I like the wishbone. I always have like the power play of the running game - I have notice so many teams going back to the power football. In fact Bellevue has done very well with the old power running game. With the running game you mainly want 3 to 4 yards a carry and with the 4 - 4 defense its really not that hard to get.

Bell still runs it alot but have gotten into a little or more passing this year oh say 5 times a game lol.

Is it a fair criticism of the wish bone that you have to have the right type of players (particularly the qb) to successfully run it and at the high school level, where you can't recruit, you can't always count on having the right type of players? From what I understand of it, it isn't the type of offense that you run every now and then because of all the reading that has to be done. So you probably don't run it one year when you have the players, abandon it for a couple of years when you don't have the players, and then come back to it for a couple of years when you do have the players. And not withstanding the nostalgia feeling of going back to old school football, do many teams that live and die with the power offenses win state championships on a consistent basis?

 

Trinity doesn't run a power offense and its worked fine for them. And X, which has lived by the power offense, is opening up its O this year from what I understand. If the power offense was all that and a bag of chips, I'd think X would have a few more championships recently and their coach wouldn't be going the route of a more open offense. But I was wrong about the second round of the playoffs recently and I could be wrong again on this issue.

And not withstanding the nostalgia feeling of going back to old school football, do many teams that live and die with the power offenses win state championships on a consistent basis?

 

That is a fair question. Certainly you can win state championships running power football, even consistently. However, I think the likelihood of winning state championships running power football exclusively decreases consequently as your playing classification increases.

That is a fair question. Certainly you can win state championships running power football, even consistently. However, I think the likelihood of winning state championships running power football exclusively decreases consequently as your playing classification increases.

 

 

Great point.

Is it a fair criticism of the wish bone that you have to have the right type of players (particularly the qb) to successfully run it and at the high school level,

You definitely need the right personnel to do it right. But I don't think that is as true for wishbone football as it is for "finesse" football.

 

The QB needs to be smart and diligent and disciplined, but not necessarily gifted athletically. I would argue that the OL is much more critical than the QB.

Great point.

 

It's also worth noting these teams that have had reputable success nationally, despite running the Bone or the Wing T.

 

Cincy Colerain, OH

Bellevue, WA

Valdosta-Lowndes, GA

Northside Warner Robbins, GA

Miami Northwestern, FL

 

The common thread of these "big schools" is SPEED and OLINE. You rarely see QB's from these schools go D-1, but the QB's are always very good at running the offense and carrying playfakes. Above everything else, the wishbone makes defenses do three things that they really don't like:

 

1. Makes defenses play disciplined- Defenses cannot miss any individual assignments or take a play off.

 

2. Defenses must think- You have to be able to read keys and recognize misdirection.

 

3. It forces defenses to guess- he worst thing a defensive coordinator can have happen is when his defense is forced to make a "guess". Good wishbone teams sell play action and complicate blocking schemes that disguise plays and force a reaction time so fast that it may require a guess.

 

When you throw in the speed that the above mentioned teams have, it magnifies all three of these ten fold, the margin of error for missed assingments is drastically cut, the ammount of time tot hink is drastically decreased, and if you choose to guess then the chance to recover is almost a non issue. The O-line can force you to make these mistakes either physcially or with their execution.

I have the highest respect for the Raceland coaching staff,they have ran the wishbone for years(starting I guess with Coach Ross)But Raceland will run what ever it takes to win against whatever the circumstances or personnel call for ..:thumb:

If I were a AD I would get my check book out,and yes I love the bone ,you can split it and spread the field ,you can run Air Force style with fullback and two wings with one wing in motion and ride the fullback ,QB keep or pitch to wing ,all kind of neat stuff to get blockers to the out side.Johnson Central runs alot.:thumb:Ashland use to run it for years back in the old days.:sleep:

:thumb: Thanks a lot Jericho and Raceland ran the bone some before Bill Tom got there. Mike Holtzaphel (spelling?) ran the wishbone in the couple of years he was here. Coach Larry Heck (who replaced Holtzapfel and really got Raceland football back to prominance) ran it along with the power I. I remember Heck saying in an interview before a playoff game when asked about his power run attack and not throwing the ball, he replied " When you have backs like we have and a good line I won't even pass anyone in my car on the highway :lol:". I have seen teams play a 9 man line and Heck still ran the ball, if Caoch Heck threw a pass, it was a news story,lol. He would say "When you throw the ball there are 3 things that can happen and 2 of the are bad....you complete the pass (that is good) or an INT. or incomplete pass (both are bad), I am running the football" .

