It may be ‘old-man football’ to some, but Jon Gruden loves what Georgia does
ATHENS – On one hand, you have Sheldon Richardson, the Missouri defensive lineman who infamously said he had to turn off the Georgia game this past Saturday because “it’s like watching Big Ten football. It’s old-man football.”
Then you have Jon Gruden, the former NFL head coach and current lead analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. He says he loves watching the Bulldogs’ offense in action. As for that spread stuff Missouri does? Not so much.
Before he became an analyst with ESPN's Monday Night Football, Jon Gruden earned a reputation as an offensive-minded head coach at Oakland and Tampa Bay.
“I like what Georgia does offensively,” said Gruden, who was on the broadcast crew that called Georgia’s game against Michigan State in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 2. “I look forward to getting their tapes. . . . When you get Georgia, you get a lot of good stuff. You’re gonna see audibles, two-back play-action. You’re going to see an array of personnel groupings and formations and different ways of attacking. I like what they do at Georgia.”
Those two philosophies will collide this Saturday night in Columbia, Mo., as the Bulldogs visit Memorial Stadium to play Missouri in its first SEC game. The Tigers and Texas A&M were approved to join a newly-expanded, 14-team SEC last winter and officially were chartered into the league on July 1.
Over and above their long history and association with the Big Eight and Big Twelve conferences, the Tigers are coming from a different place philosophically. Coach Gary Pinkel’s teams are known for utilizing a spread offense to produce big numbers. Virtually every one of Missouri’s school records for points and yardage have been established during the era of Pinkel and his offensive coordinator David Yost. Routinely the Tigers have finished among the top teams in the country in total offense, including this past season when they were 12th at 475.5 yards per game.
“There will be some four-receiver looks and five-receiver looks,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Sometimes the quarterback will be the only one in the backfield when they snap the ball. Their goal is to spread you out, but they want to run the football, too. A lot of their run game does come from their quarterback, but they do give it to their back in the backfield a good bit and run the zone-read type stuff like everybody else runs.”
The spread offense – and variations of it — has been hot trend in college football the last several years. It gained in popularity after Urban Meyer brought it from Utah and used it to win national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2008.
Gruden doesn’t care for it.
“These teams are in a no-huddle offense and they’re trying to snap the ball before the defense is ready as many times as they can in a game,” he said. “They throw bubble screen after bubble screen and funnel screen after funnel screen and they run the read-option and that’s about it.”
Gruden said such offenses do little to prepare their players for the NFL. He said Georgia’s pro-style offense, by contrast, is why you see so many of the Bulldogs’ players getting drafted early and having success at the professional level.
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford credits a lot of his early NFL success to offensive concepts he learned in three seasons at Georgia. (Photo by Scott Boehm/Getty Images)
“They’ve had the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft in Matthew Stafford,” Gruden said. “My brother [Jay Gruden] coaches A.J. Green and he was accomplished enough to come into the NFL and make the pro bowl as a rookie. Cordy Glenn was a first-round draft choice. Knowshon Moreno was a first-rounder.
“It’s because they run a pro-style, two-back offense, which is really unheard of in a lot of places these days. They’re committed to slamming the ball at you. They can get into a one-back set, they can use the no-huddle, they throw the ball down field. I think the battery there of Mark Richt and Coach [Mike] Bobo is excellent. They’ve got an excellent line coach, too, [Will] Friend.”
What makes Gruden’s comments particularly interesting is they run contrary to what a lot of fans think. A vocal segment of the “Bulldog Nation” has been complaining for years about the play-calling and game-planning of Bobo, the offensive coordinator.
Gruden, who has worked with Bobo at some clinics in recent years, doesn’t get that.
“I think the guy’s an excellent coach,” he said. “I think he’s vastly underrated. That’s just my opinion. I don’t think you can argue that there’s been a lot of production and Georgia has won a lot of games the last decade. What has Aaron Murray done? He’s thrown, what, 60 touchdown passes in two years? That’s disgraceful isn’t it?”
Stafford was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 NFL draft. He passed for 5,038 yards with 41 touchdowns and 16 interceptions for the Detroit Lions this past season. He said he owes a lot of his early success in the NFL to the training he received at Georgia.
