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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1993)
HU P*(010 Oregon State's wishbone offense gives the quarterback (middle) the option of running the ball or dishing It to the pitch man (left). SAM’S ON CAMPUS sandwiches Wairm Up 'Your Winter! 6 Different Soups Daily fius Chile con Came 81 Vegetarian ChiH -mdudm cfctcsc, jtUpmda H onion* % 4 816 Foot Party Sandwich, Beer FREE DELIVERY 804 E. 12th (12th 81 Alder) m 343-1141 63 500 Sin. sandwich exp. 12/3/93 OFF Med. sandwich exp. 12/3/93 Glad to see 'ya? m Order Breakfast [ 1 W at Terry’s Fall day ^ LONG Open Daily Fifth Street Public Market • 683-8196 OSU wishbone attack producing big results By Steve Mims When Oregon Stele went look ing (or a new football coach thfee years ago. it went for something different But, after two decades of losing, who < an blame them? Following a 1-10 1990 season. Oregon State football coach Dave kragthorpn was fired, and with it ( amt* the end of "Air Express" in Corvallis. In came a lough midwesterner named Jerry Pet tibone. bringing something that hadn't been seen in the Pacific 10 Conference for while: the wishbone. Pettibone had studied the wishbone long enough to get a master's degree if possible, under the tutelage of Barry Switzer at Oklahoma and Torn Osborne at Nebraska. Those two programs, along with Colorado and a few others, thrived during the decade of the l‘)8()s by running the hall all over its opponents. However, in recent years Okla homa and Colorado have added a passing attack to its offense, leaving the wishbone pretty much a dinosaur in college fool ball. Pettibone proved it could work during his final three sea sons at Northern Illinois, which compiled a .667 winning per centage during those years. The purpose of the wishbone is relatively easy to explain, but difficult to enact or defend. The offense lines up one fullback and two halfbac ks behind the quar terback. giving the signal caller three options. 1 He can give trie Dali to tnu fullback up the middle if it looks like there is room to run across the line of scrimmage. 2 He can fake the hand off to the fullback, run right or left and keep the ball himself. 3. After running either right or left, the quarterback can pitch the ball to one running bark while the other throws a block. "1 think it is the most positive yardage offense ever invented." Petti bone said. "I would run it wherever 1 was. regardless of tal ent." A strong offensive line and tal ented running backs are very important to the system, hut the quarterback is most essential. The quarterback must not only have speed so the defense can't overlook him, but he must also be able to think quickly and make the right reads. The Heavers had Mark Olford and Ian Shields take control of the offense the last few years, but neither were able to move the team consistently This season Pettibone has found that he has two quarterbacks able to run the team effectively. Don Shanklin and Raheem Muhammad. Shanklin, a junior front Texas, ran for 11“ yards in Oregon Stale's 30-1A win over bowl bound Arizona State earlier this year, before getting hurt How ever. redshirt freshman Muham mad stepped in and has run for more than 100 cards in two Beaver games tins year "Raheem Muhammad cam OUt of now her" 'o lend the team over the last three or four weeks. Oregon State offensive coordi nator Mike Summers said "It has been a tremendous road for us this year with the marked improvement we have made." Now that Pettibone has found a quarterback capable of moving the ball, he is proving that the OSU RUSHING omxMi CAmavtuvmc Wyoming 61 316 Fresno Si 69-352 Woshlnglon SI 42-76 Arizona 47 SO Arizona St 75 419 Pacific 80 667 USC 56 223 UCLA 58 338 Stanford 65-338 Washington 58 258 system has many advantages. "One advantage is that not many teams do it.” Pettibone said. "So it takes drastic changes on defense to prepare for it. Defenses must take on linemen down field and be ready for blocks from miming backs. They must play assignment-oriented defense and be sure somebody is covering the fullback, quarter back and pitch man." Another advantage is the pos sibility of trickery by the offense. There are a lot of fakes and quick handoffs, making it difficult for the defense to be aware of where the ball is. "Option football is very elu sive," Pettibone said. "The defense is not sure who has the ball and that helps you move the ball. If you do it right, you don't even have to block everybody." Oregon head football coach Rich Brooks has seen enough of the option over the past three yoars. Oregon lost to the Beavers in 1991, Hawaii in 1992 and Ari zona this year when facing some form of the option. After allow ing nearly 400 yards in a 31-10 loss at Arizona two weeks ago. his defense must face Oregon State, currently second in the nation in rushing, this weekend. "Usually you don't have a lot of time to prepare for the option," said Brooks Wednesday, repeat ing one of the advantages Petti bone spoke about. "We didn't defend Hawaii well last year, we did defend Oregon State well but the (rain) played a part in that We didn't defend the Arizona option well, but we didn't pre pare for it all week. We haven't played as confident on defense lately." Unlike Arizona, who subbed running back Chuck l.evy into the game at quarterback in place of Dan White at gametime, Ore gon knows what it will lie facing this Saturday Oregon linebacker Krnest lones talked about one defensive option to try to stop Oregon State "We may have four down line men and bring the safeties and cornerbacks up to the line," Jones said "Some of the big things we will lx? looking at are the Arizona films and the films of Oregon State last year.” Oregon safety Chad Cota talked about the discipline needed to lace an option offense. "You have to play disciplined defense.” Cota said. "If every body play their gaps and playv their responsibilities, if you have the quarterback, you must take the quarterback If you have the pitch man, you must take the pitch man. They like to try and run it right down your throat, sc Turn to WISHBONE, Page 8B