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A-11 Offense

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I don't know much about football strategy (defering to grad21), but with only 3 guys on the O-line, I'd imagine you'd just regress to a more conventional offense if you were facing a a D-lineman that required two blockers to contain. You'd have to keep adding guys to the line to keep that D-lineman in check without completely exposing your QB's, until you negate the advantage of having 6 (!) WR's on the field.
 
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To the best of my knowledge, the rules state that you must have 7 guys on the l.o.s. Also to the best of my knowledge, anyone on the l.o.s. who is lined up to the inside of another player on the l.o.s. is ineligible. This leaves a minimum of 5 ineligible players on every play.

We have some here who are experts on the rules and can cut-and-paste from the appropriate section of the rule book in a matter of seconds. I look forward to seeing their input to this thread.
 
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DaddyBigBucks;1214345; said:
To the best of my knowledge, the rules state that you must have 7 guys on the l.o.s. Also to the best of my knowledge, anyone on the l.o.s. who is lined up to the inside of another player on the l.o.s. is ineligible. This leaves a minimum of 5 ineligible players on every play.

We have some here who are experts on the rules and can cut-and-paste from the appropriate section of the rule book in a matter of seconds. I look forward to seeing their input to this thread.
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The offense is designed so that based on who you send in motion, or formation shifts, all eleven players can be eligible. Obviously all 11 players can't be eligible on every play. But you can start out lining up with players 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 eligible. But then by the end of sending players in motion maybe players 2,3,7,8,9, and 10 will be eligible. Also, if you read the article, you'll note that it says this:
"It presents a different set of challenges for defenses because they have to account for which guys go out or might go out," Bryan said. "Those guys who are ineligible to go down the field and catch a pass, they can take a reverse pitch or a negative screen or a hitch behind the line of scrimmage.
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Basically, you're lining up with 6 WRs, 2 mobile QBs in the backfield, and 3 blocking tight ends on the line. Very creative and would be extremely difficult to stop with the right personnel in place.
 
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RULE 7, Section 3, Article 3:

Eligibility to Touch Legal Pass
ARTICLE 3. Eligibility rules apply during a down when a legal forward pass is
thrown. All Team B players are eligible to touch or catch a pass. When the ball
is snapped, the following Team A players are eligible:
a. Each player who is in an end position on his scrimmage line and who is
wearing a number other than 50 through 79 (A.R. 7-3-3-I).
b. Each player who is legally positioned as a back wearing a number other than
50 through 79.
c. A player wearing a number other than 50 through 79 in position to receive
a hand-to-hand snap from between the snapper?s legs.​



So now we need only establish that there are 5 players between the ends on the l.o.s. To wit:

RULE 7, Section 1, Article 3, b, 1:
​

At least seven players legally on their scrimmage line, not less than five of whom shall be numbered 50 through 79. The remaining players must be either on their scrimmage line or legally positioned as a back.
​
Since this is a requirement "when the snap starts", the only remaining question is who can go in motion as shifts are irrelevant. If the shift puts you in a position that violates the above, it's illegal.​

RULE 7, Section 1, Article 3, b, 4:

One player may be in motion, but not in motion toward his opponent's
goal line. A lineman may not be in motion at the snap. Other players
must be stationary in their positions without movement of the feet,
body, head or arms.​

​
Case closed. This can't be done in the college game.
 
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DaddyBigBucks;1214372; said:
RULE 7, Section 3, Article 3:

Eligibility to Touch Legal Pass
ARTICLE 3. Eligibility rules apply during a down when a legal forward pass is
thrown. All Team B players are eligible to touch or catch a pass. When the ball
is snapped, the following Team A players are eligible:
a. Each player who is in an end position on his scrimmage line and who is
wearing a number other than 50 through 79 (A.R. 7-3-3-I).
b. Each player who is legally positioned as a back wearing a number other than
50 through 79.
c. A player wearing a number other than 50 through 79 in position to receive
a hand-to-hand snap from between the snapper?s legs.​



