Put me in the camp of hating RPO’s. I get it that we are winning and we are using it bc it may be our best way to play given some issues but I am in the camp of the old canes pro style offense mindset.
Same here. Every game I've been irritated at the lack of I formation and all of the gorgeous permutations it allows, along with basic physical football and all the advantages that spring. We may be undefeated but our low rushing attempt numbers -- especially in the first half -- do not align with full legitimacy.
I have to laugh at the notion that top programs are using RPO, and therefore we should shut up and behold. Regardless of sport the most talented teams and individuals have enormous margin for error, and therefore can break the rules. Ali could drop his hands. Secretariat could allow the frontrunner a 10 length gap. Who cares? The 2017 Canes don't threaten to qualify. Once we have 16 first round draft choices on this roster then I'm willing to overlook coordinators who tinker and essentially amuse themselves. Right now we are life and death with mediocre programs. Those mediocre programs would be dispatched with greater ease if we actually hit somebody on offense for a change, and utilized wonderful variety off play action and actual darts over the middle to a tight end, instead of slow developing weaving runs in the backfield mixed with mindless lobs toward the deep sideline into double coverage.
The Bortles example is very good. He sucks. But the Jaguars are finding ways to reduce his vulnerabilities. Great use of sporadic I formation basics. Earlier in the year I provided a Titans link and how they use I formation and creative twists out of it, notably in the red zone.
In contrast, I never cease to laugh at spread and RPO programs that stubbornly stick to their formations and scheme, regardless of opponent, down or distance, or situation. It was hilarious to watch Mike Leach and Washington State try to pretend that 17 rushes were sufficient the other night at Arizona. I howled. Heck, in the North Carolina game on Saturday we were in jeopardy of a deficit that might have been too much to overcome, if the Tar Heels had merely altered their approach inside the 5 yard line. You even had the television commentators mocking them for remaining in the shotgun at the 1 or 2 yard line. I was laughing along with them. It reached the point I didn't care at all if a long North Carolina play busted inside the 5 yard line. As long as they had to line up again, given the style they were certain to employ they weren't guaranteed anything. Maybe a 30 yard field goal attempt after a couple of sideways rushes caved in, plus a sack.
Put a power team in the same spot and they are going to crash into the end zone with defiance.
The Canes themselves got stuck inside the 5 yard line against Georgia Tech and Syracuse. I have season tickets and sat there in disgust. No threat of a necessary blend. Alabama is one of the few teams in the country that sets aside the stubbornness and will switch from style to style based on field position and logic.
I've argued for years that Alabama can monopolize the national title in this era largely because the other programs have succumbed. If you had one brute physical and basic style after another among the most talented teams, then it's like the old days with shared titles among the blue bloods. I feared Ohio State all season in 2002 because that team was blue collar brutes all over the field, plus loads of talent. Instead, nowadays you have tinkerbell spread all over the place. Soft teams as a result. Defense is mostly lip service. Clemson needed two extreme talents in Deshaun Watson and Mike Williams to hang in there with Alabama. Good plan. Right now the most amusing game of every season is that Alabama season opener against a name brand team on a neutral site. That opponent says all the right things. They actually believe it. But during practice there is no way they can approximate the actual physicality and intensity that Alabama will bring. The game turns into a boxing match with each round more physically lopsided than the previous. I enjoy it.
I do have to say that the RPO allows occasional advantage. For example, on Saturday when North Carolina had 3 time outs and was desperate to regain the ball I was absolutely certain that Rosier would hand off twice on our final series, and then keep the ball for a first down on the third down play. Prior to the series I told everyone in our home that it would play out that way. North Carolina like so many mediocre or struggling programs is just soft and stupid enough to allow it to happen. I had full confidence in them.
Try that against Alabama and it's smothered for a 5 yard loss.
