Taking offense at the spread


Please don’t think I am whining here, but I am having trouble coming to grips with the Ohio State Buckeyes and their new offense.

I know, you can’t believe I am complaining about the Buckeyes going to a modern offense, taking chances, scoring 63 points against Nebraska and making Tressel-ball seem like it was decades ago. And I am NOT complaining, I will continue to root for the Buckeyes as I have since I was a kid.

But I have never liked the spread offense with the quarterback in shotgun formation, running backs set up beside the QB and receivers all over the place. Most versions don’t include fullbacks or tight ends, though thankfully coach Urban Meyer does make use of those positions. He also emphasizes running the ball, though out of the spread even read option running plays just don’t look right to me.

My problem has nothing to do with Meyer. After all, he is from Ohio, has won two national titles at Florida and has proven to be an outstanding recruiter and an all-around excellent coach.

It is the spread offense itself that bothers me. Until this year I have been able to loathe it from afar but now my team is using it. I understand one of its positives is that it helps get offensive skill players “in space” with the ball but I still don’t like it.

To me the spread offense just isn’t “real” football. To be more precise it seems like the football we used to play in someone’s back yard, playing two-hand touch with five or six guys on a side and pass rushers counting to three-Mississippi before going after the quarterback.

Give me a quarterback under center, a fullback and a tight end any day. I prefer the I-formation but I guess that’s wishful thinking. A team can still pass effectively out of a more traditional offense, just witness the National Football League week after week.

I have always believed the Big Ten party line that to have national title aspirations you first have to win the conference. Everyone knows that to win the Big Ten you must win in November in bad weather. That means your offense must be able to function in cold, windy, wet conditions and I hope we find out this fall that the spread offense can indeed do just that.

But I still am a bit uncomfortable watching my favorite college team run this offense.

I realize I will be criticized by OSU fans who were upset by coach Jim Tressell’s conservative decisions and his penchant for getting just enough production out of his offense. Many fans are pleased the Buckeyes finally are playing modern football.

But I urge those modern fans to check out old football footage from the 1940s and before when the snap went directly to a tailback lined up in what we would refer to as shotgun formation. The tailback could run or pass or hand off to a back who was lined up beside the tailback. In fact, it looks suspiciously like today’s ultra-modern spread offense.

And don’t even get me started on the bubble screen.

Doug Chapin is a sports writer at The Vindicator. Write to him at dchapin@vindy.com.

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