My Thoughts on the "Spread HD"

by carolinaeasy on Aug 20, 2008 11:16 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

We have all been wondering this off season what the "Spread HD" will look like, what is the concept behind it, and what impact will it have on PSU's offense. Then we get word from Jaybama that it is a "glorified wishbone".

Frankly this scares the excrement out of me. Think of it this way, where has Jay gotten his idea for this offense? I would love to see him write his historiography of the "Spread HD". Is it his old high school playbook? Because high school and low-end college is about the only places I know of that still run the wishbone. Who has he spoken with that has helped him develop this offense? I don't know if any of you have attempted to design your own playbook, but it is hard to do, I am in the middle of developing a basic high school run based offense for future use and it isn't easy. While I don't proclaim to be smarter or a better coach than Jaybama I am still concerned about the kinks that would have to be worked out of this playbook.

On the other hand Urban Meyer is running an old school offense in the single wing, out of the gun and tearing people up with it. So can it work? Obviously it can, but I have to believe that Meyer is just a hair better at Xs and Os than our very own Jaybama. Plus Meyer has been running his offense for the better part of a decade now, dating back to his Bowling Green days. I hope I am wrong on the "Spread HD" but I really have a feeling it is going to look more like a "Spread Analog".

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Hoping

I have been hoping that the “glorified whishbone” reference refers to the fact that there are three potential running threats in the backfield. These would be the QB, Rb, and Rb aligned in the shotgun formation, which in a sense resembles a wishbone. If this is the case, then I do not think there is great concern, since this offense is run by many teams including PSU ’05. At the same time, I seem to remember PSU attempting to run some strange wishbone formation in 2001 with something like Jonhson, Drummond, and McCoo in the backfield (somewhere Omar Easy in the mix as well). If this is the case, I am also very concerned.

by cpm126 on Aug 20, 2008 11:41 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

In 2001

They ran the Power-I formation, starting in the NW game I believe. I kind of liked it.

Blogging about D.C. Baseball since April '04. Penn State alum. Also partial to the Washington Capitals, New York Yankees and Yale football.

by WFY on Aug 21, 2008 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Spread HD

Maybe this is exactly what we need. Form a simple playbook where the quarterback can step to the line and choose between three options depending on how the defense lines up. I would certainly welcome this over the past two years where they called the play and Morelli had to run it no matter what the defense looked like.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Aug 20, 2008 12:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Spread Offense

Mike, I’ve been a reader for about a year now but a participant in discussions only recently. I think you have a great site, excellent discussions and a dedicated following that has insightful arguments to bring to the table. As a recent grad in 07 I maybe have more of a connection and feeling of buzz around campus and what’s going on, and will be going up for most likely 2 games this year.

Anyways, like everyone else I’m hoping this Spread HD system works and is successful, but if it is, it will have nothing to do with JayPa, and everything to do with Clark being able to be smart, and a strong runner and scrambler like MROB. Expect a lot of running and 3 and 6 QB draws this year. Our young backs have potential, now we just have to utilize them and have them blowup and be work horses in the game. We need it to be successful so we can put up some points, because I think we will be exposed with what seems to look like a weak secondary. Your thoughts….

by Craig07 on Aug 20, 2008 1:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

My thoughts...

I think the offense will be fine. With our experienced offensive line and multiple options in the backfield and the most experienced group of receivers in the conference we should have no problems scoring points. At a minimum we should be on par with the offense Illinois had last year. An excellent running offense that is iffy in the passing game. And I don’t recall anyone saying Illinois had problems scoring points last year.

As far as your assessment of the defense, I’m not convinced the secondary will be that bad this year. I don’t think they were bad last year. I just think teams figured out Justin King could be picked on due to the fact he was a soft tackler and he didn’t look back for the ball. He was also supposedly playing with an injured shoulder all year too. But if you look at our secondary we should have Scirrotto and Davis starting, and last time I checked those guys were pretty good back in 2006. I think Wallace is ready to step up and become a shutdown cornerback. My only question is Mark Rubin at safety. I’m worried teams may pick on him, but from what I hear there is a redshirt freshman safety knocking on the door to take Rubin’s spot.

