[NU Sports] How you stop the spread....

[Roy Lamberton]

A couple of things I've gleaned from all of the articles on the spread
lately....

1. It is really a running set - you pass when you have to, but it's really
designed to get your tailback open in space. Think back to the old wing-T with
the direct snap to one of the backs.

2. You stop it by finding 4 really good man-to-man d-backs and put pressure on
the QB, remembering that he is really the "other" tailback in the 2 back set.

Both SI and ESPN had articles on stopping the spread offense in their football
preview issues. I'd recommend both as a good place to review what we know about
our offense.

FWIW - Walker always said it was a running offense - he liked to run it more
than 50% of the time to let the receivers get to know their coverage each week.
The blocking scheme is almost always zone, blocking either left or right with
the tackle taking the end the other way. It looks so easy to defend, but if you
don't get 7 or 8 guys in the middle, the O-line has a ball pushing the front 4
or 5 around.

On Duke's no-huddle - it appears that you can gain a lot of yards but not always
a victory when you put the D under stress. I suspect a few more years of running
Cutledge's stuff and Duke is a dangerous team, much like we are at times.

Go Cats

rsl

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
& sometime Unix Guru....
Computer Applications & Support Associates
--------------- Also ---------------------------
Retired Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician [R]
Commissioner Delaware American Legion Baseball
Alumnus of Northwestern University - Sp 1974
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