Ducks on Why Their Spread Offense Will Work

The Holiday Bowl is just two days away and Oregon is confident that their spread offense will be effective against the Oklahoma defense despite the fact that OU has already faced Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas Tech and their spread attacks.

It’s not like Oklahoma is facing an offensive attack that they have never seen before. So, what makes the difference between Oregon’s spread attack and the others Oklahoma has faced? Here are the Ducks explanations in their own words.

“The personnel,” says UO cornerback Justin Phinisee, “Usually when you have a spread offense, it’s because you don’t have great talent. We have great talent, and we’re using the spread.

“And (offensive coordinator Gary) Crowton mixes it up a lot. I like how our coordinator thinks and works. Unpredictable.”

Adds backup QB Brady Leaf: “Coach Crowton’s head is always turning. He’s got things flying in and out of there.”

“We have so many leaders,” quarterback Dennis Dixon says, “and we have these rookies stepping up. We have good depth at every position. Everybody brings something different to the game. When their number is called, they respond.”

“I’ve been looking at the mobile quarterback and seeing what (the Sooners’) tendencies are, and how they’re reacting to that,” Dixon says.

“An athletic quarterback still has a better chance, because of their speed and athleticism and what (the Sooners) do with zone and man blitz,” Ducks coach Mike Bellotti says. “Typically, you have to have a quarterback who is athletic occasionally to escape the blitz and to recognize where the blitz is coming from and adjust protections.”

One of the teams Bellotti and Crowton patterned their offense after was Texas Tech, which beat Oklahoma 23-21 by scoring more than one touchdown against the Sooners for only the second time in the past six meetings. Translation: Oklahoma knows how to stop strictly spread passing games.

Crowton says Texas Tech’s spread is “a lot different” from the Ducks’ approach.
“They don’t switch receivers on either side, they don’t do heavy formations, they don’t do reads off the edge, they don’t do the shovel pass the same way,” Crowton says. “They create space the same, but the schemes are different. And we run the ball a lot differently.”

Bellotti says the Ducks have borrowed from Texas Tech, Utah, Bowling Green, Northwestern and others.

“The things we do, it’s not a cookie-cutter approach,” he says. “We have a framework in which we work that combines and ties everything together, and factors in talent of athletes. We’ve had to adjust some things.”

“They might want to bring pressure,” Leaf says of the Sooner defense, “but they have to deal with five guys out there making plays. If we execute properly, we’ll be fine. You have to be prepared, because they can send anything at you.”

“We have to play our game, that’s the biggest thing,” receiver Demetrius Williams says. “We can’t let them dictate what they want to do. A lot of guys get involved in our offense. It can go to anybody. That’s what separates us from other offenses.”

I think Oregon will pose some problems for the Sooner defense but Bob Stoops has had a month to prepare for this game and I think the biggest defensive disadvantage goes to Oregon’s run defense against Adrian Peterson.