There is a prep football playbook known as the Muskegon, or “Ski-Gun” offense, which I believe some variety of will eventually come to dominate college and even professional football.
Put simply, the Muskegon combines the best aspects of the best playbooks in the FBS and on the prep level.
It’s the Pistol, the Run & Shoot, and the Flexbone all-in-1…and all of those ideas are proven to be superior to the same old, same old in college football when executed correctly by a good team. Uniqueness is good – just ask the Army Black Knights.
Critics of the Flexbone as a “High School” playbook can’t have it both ways – either Army is raising a nucleus of blue-chip NFL prospects at West Point (we know that’s not true) or the so-called “triple option” – essentially the most-complex on-the-fly improvisation in pigskin – is an advantage so great that academy kids can consistently dance with Michigan and Oklahoma.
But the Flex is so run-heavy that it comes with recruiting disadvantages. Great passers and receivers don’t want to play in a “tripple option” (as Khalil Tate called it) system, just as tight ends aren’t lining up to go to Air Raid programs. The Muskegon and its zone-blocked NCAA variants place the QB behind the LOS and spread the backfield out into the slot, using the trademark “wheel” motion of Army’s offense while maintaining the ability to throw to any of 4 or 5 potential receivers in a modern-day Run & Shoot look.
That solves the recruiting dilemma and gets skill players a lot of touches.
New Mexico has helped pioneer the concept under Bob Davies, who like a lot of ex-Notre Dame coaches is more free to experiment at this stage of a long career. The Lobos have been criticized roundly for a style closer to Georgia Southern’s vintage game than a “classic” run-and-gun Mountain West team.
But doggone it, Davies has had the program alive by-turns during his reign in ABQ, and his 2-2 Lobos are a popular underdog pick-to-cover against the surprising San Jose State Spartans this Friday night.
UNM’s offense racked-up 400+ yards against Boise State a few years ago…in the 1st half. New Mexico’s weird playbook is a wild-card that bettors know to be wary of.
Who: New Mexico Lobos at San Jose State Spartans
When: Friday, October 4th, 10 PM EST
Where: CEFCU Stadium, San Jose, CA
Lines: UNM (+6.5) at SJSU (-6.5) / O/U Total: (64)
The Over/Under for Friday night’s scrum (that will run past midnight on the east coast) has also shot downward 5 points since opening at close to 70 total points, and at a glance, it can’t be because the SJSU defense is improving from week to week.
First, the unit helped its offense breeze past Northern Colorado. Then, it had trouble stopping Tulsa of the AAC. Then the Spartan defense was lights-out against Arkansas in the 31-24 upset win, and finally stumped for an answer as Air Force ran all over the place in a 41-24 outcome that was not as close as the score indicates.
Handicappers might blow-off the poor defense in the 4th game as a product of Air Force’s unique variety of triple-option football. But except for a tendency to go under-center and run an old-school blocking scheme every so often, the Falcons are similar to the Lobos under Davies – an athletically-limited defense propped-up by a multiple 11-on-11 offense with complex runs or passes available at all times. If you can’t stop Air Force, you can’t stop UNM unless the D has a pretty special week in practice and on game day, or game-night in this instance.
Is it New Mexico, then, causing the point spread to tighten and the O/U to plummet between 2-2 MWC teams? The Lobos played in 3 high-scoring games prior to last weekend’s 17-10 loss to Liberty, losing a rather 1-sided track meet to Notre Dame but out-lasting rival New Mexico State.
The Week 5 score is deceptive because each team’s drives tended to be time-consuming. Ahmari Davis and the UNM backfield actually had a decent day, but the offense ran into a defense that knew how to at-least contain it, and QB Tevaka Tuioti threw 2 interceptions. Liberty rang-up an awful lot of yards without scoring 20 points, with Stephen Calbert fumbling near the goal line to tarnish a steady passing day.
Spartan QB Josh Love regressed last weekend, most-likely the culprit for the O/U and point spread movement. Love threw almost 50% of his passes incomplete and was not an effective decoy on running plays.
There’s a good chance that New Mexico is licking its chops coming into this contest. But as limited as the Spartans have looked on offense at times, they’re capable of more, and UNM’s weakness tends to be making ordinary opposing offenses look like superstars while the offense deals with the pressure of keeping up. Yet at the same time it’s hard to imagine SJSU blowing-out a decent visitor following the Air Force debacle. It will be a contest long into the night.
Last but not least, football is relative. Neither special teams has been all that electrifying, but they might just be when playing against each other.
Consider the Lobos ATS…but consider the Over (64) a likely winner.