Alright, need to run this by people to make sure it doesn't sound stupid, unwieldy or unmanageable.
I was rewatching the Oregon-Stanford game from this year just for some inspiration and was thinking, is it really that unthinkable to blend what Stanford and Oregon (or other spread to run teams) do together?
In a lot of ways, Stanford is already doing it, without the tempo. Stanford is lining up in 12, 22, 23, heavy, jumbo packages and running Power O, G Toss, Inside Zone, Wham, Trap, etc. Example: Tight Near Jumbo (7 OL, TE, FB, HB) Power O:
BUT, they are also getting into 11 personnel ace, trey and trips and running read option, pin and pull sweeps (with a backside read) and designed QB runs for Hogan.
The very next play, Trey Right Gun pin and pull zone sweep, which Hogan kept for a gain of 5:
Those were back to back plays and just one example of what was easily dozens in the game for Stanford going in and out of heavy pro sets and spread gun sets and vice versa.
On the other side of the ball, you have Oregon, which is as spread as it gets in football, yet routinely gets into formations like this:
This is actually 11 personnel, that wing player to the top is Dwayne Stafford a WR with a back in the backfield next to Adams and a free safety/specialist Charles Nelson getting the ball on what was a pin and pull zone sweep. The exact same play Stanford ran above, with the same personnel on the field, but run with Jet motion. It went for a 75 yard TD. It was one of just four carries on the season for Nelson, but obviously they wanted to get him the ball some and he had been in some offensive sets in 2014 before transitioning to safety full time. He's a track star and it showed.
Is it really that outlandish to have a team going from heavy personnel jumbo sets and running your traditional pro power game while also still going into the gun and running the same concepts, paired with option? It seems like the line between "power pro style" and "spread" is getting more and more blurred. Even in the NFL you have pro style offenses and concepts getting paired with designed QB runs and options. It seems like a ton of teams at all levels are mixing and matching. Boise has done it for years, it is what made Boise
Boise. Kansas State is very much like this. Even Nebraska this year was running all of Riley's pro style inside zone, outside zone stuff but out of both under center heavy sets and spread gun formations with reads and FB traps mixed in.
My thinking here is to essentially take the under center power component of my Osborne offense; the Ace, I, Power I and maybe add in some Strong/Weak and pair it with the Pistol or Gun (or both) Spread-I stuff I run. I've talked about it before but never really got around to it. Keep the concepts the same obviously, inside zone, outside zone and counter with power mixed in where applicable (and where it actually works). That goes against my typical philosophy, were I given a choice everything I do would be out of the Pistol and Gun, but the concepts don't exist across all the formations I want in the game. I'd like to blend the Oregon/Auburn/Clemson stuff I consistently run with some of the heavy power stuff I love historically. It would still be my typical two back power run, play action... just from a ton of different formations.
The most important thing to me when creating an offense in NCAA is that it be realistic. Anyone can put together an offense in NCAA just cobbling random crap together. Empty mixed with Power I mixed with offset read option mixed with everything else. I hate that. I enjoy putting together offenses that are realistic and that could be installed and practiced by any college team. That typically means limiting concepts. Formations are cheap, concepts cost a bunch of practice time. I like the idea of taking my four base run concepts; inside zone, outside zone, counter, power with the variations on each including iso, read, option, etc and blending them with some more advanced pass concepts to get the ball in the hands of perimeter receivers. Mess around with formation subs to get certain guys the ball in certain ways.
What I'm thinking is the base under center stuff from my Osborne offense:
Ace Big
Ace Big Twins
Ace Slot
Ace Y Trips
I Slot
I Normal
I Twins
I Twins Flex
I Y Trips
I Tight
I Twin TE
Goal Line Normal
Maryland I Wide
Maryland I Tight
Power I Strong
Power I Tight
Then either go traditional gun to run QB Power/Wrap type of stuff or take my Pistol/Offset stuff to focus more on inside zone slice/counter. In the end, I doubt I'd be much higher than 30 formations or so which is around my current Spread-I pro anyway. I think Pistol would blend the best, especially with up-tempo but Gun would add a nice little QB run game.
A lot of options, just don't want it to be overwhelming or unmanageable or absurd. Hopefully this makes a little sense.