My concern with the defense, believe it or not, is our linebackers. Losing Lee and Connor means we are going to take a huge step back in that unit. The only guys with significant playing time are Tyrell Sales and Josh Hull who is good, but he’s no Sean Lee. Our opening day lineup will feature some combination of Hull, Colasanti, Sales, and Gbadyu. Bowman may work his way in there after a few weeks of keeping his nose clean, but that is a group of linebackers I have no idea what to expect from. At least with the secondary everyone has experience and I know what to expect from them.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Aug 20, 2008 3:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Illinois is an interesting choice...

Illinois was 5th in the nation in rushing offense (256 yds / game) and 109th (yeeegads!!!) with 168 yds/game… all of this added up to a scoring offense that finished 58th in the country averaging a pedestrian 27.85 points per contest. (http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2007/Internet/ranking_summary/2007000000301.HTML)

Illinois moved the football quite well on the ground mostly because of Rashard Mendenhall turning into a beast. When I look at Penn State I see a number of guys competing to become the feature back and what figures to be a solid rotation in the backfield, but I most assuredly do not see a Rashard Mendenhall on your football team. I would hope that you guys manage better than 109th in passing (and definitely expect you to) but I also don’t see a top 5 rushing attack taking shape in Happy Valley this season…

A point that I’ve been making for quite a while about your outside skill guys is that yes, they are all quite experienced… but that said, outside of Derrick Williams who’s a play-maker? Even looking at Williams, the guy has managed to score all of 10 touchdowns in three years. He reminds me an awful lot of the way that Michigan butchered the way we used Steve Breaston in the last three years of his career. All world talent coming in, and has gone largely under-utilized since. Point being, unless someone steps up and proves to be a safety blanket for your new QB or someone suddenly morphs into a tremendous playmaker on the outside, I don’t think this offense is going to put points up on the board like it’s going out of style.

And as always, as long as Jay Pa is involved, I will remain highly skeptical.

Go Blue!

by ThoseWhoStay on Aug 21, 2008 10:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can't argue

I pretty much agree with everything you say. We don’t have a Mendenhall on our team, but I think we have an excellent offensive line and two very good running backs and a running quarterback so if we average less than 200 yards rushing per game I’ll be disappointed.

I don’t think any of our wide receivers stand a chance of being drafted in the first four rounds of the NFL draft, but they are quick and catch the ball. The past two years they have done nothing but run short to medium out patterns because they were safe throws. I don’t know if that was a factor of conservative play calling or a quarterback that couldn’t read defenses. If it’s the former we’re probably in for more of the same this year. If it’s the latter I think/hope we’ll see a more wide open passing game.

In either case the running game alone should be enough for this offense to score 30 points per game.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Aug 21, 2008 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, but.....

King was also the best pass defender. He had 15 Break Ups and 17 Passes Defended while the next best was Scirotto at 3 and 6. If teams were picking on him because he had issues, he was still doing the most in the pass defense. How many more passes would have had to go everyone else’s way to get numbers even close to his? Also, King always drew the opposing teams best WR. Who now is going to step up and put up anything close to those numbers? Also, I’m assuming a Break Up is when the DB actually knocks the ball away where as a Pass Defended just means the receiver didn’t catch the ball? That right?

Yes, I agree the LBs should be the biggest concern, but to me its the entire front 7. Last year teams that were capable of running the ball lined up and shoved it down Penn State’s throat. Illinois for 213, OSU for 200, Michigan for 166 and MSU for 144 and Wisconsin even had 86 (which is impressive since the game was a blowout). Teams did that with Lee and Connor. What will they do without them?

by DrDetroit on Aug 21, 2008 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Secondary

Scirotto is a solid safety, but can be exploited easily, he’s not fast enough to keep up with some guys. Davis lacked last year, and it seems the coaches are not sure where he fits best. I agree with you that Mark Rubin may get picked on. Hopefully Wallace matures his game and becomes the stud we expect, we need him to if we want to shut down some corners. It’s too hard to tell how potential freshman like powell may turn out.

by Craig07 on Aug 20, 2008 4:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As long as spread doesn't mean

4 or 5 wideouts it should work OK. “Spread” used to mean empty backfields and I hate those kind of offenses, they fail at critical times. I was hoping for more of a traditional power “I” this year given the personnel on the O-line, but as long as we’re run-first it should be pretty good.

by Joe 96alum on Aug 20, 2008 8:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs