The Denver Post, Don't Be Nebraska CU Buffs

[Husker in WI]

Army, Navy and the Air Force still run the flex-bone/triple option.  Georgia Tech was running it recently as well.  I still feel in the end superior athletes (both mentally and physically) and coaching is what ultimately wins football games no matter what type of scheme you're trying to run.

To a point. If that were the case we'd see a much wider range of schemes at the top, but nobody is running triple option or the air raid at the top - if scheme truly didn't matter, some probably would. If you've got the athletes and coaches you can do well with anything, but scheme can limit your ceiling.

And more importantly, good athletes don't want to play in schemes that don't maximize their opportunities, and good coaches tend to innovate and wouldn't stick with a scheme holding them back. Osborne's offense changed pretty significantly over the years, and he made the call to change the defense when it was good but not good enough. Saban is always bringing in guys with new ideas. 

 

[suh_fan93]

Except I wasn't commenting on 'what' scheme is 'the best' so my/the point still stands.  

 

[hunter49]

Army, Navy and the Air Force still run the flex-bone/triple option.  Georgia Tech was running it recently as well.  I still feel in the end superior athletes (both mentally and physically) and coaching is what ultimately wins football games no matter what type of scheme you're trying to run.

and the good teams make great in game adjustments, something our coaches don't do very well.

 

[junior4949]

We were transitioning to the spread before Solich was fired.  This is why he hired Barney Cotton to be his offensive coordinator heading into the 03' season.  It was also the reason we recruited Joe Dailey.  He was a different type athlete than what we had previously recruited at QB.  Cotton was supposed to bring his New Mexico State "Barney" ball with him spreading the ball around both with the pass and the run.  Unfortunately, his one and only year to implement the spread was handicapped by Jamal Lord's lack of passing skills. 

 

[junior4949]

To a point. If that were the case we'd see a much wider range of schemes at the top, but nobody is running triple option or the air raid at the top - if scheme truly didn't matter, some probably would. If you've got the athletes and coaches you can do well with anything, but scheme can limit your ceiling.

And more importantly, good athletes don't want to play in schemes that don't maximize their opportunities, and good coaches tend to innovate and wouldn't stick with a scheme holding them back. Osborne's offense changed pretty significantly over the years, and he made the call to change the defense when it was good but not good enough. Saban is always bringing in guys with new ideas. 

To the bolded:  he didn't have any choice.  The majority of the rule changes in the last two decades or so have heavily favored the offense.  Aggressive in-your-face defense more times than not draws both a flag and an ejection these days.  Saban learned he couldn't win it all with his defense.  You don't just stop offenses any longer.  At best, you try to slow them down.  He had to change philosophies and build an offense that could out score anyone knowing his defense couldn't control the outcome of games.  The best outcome for a defense in todays college football isn't stopping the offense.  It's creating turnovers.  It's creating mistakes.  Even when our offense is rolling, we're pretty difficult to stop.  It's the mistakes we make that kill us.  This is about the best a defense can do with the current rules.