Spurrier proved that the ability to throw a deep pass early opens up all kinds of off. opportuntity

Don’t like Steve Spurrier do you Fred?

 

If Mertz had still been healthy, we may have won the UK game, but I think it would have been extremely close. Sometimes a coach's fortunes can change on an injury. This wide-open offense is definitely more fun to watch.

 

That is shocking knowing you Skink !!!

 

hey. @95Gator .. you know it’s the HBC !! Can’t say the other or you may be chastised..

 

not true .. we were one of the last

 

excellent post as usual Clay

 

Only games that have ever pissed me off more were The Swindle and run Lindsey run.

 

As cited above, the shotgun formation is credited to San Francisco 49ers head coach Red Hickey in the 1960s, and Spurrier's predecessor QB at San Francisco was John Brodie who was coached by Hickey before Hickey went on to the Dallas Cowboys where the shotgun formation was popularized in the NFL. Spurrier was exposed to the shotgun in the NFL but he was a stickler for a few things as QB coach and offensive coordinator until the time came to update his line of thinking. Spurrier, like many modern coaches, did not invent anything new but he did have a knack for bringing the best of old concepts together. If you look through his playbook, the part that is hard to see in the diagrams is timing. His playbook does not share terminology with anyone else because he created a unique combination of plays based on old concepts. The shotgun formation changed the timing of his plays, but he made it work.

To Bobby Bowden's credit, his offensive playbooks were highly detailed across all the positions. Spurrier was detailed in timing, and Bowden was detailed in everything from the way they huddled to the way they blocked.

It would be hard to give any college coach credit for re-popularizing the shotgun formation, since there were a few programs running it before FSU and UF. FSU was a more well-known program, so they probably get the credit for making it popular in college football.

 

When I was in junior high in Winter Park, I found in a box some 8-mm film of high school football games that my older brother had. The games would’ve been from the mid 60s, and were teams from the Dallas area.

I took them over to a friend’s house whose father had an 8-mm projector. We set the projector up in the dad’s shop, and projected onto the wall and watched the games.

One thing that stood out was that the teams were running shotgun formation. Watching the games I thought that was so cool.

 

Exactly. More football fans can easily recognize Roger Staubach running the shotgun for the Dallas Cowboys than John Brodie for the San Francisco 49ers--especially in the 1960s. The shotgun and the Cowboys are synonymous not because they invented the formation, but because they were popular at the time they re-introduced the concept to the NFL, which probably led to it being popular at some colleges and high schools. Then again, some high schools might have coaches who learned from the originators of the concept 30+ years prior.

 

Correct. The HBC was so dialed on timing 3, 5, and 7 step drops that he greatly resisted the shotgun. Only after fsu’s great d line proceeded to pummel AND cheap shot Danny did spurs install a new offense. In 3 weeks! Before the national title game! I was there!

Love spurrier and Billy needs to channel that with DJ and revamp the offense to smoke the mutts. Not hopeful but wishful.

 

I met Chris Fowler in Bulwinkels that night.
By that time I had formulated our path to a rematch.
Told him about it he kinda chuckled. Nebraska was in the middle of an epic run and the idea that Texas would beat them was well, almost comical.
We know the rest of the story. Have wondered if he remembered the discussion…

 

A perfect storm involving Ohio State, Arizona State, and others led to us surprisingly playing for the national championship

 

He probably doesn’t get the credit today but he sure used to. He got mad credit from everyone.

 

I watched 30-35 snaps from Bennett at Duke . No shotgun ! Spurrier reluctantly started doing it in the bowl game

 

My friend Sean and I figured out how we would get a rematch on the way home from Doke. I am imagining you were talking about 96.

We were also there when we found out it all happened and the hotel went into a riot watch it was so fun.

And finally we were there for #1 52-20 “straight blow out”. I was even there for the party afterwards at the swamp “Son of a Preacher Man”… “I Need a Hero” Wuerfell compilation, “if you ain’t a Gator than you're Gator bait” led by can’t remember defensive star that led it. Good times.

 

With all respect DAG, I really hope not.

 

I was.
Was at the SECCG and a fair number of us were in the BR watching the Texas/Nebraska game. When they announced the final score the GA Dome went nuts.

Was in NO for the MNC too, I was in PA school and had a solo student ticket, went with some friends but they were seated elsewhere. As I went to my seat an old girlfriend from home was sitting a row behind me. She was there with her family and were staying in the same hotel the team was. Great night on Bourbon street walking around with some of the OL and Bates.

Glory days!

 

Share the video with us.

 

I remember Bowden saying something about playing until after the whistle. That’s when Spurrier decided to put a shotgun to FSU and blow them apart.