So now we need only establish that there are 5 players between the ends on the l.o.s. To wit:
RULE 7, Section 1, Article 3, b, 1:
​
At least seven players legally on their scrimmage line, not less than five of whom shall be numbered 50 through 79. The remaining players must be either on their scrimmage line or legally positioned as a back.
​
Since this is a requirement "when the snap starts", the only remaining question is who can go in motion as shifts are irrelevant. If the shift puts you in a position that violates the above, it's illegal.​
RULE 7, Section 1, Article 3, b, 4:

One player may be in motion, but not in motion toward his opponent's
goal line. A lineman may not be in motion at the snap. Other players
must be stationary in their positions without movement of the feet,
body, head or arms.​

​
Case closed. This can't be done in the college game.
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It says the lineman can't be motion at the snap, like an H-back motioning across the line. But it says nothing about motion before the snap.

The only issue I see is the number issue. However I believe if a player wearing 50-79 checks in with the referee as an eligible receiver before the play, he can be eligible. I know this is true in the NFL (See Mike Vrabel or Jumbo Elliot) but I'm not sure about college.
 
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OK, I read a little farther in the original article.

It's not illegal, it's just stupid and gimmicky.

"It presents a different set of challenges for defenses because they have to account for which guys go out or might go out," Bryan said. "Those guys who are ineligible to go down the field and catch a pass, they can take a reverse pitch or a negative screen or a hitch behind the line of scrimmage.
Click to expand...

It's not that you can't do it in the college game, it's just that it would not work against a team with any amount of discipline.
 
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mross34;1214383; said:
It says the lineman can't be motion at the snap, like an H-back motioning across the line. But it says nothing about motion before the snap.

The only issue I see is the number issue. However I believe if a player wearing 50-79 checks in with the referee as an eligible receiver before the play, he can be eligible. I know this is true in the NFL (See Mike Vrabel or Jumbo Elliot) but I'm not sure about college.
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I was assuming that all 11 players were to be eligible on every play, which would have rendered shifts (motion before the snap) irrelevant as I mentioned above. But my assumption was based on reading only half the article.

Like I said above, they can feel free to do this, and I don't doubt that it would work to a certain degree in high-school (or the WAC). But a real-live defense would destroy this gimmicky crap.
 
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DaddyBigBucks;1214388; said:
I was assuming that all 11 players were to be eligible on every play, which was not the case.

Like I said above, they can feel free to do this, and I don't doubt that it would work to a certain degree in high-school (or the WAC). But a real-live defense would destroy this gimmicky crap.
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You don't think it would work as a formation that you sprinkle in the offense, like the wildcat formation Arkansas ran? or the Pistol Florida ran?
 
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I don't like it for the same reason as it was created - to allow less talented teams to be competitive. IMO rules that increase the likelihood that the more talented team will win are better rules than those which expose us to chance via gimmick. Same thing is true of the spread option, albeit to a lesser extent.

If you want to see this kind of thing there is always Australia.
 
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Very cool idea for the high school level. Forgetting the article itself however, just watch the video of the A-11 in action on the Rivals site. I can see the reason you'd want two QBs on the field ... because the one that's doing all the running is going to be taken off on a stretcher midway through the 2nd quarter.

At the top levels of major college football, I have a hard time believing this could be successful when you're placing the burden on so many WRs, RBs, and the second QB to handle all the blocking at the LOS, as well as the downfield blocks created by the open space from all the WRs. A major college defense with athletes at DE and LB wouldn't have much trouble shutting this down. For elite DEs, this offense looks like a dream come true: A bunch of open field kill opportunities on undersized skill position players. For skilled DBs: A lot of pick-6 opportunities since the space created by the odd WR looks means more daylight when you get the INT.
 
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Oh8ch;1214391; said:
I don't like it for the same reason as it was created - to allow less talented teams to be competitive. IMO rules that increase the likelihood that the more talented team will win are better rules than those which expose us to chance via gimmick. Same thing is true of the spread option, albeit to a lesser extent.

If you want to see this kind of thing there is always Australia.
Click to expand...

Tell that to Boise State! Look...I haven't made up my mind on this offense yet...seems to be a little too gimmicky to use on 85-90% of your snaps - but to say its garbage b/c it requires more talented teams to alter their strategy (or else possibly be exposed) is absurd. If you are more talented it shouldn't be a problem.

As the above post, I think, does a good job of explaining.
 
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