Two Plays at Once

[GP1]

I was watching ESPNU yesterday and they did a breakdown on trends in college football play calling in the spread offense and I found it fascinating. Basically, team are running two different plays at the same time in different areas of the field. The QB decides after the ball is snapped which to run. Watch for this the next time you are at a game.

Example 1: A team snaps the ball to the QB. He looks left at two receivers running standard drop back pass patterns. Seeing they are covered and with the running back sneaking out of the backfield to the right where the two WRs on the right are running roll out pass patterns. The QB rolls that way and completes a pass.

Example 2: Trips left and the receivers run the bubble screen. The play isn't there so the QB hold the ball and gives it to the RB next to him. The OLine is blocking for a run play and the team gets good yards with the play.

The modern spread offense gets better and better with time. Every time defenses catch up a little, wrinkles like this are introduced. I'm totally fascinated with it and Saturday at 4 PM you can watch Oregon, a team that has mastered it, run it.

I wouldn't want to be a defensive coordinator right now. How do you stop two plays being run at once? It's a nightmare. So much has to go right.