The Spread Offense of the Cowboys vs. Texas Tech

[Reginald Rutledge]

I was up one night at about 3 am surfing stations and ran across the college football station. They were talking about Texas Tech and the Spread Offense. I was fascinated when I heard the "teaser" about "Wide splits".

I thought to myself, "This should be interesting" because I run wide splits in the DFW. In Texas, the name of the game use to be 3 yards and a cloud of dust but somewhere back in the mid 80's, the game of football went from pure power football to aerial assaults.

Texas Tech, a member of the Big 12, has cornered the market on that type of scheme. But those schemes can easily be traced back to Sid Gillman and later Don Coryell, then Mouse Davis with the "Run and Shoot" and so on. Nevertheless, it essentially made it's mark in the DFW many years ago.

But listening to the philosophies of Coach Mike Leach from Texas Tech, it mirrors much of what we do in the DFW. Texas Tech's Grant Harrell is throwing the ball about 50-60 times per game. It essentially spreads the other team out to adjust to players in space.

Last night, I had a practice session showing some of the coaches in the DFW League, the effectiveness of the spread. Most coaches would not attempt this because of the wide splits but having the right athletes and knowing your blocking schemes at the start of every play, gives you a decided advantage over the opposition.

In the DFW, with the audible in play and a 3-1 movement, the defense has to already "guess" and know where to plug the hole or you've got an exploited advantage over the opposition. This is a high-risk manuever offense but the rewards are tremendous.

Some guys in this league will tell you they run wide splits and lateral but most guys will run it one or two plays and revert back to straight ahead power football. Most guys run simply Prolines straight bases on their linemen but my experience has shown me, in the Shootout system, if you do more of a lateral and finesse/zone blocking philosophy, you can run sweeps, draws, and counters which the opposition will not see coming.

Hearing Mike Leach explain why he has wide split lines is the exact same reasons I do it. It makes it very difficult for the linebackers to get to the QB because of the distance travel.

In the Shootout Leagues, a great team is not simply power run team or passing juggernaut but year-end and year-out, those teams get exposed during the playoffs. They are one-dimensional. The teams that win championships have been the ones who can run and pass equally well.

Guys will stack up to stop the run once the dust is settled and guys will control your receivers in the passing game if you think passing is simply the way to a championship. My approach has always been quick-strike, wide-split, creative plays, and exploitation of weak area offense. If a guy is not defending the passing lanes, I will throw the ball 50 times. But if a guy is giving up 5 yards per carry, I am not opposed to giving my back the ball 25-30 carries.

Most guys want to macho up and stop the run and that's why the wide splits "West Coast" Offense works.

Shown below is the actual splits that I do for my "West Coast" system. It is without a doubt, the easiest way I have been able to score in a system that thrives on scoring. I've shown this system to others but few have been able to grasp the concept. But it works and it is easy!

Reg