“Our system here is similar to what we did at Georgia; a lot of the same concepts and just how we go about it,” Stafford said. “Being under center and being able to play in a pro-style offense in college benefited me a lot. That was a big part of my decision to come to Georgia.”
Stafford said he stays in close touch with Bobo, exchanging text messages weekly and talking football over the phone.
“I love him as a play-caller and as a coach,” Stafford said. “I had him in his first couple of years [as play-caller] and I think he’s gotten better every year. I watched them last year and I thought they were moving the ball great. Obviously Aaron had a great year. I’m excited to see what they can do this year.”
Bobo said he doesn’t pay any attention to the criticism he gets from fans. He said he wouldn’t even be aware of it if reporters didn’t occasionally ask him about it.
Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, he with Aaron Murray, has a strong reputation inside football for developing quarterbacks. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
“We’re in our hole and we’re in here grinding and working,” Bobo said. “We really don’t get caught up with anything like that, good or bad. I think if you’re doing your job you can’t really look at the positive stuff or the negative stuff. It can affect you either way. You just want to do the job to the best of your ability.”
Bobo said he believes he is a better coordinator and play-caller than he was when he first took over those duties from Richt in 2006.
“You learn what to look for and how to go about your week and the organization of it,” he said. “I just remember early on you felt like there wasn’t enough hours in the day and you weren’t going to get everything covered. I’m very fortunate to be here with Coach Richt, who’s been a coordinator and has a great staff. I think we work well together. It’s just about managing time and preparing for games and getting ready for each week.”
The system Bobo is running was designed by Richt. He has been coordinating offenses since the early 1990s when he helped lead Florida State to 14 consecutive Top 5 finishes. At the beginning of that stretch he had the Seminoles running a version of “the spread.”
“We called in the ‘Fast Break,’” Richt said. “This was in 1992. I know there’s a lot of people who think this spread stuff started a little while ago. We were doing a lot of that in 1992.”
But Richt eventually settled on a multiple pro-style offense. He said he prefers the versatility and “physicality” of it.
“It’s sound fundamental football, you know?,” he said. “I think the more that people spread the field, the less that they’re able to handle the power running game. Sometimes things trend to being spread and out in space, but sometimes when everybody works in that direction they forget how to defend some hard-nose football.
“We just believe in what we do, I guess.”
As well they should, Gruden says, criticism be damned.
“First of all, every coordinator in every town I go to is under siege by the fans and bloggers and websites and talk radio,” Gruden said. “But those people don’t represent everybody. . . . I think there are about 20 new coordinators in the NFL this year. Just to make a point, that’s a tough job.
“You’re going to be criticized, sometimes justifiably and oftentimes unjustifiably.”
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140 comments Add your comment
dawgtired83
September 4th, 2012
3:32 pm
Chip, Any update on Malcom Mitchell, Theus injuries?
ugab
September 4th, 2012
5:06 pm
I do not know what to expect after last weeks game. The defense started out horrible.. The offense missed a bunch of TD opportunities. Missouri will exploit our suspended secondary. Missouri’s crowd is going to be in the game. Uga does not play well in a hostile stadium. I pray that the coaches and players were all looking ahead. The heat should have been an advantage for the dawgs last week. The players looked out of shape and winded. Let’s face it; it takes 3 games for CMR’s teams to get in shape and in rhythm.
Golferdawg17
September 4th, 2012
5:13 pm
all this praise about UGA’s system is completely missing the point. Yes, we know UGA churns out NFL caliber players; but, it’s the results that are substandard, which tells me that we’re mismanaging the system. When i saw UGA was ranked 6th, i just laughed in disbelief. Over the last 4 years, UGA has beaten 1 top 10 team – guess which one….yeah, TECH in 2009 (that one shouldn’t even count) UGA is 1-8 vs. top 10 teams since 2008…how bout let’s win one over a top 10 team before we start seeing Sugar falling from the sky?
coloradobulldog
September 4th, 2012
5:19 pm
Somebody suggested Trent Dilfer as an option for a head coach. Oh my gosh. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Thanks for that.
