Wilkerson and Switzer made their names running the option/wishbone to the short side. Funny how it never worked for us?
The qb has to sell the fake for the option to work. If the defense can read the qb and knows if he's going to pitch or not before hand than the play is blown before it has a chance. It took jj most of the season to learn how to run the option. He started to pitch the ball with enough time and space for the back to do something. Jj kept the ball and ran to the sideline early in the season. Later he would cut up field sooner and if he had to then pitch giving the back some room to work. Crowton should have taught this to jj and made sure he understood how important it was to sell the qb keeper before the play was ever ran in a game. I think jj picked it up through experence on the field more than understanding the concept completely in practice. Too much to practice and not enough time.
Cholly Mac ran the Power-I toss sweep and sprint-draw to the short side regularly. There is nothing wrong with the short side.
We need a true fullback who is a threat on the dive play. If a fullback plowing through the middle for 3 is possible on every down, it keeps the linebackers honest and improves all the option possibilities at the corner.
Just a comment. I've never been to the Oklahoma football stadium but I've read the field has such a slope to it that the teams actually can't see each other across the field and the Sooners always ran "downhill", which is how the term "running downhill" originated. I guess that would mean running to the shortside, since running to the longside would mean they would have to run "uphill" for a few feet. I don't know.
