.
West Coast background
Borges, who joined Tommy Tuberville's staff before the season, has been hailed as a genius for turning the Tigers into an offensive powerhouse. But he's been doing this for years, becoming a convert to the West Coast philosophy as a high school coach in Salinas, Calif., in 1977 -- the same year Walsh was hired as the coach at nearby Stanford.
"We were running the wishbone, and I wanted to know how to throw the ball," Borges recalled. "So I went to see Bill Walsh. He wasn't the big name he is today."
Campbell, who had endured an up-and-down career at Auburn, was thrilled when Borges was hired. The quarterback would get to spend his senior season in the offense of choice for those hoping to advance to the NFL. Nearly two-thirds of the teams that play on Sunday run some version of the West Coast.
"I heard about it all the time," Campbell said. "I knew it was a fun offense to be in as a quarterback. I knew we would have the opportunity to be successful. Just working in that offense, with all the different formations and spreading the ball around, helps prepare you for the NFL."
Not everyone runs a pure West Coast -- if there is such a thing anymore -- but most teams incorporate some aspects of the scheme into their offense. It certainly won't be anything new to No. 9 Virginia Tech (10-2), which faces the Tigers in Monday night's Sugar Bowl.
"If you sit down and study it, everyone is running a version of it," said Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "We even run part of it. That term, West Coast offense, is thrown around too loosely nowadays."
To Borges, that flexibility is at the core of the West Coast's success -- and, ultimately, its staying power.
"It's the rage because of its diversity," he said.
"The run-and-shoot, the wishbone -- they all come and go. But this thing isn't going to fade away. If anything, it's gaining steam."