That’s where you add pass-options, particularly vertical pass options, to your two-back runs. With the additions of OC Chip Lindsey and former Baylor QB Jarrett Stidham, War Eagle now has the main components needed to do this successfully.
Gus Malzahn was an early innovator of the smashmouth spread and you can read my man Alex Kirby’s breakdown of his two-time SEC winning offense in this very solid book:
It was elsewhere though that people figured out that running two-back runs with a sturdy H-back led to amazing opportunities with pass options. Art Briles is probably the most important and innovative figure in that development. I know he’s a scumbag but it is what it is, the man had a profound impact on the game’s strategies.
Chad Morris was further ahead of Malzahn in this regard as well and both Morris and Lindsey are Malzahn disciples who have pushed forward the development of this offense.
I figured after the title game that Alabama would be poised to reload and fire off another SEC title winning season next year but glancing at their depth chart and some of the developments around them in the SEC West I’m no longer as confident. I think this division is in for a wild ride next fall.
It is my understanding of Lindsey’s offense that in the ASU play, the lone WR is technically assigned a hitch route. In the event of press coverage, however, the WR is supposed to convert to a fade and the QB to throw to him. That’s why the QB doesn’t look anywhere else. Its designated pre-snap. The route conversion is admittedly pretty common, but the “throw to the fade every time” is more unique to Lindsey, I think.
Ah, thanks. I figured it was a pre-snap decision but I didn’t know what the trigger was since there’s a lot going for that defense.
I like that aggressiveness, Stitt has a similar edge. The Veer and Shoot is the ultimate in aggressiveness in this regard.