It's interesting to see B1G posters expressing doubts about smash-mouth, ball-control offensive strategy.
Despite the fact that OU introduced spread/air raid offense to the Big 12 in 1999, Mike Leach's one season as OC, I'm not a big fan of that style. It's hugely QB-dependent, and the skills that those QBs have to have include a lot of intangibles and immeasurables.
Baker Mayfield is the prime example. He's not big enough--supposedly--to be a successful QB at a big-time program. He got one scholarship offer from a P5 school coming out of high school--from Mike Leach's Washington State. Mayfield didn't want to go that far from home, so he walked on at Texas Tech. OU has had him for three seasons now, and he's been fantastic, and he's like lightning in a bottle. I don't think we capture that lighting again anytime soon.
So I have always admired the more run-based offenses, like Wisconsin's, like Stanford's, like Alabama's. I like an offense that can get one yard by running the ball when it absolutely has to have one yard.
Maybe it's a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the road.
