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re: Have a question about teams that ran the wishbone
Posted on 7/17/25 at 7:07 pm to WossNess
Posted on 7/17/25 at 7:07 pm to WossNess
quote:
A quick google search shows Texas ran the wishbone first.
I think it’s accepted that Bellard brought it to the college ranks at UT before anyone else died. That said, it’s a copy cat game, and there’s suggestions that he learned it here in South Texas from a coach named Ox Emerson at Alice HS.
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Posted on 7/17/25 at 7:10 pm to CharlotteSooner
quote:
We stopped running it when Switzer left.
Yes. They ran it Switzer's last year in 1988... and switched to the I option in 1989.
They ran the wishbone from mid 1970 to 1988 with three seasons mixing in the I formation. In 1979 they ran the I part of the time with Billy Sims and in 1982 and 1983 they ran mostly I (with some wishbone sprinkled in) with Marcus Dupree and then Spencer Tillman.
They actually ran the wishbone with Aikman. They just put flankers out more often.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 7:29 pm to bbvdd
Bellard invented it at Texas, then became A&M's head coach in '72. He ran it until he resigned mid-season of 1978.
People were getting frustrated with the difficulty of coming from behind if yiou found yourself in a deficit. Those run-only offenses bled time and there was a lot of ball handling precision that needed to take place in a long drive,
People rag on Bellard's replacement (Tom Wilson was promoted to HC and led the Ags for 3 years before Jackie Sherrill.}
But I remember his first game in 1978- it was actually HIS FIRST PLAY as head coach. A&M threw a pass that went for a 52yd TD!
It was like, "Well, THAT's Different!!"
Wilson also had two great wins against Texas in his 3yr tenure:
1979 a 5-5 A&M team knocked #5 Texas out of the Cotton bowl with a 13-7 upset at Kyle.
In 1980, Ags again pulled the upset. At 3-7, they went into Memorial Stadium and shocked the world winning for the first time in 20 some odd years at Memorial Stadium.
The next year, he won his bowl game vs Jimmy Johnson's Ok.St. Cowboys. They trailed 0-10 before storming back for a 33-16 win.
Wilson was fired (21-19 record in 3.5 seasons), and the Sherrill era began.
People were getting frustrated with the difficulty of coming from behind if yiou found yourself in a deficit. Those run-only offenses bled time and there was a lot of ball handling precision that needed to take place in a long drive,
People rag on Bellard's replacement (Tom Wilson was promoted to HC and led the Ags for 3 years before Jackie Sherrill.}
But I remember his first game in 1978- it was actually HIS FIRST PLAY as head coach. A&M threw a pass that went for a 52yd TD!
It was like, "Well, THAT's Different!!"
Wilson also had two great wins against Texas in his 3yr tenure:
1979 a 5-5 A&M team knocked #5 Texas out of the Cotton bowl with a 13-7 upset at Kyle.
In 1980, Ags again pulled the upset. At 3-7, they went into Memorial Stadium and shocked the world winning for the first time in 20 some odd years at Memorial Stadium.
The next year, he won his bowl game vs Jimmy Johnson's Ok.St. Cowboys. They trailed 0-10 before storming back for a 33-16 win.
Wilson was fired (21-19 record in 3.5 seasons), and the Sherrill era began.
This post was edited on 7/17/25 at 7:44 pm
Posted on 7/17/25 at 7:44 pm to bbvdd
Arkansas ran it for awhile into the late 80s.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 8:28 pm to Victor R Franko
Billy Sims played in the wishbone in college
Period
Period
Posted on 7/17/25 at 8:37 pm to GAT BoilerPickle Doc
quote:
Not many, but he practiced against one every day
No he didn't.
You don't practice week to week during the season against your own team's offense. You practice against a scout team running the opposition's offense.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 8:42 pm to Larry Seinfeld
quote:
Arkansas ran it under Ken Hatfield till the 1989 season.
