I wrote an article outlining the possibility of a weekly air show in the DFW area earlier this month. Now, if I had a mailbag like Stewart Mandel or The Denton Record-Chronical’s Mean Green Blog, I might have an email asking me about the kinds offenses that are used at UNT (The University of North Texas) and SMU (Southern Methodist University). Some may simply ask, “What kind of offense did you say that was?” Others may ask something like, “What is the difference between the No Huddle Spread Offense and the Run and Shoot?”

Now, as if there weren’t enough teams running a spread of some kind, it seems that the Oklahoma Sooners are going to spread it out next year. The Texas Longhorns have runned some version of the Spread Offense dating back to the Vince Young era. Tulsa runs a high octane version of the Hurry Up No Huddle Spread Offense. Therefore, there are many college football teams in the DFW area running something in the way of a Spread Offense.

SMU runs June Jones’ version of the Run and Shoot. The advent of the Run and Shoot dates back to the 1950’s and 60’s when an Ohio high school football coach developed the offense. Jones himself played QB in the Run and Shoot at Portland State under “Mouse” Davis who popularized the offense. Jones has extensive experience running the Run and Shoot in college, the NFL, the USFL (the United States Football League which no longer exists) and the CFL (Canadian Football League). Jones, the Mustang coach, has brought an offensive system to Dallas that he not only has experience coaching and playing, but one in which he was a major part of its own development. The Run and Shoot uses four receiver sets, or double slots. The key to exploiting the defense is the ability of both the QB and the receiver to read after the snap of the ball to what the defense is doing. Such a tactic is called a “hot read.” The “hot read” is still an important element in the NFL even though the Run and Shoot’s use has largely faded from the NFL playbooks. In fact, just playing EA Sports’ Madden football will leave a fan familiar with the concept of the “hot read.” Some of the subsequent reads happen prior to the snap. Often, the QB knows exactly where he is going to go with ball for it is snapped, or least he knows his best options.

The Spread Offense is very similar in that the offense often employs the use of four receivers. The idea is to spread the defense horizontally and sometimes vertically with deep passes. The Run and Shoot also tries to spread out the defense horizontally. What are the differences? For starters, those that run the Spread Offense are not afraid of using a Tight End. Missouri Tight End Martin Rucker was an All-American at that position for Missouri’s Spread Offense. Usually, a team that uses the Spread likes to use a TE or some kind of H Back. With the need for defenses to have extra defensive backs on the field to cover the spread formations, a TE becomes a major match-up problem. An H Back is usually built like a TE or a Fullback. However, in addition to his ability to block, he has the ability to catch the ball. Imagine an extra Cornerback standing at 5’10″ or 5’11″ and weighing 190 lbs covering someone, by accident, who is 6’6″ 255 lbs. So, while the Spread Offense likes to spread out the defense, at times they use a more TE or H Back type player instead of all four receivers.

Another difference between the two formations is how the Spread Offense uses the QB. The QB is called on to make plays with both his arm and his feet. He is the ultimate playmaker on the field. He uses instincts to make a positive play. Coaches usually make the calls from the Press Box based on what kind defense is being run. Often, teams in the Spread Offense do not use a huddle and look to the coaching staff to make the call based on the defense’s alignment. Reads are made before the snap most of the time. However, some teams use a Hurry Up style of No Huddle Offense in which the object is to snap the ball within 3-5 seconds. Such a philosophy does not depend on what the defense is running, particularly because the defense is out of place because of the quick snap of the ball. Other teams, use the run oriented option out of the Spread Offense. West Virginia has been the best example of this under Coach Rich Rodriguez. Some incorporate what is known as the Zone Read. Vince Young excelled using the Zone Read when he was playing at Texas. All of these variations rely on the playmaking ability of the QB with both his arm and his feet. Such a QB is known as a dual threat QB.

A Run and Shoot is usually more geared toward a passing game. Texas Tech’s Air Raid offense is more of a Run and Shoot offense. Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell averaged 54.8 attempts per game. There was not a lot of emphasis on the running game at Texas Tech. As we have seen, the Spread Offense has several different variations which include a pass oriented, a balanced oriented and a run/option oriented. Todd Dodge’s No Huddle Spread Offense is a little more of a passing oriented attack. However, he does like to use the running game. At Southlake Carroll High School, Dodge enjoyed the use of Texas recruit Tre Newton. Further, all of his QBs were mobile and were considered a threat to run the ball.

Now that you know some of the differences between these two offenses, check out SMU and UNT this fall to see how they are used by each team.

Note: A number of websites and webpages were used to help construct this article. Below is a list of those sites and pages.

Americanfootballmonthly.com
Doubleslot.com
Wikipedia Articles Run & Shoot, Spread Offense, Todd Dodge, June Jones, Mouse Davis
Espn.go.com Bob Davie Column
Maddenscecrets.com
ohsfca.org
scribd.com
smartfootball.blogspot
Video from Espn.go.com with June Jones
sports.espn.go.com
thespreadoffense.com
spreadoffense.com
tulsaworld.com: Oklahoma, Todd Graham
usatoday
Video: Colt Brennan demonstrates Run & Shoot
everything2.com
ezinearticles.com