The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

TT, good thought, I know almost nothing about them.

Tech's gonna be in a tough spot for a while I think.  I'd go with someone like KSU, ISU, or OkState.  I'd throw WVU in there too, but not sure how their new coaching is going to work out.  

Yeah, I watched Iowa State a few times last year and this year, more last than this.  I liked how they play the game, almost Wisconsinesque.

Mike Leach and the spread

The end of the SWC (in 1995) was a lot of Pro-Style 2 back teams.  When the Big 12 was created out of the Big 8 and the SWC, the big boy on the block was Nebraska. They famously ran a merciless option attack that was power and more power.

In order to be competitive, defenses had to deploy massive DTs and huge, hulking LBs. The secondary's emphasis was on making tackles and stopping sweeps.

When Mike Leach arrived to be the Sooners' offensive coordinator in the late 90's, he went completely the other direction. he wanted small, fast receivers - and a million of them! Early returns weren't good. It took too much coordination between passers and catchers to pull it off, and collegiate players only had 4 seasons to get it right. It was just too difficult.

Leach, for all his wackiness, really is a very intelligent guy. He devoted more time and thought to the problem. He put together concepts that pulled apart defenses, showed his QBs where the vulnerabilities were, and had his receivers run to them. Since "dime" coverage at the time was a silly notion only deployed against 4th and 20 situations, no one had enough defenders to even slow that machine down!

Please note that a lot of these concepts rely on the inherent advantages that the rules give to the offense. On a "behind the LOS" screen, the receivers can block. You can't block them, though, unless the pass has been thrown. Motion tips off zone or man. Essentially, it was just a given that these offenses were going to score - a lot!

The kids loved this PlayStation type offense! The high schools and QB camps began teaching these concepts so prospects arrived at college knowing how to throw a 20 yard back shoulder fade. The talent was going to go to schools where they could shine. Either you got with it and recruited them, or you were going to stand by helplessly - on the wrong side of a 52-10 route.

Big 12 schools would love to play defense. It's just easier to adapt a 6 man back end defense to stopping the run than it is to find a 4 man secondary that can shut down 5 WR and a QB trained to drop balls into a 10in window from 30 yards out.

Additional info: Bob Stoops hired him as his first OC at OU.  Leach left after that year to take the HFC position at Texas Tech, where he lasted until he was fired just before the 1999-2000 bowl season so that Tech would not have to pay his retention bonus.

Leach had served as Hal Mumme's OC at Valdosta State and Kentucky.  At Kentucky, they played Florida when Bob Stoops was the DC there.  Stoops always found the Mumme-Leach offense hard to defend, so he hired leach to be the OC when he took the OU job.

Mumme and Leach are "Air Raid" guys first and foremost.  But the spread formation can be used as the basis for a run-heavy attack as well.

I know it's a typo but they canned him in 2009.  I still can't believe he was there only 10 seasons (2000-2009).  I thought it was longer than that.  He really had our number, but of course a lot of teams had our number then because we weren't very good.  I think he would have been insanely successful had he come to A&M instead of little Debbie Fran.  But, maybe not.  

Tom Herman is nothing like Fran IMO.  Fran not only lost a lot of games, he got his ass kicked with regularity.  And I'm not talking 30-40 point losses.  I'm talking 77-0 stuff.  And his bowl record was atrocious (he only had 3 here).  In general our teams looked lost a lot.  We almost lost to Fresno and Army, but barely won by like 1 point.  And this was not a year where those teams were decent.  

He did manage to recruit a few decent players amazingly including Von Miller and Ryan Tannehill.  Tannehill was recruited as a WR but moved over to QB.  He still starts in the NFL, if you can believe that.  Of all the QB's we've had through here over the years freakin' Tannehill still plays in the league.  Not Johnny Football.  Not Reggie McNeal.  Not Stephen McGee.  Oh yeah, two dudes named Kyle and Kyler start too.