Columbus
September 4th, 2012
5:37 pm
Hey idiots…..the OL has been getting pushed around for a few years because most all of them have been NEW every year! Have you not noticed that the OL has been having tremendous turnover every year?! Heck it seems like it started in Staffords last season. We havent had 3 guys play together for 2 or more years….it seems like forever and freshman after freshman starting or playing significantly. Thats all about to change the next few years. I hope Dantzler can just stay healthy. The rest of them too! With the backs(havent had none since Moreno)and QB’s and reeivers then next few years, with a VETERAN OL leading the way, UGA can get their first SEC and national championship.
Should have won the NC in 2007 but UGA didnt get the shot Bama got last year….HADNT HAD AN OL SINCE!! YOU ALL KNOW THATS BOTH IS TRUE SO STOP HATING ON RICHT. BEST COACH IN UGA HISTORY. HE HAS WEATHERED THE STORM AND IS ABOUT TO HIT HIS PRIME FOR A 1ST TIME HEAD COACH AND BRING SEVERAL CHAMPIONSHIPS! MORONS. UGA IS IN THE TOP 10 IN THE NATION AND DESERVEDLY SO, UNLIKE THAT REDICULOUS #1 RANKING IN 2008. YOU BETTER STOP SPREADING SO MUCH NEGATIVITY LITTLE BOYS, GROW UP, GET ALL THE FACTS, SEE THE BIG PICTURE AND APPRECIATE AND SUPPORT THE HECK OUT OF RICHT AND THE UGA FOOTBALL PLAYERS! YOU GOTTA SUPPORT ND BELIEVE AND ALL YOU GUYS DO IS COMPLAIN AND SPREAD CYNICISM….GO ARGE WITH GRUDEN SOME MORE….GO SUPPORT A SCHOOL WITH “THE SPREAD”. MEYERS TIME WAS UP…SEC DEFENSES HAD HIM FIGURED OUT AND HE KNEW IT. HAD HIM FIGURED OUT 2 YEARS BEFORE HE LEFT BUT TEBOW KEPT IT GOING BECAUSE OF HIS TALENT AND THEN MEYER RETIRED SUDDENLY BECAUSE OF HEALTH….NO BECAUSE HE WAS TOAST WITHOUT TEBOW….MEYER KNEW THE GIG WAS UP IN THE SEC…CAME BACK FOR ONE MORE YEAR THEN CONVENIENTLY RETIRED! WAITED FOR A CANT LOSE JOB WHERE HIS OFFENSE HAD NOT YET BEEN DEFENDED WITH DEFENSES LESS TALNTED AND DC’S LESS TALENTED AT A SCHOOL THAT GETS GREAT RECRUITS AND SAID YEAH….I CANT LOSE THERE! MEYER WIL DOMINATE THAT CONFERENCE FOR THE MOST PART, ESPECIALLY WITH PENN ST OUT THE LOOP…HE DIDNT GO TO A SCHOOL IN THE SEC DID HE? COULD HAVE BUT DIDNT DID HE? I WISH MEYER HAD STAYED AT FLORIDA BECAUSE THAT WAS GOING TO BE A UGA WIN MOST EVERY YEAR WITH HIS FOUND OUT OFFENSE….YOU GUYS ARGUE AWAY WITH GRUDEN ALL YOU WANT….
BUT WHEN UGA HAS AN OL TOGETHER FOR A FEW SEASONS….IT ALL WILL FALL INTO PLACE….HARD TO WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS OTHERWISE NUMBSKULLS
ARdawg
September 4th, 2012
6:02 pm
I for one have never been a Bobo homer but say what you want, there was nothng wrong with the playcalling in the Buff game. Execution on the other hand was atrocious at times. In the first hal;f the defense was lethargic but, that had nothing to do with the offense. For you Bozo’s that feel you didn’t get to see the playbook, you didn’t. Get over it. It was mundane on purpose
Huh?
September 4th, 2012
6:08 pm
Columbus…there you go again.
