Wishbone was best for spring
I thought the Red-White Game was boring. But I think most spring games are boring. I’m always excited to go, because it’s been about three months since I last saw live football, then 5-10 minutes into the spring, I grow tired.
I guess it’s the quarterback protectionism, and the lack of drama, and lack of momentum, and everything else that goes into making a real football game but is missing in the spring.
And maybe I’m getting old, but it seems like the wishbone was more to watch in scrimmages. The modern OU offense has its moments, even in the Red-White Game, but not unless Sam Bradford or Landry Jones or Drew Allen is firing the football through the air. The run game is humdrum and basically not worth watching.
Once the autumn arrives, the OU run game comes alive, with better blocking, better precision, more surprise. But in the spring, it’s hard to watch.
Not so in the wishbone era. You know how in any football game, live or on TV, involving a team you’re passionate about or not, really no matter even the score, anytime the quarterback drops back, suspense heightens?
Remember the old Darrell Royal saying, three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad? He meant completion, incompletion, interception. But truth is, a thousand things can happen when you pass. A sack, a scramble, a scramble/pass, a hundred different pass routes with a dozen different results for each. The most exciting part of any football game is when the ball is in the air, launched by a quarterback, headed to hands unknown.
Well, the old wishbone produced that kind of excitement running play after running play. Who had the ball, fullback or quarterback? Would they counter and head the other way? Would the QB keep or pitch? Would he pitch it in stride or off-line? Would the halfback have a lane or have to cut or be snowed under?
The wishbone-T — remember when they called it that? — was the height of football suspense. It was a high-wire act, play after play, and even when the routine happened — Leon Crosswhite or Lydell Carr, straight up the middle — the possibilities seemed endless.
I’m not advocating going back to the ‘bone. It’s time has come and gone. No complaints with the current OU offense; it’s success has been proven over time.
But the wishbone had its day. And many of those days were in the spring.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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How exciting the wishbone was! But the most exciting part wasn’t just in who was supposed to end up with the ball or what was meant to happen during any given play, but whether the ball would safely end up in ANY Sooner’s hands at the end of the play! The ‘bone was my favorite offense to watch ever, and Sooner fans remember it fondly; but remember how all those turnovers scared the bejeezus out of us when watching? Against Iowa State in 1975 OU fumbled the ball THIRTEEN TIMES, losing SIX of them.
And OU rolled 39-7.
Of course, Iowa State helped by turning the ball over 5 times itself; but OU threw two interceptions for good measure, for a total of 8 turnovers. Yeah, the wishbone was nothing if not exciting to watch — but I think an even better description would be “nerve-racking”! How I miss it, Berry…