2016: Year of the running QB in college football

Over at Vice Sports I penned a piece on why it is that three out of the four playoff teams are led by running quarterbacks.

The key pieces are these:

  1. Spread-option tactics are really taking off right now as offensive coordinators are finding that there isn’t really a running scheme that exists which you can’t run by either adding an option element and leaving a DL unblocked OR making the QB the featured runner with direct snap plays.
  2. Everyone loves the spread, but blue blood programs love winning in the trenches and the spread can have the effect of moving the schwerpunkt to the perimeter, which in turn has an unwanted, egalitarian effect on which teams can be competitive. Good skill athletes and intelligent, playmaking QBs are not a scarce resource. However, by running the ball from the spread with an athlete at QB the blue blood programs can move the schwerpunkt back inside where their superior supply of big men can carry the day.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

3 Comments

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