Posts Tagged ‘Florida’

Urban Meyer

Posted: November 30, 2011 in All Things Power Spread, Buckeye News
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This is a guy I was studying back in 2008 when I was learning why Florida wiped out  a much more talented (and yes speedier) OSU team in Jan of 2007.  I also studied all the recruiting, talent and coaches in the SEC in 2008/2009 and quickly found out the wins over the Big 10 were not matters of talent and speed,  but coaches and schemes.  There’s a reason for the SEC having the highest paid assistants.

The Urban Meyer Schemes and Way changing OSU forever more – a foray into the future of the ever changing face of American Football!

Back to the Future – Shotgun Football (A 100 year full circle starting early last century)

OSU’s failure to understand the full implications of the Spread and the BALANCE of the PS

The morphing of the Passing Spread into the Power Spread, seen as the illusionary death of the Spread Offense in College Football

A True Power Spread – The Florida Gator/Urban Meyer Offense

Urban Meyer – more than just Offensive Schemes  He has learned from a lot of coaches – yes, even the Power Spread.  And he was a great Special Teams coach before anything else.  He has always delegated well, recruited well and paid attention to all the details required to produce top teams.  In fact, he has a lot in common with a former great coach here at OSU named Jim Tressel.  And like Tressel he tended to take on too much and not let his highly paid assistants take over when needed.

Here’s a scary thought – as good as Meyer was, he may be better now. He has made mistakes in the past – even mistakenly moving away from his own gem of an offense!  He has the experience of years now.   And if there was one element as a Head Coach that a Nick Saban had over Meyer it was the ability to let his assistants do their job and not give into the obsessional need to take over ever phase of the team.  Meyer says he has learned from his time off – I BELIEVE HIM – expect this detailed, smart, open minded coach to be a Saban like delegator making him the Coach of the Year for 2012!

~Drew

WEEK 7 OBSERVATIONS

Posted: October 16, 2011 in Weekly Reviews
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AUBURN 17  FLORIDA 6

– What in God’s name is going on with Malzahn’s offense??  Don’t give me Fig Newton – Malzahn could get points with me at QB!  I will thoroughly examine the puzzle of maybe Malzahn’s worst offense in his coaching career – for now – on powerspread.net.

– Muschumps needs to move back to Defensive Coordinator, where he excels with his rah-rah attitude, understanding of Nick Saban Zone Blitzing Schemes, and solid X&O know how.  But bringing in NFL Schemes with Charlie Weiss after years of success with the Power Spread of Urban Meyer is silly.  Again, another misunderstanding of this PS idea.  ITS NOT A GIMMICK – never was meant as such.  Only those who don’t understand its range, would use the PS as a gimmick – like lining up in the Wildcat formation every once in a while to shake up a defense, but with no real offensive game plan of why your using this formation in the first place.

I notice that there are a lot of defensive coaches and offensive line coaches throughout the college ranks who move into prominent positions with the power to decide on either what type of offense to go with or what type of offensive coordinator to bring in.  In Muschumps case he may have felt that too much Spread Offense  could create injuries and turnovers, which would put his beloved defense in a bad position. He certainly couldn’t use the excuse that the talent on Florida was geared more towards two back Pro Sets and 3&4 WR Pro Style Passing Spreads, which Weiss likes to run.

Every once in a while there’s the brilliant Defensive coach who understands concepts on offense, such as Brian Kelly and Charlie Strong.  Strong could eventually be recognized as the top coach of the future – be patient – in Louisville, Strong inherited more problems than simply what schemes to run.  But Strong has said he will run the Power Spread and he’s not lying as you can see by his recruiting. What’s really impressive is Strong’s understanding, from the Defensive side, of the PS and how, possibly, to stop it or at least slow it down.  As Saban was one of the first to really find a way to shut down the Passing Spread (Zone Blitzing schemes  were actually started by Bob Davie), Strong may be the first to really put a dent in a well run Power Spread scheme.

In the meantime,  poor Charlie Weiss actually went to the PS just a bit, and of course with some success, but this isnt his expertise and it shows.  So back to the NFL schemes, which will always be slaughtered in College Football unless they are executed to near perfection. Why? Because young kids need simpler schemes that let them run and hit and PLAY – not being so deterred by “thought” that an opponent of similar size and athleticism either knocks his block off or runs by him for another touchdown.  The SEC of the last decade has been a great example of this – not necessarily the “fastest” teams as so many fans have erroneously decided, but definitely the best assistant coaches who set up their top athletes in great positions on the field to excell to the max of their skills!

Heavy thinking NFL offensive schemes in the SEC  are a step backwards for that proud conference.  PS schemes don’t always work (see above), but they don’t need nearly the execution to work as do the NFL schemes and have a far greater chance for success.

~Drew