WVU’s offense OK with Switzer

The former Oklahoma coach’s former team will play the Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Shhh, don’t say it too loud. Barry Switzer is a fan of West Virginia.

Sort of.

OK, so the Oklahoma Hall of Fame coach won’t be rooting for the Mountaineers when they face the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl.

He just gushes at how West Virginia’s no-huddle offense works.

Just as Switzer transformed Oklahoma’s wishbone into the most prolific rushing attack in college football history, West Virginia thrives in the run-based, no-huddle spread formation.

“They’ve got a playbook that works,” Switzer said. “I’ve loved their offense. When I saw them run it the first time, I loved it. I said this is similar to something I would do if I was college coaching again.”

It’s a system that will likely get its last look at West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl unless coach Rich Rodriguez’s successor retains it. Rodriguez was named coach at Michigan Dec. 16 and isn’t going to the bowl.

West Virginia annually has one of the nation’s top rushing attacks and the 11th-ranked Mountaineers (10-2) can earn a third-straight 11-win season — a feat that can be matched only by Southern Cal and LSU — if they beat the third-ranked Sooners (11-2) Jan. 2.

Switzer’s 1971 team set an NCAA FBS record by averaging 472 rushing yards over an 11-game regular season. The 1974 national title team set more records with per-game averages of 74 rushes and 21 first downs rushing. Oklahoma also holds the NCAA single-game record of 768 rushing yards against Kansas State in 1988.

The 500-point plateau is considered a lofty achievement and Switzer did it twice in 12 games in 1971 and 1986. West Virginia set a school record with 505 points last year and can eclipse that if the Mountaineers score 39 points against the Sooners in their 13th game.

Since the arrival of running back Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White three years ago, West Virginia has averaged 274 rushing yards or better per game and ranked no worse than fourth in the nation on the ground.

Switzer remembers seeing White as a freshman two years ago, when he led the Mountaineers to a win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

White has surpassed 1,000 rushing yards each in 2006 and 2007. He had a career-high 247 yards against Syracuse last year and became the eighth player in NCAA history to throw and pass for more than 200 yards in a 2006 game against Pittsburgh.

“They’re more deceptive than the wishbone. The wishbone was an east-west offense,” Switzer said. “This offense he runs is more deceptive because you run counters, you run options off the counters. It’s just totally lined up to be able to go misdirection.”

Coaches have come from all over to West Virginia each winter to pick up tidbits of the spread formation and see if it might work in their own systems. Usually the coaches are from programs that don’t play the Mountaineers.

Urban Meyer studied the spread scheme before his coaching stints at Bowling Green and Utah.

After Tulane went 12-0 in 1998 and averaged 45 points per game, Northwestern paid a visit to Rodriguez and would introduce the system to the Big Ten. Rodriguez said later he may have given away too much information.

Other coaches came to Morgantown from places like Ohio State, Nebraska, Florida State and Michigan-beater Appalachian State to take notes. And next fall, Michigan fans will have the spread on their side.

“Coaches are great copycats,” Rodriguez said before taking the Michigan job. “They’ll see an idea or two from here and there. And we’re such a competitive profession that coaches will study as much as they can in the offseason and put a plan together. If the thing matches right with a couple of talented skill players and some coaches that get players believing in their system, then anything can happen.”