Originally posted by northwest missouri state
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this is probably more than you'll ever want to know about the old double wing.
i ran this offense personally for 11 seasons and it's easy to manipulate a defense just by taking a wing back and moving him in motion to the sidelines then you pop them for 4 yards with your bread-and-butter dive play. eventually, you'll get someone out of place enough that you hit a crease and manage to get 12 yards just by diverting the defenses attention. watching them in person 3 times, I'd be surprised if Harding has more than 10 plays run out of 6 or 7 formation variations.
In no way am i comparing college football to 7th grade school ball but, i used 4 plays and a bastardized pass play all season to go undefeated. dive, counter and pitch and when we couldn't get them to commit 9 to the box, we would run a wedge play as many times as needed to get them to commit 9 inside the tight ends. It was basically a qb sneak with a silent snap count centered on the nose guard and we would try to get 3 helmets on him, flat back him and stomp him into submission.
We took a large city championship that season with those 4 plays. took that same team to Lubbock that year and won a 24-man tournament by using the same offense and adding a true pass play to make us a grand total of 5 plays. outside of the tournament, passed maybe 20 times in 11 games. I've personally used this O and have a good idea why GAC has problems stopping it. it seems to be the DCs lol. they get impatient and want to show how innovative they are and do something stupid like send a "run blitz" to stuff it and end up giving up a 25-yard run.
the double wing double tight (DWDT) nature of the offense is to hammer the defense until that defense gives up its weakness and exploit it by using angles and contrarian approaches. one of those approaches FOR US, was to have every single snap look the same. always. same paths with one of the wing backs going in pre snap motion. confuses the linebackers by making them guess which of the 4 backs will be getting the ball. that may make them a SIGNLE step too slow to get to the point of attack and that could mean the difference between a 1-yard gain and a TD.
anyway, pre snap motion, get the defense used to it and the sound of the QBs cadence. QB always takes the same steps. he reverses out either hand it for the dive, fake the dive hand to the counter or fake both of those and run off tackle. regardless of who he hands it to or fakes it to, he always runs to the sidelines like he is carrying the ball. that will keep that dend from diving down into the formation to stop the dive or counter. once the dened starts getting undisciplined, the QB takes it around the end.
there are charts that double wing coaches have made up over the years that show you what plays to attack where the defenders aren't. you move people around inside the formation by using the same principles. the only "option" to this offense really is the play calling. the plays are predetermined based on where the defense is lined up or where the weakness is showing up. if the majority of the defense is lined up inside the box, you run outside tackles. if they have a majority of the help outside the box, you run in the middle. If the nose is being way aggressive with your center causing issues, crush him in a vice by hitting him with the wedge and stepping on his body with as many cleats as possible. once he backs off or is replaced, you go back to the dive. rinse and repeat. the best play our players loved was breaking a long run. the players knew to get to the line immediately we were running the QB sneak as soon as the ref moved off the ball. very confusing 15 seconds for a defense that just gave up a long one and a huge boot to the defenses motivation because even if they know its coming, they know theyre getting ready to be stomped on. The offense is extremely easy to diagnose too. depending on which defender shows up, you can tell who screwed up the play and you can correct on the spot.
Now, you add 10 years to the players, mix those plays to an ability to pass the ball and roll a QB out and run with him....you have UNKs offense. with that x factor, you have instantly added about 5 plays to that playbook just off the top of my head. RPO being the deadliest of those 5. they have many more plays than Harding has with the traditional DWDT offense. i suspect that is out of necessity because good traditional type coaches are going to have defense that will combat the Harding approach and not just throw out a "run blitz". had one of the GAC coaches tell us on a recruiting visit that was the plan against Harding. they were going to throw run blitzes at them until they changed to a passing attack. give you a hint, it didn't work.
Double Wing coaches use the phrase "football in a phone booth" because they attack the defense with more blockers in a gap than they can stack defenders. that's why the formation is soooo compact.
the secret to winning against normal football teams is taking advantage of the lack of preparations for the defenses. they don't see the offense enough to have experience with it and it's hard to take a scout offense and have them effectively simulate a double wing attack. defensive coaches with the desire to read the old school football cookbooks will find the key to slowing down the DWDT attack and simply keep scoring against their defense.
anyway, going to be a long offseason. bummer.
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