 

I am not that hard core old school but I do prefer the power running game.

Yes, I remember when "shotgun" meant something entirely different than a cute passing formation.

:thumb::lol:

Maybe they forgot how it feels to "smack" someone in the 4 hole on a blast or trap.

:thumb: Woody Hayes...3 yards an a cloud of dust. I love it!

It's also worth noting these teams that have had reputable success nationally, despite running the Bone or the Wing T.

 

Cincy Colerain, OH

Bellevue, WA

Valdosta-Lowndes, GA

Northside Warner Robbins, GA

Miami Northwestern, FL

 

The common thread of these "big schools" is SPEED and OLINE. You rarely see QB's from these schools go D-1, but the QB's are always very good at running the offense and carrying playfakes. Above everything else, the wishbone makes defenses do three things that they really don't like:

 

1. Makes defenses play disciplined- Defenses cannot miss any individual assignments or take a play off.

 

2. Defenses must think- You have to be able to read keys and recognize misdirection.

 

3. It forces defenses to guess- he worst thing a defensive coordinator can have happen is when his defense is forced to make a "guess". Good wishbone teams sell play action and complicate blocking schemes that disguise plays and force a reaction time so fast that it may require a guess.

 

When you throw in the speed that the above mentioned teams have, it magnifies all three of these ten fold, the margin of error for missed assingments is drastically cut, the ammount of time tot hink is drastically decreased, and if you choose to guess then the chance to recover is almost a non issue. The O-line can force you to make these mistakes either physcially or with their execution.

 

While Colerain is a very good program, I would not say that they have consistently won state championships (although the level of competition certainly plays a role in that).

 

Isn't another concern of the wish bone the pitching of the football in inclement weather? Sure passing in bad weather isn't easy, but a bad pass may end up in just an incompletion. A bad pitch likely is a turn over. Another possible draw back I've been told is that the wish bone is not a come from behind offense. Don't know if that's true, but I've been told that often.

 

I don't know the other schools so I can't comment on them.

 

I personally thought (from my experience playing against it in college) that the wish bone was an easy offense to defend if you got a lot of practice defending it. It was simple assignment football and you could pack the box. Sure if the other team had better blockers and runners than you had defenders, it was tough to defend, but heck, with better blockers and runners, they could have run just about any O and beaten you. Whereas with the spread O, if you have just a few skilled athletes better than the D, you can be very successful with it. I always equated the spread with being an equalizer type offense that allowed you to offset an all around better D.

I have the highest respect for the Raceland coaching staff,they have ran the wishbone for years(starting I guess with Coach Ross)But Raceland will run what ever it takes to win against whatever the circumstances or personnel call for ..:thumb:

If I were a AD I would get my check book out,and yes I love the bone ,you can split it and spread the field ,you can run Air Force style with fullback and two wings with one wing in motion and ride the fullback ,QB keep or pitch to wing ,all kind of neat stuff to get blockers to the out side.Johnson Central runs alot.:thumb:Ashland use to run it for years back in the old days.:sleep:

I remember someone who ran the wishbone and won a State Championship with it in 1990. Probably, the best back field, as a whole, that I ever played against or have seen in person.

I remember someone who ran the wishbone and won a State Championship with it in 1990. Probably, the best back field, as a whole, that I ever played against or have seen in person.

 

:thumb: Vic Marsh at Ashland was a very good coach as well as being a first class person, Vic is a very good man :thumb:. I also remember a man by the name of Herb Conley at Ashland that ran alot of the Barry Switzer/Oklahoma bone, he had a couple of assistants by the names of Vic Marsh and Bill Tom Ross. Do you think that was a good coaching staff :ylsuper:?

Ashland has a long standing and proud tradition in football as well as other sports along with education/academics.

I like to think that Raceland models itself in a way from Ashland. Those two schools have a lot of close ties through the years in all areas that some people may not know about.