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Who Invented the Spread Offense?

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Ziggy said:
View attachment 148618
It was this man
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Spread coast right?!
jimmy fallon lol GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
 
Let me guess, Jake Gaither wasn't mentioned in the least(he rarely is in these conversations). People forget that a lot of those spread concepts were first seen in college football back at FAMU in the 40s and 50s. Gaither was one of the first coaches that recognized that speed created unique advantages and it was a lot easier to find fast guys(Especially in Florida), than it is to find a bunch of big, strong guys.
 
I thought it came from the old run and shoot offense that Houston ran when Klinger & Ware were putting up video game #’s on everyone, but the Canes. Jack Pardee? The Oilers ran a version of it with Warren Moon and the Bills with our guy Jim Kelly.

Go Canes!
 
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Great find OP.

As I was watching (and I love the history part of it) the big question I kept asking myself is what’s the next variation of the spread? You develop (and perfect) that, and we’re adding Nattys to the trophy case.
 
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Canedude08 said:
Let me guess, Jake Gaither wasn't mentioned in the least(he rarely is in these conversations). People forget that a lot of those spread concepts were first seen in college football back at FAMU in the 40s and 50s. Gaither was one of the first coaches that recognized that speed created unique advantages and it was a lot easier to find fast guys(Especially in Florida), than it is to find a bunch of big, strong guys.
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Gaither was a Wing-T guy, but He was innovative in that He created wider line splits, hence the name of His offense, The Split-Line T.

Gaither also was the first one to run integrated football camps with the likes of Woody Hayes & Bear Bryant.
 
Can't tell you how many times over the years I've defended the spread offense against people who thought it was a fad or gimmick.

"Spread offenses don't win championships."
"Spread offenses get shutdown by good defenses."
"Spread offenses are too finesse and can't impose their will."

At that time, mainly only the smaller schools were running spread. So when Oregon would get smashed by LSU, the critics always came out of the woodwork.
"See, that's why you can't run the spread."
It never occurred to these people that LSU and Bama simply had better players on defense and that THE SPREAD is the ONLY reason teams like Oregon are even playing in these big games.

Fast forward to today and spread offenses are winning all the championships. All the elite schools have adopted it, with our slapd!ck program being one of the last to do so. SMH
 
Coach Macho said:
Can't tell you how many times over the years I've defended the spread offense against people who thought it was a fad or gimmick.

"Spread offenses don't win championships."
"Spread offenses get shutdown by good defenses."
"Spread offenses are too finesse and can't impose their will."

At that time, mainly only the smaller schools were running spread. So when Oregon would get smashed by LSU, the critics always came out of the woodwork.
"See, that's why you can't run the spread."
It never occurred to these people that LSU and Bama simply had better players on defense and that THE SPREAD is the ONLY reason teams like Oregon are even playing in these big games.

Fast forward to today and spread offenses are winning all the championships. All the elite schools have adopted it, with our slapd!ck program being one of the last to do so. SMH
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Michigan lined up traditional defenses against App St and Oregon in 2007.

The ones who said after these two games that spread offenses are a gimmick deserve slaps on their head until they stop thinking this way.
 
Coach Macho said:
Can't tell you how many times over the years I've defended the spread offense against people who thought it was a fad or gimmick.

"Spread offenses don't win championships."
"Spread offenses get shutdown by good defenses."
"Spread offenses are too finesse and can't impose their will."

At that time, mainly only the smaller schools were running spread. So when Oregon would get smashed by LSU, the critics always came out of the woodwork.
"See, that's why you can't run the spread."
It never occurred to these people that LSU and Bama simply had better players on defense and that THE SPREAD is the ONLY reason teams like Oregon are even playing in these big games.

Fast forward to today and spread offenses are winning all the championships. All the elite schools have adopted it, with our slapd!ck program being one of the last to do so. SMH
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The big turning point was Clemson beating Alabama in the title game. Until that point Alabama was satisfied with just overwhelming teams with talent. They didn’t think they had to resort to “gimmicks” like the spread because they could beat everyone just lining up with two tight ends and running a ball control offense that didn’t ask the quarterback to do much. But when they lost to that Clemson team that they had the advantage at every position besides quarterback against, they’re perception of the spread offense changed. Then when LSU made the jump from mediocre offensive team to one of the all time greatest offensive teams in history, just by installing a spread scheme, that was the nail in the coffin for pro-style teams.

Well, except for Miami.
 
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Canes Legacy said:
Great find OP.

As I was watching (and I love the history part of it) the big question I kept asking myself is what’s the next variation of the spread? You develop (and perfect) that, and we’re adding Nattys to the trophy case.
Click to expand...
It’s been experimented with at high school level with varying success but I believe the next big offensive innovation is hybrid players. Not just quarterbacks who can run and throw but multiple running/throwing quarterbacks on the field at the same time. Two quarterbacks in the backfield together. A shotgun snap could go to either one and the run/pass option can become a run/pass/run option or more. Everyone has some type of end-around HB/WR pass in their playbook but it’s always risky because you never know how well a guy who never passes is going to execute his pass. Imagine having that possibility on every play but the WR/RB was already an accomplished passer? You’d have to defend every running play to account for the threat of a pass. I know it sounds goofy but it’s not unrealistic to see the game going this way in another ten years
 
DTP said:
It’s been experimented with at high school level with varying success but I believe the next big offensive innovation is hybrid players. Not just quarterbacks who can run and throw but multiple running/throwing quarterbacks on the field at the same time. Two quarterbacks in the backfield together. A shotgun snap could go to either one and the run/pass option can become a run/pass/run option or more. Everyone has some type of end-around HB/WR pass in their playbook but it’s always risky because you never know how well a guy who never passes is going to execute his pass. Imagine having that possibility on every play but the WR/RB was already an accomplished passer? You’d have to defend every running play to account for the threat of a pass. I know it sounds goofy but it’s not unrealistic to see the game going this way in another ten years
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Good point, FSU did that against us with Blackmon and Travis but they both suck so maybe that’s not the best example but definitely plausible. Basically the entire secondary can’t fill run responsibilities due to the threat of the “runner” pulling up to pass.

I know Oklahoma was running some PROs where the first read was the pass instead of the handoff. That might be expanded into a bonafide scheme within itself.
 
DTP said:
But when they lost to that Clemson team that they had the advantage at every position besides quarterback against, they’re perception of the spread offense changed.
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Are you referring to the Deshaun Watson led Clemson team? If so, the talent on the field that night was a wash. And Clemson was the more talented team on the field in 2018.

Dabo's never done more with less.
 
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CaneSince4Ever said:
Are you referring to the Deshaun Watson led Clemson team? If so, the talent on the field that night was a wash. And Clemson was the more talented team on the field in 2018.

Dabo's never done more with less.
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Put Watson on that Alabama team in the spread and it’s a huge blowout.
 
Canes Legacy said:
Good point, FSU did that against us with Blackmon and Travis but they both suck so maybe that’s not the best example but definitely plausible. Basically the entire secondary can’t fill run responsibilities due to the threat of the “runner” pulling up to pass.

I know Oklahoma was running some PROs where the first read was the pass instead of the handoff. That might be expanded into a bonafide scheme within itself.
Click to expand...

Arkansas when they ran the Wild Hog with McFadden, Jones, & Hillis is the closest thing I can think of in recent memory.
 
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