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May 9, 2008

Big 10 schools implementing Appy State offense?

Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore has been getting a lot of calls and hosting a lot of visitors during the off-season. And while that's to be expected after the Mountaineers knocked off Michigan last season, it may surprise some fans to hear that many of those calls & visits have been from Big 10 schools.

The favorite topic: ASU's spread offense, which is based on Urban Meyer's Utah model but involves nuances that Moore's staff learned while visiting West Virginia as guests of Coach Rich Rodriguez. "Since Rodriguez got the Michigan job," Moore said, "I've had calls from every other school in the Big Ten."

We know that Michigan is going to be implementing much of the Coach Rod's famed offense, but I'm damn curious to see if the entire Big 10 is about to undergo a complete offensive makeover.

Posted by Kevin Donahue

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Comments:

  1. Tampa Hurricane Author Profile Page said:

    posted on May 9, 2008 9:20 AM — 24.96.199.254 — link — abuse?



    I doubt that they are calling to implement the offense. It would be more likely that the coaches are trying to learn the offense, in order to find ways to better defend against it.

  2. Clemson Joe said:

    posted on May 9, 2008 10:27 AM — 165.166.31.249 — link — abuse?



    I might be mistaken, but aren't you supposed to actually have speed on your team to run the spread offense?

  3. TE Author Profile Page said:

    posted on May 9, 2008 10:56 AM — 204.68.245.11 — link — abuse?



    Not without a major shift in terms of recruiting style...

    Zook & Rodriguez will rule that conference, with the glacial, monolithic Ohio State still getting some run as well...

  4. Zac said:

    posted on May 10, 2008 6:43 AM — 209.36.193.14 — link — abuse?



    Odd thing: MI gets beat by the "Mountaineers". So, what do they do, they hire one. Not from those that beat them, mind you, but one just the same.

    The best defense against the spread is a fast, attacking defense, that doesn't allow the offensive line to set up its blocking scheme. Not only does such a defense need the right mix of speed and strength, but lots of endurance too.

  5. thebuckstopshere said:

    posted on May 10, 2008 6:44 PM — 68.17.230.55 — link — abuse?



    I would like to see how the spread is going to work in November on a snow covered field.

    @#2 and #3 Don't fall for the misconceptions about speed in the BigTen there’s plenty of it. It’s just not a huge factor when there are poor playing conditions and you’re vying for the BigTen title late in the year.

  6. Jeff said:

    posted on May 14, 2008 5:29 PM — 12.47.224.8 — link — abuse?



    #5

    It's pointless to try to steer people from misconceptions about the Big Ten, as #2 & #3 have stated. Those outside the Big Ten (usually SEC fans) will believe until the cows come home that "their" conference has the fastest players in the land & the Big Ten moves at a glacial pace.

    I just wonder if "not so" Urban Meyer still believes it himself...

  7. Zac said:

    posted on May 16, 2008 1:53 AM — 205.188.116.136 — link — abuse?



    I don't know, Jeff. I can't speak for the Big Ten(11). I can only go with what I observed. I thought IL looked pretty fast a couple of times. IN looked like it had some speed. Against LSU, initially it looked as if OSU had it going, but how quickly that all turned around. Appy St easily matched MI's speed; it was their spread offense that had MI's defense on its heals practically the entire game. As if that weren't bad enough, along came some rather swift "Ducks" the following week.

    There is good news, though. The Pac-10 & SEC don't have all the speed, as one SEC team found out 2 years ago, and a Big-12 team found out last year. And the team I'm speaking of was beaten twice...by teams with speed.

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