Watsonone
September 4th, 2012
6:21 pm
Mike, I agree with you. We have a lot of geniuses that know everything about football. I have a brother that reminds me how much he knows all the time. I just laugh to myself. He played football 50 years ago so he know all about it. Let Richt, Bobo and Grantham alone and they will present us a winner. Go DAWGS looking for a great season!!!
I dropped my fried twinkie
September 4th, 2012
6:28 pm
YES CHUCKY does could he would LOVE to take christ Richt’s job……Richt and Bobo SUX
Huh?
September 4th, 2012
6:32 pm
ARDawg….UGA should have killed Buffalo with the mundane playcalling you refer to.
Mizzoutiger88
September 4th, 2012
6:32 pm
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2011-12-26/independence-bowl-missouri-beats-north-carolina/52235180/1
@TarHeels4ever: Have you forgotten so soon getting woodshedded in last year’s bowl game? I thought “NC” stood for national champs, but is really stands for “NO CHANCE” when you play MIZZOU. So much sour grapes:) M-I-Z-S-E-C!!!
Jon Gruden
September 4th, 2012
6:43 pm
Watergirl wants to know
September 4th, 2012
11:36 am
“Hire Gruden now, and will he need a watergirl? I hope I can stay on his staff.”
You can stay on my staff for as long as you want to, honey!
icedawg
September 4th, 2012
7:03 pm
Love the “old man football.” It’s got a good ring to it. Hey the guy was inadvertently paying UGA a compliment. Too funny.
graphite
September 4th, 2012
7:14 pm
Did I read that LSU and BAMA run’s the same offense as the puppy DAWG”S??Why isn’t the result the same?…RollOn
Bob
September 4th, 2012
7:37 pm
Show of hands: who among you who gripe about bobo and CMR have ever worn a jock strap in your entire lives? Thought so.
Lilburn_dude
September 4th, 2012
9:04 pm
Bobo’s problem is that he panics early in games and looks to Blow a team out with long bombs. He should stick with a sustained running attack and punt the ball….mix in some play action pass and use your tight ends more. I don’t think our TE got one pass saturday.
umyboyBlue17
September 4th, 2012
10:09 pm
some people say football is more than blocking and tackling but those people are wrong Vince Lombardi
SEC Headlines 9/4/2012 – South Carolina – Gamecock News
September 4th, 2012
10:28 pm
[...] 2. Jon Gruden: “I like what Georgia does offensively.” [...]
Glen Haynes
September 4th, 2012
10:35 pm
Isn’t Gruden married to CMR’s sister?
Dawg Whisperer
September 4th, 2012
11:24 pm
I dropped my fried twinkie
September 4th, 2012
6:28 pm
YES CHUCKY does could he would LOVE to take christ Richt’s job……Richt and Bobo SUX
————————————————————————
This is an example of a repugnant comment that impugns the character of the person that typed it, not the individuals that it is directed against.
GOOOOOO DAWGS!!!
September 5th, 2012
1:46 am
I just wanted to say…GOOOOOOOOOO DAWGS!!!!!!
jerry
September 5th, 2012
8:14 am
With the 2012 schedule, now would be a good time to jump on the UGA bandwagon and start posting blogs about how good Richt, Bobo, Uga, etc. are. It could make you look really good.
AltamahaDawg
September 5th, 2012
8:56 am
“our offensive scheme is terrible, we can never win big running that scheme”
“Alabama runs the same thing.”
“oh well, what I really meant to say was that our scheme is fine, it’s our coaches that stink”
AltamahaDawg
September 5th, 2012
9:11 am
Lilburn, the TE were covered, that’s why Murray took so many shots downfield. Buffalo played 7/8 up front all day. Then we lost #1, #2 RT and they were blocking the rest of the day.
Plus I think Coach Bobo was just refusing to show anything. But he typically has TE’s ranking pretty high in the league in terms of pass receptions.
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Mr. Ed
September 5th, 2012
10:37 am
Probably the main reason Murray isn’t throwing to the tight ends is that they are needed for pass blocking since our OL continues to have a hard time. Also inexperienced backs are not blocking; see 3 sacks last Sat.
