On to the Goal

Last week, Orson Swindle waxed eloquent on football, life and life as it relates to football. In particular, he talked about the precise moment at which “you realized the game had some kind of parasitic, infectious grip on you that no amount of treatment would undo.” For him it was one of the more gut-wrenching moments in the last 20 years of Gator football:

Painful, yes, but what did we learn? As it turns out, that play was also a textbook example of the Smash Route passing concept, which you may remember from its previous coachporn disection at the hands of Chris a.k.a. Smart Football.

X’s and O’s are a relatively new addition to my football life. I’ve been a college football fan sincelikeforever but only began to focus on its actual machinations about five years ago. That’s why Smart Football is such a service to the community. For those of us who didn’t play but want to know more about the schematic brilliance behind the game, he is a beacon of light in a world full hopelessly inept color commentators.

So even when the examples have dreadfully, horribly awful results, it’s nice to know that we can derive at least some benefit from them. I’ll be studiously watching for examples of the Smash, Shallow-Cross and Levels concetps this fall.

Due to life circumstances and general laziness, I missed a number of actual interesting items last week, the most interesting of which came from Smart Football (not really a surprise anymore, is it?). In his latest post, Chris shares a video of the “shovel option,” which Florida famously unleashed for drive-saving first downs at several critical moments in the SEC and BCS title games. This particular video, however, was filmed juuuuust a few years earlier:

Look familiar? Yep, The Bear was one smart guy.

There are obviously some differences between the two plays that Chris and a couple of the commenters can explain far better than I. But to me, this is the latest example of how the term “innovator” is so frequently misused when referring to football coaches. This misnomer is especially common when talking heads discuss Meyer. In the lead of his pièce de résistance on the “Urban Meyer Offense,” Chris explained it perfectly. I’ll reprint it at length here because it’s so good, but please read the full post if you haven’t done so already. Emphasis mine.

The book “Spread Formation Football,” written by Coach Meyer, begins with the line: “Spread formations are not new to football.” Very true.

Wait, I should have been more specific. “Spread Formation Football” was written in 1952 by Coach Dutch Meyer of TCU. Yet that Meyer’s edict applies with as much force to today’s Coach Meyer as it did then, if not more so, because it highlights a simple truth. Urban Meyer, and his offensive coordinator, Dan Mullen, are not geniuses, nor are they innovators. Indeed, Florida’s offense is not new; it is not novel; it is not even that unique. Urban Meyer would agree and say, that’s okay. His offense may not be new; it is merely very, very good.

I highlighted those two sentences because I think they help distill the point down to it’s simplest form: Meyer isn’t inventing new schemes, he’s merely bundling them in a way to make the most effective use of the (admittedly prodigious) talents of his players.

Long before Percy Harvin was even eligible to leave Florida for the bright lights of the NFL, the speculation had already begun as to who would replace him — who would be his successor at the “Percy Position”?

I suppose that’s a natural question, at least to the extent that Florida must put 11 men on the field and one of them is certain to be an excellent athlete capable of playing multiple positions. But the nomenclature is completely wrong here. In all likelihood, no one will ever again play the “Percy Position,” simply because no one else is Percy.

This is not as easy as it looks...

To be fair, most who have written on the topic have acknowledged that fact, if only briefly. The issue is also partially the creation of the Florida coaching staff. They designed the schemes to utilize Harvin and they’re recruiting kids who want to be just like him. The Florida offense gets the ball to its playmakers. Versatile athletes, it seems, want to have the ball in their hands as often as possible. Go figure.

But the mere insinuation that just anyone — even a five-star thoroughbred — can be utilized like Harvin and do the same things he did belies just how good he really was. It’s akin to saying that Florida is looking for someone who can play the “Tebow Position” as if 240-pound quarterbacks who can bulldoze defensive tackles on option keepers and complete passes at a 65-percent clip are somehow in ready supply. I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while and was in the process of putting some numbers together yesterday afternoon when Chris Low of ESPN.com and Doc Saturday beat me to the punch. To be honest, I’m kind of glad they did because their insights pay appropriate respect to Harvin’s greatness.

Low:

“The truth is that there aren’t many of those guys on the planet, guys tough enough to take the pounding at running back in the SEC and fast enough and skilled enough to run pass routes.”

Dr. Saturday:

“I remember thinking and then writing (sorry — archives are down at the old site) when I saw Harvin torch Arkansas on that counter in the ‘06 SEC Championship, ‘Nobody else can do that.’ His acceleration, the ability to change direction out of the motion and be full-speed the other way in a blink, made that counter an almost singular play, and Harvin’s ability to run it — in addition to all the usual, around-the-end type of runs motion usually implies — could virtually incapacitate a defense.”

“There aren’t many guys like that on the planet … Nobody else can do that.” Those are the superlatives that we use when talking about Percy Harvin. But for some reason, he doesn’t get his due, even from many Gator fans. Perhaps that’s a natural outcome for a player whose career spanned two national championships and coincided with the tenure of potentially the greatest college football player ever (again, potentially, and that’s another discussion to be had nine months from now).

