Offense sells tickets, goes the old college football saw, but defense wins championships.
It’s time for a new cliche on campus.
In the first season of the new century, the fastest way to a title is through the opposing end zone.
It is no coincidence the nation’s three highest scorers–Oklahoma, Florida State and Miami–have the best shots at the national title. But even teams with no designs on No. 1 are threatening to short-circuit their scoreboards. From Northwestern’s spread wishbone to the pass-happy schemes unleashed by Oklahoma, Florida and Purdue, it’s all about scoring. And scoring. And scoring.
“It is a shootout every game you play,” Southern California coach Paul Hackett said. “It’s very exciting football. There is no doubt about it. But boy, it is not the old traditional football you’re used to seeing.”
Division I-A teams are averaging 26.1 points per game, according to unofficial calculations. If that clip is sustained in the season’s final two weeks, it would blow away last year’s record, 25.6.
“I do think it’s the change in an era,” Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. “I think the last significant change was the wishbone. We’re in a new era, I don’t think there’s any question about it.”
The uptick in offensive production has been going on for several years. But it exploded this year with the introduction of a variety of spread offenses, no-huddle schemes and a seeming imbalance of talent in offensive depth charts.
With Heisman Trophy candidate Josh Heupel spinning the controls, No. 1 Oklahoma is averaging 44.7 points per game. That’s a little more than third-ranked Florida State (43.5) and No. 2 Miami (43.4). Of the top 25 teams in scoring offense, only one doesn’t have a winning record–Northern Illinois at 5-5.
Football is supposed to be a battle of actions and reactions between the offense and the defense. But defensive coordinators have been walking out of stadiums this autumn with shell-shocked expressions on their faces.
“A whole lot of defensive coaches are going to go back to the drawing board and they’re taking a look at these offenses and they’re going to come up with a scheme,” Hackett said. “What Oklahoma has done is dramatic. I think everybody is saying, `Look at what they’re doing. Let’s spread them out and see if they can stop us.’ Part of it is personnel. But I have full confidence that the defensive coaches will bring things back into focus.”
There are plenty of theories about why offense has taken command.
Because scholarship limits have spread talent more evenly, traditional mediocre teams such as Purdue or Northwestern can make a quick turnaround with a handful of skill players.
NCAA rules help indirectly. Quarterbacks and receivers are allowed to hone their timing during informal off-season workouts, but defenders can’t put on pads and practice tackling.
Perhaps the most important factor is a fundamental shift in coaching philosophy. A new wave of coaches, led by Florida’s Steve Spurrier and his protege, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, have little regard for the traditional run-oriented values taught by their predecessors through the decades.
“When I started coaching [in 1963] it was . . . ram it down their throat,” West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. “Now it’s like you’re playing basketball all over the field.”
Last weekend, Rutgers unexpectedly sprung a no-huddle attack on Nehlen’s defense. The lowly Knights took the bowl-hunting Mountaineers into double-overtime before losing 31-24. Nehlen joked afterward that the game confirmed his decision to retire after this season.
“You have 11 guys to defend 16 zones,” Nehlen said. “People are getting clever to find the zones that you don’t defend. It’s murder.”
Stoops, himself a defensive expert, said there’s no secret to stopping the new juiced-up offenses.
“There isn’t any magical schemes out there,” Stoops said. “It gets down to who makes plays.”
Or who has better athletes. Clemson’s spread attack seemed unstoppable until it ran into Florida State’s superior talent. The Tigers, who accepted a Gator Bowl bid Tuesday, had not scored fewer than four touchdowns in a game but managed only seven points in their Nov. 4 visit to Tallahassee.
“Florida State has been able to take those offenses and give them problems because they have so much speed up front [on defense],” Indiana coach Cam Cameron said. “If you can’t create pressure with four [pass-rushers], now it gives you problems because you have to bring somebody from the perimeter and that opens up something because they have you stretched out.”
Nowhere are defenses stretched thinner than in the Pac-10. Arizona State scored 55 points one week and 38 the next and lost both times. Washington has won games despite conceding 28, 29, 30 and 32 points.
“No one in the conference is hunkering down and playing the kind of defense that was traditionally expected to win a conference championship,” Hackett said. “It’s such a breakaway from the traditional approach to college football, which is that the strong defense will prevail.”
But coaches aren’t ready to give up on defense yet. Indeed, a defensive stop still can be decisive. The biggest play in Indiana’s 51-43 victory over Minnesota Oct. 21 came when the Hoosiers sacked the quarterback, forcing a turnover that led to–what else?–a touchdown.
“If you can’t tackle and you can’t get people to the football, you’re going to get beat,” Carr said. “I think defensive coaches are up against it. Until they come up with some concepts that will slow this offense down, you’re going to see more of it.”
Stoops takes a stand: It’s funny that no one from Oklahoma complained about the Big 12 playoff when the Sooners were sitting at home in Norman and collecting revenue from the game.
But now that the playoff threatens to torpedo No. 1 Oklahoma’s national championship plans–Oklahoma could lose to resurgent Kansas State Dec. 2 in Kansas City–Stoops raises questions about fairness. He said the playoffs may put the Big 12 and Southeastern conferences at a disadvantage in the Bowl Championship Series.
“I think it’s unfortunate that other teams don’t get to play in championship games,” Stoops said. “The teams that don’t play in one miss out on a great opportunity, and that changes the BCS. Some way or another, they probably need to find a formula that deals with conference championship games.
“Maybe the champions of the Big East and ACC, they play, and the champions of the Pac-10 and the Big Ten play and then you decide the BCS after that,” Stoop said.
Uh, coach? The Pac-10 and Big Ten champions have met every year since 1946. It’s called the Rose Bowl.
For the record: Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer was asked Monday to respond to rumors that he is once again a candidate for the Alabama job.
“I have no desire to leave Virginia Tech,” said Beamer, who reportedly drew strong consideration when the school hired Mike DuBose four years ago. “I have never made the comment that if that job was offered to me I would absolutely take it. I have no idea where that rumor started.”
Rumors have a funny way of getting started. More were likely to circulate when Beamer visited Birmingham Monday night to make a speech to the Touchdown Club. He tried to quell them by pointing out that he had agreed to appear last summer. He did say, however, that Alabama representatives had approached him.
Fourth and inches: Hindsight is 20-20. But as Kansas State’s 45th-ranked passing attack torched the Nebraska secondary Saturday night, the thought occurred that perhaps Notre Dame coach Bob Davie should have at least tried a couple of downfield passes in the final minute of the Irish-Huskers game Sept. 9. The Cornhuskers let K-State wide receiver Quincy Morgan catch seven passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns.
Add Oregon State to the list of schools that will be screaming if it is left out of the Bowl Championship Series. What’s the Beavers’ beef? If they beat Oregon this weekend in the Civil War, the Beavers would be 10-1, but they would be locked out of the Rose Bowl if Washington beats Washington State. Oregon State’s lone blemish is a three-point loss to Washington. The Beavers played a relatively soft schedule but still would deserve BCS consideration. “They are a terrific team,” Arizona coach Dick Tomey said. “The best team we’ve played all year.”
