Whenever I talk with people about the logisitics of football and I say something the to effect of, "we're a smash mouth team--that's why we run the spread." They usually think i'm talking out of my butt and feel like I threw my credibality into the front of a movie train. I can hear the gears turning in your head, "how is that?"
A little bit about the spread offense; There are a few different styles of what people consider the "Spread Offense". For example, in the 70's and 80's the Houston Oilers ran a version that's come to be known as the 'Run 'n' Shoot'. This version of the spread is very pass oriented and designed to determine the passing routes based on how the defensive coverage develops during the play. This offense focuses on a lot of choice routes instead of your typical 'set in stone' patterns and takes a great degree of mastery before recievers and QB see the same thing. It's usually ran with the QB in the gun position, no Tight End, and a single Running Back (desired Runningback types depend on coaching but can range from a small agile reciever type to a large blocking type).
This version of the spread is very different than what Texas Tech ran in the mid 2000's which is different than what modern day Oregon runs. Along with the Houston Oilers high powered Run 'n' Shoot, there was the development of deep attacking Air Coryell offense. Which featured similar formations but was focused more on finding the tallest fastest guys you could find, lining them up on the perimeter and making them run faster than the Cornerbacks and jump higher than the Safety's.
These two offenses arguably made way for the West Coast [which has no connection to the West Coast outside of that fact that it was first installed by a west coast team] Offense which was perfected by the legendary 49ers coach, Bill Walsh. This is also the snowball that helped project QB salaries. The West Coast offense put the decision making solely into the hands of the QB, who coincidentally enough had the ball in his hands every play of every game. At the time Walsh had a smaller undersized QB that didin't feature a rocket arm but had accuracy. His name was Joe Montana. Smaller and undersized but a field commander with a comptitive spirit and had the intelligence to throw the ball where te defender was not.
The Run 'n' Shoot offense was focused on knowing, pre-snap, where the defense was going to be while the Air Coryell offense was to find the open reciever through progression and get him the ball. The West Coast offense was a novelty at the time because it took these two concepts and combined them. The idea of the West Coast offense was for the QB to identify the basic idea of the coverage he was seeing and check to the best recieving option (determined by the coverage).
Now the moder era Spread. The West Coast offense not only helped pave the way for modern offensive concepts but it forced defenses to re-think their personnel and strategy. Defenses were forced to find Linebackers that were able to cover rush the passer AND drop back into coverage. For the pre-West Coast era football players this required two very different skills. Because defenses were required to respect the 4 reciever threat, Linebackers were usually the most likely defenders put in charge of defending the shallow routes (usually < 10yds). When defenders are forced to leave what's known as 'the box' (the 10yd x 10yd area around the Center) this opens up the running game. It's basic mathematics, less defenders makes for less guys to block which makes for more room to run. Here enters the moder day spread.
Texas Tech runs a more pass oriented spread with more Coryell concepts than the type of Spread that Oregon runs. This entry is aimed more at talking about the Oregon style spread and it's affect on the running game. Spreading out the field and taking guys out of the box leads to better run opportunities and mixed with good run game schemes it's a force multiplier for the run game. Think of the most basic Zone run. The Zone is an Option type concept. The QB either keeps the ball or hands off the ball based on what the defender does. In this picture QB is reading the red highlighted Defensive End. The QB is going to watch what he does during the play, if the Defensive End comes at him he's going to hand the ball to the Running Back, if the Defensive End stays shallow and follows the Running Back the QB is going to keep it.
This way of playing the spread puts a great deal of emphasis on exceptional QB coaching and Offensive line coaching. It also gives a greater degree of freedom for the QB. Playing this style of offense it's not neccessary to have a tall QB with a big arm much like Texas Tech. At the college level that means you can go after smaller more athletic guys without as much competition in recruiting. At the high school level this means you can open up and diversify your offense. You don't need to rely heavily on the Running Back playing from the I-formation.
The true strength of the run oriented Spread Offense is that it evens out the responsilbility among the team. Before the Spread became vogue, you needed a good set of triplets [refering to the Cowboys cliche term], a solid dependable Running Back, a tall fast Receiver, and a prototypical QB. With a Spread scheme you can take an athlete, put him at QB and let him shine doing what he does best; being an athlete. It allows a team to rely more on it's athleticism and solid fundamentals than being elite and physically superior by way of height, weight, and overall size.
This of course, will lead to defenses re-aligning how they do things and in-turn will perpetuate the cycle of football evolution.
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