Diversifying The Spread-Run Offense: The Midline Option Is Back
Just like the McRib.
Like the McRib, the midline option is constructed by large, sweaty men pouring perspiration into the shit sandwich they're about to feed your defense.
Diarrhea, meaty tooting that can clear a work space faster than spurious sexual harassment suits, and an inexplicable desire to greet people with "What it is, blood?" are just some of the side effects of each. And in Colorado's option game under Bill McCartney, the word Blood** was often capitalized.
** gang reference. See the movie Colors, which features Maria Conchita Alonso in a tube top

The midline option, once a staple of the wishbone - and I can recall Jamelle Holloway and Charles Thompson in particular abusing Texas on this read, following their FB fake up into the hole as our 5.1 40 linebackers flailed helplessly at their cocaine-fueled lithe limbs - is back with a vengeance as spread-run gurus seek diversity in their running games.
Smart Football nails it with a great breakdown on what it is and why it's being revitalized:
This tactic has been adopted by other teams as well, including Nebraska. The question is whether it will provide a sustained advantage or if only work to catch defenses off guard for a little while — time will tell. Certainly teams like Oregon have made a living on the play. And the rules for how you might teach the play are quite simple too: On the frontside, your defenders keep their normal zone rules. Your center and backside guard leave unblocked the first man heads up or backside of the center, while the backside guard and tackle block the backside defensive end and weakside linebacker. Thus the zone read where the defensive tackle, instead of the defensive end, is the read.
Why is this important?
For one thing, Nebraska will attack us with this on Saturday. Not the McRib. The midline. Nebraska is far too alabaster a place to embrace the McRib's synthetic faux rib-like semi-deliciousness. Frankly, Nebraskans struggle to discern the tangible difference between Robert Guillame and H. Rap Brown, and they find French's mustard spicy and Latin.
No, Nebraska will attack us with spread-run diversity, the kind of stuff that Chip Kelly and RichRod are doing at Oregon and Michigan that keep the running game functional, if not more deadly, when opposing defenses stack the line of scrimmage or play the scrape game with their LBs to shut down the traditional zone read.
It's also their answer to our own Kheeston Randall, should he impose his will on Nebraska's interior OL, exploiting their undersized center and Nebraska's massive line splits.
But you already knew about their formational diversity from reading my preview, right?
If you don't believe me, read Peter Bean's breakdown at BON. It is niiiice.
The midline option is also one of many retorts to the fan who suggests "stacking the box" as the all-purpose solution to halting a diverse running game. Where you place that extra defender is key and if that extra man is placed outside to bring numbers and leverage on the zone read, the most sophisticated run-spread offenses will simply key off of an interior DL, leaving him unblocked, scoot up inside like George Michael's trained tethered gerbil, and run free and clear with no safety to contend with.
Watch for it on Saturday and, when it happens, proclaim knowingly in a world-weary voice that the TD run (or the fumble, fingers crossed) was midline option. Your friends will hold you in awe and your children and spouse will respect you more.
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Whasthamatta Pac Maaan? You too gootforme Pac Maaan? Fhuuuck youuuu Pac Maaaan!!
I loved Maria Conchita Alonso- – -Much more than Benson.
Is it me, or does it seem like the way to beat this is with a quicker tackle like Okafor or Acho than the bigger guys? Obviously you have Randall out there, but one of our quicker DT’s should be in pursuit, if left unblocked.
Assignment football.
by magnusbleuveigner on Oct 14, 2010 3:18 PM CDT reply actions
OC I worked with at high school level said “If they line up at 3tech, we’ll run veer. If they line up at 1tech, we’ll run midline.” Well, they lined up at 3 and played to 1.
We went 0-10.
Lesson? Greg Davis is an idiot.
by Chigurh on Oct 14, 2010 3:49 PM CDT reply actions
I am confident Gred Davis will have this in our playbook in 2011, after every defensive coordinator has figured out a way to overcome it. Utmost confidence.
by bewildered on Oct 14, 2010 3:53 PM CDT reply actions
Lt. Gov Benson Dubois -> Blanche Dubois -> Blanche from Golden Girls, and then came Maude.
I have discovered that 4 degrees of Bea Arthur can be done with most of the posts on this site.
by Arriviste on Oct 14, 2010 3:54 PM CDT reply actions
Whoever – that “S” better stand for spy, as in Machete. We’ll need him bringing the “controlled” lumber to T-Magic all day.
by TXStampede on Oct 14, 2010 3:56 PM CDT reply actions
<emFrankly, Nebraskans struggle to discern the tangible difference between Robert Guillame and H. Rap Brown
The sit-lie law was written with you in mind.
by parlin on Oct 14, 2010 4:20 PM CDT reply actions
We should stack the box irrespective of their offensive scheme.
by WeAreVince on Oct 14, 2010 5:09 PM CDT reply actions
WeAreVince -
Irrespective of your comment, we may or may not.
parlin -
That made me laugh out loud. I had no idea this was being covered nationally.
Arriviste -
If you can work Kevin Bacon in, or actual bacon, I’d be impressed.
Chigurh -
I followed that perfectly, friend-o.
magnus -
Nicely done. You channeled her well. I like that they had a South America beauty queen playing a chola.
by Scipio Tex on Oct 14, 2010 5:17 PM CDT reply actions
We should have M.C. Alonso install a new wrinkle to our sideways and backwards offense whereby you are killed if you are tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Call it the Running Man.
Whitman, Price, Haddad!!
by Homesick Alien on Oct 14, 2010 11:04 PM CDT reply actions
and your children and spouse will respect you more.
Well, they certainly couldn’t respect me less.
by BrickHorn on Oct 15, 2010 10:10 AM CDT reply actions
And in Colorado’s option game under Bill McCartney, the word Blood** was often capitalized.
Well, it was always such a relief when Kristy got her period.
by spider on Oct 15, 2010 10:48 AM CDT reply actions
Relief that was short-lived once she met Sal.
by Seeing Red on Oct 15, 2010 1:07 PM CDT reply actions
spider -
You won internet today. I will send you a pewter mug.
by Scipio Tex on Oct 15, 2010 1:22 PM CDT reply actions
You had me at “trained tethered gerbil.” Those were the days…
by JesterBurger on Oct 15, 2010 1:39 PM CDT reply actions
Glad somebody got that.
I will put said lead-alloy tankard to good use, sir.
by spider on Oct 15, 2010 1:50 PM CDT reply actions
The McRib was actually created in a meat lab at UNL. True story.
“In 1972 Professor Roger Mandingo of the University of Nebraska received a grant from the National Pork Producers Council to work on a process to create restructured meats. He developed a technology to bind small pieces of meat together in different shapes using salt and mechanical action. The results of his work can be seen today in such items as dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and the famous McRib” Sandwich. Next time you bite into that juicy restructured meat patty, be sure to thank Professor Mandingo."
by JDS on Oct 15, 2010 4:07 PM CDT reply actions
Who developed the gerbil technology, that’s what I want to know. How do you stumble upon that one? I guess it takes a perverted mind to start with, and then some intense curiosity or happenstance???
by Balltastic Motivization on Oct 16, 2010 11:11 AM CDT reply actions
awesome blog, I really love watching football. many hours of entertaintment to be had!
by Estrella Jhonston on Dec 2, 2010 10:34 AM CST reply actions
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
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by thanks it is good to know on Oct 24, 2011 4:07 PM CDT reply actions

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