Those who were fortunate enough to have seen Harvin play when he was healthy (and even some who saw him when he wasn’t) know just how explosive he can be. When put into historical context, however, he looks even more impressive. Harvin is in the conversation of the most dynamic players of the entire decade. Strong cases can be made for Vince Young and Michael Vick (whose last season was 2000), but I would argue that quarterbacks should be included in a separate category (a category in which both would be among the all-time greats). DeSean Jackson and Ted Ginn had their moments but lacked in consistency. Darren Sproles was a dynamite runner but not nearly the same pass-catching threat. In fact, I believe the competition is really a two-man race between Harvin and — before you react, hear me out — Reggie Bush. Let’s get right to the numbers:

* Note: Chart does not include kick or punt returns

In short, Percy Harvin averaged more yards per touch than Bush and was more likely to break a play of 20 yards or longer. Of course, those numbers are a bit skewed. More than 82 percent of Bush’s touches (433) were runs, whereas Harvin carried the ball just 59 percent of the time (194). But Harvin averaged more yards per carry than Bush (9.5 to 7.3) and was again more likely to break a big run, which he did 11.3 percent of the time to Bush’s 8.7 percent. Some of that can be explained by how each man was utilized — Harvin as a wideout on the receiving end of many an option pitch, Bush as a tailback smashing into the pile on isolation runs. But in reality, many of Harvin’s rushing yards came on tough, between-the-tackles runs in which he broke a tackle or made an ankle-shattering cut to burst into space. In other words, Harvin’s edge in the “yards per” and “big play” categories can’t all be attributed to “spread vs. pro style.” Here’s a more complete breakdown:

* Note: Chart does not include kick or punt returns

When viewed in context, those numbers give the edge to Bush. Though he lined up all over the field at times, his primary responsibility was as a traditional running back. That makes his stats even more impressive — particularly his garish pass-catching totals (13.7 ypc!!!) [/PhilSteele]. When you add in his contributions as a kick and punt returner, there’s no question that he was the superior overall college playmaker.

But it’s close. Certainly much closer than most people probably realize. And that alone should illustrate why the “Percy Position” probably needs a new name. As Dr. Saturday pointed out, we pretty much know that no matter how good Jeff Demps and Brandon James are as runners, they will likely never be close to the deep threat that Harvin was. Maybe Debose is, but all we have to go on right now are recruiting accolades and grainy videos of him blowing past lesser mortals on poorly lit high school fields. In his case, time will tell.

For now, Harvin stands apart as a rare talent — arguably the second-best of the decade and (more arguably) the second-best playmaker since Barry Sanders. With Tebow at the helm and a bevy of talented receivers and shifty quarkbacks around him, the Florida offense will be a juggernaut that may yet roll up even more points than its Harvin-having predecessors. But it will be missing a dimension — it just won’t have anybody to play that damn Percy Position.

A grizzly bear with a chainsaw… Now THERE’s a killing machine!” — Homer J. Simpson

Two of the most interesting notes to come out of spring early on?

1) Florida is experimenting with a no-huddle, up-tempo offense.

2) Florida is experimenting with using the I-formation. (Item #11)

Let’s see, potent spread attack, run at a warp-speed pace and triggered by a Heisman winner, with the occasional I-formation brutalizing sprinkled in? That sort of reminds me of… the best statistical offense in history:

Yes, the same amazing offense that the Gators held to 14 points, but you’re lying if you say the Sooner offense didn’t scare you a little bit at times during the title game. The Florida defense was up to the task, but if a faster pace and a more diverse offense (formation-wise) will lead to point totals like Oklahoma put up in 2008, count me in. Grizzly bear, meet chainsaw.

UPDATE: Yesterday I posted a link to a Gainesville Sun article about UF footbal and basketball players visiting the same barber. Let’s just hope that doesn’t lead to disaster like it apparently did at USC.

Somewhere, Tommie Frazier is breaking another tackle

David Wunderlich of Year 2 breaks down a few Florida option plays on Bleacher Report. The first line is the best: “As unbelievable as it would have sounded in 1996, Florida has turned into one of the best option football teams in the country.” Sure, it’s not the absurdly unstoppable option-I offense that Frazier and Nebraska used to brutalize the Gators in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, but seeing the Gators run the option to deadly success is indeed a strange departure from the Spurrier era.

(And for no reason in particular, here’s Florida’s 2000 passing playbook.)

Has Lane Kiffin heard about this?

Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post delves into the tight relationship between Urban Meyer and Bill Belichick. The comments on the article follow the predictable “He’s a cheater! We don’t want to be associated with him!” theme, but believe me, if your college football team’s head coach is compared in earnest to Belichick, you have it very, very good. Percy Harvin on the relationship:

“Coach Meyer tries to imitate him to a tee … We did a lot of things that the Patriots did. Ran a lot of their plays.”

Volin also links to an article on the Patriots Web site about an enticing crop of tight ends including Cornelius Ingram, but if the Patriots draft a Gator this year, I’d like it to be Percy Harvin if only because Belichick would be one of a handful of coaches who would actually use him to his full potential. Harvin should be a solid receiver in any system, but he has a chance to be special with a coach who will tweak the offense to get the ball in his hands in a variety of ways. Sort of like Urban Meyer. Who is like Bill Belichick. You get the point.

No change in ticket prices

Assuming you can, you know, get tickets, you won’t have to pay any more than you did this year to see the Gators play at the swamp next season. Well that’s a relief.