I’m by no means a football genius, but I have watched a lot of it over the years. Every year about this time I wonder (like most of us), what our real offensive identity is? We say that we’re a run-first team, that we run to open up the passing game (specifically play-action). But we also incorporate some spread offense mechanics into our gameplan, which are largely unsuccessful. Blame it on the QB, the receivers, whoever. I think it’s pretty clear that it doesn’t work very well.
So why not go all-out Stanford? By that I mean, why not bring in extra linemen/blocking TEs and commit to running the ball with a stable of running backs. This year might not have been the best example, given our rash of injuries in the backfield, but splitting carries between 2-3 healthy RBs and a physical line with extra blockers seems right up Whitt’s alley. If you succeed, you can manage the game, run the clock and rest your defense. Yet, I can’t recall a time when we’ve ever tried this approach, please correct me if I’m wrong.
I like Coach Harding, I think he’s done a very good job for our O-Line. Why not play to our strengths, throw some more bodies up front and let our RBs go to work? It probably won’t do well for recruiting in the skill positions, but do we really have that much talent there currently? In recent history, have we had lights-out talent at WR/QB to work with? I’d argue that we haven’t. But we do have big bodies, and good RBs.
Anyway, this was just a thought that crossed my mind today. I could be totally off-base. But I’d appreciate some input from people here, who likely know more than I do.
Utah @ 
Colorado 
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