Time for college football to get creative again on offense

For the longest time, MAS found the NFL predictable and tedious offensively.

He much preferred college ball because of its more vibrant and varied approach on offense.

Even if the pros were the best players in the world.

My, how things have changed.

These days, MAS finds the old-fashioned squared-toed kicker's shoe (Google it, millennials) on the other foot.

It is now NCAA ball that reeks of monotonous sameness offensively.

While the formerly stodgy NFL is presently the more versatile of the two levels in matriculating the ol' pigskin downfield.

Here's why MAS is reversing his field.

Y'see, for a large portion of NFL history, EVERY one of its teams ran the SAME plays from the SAME offense: the Pro-Set.

From the Johnny Unitas years of the 1950s right on through to the late-century Joe Montana and Troy Aikman eras and into the first decade of the new millennium, that distinctive formation was the only one featured in the professional ranks.

You remember the traditional Pro-Set, right?

A quarterback under center with a fullback and halfback behind him. Two wide receivers flanked out to each side. And clustered in front of the QB were five behemoth lineman and a tight end.

Out of this formation, teams passed the majority of the time and the ball club with the best personnel and/or execution won.

Great players but . . . zzzzzzzz.

Sixty years of repetitive football strategy.

NFL teams became like temples in Japan to MAS: seen one, seen 'em all.

Over that same time span, though, you could always count on intriguing offensive diversity in the college ranks.

Myriad formations were on display. Not just one.

Among others, there was the Wishbone, the I formation, the Split Back Veer set-up, Power I, Full House T, Winged T and some outfits even fancied the Pro-Set.

Many teams, meanwhile, chose to go the "Multiple Offense" route, i.e. utilize several of these alignments at once.

And the thing was, each of these formations carried with it a separate offensive philosophy.

The intent of some was to ram the ball down your throat, pound you into submission.

Others wanted to finesse you to death with passes, reverses and all forms of trickery.

And a lot of ballclubs sought offensive balance, leaning in varying degrees toward either the run or the pass.

From the mid-1950s to the first decade of the 21st century, each game of NCAA ball was like an invigorating chess match pitting differing philosophical strategies.

Meanwhile, the married-to- the Pro-Set NFL trudged on and on.

And on.

If it weren't for the color of their uniforms, you couldn't tell one NFL team from the other.

But, lo and behold, these days it is the COLLEGE game where, boringly, one size-fits-all offensively.

The "Spread" offense is now the name of the undergrad game. It is the modus operandi currently favored by all but a handful of universities.

Meanwhile, Leapin' Lombardi's, it is the PROS who, of late, have been employing a dizzying array of offensive formations ("packages," they call them) and philosophies.

Including — gasp! — the Spread, formerly thought of as an NFL quarterback-killer.

For the uninitiated, here's the dish on the Spread.

You have the quarterback in a shotgun set-up, a running back next to him, five offensive lineman in front of them and usually four wide receivers.

The tight end and fullback are now all but extinct on the collegiate level.

Got the picture?

From this formation, ONE running play is repeated ad nauseam the majority of the time: the zone read.

That's where the running back heads off tackle and the QB puts the ball in his belly while "reading" the reaction of the defensive end, who is left unblocked.

The quarterback then either gives his running back the ball or keeps it himself.

On most other plays, the QB looks to throw to one of his receivers, stretched all over the field.

That's pretty much the extent of most college offenses nowadays.

YAWWWWWNN . . . zzzsk . . snort . . zzzz.

Thus, the collegians are currently the ones eliciting drowsiness and Dagwood Bumstead-type sofa snores (Google him, too, millennials) from MAS.

The once-avant garde, dif'rent strokes collegiate offensive practitioners have grown philosophical cobwebs.

And the formerly blah NFL has become hip and edgy in terms of variety on O.

Go figure.

So, what in the name of Bo Schembechler and Bear Bryant is the cause of this drastic change at the college level, anyway?

Well, for starters, many collegiate coaches saw the fast pace and trickery involved in the Spread as a way of offsetting a foe's physical superiority (the big-name schools have always landed more of the highly touted players).

Some pigskin pundits, meanwhile, also trace the collegiate switch to the Spread down to the situation at the high school level over the last decade.

With many more life-activity choices available to potential players and fans nowadays, high school coaches found it necessary to inject more of the "fun factor" into their game to both get athletes to come out for their teams and put fan fannies in the seats.

So, early this century, most prep coaches began converting to the Spread, an attack they had previously considered "not REAL football."

Think a wildfire, um, spreading.

High school football soon became razzle-dazzle basketball on turf, as opposed to the old rock 'em, sock 'em, knock-their-jocks-off brand.

Before long, college coaches, instead of trying to figure out how potential prep recruits would fit into their then-varied offensive schemes, simply switched to the Spread as well.

It made things a lot easier for all concerned.

Ironically, it is now the pro teams that are sometimes left wondering how a potential draftee from the Spread would fit into their updated multiplelook offenses.

Call MAS old school (again) if you must, but he misses the good old days of college ball.

Back when O.J. was running from USC's iconoclastic "I" instead of the law, Billy Sims slashed through foes out of the vaunted Oklahoma Wishbone and Vinny Testaverde was flinging the ball all over the lot using thoroughly modern Miami's Pro-Set.

Variety being the spice of life and all that.

MAS sure hopes this is a cyclical thing and the now-stagnant colleges will complete an offensive 360 within his lifetime.

For now, though, he'll continue to prefer Sunday ball — despite the asinine antics of pro players nowadays.

Because annoying excitement beats tedium any day.

Contact Man About Sports at: [email protected]