Finney: A lot of questions about the spread
Posted by Peter Finney, The Times-Picayune August 27, 2008 8:11AM
So what's the spread?
If you're talking about Saturday's LSU-Appalachian State football game, it all depends.
If you're talking about the offense the visitors will be using, "the spread," or some version of it, is the rage in college football.
If you're talking about money, how many dollars LSU spread out on the table to lure the defending champions in Division I-AA to visit Tiger Stadium, the answer is $750,000.
If you're talking about the Morning Line point spread, there is none, because no betting lines are posted on games between Division I-A and I-AA teams.
"If I had to make an unofficial line, I'd probably make LSU a 35-point favorite," a member of The Gold Sheet said.
Which is about what Appalachian State would have been a year ago, a 35-point "unofficial" underdog, when the Mountaineers went to Ann Arbor and upset fifth-ranked Michigan 34-32 in front of 109,218.
"One of the greatest upsets in the history of college football," they called it.
A week later, when
Michigan lost to Oregon 39-7, there were second thoughts in some quarters.
Perhaps the Wolverines were vastly overrated?
Perhaps.
Or perhaps
the Wolverines had no idea how to defend "the spread," an offense shared by the two teams that stunned them, an offense that makes defenses defend the whole field, creating lots of man-to-man pass coverage.
That's part of what makes Saturday's season opener interesting.
Personnel-wise, when it comes to moving the football, the visitors realize they'll be out-manned.
But the trick is, what if the Mountaineers are successful in keeping that fearsome foursome of the Tigers up front a little off-balance, just long enough to beat one-on-one coverage with short completions and long ones?
In the final minutes last season, Michigan allowed Appalachian State to drive 69 yards to a winning field goal, unable to come up with a big stop, in the air and on the ground, when it counted.
Another intriguing part of Saturday's story line involves Rich Rodriguez.
Remember him?
It was Rodriguez's "spread" offense, as a Tulane assistant, that made Tommy Bowden a 12-0 coach in 1998. It was Rodriguez's spread that Coach Jerry Moore was happy to install at Appalachian State. And it was Rodriguez's spread that worked wonders for him at West Virginia, an offense he's installing at Michigan, a job many felt would be filled by Les Miles.
Funny how things turn out.
Yes, the spread is hot. But yes, the spread can be strangled.
While
West Virginia's spread was upsetting Oklahoma in last season's Fiesta Bowl, at the Sugar Bowl, Georgia was using its defensive quickness to sack Hawaii's Colt Brennan eight times in a 41-10 rout at the Superdome. A run-and-shoot team that had averaged 46 points in winning 12 games could advance the ball no closer than Georgia's 24-yard-line until the game was virtually over.
[But note that #8 Georgia was stunned by Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia's spread attack recently in the Jan. 2006 Sugar Bowl, 38-35]
Which is what Miles is hoping his Tigers can do Saturday, get in the quarterback's face before he can do some quick-pass damage.
It won't be the first time LSU's defense will be asked to defend the entire field this season.
The SEC's most celebrated convert to the spread is Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, who has brought in a guy named Tony Franklin to install the "Franklin System." It's a version of the spread Franklin turned into a lucrative business the past seven years, selling DVDs (at $3,500 per copy) to as many as 350 high schools.
Florida Coach Urban Meyer said 80 percent of high schools today are running some version of the spread. The Gators run it with Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, part quarterback, running back and fullback, and Percy Harvin, a wideout/running back.
Missouri also does it with a quarterback and a wide receiver who pose dual threats.
And Texas Tech does it with a four- and five-wide receiver spread that has led the nation in passing the past five seasons.
So yes, looks like the spread is here to stay.
Why?
As Rodriguez said: "If you see one West Coast offense, the next one will be similar. You see 10 spreads, and 10 different things are being featured."
Which Michigan learned in a hurry at the start of last season.
On the flip side, what the chancellor of Appalachian State learned was euphoria gone wild.
On returning to Boone, N.C., from his trip to Ann Arbor, he discovered the goal posts from the Mountaineers' home field had been uprooted and deposited in his front yard.
He took the vandalism in stride.
And why not?
The Mountaineers had not only become the first Division I-AA team to defeat a team ranked in the top five, they received a $400,000 guarantee.
As for Coach Jerry Moore, he took everything in stride.
Asked how long the celebration might last, he said he hoped not too long: "Keep in mind, we've got a game with Lenoir-Rhyne at our place next week."
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Peter Finney can be reached at 504.826.3405.
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