Why did Whitt move away from the spread offense?

[22Ute22]

Sort of a historical discussion, but what lead to Whitt moving away from the spread offense in 2011? He saw the great offenses with Urban, and even Ludwig ran the spread in his 1st stint here. So what caused Whitt to move away from the spread when it gave Utah so much success in the past?

[chinngiskhaan]

Our re recruiting pool has always lent itself to the type of offensive system we run now. Good running backs, good tight ends, great defense. The spread made things harder on our defense. He made the right choice. With a good qb, this style of offense is very successful.

[Tyler Henry]

That is no longer the case, though. Utah is starting to focus on WR and QB play rather than strictly Defense and the occasional RB. Expect Utah to utilize a more Spread-based offense going forward. We have the WR talent to do it, and we are recruiting WR’s to continue spreading out the Offense!

[Central Coast Ute]

When the Utes are running out 3 or 4 tight ends sets, they won’t be running any sort of spread offense, although they will be throwing the ball. They haven’t been running the spread and they won’t be running it this year either.

[Hellhound152]

Cold truth, the “Urban Spread” left with Urban, Sanford, and Mullen. Ludwig ran the same 1 back “west coast” offense out of the shotgun with read option elements. BJ was under center a bunch in 2005 with Ganther at tailback. BJ, rarely ran designed run plays in 08′. The “true spread” as ran by Dave Scramm lasted 6 games until the immobile Jordan Wynn became QB and Utah went back to a one back “west coast” shotgun offense with the rare zone read, sometimes with two back using Asiata and Mack. This carried over to 2010 and was derailed by Wynns injuries.

The Chow hire was a no brainer at the time and was brilliant given Chow’s history of using scheme to combat athletically superior teams during the transition to the PAC12. The BJ multiple offense never got a chance to get off the ground mostly because if inexperience in the skill group. Ericskon was a pioneer of the one back, 3 receiver offense and had evolved to some spread elements like everyone else by the early 2010’s. We won’t address the “Christensen spread” since if the rumors are true that lasted two series into the Oregon State game when T. Wilson was put back in the lineup and Roderick took over the offense. Roderick’s offense was an honest, one back “west coast” run heavy offense. Troy Taylor… moving on. Finally back to Ludwig’s one back “west coast” look with more under center work than the prior stint.

So honestly? Whit suffered the “spread” approximately 10 games in his tenure. And none of it was the “Urban spread” which was actually a running offense sans revisionist history. My opinion is that by 2010 everyone was doing it in some form, the schematic advantage was gone, so you do what you need to do to win with what you got which in Utah’s case was to beat up defenses loaded with speed to combat the “newish” offense, which Utah did.

I would also note, it was during the rise of the spread that Stanford had its most successful run of the modern era by turning into the slide running 21 personnel and beating the bejesus out of small, fast, defenses.

[CityCreekUte]

When did Ludwig come back?

I’d say things after Ludwig/Mullen were driven a lot by the OC at the time as much as anything. We had how many years of a new OC each season? Was it 7 or 8?

[pedro]

I would add that defenses started to figure out the spread and it was no longer as prolific. You have to adjust and they have.

[Uteanooga]

Whitt moved away from the spread when it was not working and there was talk of him being fired. These days are often forgotten now. He had two 5-7 seasons with poor offensive output and revolving OCs where they were looking for answers. The spread just was not working for the players in the program.

Defenses had no idea what to do with spread offenses stacked with elite players for a few years but then defenses adapted and spread was nothing special.

The best coaches utilize a system that fits their athletes and recruits athletes that will work in their system. The spread was not it.

[2008 National Champ]

there is no such thing as a “spread” offense. it simply refers to receiver alignment and originated as a talking head term as teams moved away from “tight” formations like the power I, wish/flex bone, or veer in an attempt to get defenders out of the box to make running easier. over the last 30 years, it’s now become a catchall term that doesn’t actually refer to anything but the talking heads think it makes them sound smart.

“multiple” & “pro style” are a couple more terms that mattered in the 80’s and 90’s but have no meaning today. Even the service academies are running “multiple” formation offenses these days and the “pro style” formation of two split running backs with X, Y & Z has gone the way of the dinosaur. but the terms have stayed because it’s tough trying to find enough things to say to fill a 3 1/2 to 4 hour broadcast.

Ludwig’s offense meets the definition of spread. It’s not the same as Art Briles veer and shoot spread offense or Mike Leach’s air raid spread offense. But it is designed to utilize formations, shifts and motions to keep the defense from putting 8 or more defenders in the “box”. If Utah lined up with their standard two TE’s to one side (one on the line and Kuithe as the A off his hip) they would be in a “tight offense”; then shifted Kuithe out to the slot they would magically be in a “spread offense”. Man, that’s genius. They became a “multiple offense” with just one play. The talking head thinks he’s giving graduate level analysis and the audience is no smarter than they would have been if they’d never watched the broadcast.

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