DISCLAIMER/WARNING: While I have made these concepts work for me I make no claims that what I do will work for others, online or against the cpu. What I post in this thread maybe considered EXTREME CHEESE by the dairy judges or even MONEY PLAYS for those who have talent much richer than mine..


"Mouse Davis, June Jones and John Jenkins taught me the art of the passing game. Passing was never so much fun."~ Hall of Fame Quarterback Jim Kelly


"Fun Football leads to Optimistic football which proceeds into Positive football that gives birth to Winning football"~ Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, the inventor of the Run and Shoot

My intent in this thread is to merely pass along a way that I have found extremely fun to play the game. I hope by writing about my love for one particular style of offense that I can spur others into having has much fun with their style even if it isn't run and shoot. Study the game and love the game, it will make every football game enjoyable regardless of who is playing or the style of offense or defense they use. If you get one idea to tinker with than that will make this worth it for me. I take no credit for what is here these are the concepts I learned from others much greater and far more knowledgable in the game of football than I could ever wish to be. While I orginally wrote this thread for the NCAA05 version of the game, the routes and conversions remain almost identical in 06. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Finally thank you to Mad Bomber, VG Bert, Kobra and the rest of the VG gang for allowing us such a wonderful place to share our ideas.

So Let's have some fun! or "TEE IT UP AND DO THE DEAL" as Mouse would say!




Part 1: A Brief History of the Offense

In the 1950's, Tiger Ellison was a true believer in the power run game, but his Middletown Ohio football team was on the verge of its first losing season, something that was totally unacceptable. Ellison was about to lose his job, when on a weekend he watched a couple of grade schoolers playing a little school yard football. What he witnessed that day inspired in him one of the greatest football concepts of all time, the Run and Shoot Offense.

At first though, it started out in a crazy formation Ellison and his staff called Lonesome Polecat (Oh for a play editor)

LE.LT.LG.RG.RT.RE.............C...........
HB................................................ ......FB.....HB
.....................
.....................
.....................................QB


It saved the season for Ellison and the next year he decided to get a little more balance and somewhat more predicitable with the run and shoot formation that is now widely recognized.

WR........LT.LG.C.RG.RT...........WR
...........SB......Q......SB
....................FB


Ellison described this all in his ground breaking book Run and Shoot Football Offense of the Future, with Woody Hayes himself doing the forward. The reasons the book was revolutionary were it was the first time anyone had advocated early motion on every play, it was the first time anyone suggested using hand signals and the first time automatic adjustments were done based on how the defense aligned and the first time the offense attacked based on how the defense reacted. The attack was so adjustable Ellison explained that there were nights that they just couldn't figure out "how to turn it off".

The Ellison style offense was and is still highly succesful on the high school level. In the 1960s, though ,Darrel "Mouse" Davis begin to refine the system and make it even easier to execute while attacking the modern defenses that football was beginning to introduce. Davis had so much success that he went to Portland State University where coaching Neil Lomax and June Jones they rewrote the NCAA record books.

In the 1980s, Davis took the offense to the CFL and the USFL. His Houston Gamblers lead by Jim Kelly had legendary perfomances. The USFL folded but like many of the Hall of Fame players from that league the offense gained national recognition and during the late 80s and early 90s the offense spread like wildfire through out college and the NFL.

Davis himself coached both Detroit and Atlanta where both teams (to that time not exactly NFL powerhouses) were very successful in implementing his ideas.

Meanwhile Davis protege's Kevin Gilbride,John Jenkins and June Jones had great success at the college and pro levels. Currently almost every college and professional football team uses the concepts that Coach Ellison and Coach Davis brought to fruition over 40 years ago.

Like all football offenses it continues to evolve and continues to pose significant headaches for its opponents.