Would the Wishbone T work today.

Danish43 · August 3, 2023

As my son will begin his fellowship and masters here at the Univ of Alabama and as I walked by the Hall of Fame statue of Gene Stallings who with Darrell Royal created the Wishbone T back in the 60's, a thought crossed my mind. Would the Wishbone T formation or game plan be effective in today's college football? Seeing all the talented backs we have in our roster today, I would think it might be worth a try.

UNT86 · August 3, 2023

The scheme would work.

The problem is recruiting kids to play in a physical, run based offense. Also, fans get really upset when you run the ball too much... even when you win. So, butts in the seats is also a factor.

Scheduling is another factor. I coached at a school that ran a version of the wing bone including the triple option and the midline. We sometimes had a hard time scheduling non-district games because our offense was unique, physical, and hard to stop. We had to travel from Dallas to Huntsville and College Station at times just to fill our schedule.

The scheme is still sound and hard to defend. Also, most guys that know how to defend are retired.

Cr1028 · August 4, 2023

It can be really exciting when it works well.

Mike Jackson · August 4, 2023

No, some of the blocking techniques are no longer legal. Clock domination isn't as sound a strategy today with most good teams having quick scoring offenses. Even Saban's team throw the ball more now to keep pace. If Saban's teams can't hold teams with par level athletes to under 25 points a game most of the time, I am not betting on any program to do that. That means your offense has to have 10 play TD drives routinely and defense that forces several punts. Routinely going in to the 4th multiple score leads going in to the 4th quarter is the only way to get those multiple 9/10 win regular seasons we are looking for running an option offense.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Mike Jackson

SilverEagle · August 4, 2023

20 hours ago, Danish43 said:

As my son will begin his fellowship and masters here at the Univ of Alabama and as I walked by the Hall of Fame statue of Gene Stallings who with Darrell Royal created the Wishbone T back in the 60's, a thought crossed my mind. Would the Wishbone T formation or game plan be effective in today's college football? Seeing all the talented backs we have in our roster today, I would think it might be worth a try.

Find the video of the 1988 UT/North Texas game. North Texas was running what FFR (and others) called the "Flying Wishbone". It worked very well.

greenminer · August 4, 2023

I believe it would. But no one seems willing to take that plunge anymore.

SilverEagle · August 4, 2023

14 hours ago, Cr1028 said:

It can be really exciting when it works well.

Ok, after watching this I think it's time for a little "6 degrees of Decatur HS Football"

1964 Coach Bill Davis hired as head coach. The community's charge to him "Beat Jacksboro....little else matters".

Fred Maples was on that 64 team as the starting QB. Fred Maples was later an assistant under Neal Wilson

1967, Neal Wilson was hired as an assistant coach. (he got to move a few miles closer to his home town of Era).

On that 67 team was Gary Prescott, who later coached under Neal Wilson and was later the Head coach at Northwest HS.

1968 Neal Wilson was hired (at age 24) as the head coach @ Decatur, after Bill Davis moved on in his coaching career.

On that 68 team was Ronnie Gage, who played DB, and according to a close friend of mine who was on that team, he was a favorite of Coach Wilsons, even though he was not an all-star player.

After Neal Wilson moved on to Boswell, one of his assistants was hired @ Decatur, but was replaced after a few years by......Chuck Mills. Chuck Mills took Decatur further into the playoffs than either Bill Davis (who later coached at LD Bell) or Neal Wilson.

And Coach Mills' offensive of choice (at least at Decatur) was the wishbone.,,,,one of the best ones I ever saw. My guess is that he ran the wishbone at Lewisville......which is probably where Ronnie Gage learned it as an assistant.