We did run some full wishbone, mostly on the goal line, but mostly flexbone otherwise
Some media began calling it "broken bone," i.e., with one or two slots instead of halfbacks
Posted on 7/17/25 at 8:48 pm to MizzouTrue
DiNardo ran a version of it at Colorado as OC, then took it to Vandy as HC
Posted on 7/17/25 at 9:18 pm to bbvdd
quote:
So, he would have played Arkansas and TX Tech?
Colorado too.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 9:56 pm to Victor R Franko
Dupree played in the wishbone under Switzerland at OU. Bo Jackson didn’t switch out of the wishbone until his last year at Auburn. Hell, I think they ran it with Bo and Brent Fullwood as the two halfbacks behind Tommie Agee.
I went to the Citrus Bowl in 1982 featuring sophomore Bo Jackson and Auburn versus Boston College and a sophomore QB named Doug Flutie.
I went to the Citrus Bowl in 1982 featuring sophomore Bo Jackson and Auburn versus Boston College and a sophomore QB named Doug Flutie.
Posted on 7/17/25 at 11:39 pm to RollTide1987
Posted on 7/17/25 at 11:43 pm to bbvdd
Impossible to stop a well run Wing-T.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 8:02 am to bbvdd
quote:
There is a new ESPN originals coming out and in it they have Brian Bosworth. He states that he's had 34 surgeries and he says that they are all due to offenses running the wishbone.
Half of those came as a result of trying to impede Bo Jackson's forward progress.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 8:03 am to Floyd Dawg
quote:
Dupree played in the wishbone under Switzerland at OU.
At OU... they actually switched out of the wishbone and into the I when Dupree emerged mid season in 1982. He was just way better out of the I. They still ran some wishbone.
In mid 1983 when he left... they pretty much stayed with the I.
I also wanted to mention that Oregon State ran the wishbone in the early 1990s with former OU. Nebraska and Texas A&M coach Jerry Pettibone.
Posted on 7/18/25 at 8:40 am to bbvdd
quote:
When did Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma stop running the wishbone??
1. Texas: When Royal resigned and Akers was hired in 1977.
2. Alabama: When Bryant retired and Perkins was hired in 1983.
3. Oklahoma: When Switzer resigned and Gibbs took over in 1989.
quote:
How many offenses did he play against that ran the wishbone?
quote:
So, how many teams were still running it when Brian Bosworth played???
As far as teams OU played during Boz’s career in the mid ‘80s, possibly no one. Definitely not many. The game was more physical in general, though.
But as far as other teams, OU was obviously still running it with great success. Auburn had some success with it in the ‘80s. Some think they were robbed of a national title in ‘83. Arkansas ran it until at least 1988 and was a contender for a national title until they lost a close game against Miami late in the season.
The ironic thing about the wishbone going extinct is the teams that ran it were successful with it right up until they abandoned it. It’s not like they started sucking and were forced to do something different. The movement away from the wishbone was often brought on by a coaching change or the emergence of a rare Earl Campbell, Marcus Dupree, or Bo Jackson talent that could be more easily featured in an offense like the I.
Some people say, “Miami exposed the wishbone with all their speed on defense.” Well, who the hell didn’t Miami expose in those days with their speed on defense? If consistently moving the ball on Miami and beating them in their prime year after year was the standard for an effective offensive scheme, then nobody had an effective offensive scheme.
This post was edited on 7/18/25 at 9:01 am
Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:20 am to bbvdd
quote:
the wishbone
Unrelated but sort of related, before the advent of the forward pass, the offense primarily went through a tailback.
The nomenclature was from rugby, whose backs were positioned at different depths — half back, three-quarters back, and full back.
As he eventually played closer to the line of scrimmage, the three-quarters back became the quarter-back, and was utilized primarily as a blocker.
In the wishbone, the full back moved up alongside the half back, and the quarter-back was described as, "a running back who can throw."
Eventually the full back moved in front of the half back, who thus became a tail back.
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Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:21 am to paperwasp
quote:
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Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:23 am to 1BIGTigerFan
This post was edited on 7/29/25 at 2:38 pm
Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:25 am to paperwasp
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Posted on 7/18/25 at 9:31 am to 1BIGTigerFan
This post was edited on 7/29/25 at 2:38 pm
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