AltamahaDawg
September 5th, 2012
10:48 am
Don’t worry about that Mr. ED. I have been informed in here that getting your QB killed is no big deal. What matters is who had the good run the play before that got completely negated by the sack.
dawgs01
September 5th, 2012
10:53 am
To the football genius who said the qb should be making all the calls from the line not the o.c. is a freaking idiot. Just bc peyton manning does that does not mean a 18-23 yr old could do that. what is the point in an o.c. then. What about the yrs the kid only plays one yr or two yr. You got to think about this yr in and yr out just bc murray might be here four yrs does not mean the next one will. It is so hard for a college football player to audible at the line. It usually takes them two yrs to learn the play book and you want them calling the plays at the line. They got chemistry2 and physics and everything else on their mind too which most of yall forget all that. These are not professional athletes and just bc their body looks like it does not mean their mind is anywhere near a professional. Almost all QB’s in college look to the sideline and it never hurts their draft stock. Sam bradford always looked over there and in fact the two times he hurt his shoulder that is what he was doing and he nor the line never audibled to pick up the weak side blitzer who crushed him causing him to have shoulder surgery. These young QBs have enough on their plate. Thats even more stuff yall could criticize them about why did murray call that and this bla bla bla bla. The blog is filled with Nick Sabans only problem is no one has found yalls talents yet. so keep criticizing amateur athletes and look at Bobo’s numbers no one in the history of UGA has racked up more points.
J.T.Keene
September 5th, 2012
11:59 am
Could be wrong, but I thought Gruden is the only NFL coach to win 2 super bowls with 2 different teams almost back to back. Like Oakland & Tampa Bay???
Wes wooten
September 5th, 2012
11:23 pm
Anybody heard of ? They run smash mouth football too. The problem isnt play calling scheme it the lack of discipline and toughness. The tide rarely makes mistakes and when they do no matter the score or circumstances they get an ass chewin. Its not a new offensive co. we need its a spine for richt
Wes wooten
September 5th, 2012
11:23 pm
*anyone heard of Alabama?
Wes wooten
September 5th, 2012
11:36 pm
Hey mizzou fan nc isnt even the top acc school and ths best acc school gets only 1 win in the sec and thats florida. U’re in the sec now i dont give a f…. how many boise states and tcu’s u have beaten in the past u will not be able to pull an sec schedule for a while. Better luck next time
MizzouTiger88
September 6th, 2012
7:08 am
@ Wes Funny u bring up Boise St. lol how did that turn out for ya??? watabout Colorado lol watabout OK State lol prepare for another Big12 style beat down:)
UGA Fan 4Ever
September 6th, 2012
7:19 am
My biggest gripe against UGA’s play calling is for some odd reasons it appears we struggling to get our playmakers enough touches, especially in big games. If these players are truly big time, then let them show and prove. Don’t get to 3rd and 15 and you’re doing a play action fake like someone is respecting that…..their not!!!
GTT
September 6th, 2012
8:14 am
Mark Richt is a great head coach and Mike Bobo is a great offensive coordinator. UGA is fortunate to have them both. Someone’s going to make Bobo an offer to be head coach sooner than later.
SouthGaDawg
September 6th, 2012
11:34 am
Why all of the bitching about LSU,Bama and Florida?
They out recruit UGA every year so they should have better teams. Simple, better recruiting better team, Bama is loaded and deep they get 5 stars UGA gets 4 and 3 stars. UGA is the under dog we have to coach them up and stay healthy because of depth problems. Until UGA wins big games recruits are going to go to Bama, LSU and even Florida and SC.. Why? because they are young and dumb and think winning is everything. Just think how good T-Bow could have been if he was a pro style QB. He was really underrated because of the spread he worked out of at Florida. It worked good at Florida but not in the Old man football.
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ga gator
September 6th, 2012
4:55 pm
Being from Tampa and a fan of Gruden’s and being married to a Bulldawg, in all sincerity my biggest nightmare would be for Georgia to fire Richt and hire Gruden. If Muschamp does not work out in Gainesville I would hope that Gruden would be his first call. That being said, I do not believe he would go to college; he is an NFL guy.
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