Attacking the Tite Front With Wide Zone

How College spread offenses have started utilizing Wide Zone to counter the Tite front.

So far, most of the focus here has been on the NFL game and systems. Now we’re going to look at how the play has been gaining traction across the college game.

The Wide Zone has been around the NFL for a long time. It became more popularized by Mike Shanahan and Alex Gibbs Denver Broncos teams in the late 1990s. Since then, it is hard to watch an NFL game without the play being run.

It hasn’t been nonexistent in the college game. Many Pro-Style teams throughout the years have used the play. Iowa and North Carolina State to name a few.

Spread teams have utilized variations closer to mid-zone. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Chip Kelly and Rich Rodriguez employed it with option elements to complement their inside zone read.

Today we are going to focus on the resurgence of “Spread” teams utilizing Wide Zone out of the Pistol. I use quotations because the term spread is vague now. What I mean is teams who mostly utilize 11 and 10 personnel, and are exclusively shotgun/pistol formations.

Innovation out of Necessity

In the college game in the early 2000s, the spread took over the country. This attack was a mostly inside zone or power/counter approach. That makes sense logically, spread the field by alignment horizontally. Throw quick-game and screens to displace defenders, then run the ball downhill to light boxes. It’s an effective strategy, but defenses always adapt.

Enter the 3-4 and Tite front defenses. Defenses figured out that if they could clog up the interior with 3 guys, they could spill the running back outside to their wide-aligned safeties. They could be +1 in the short passing game while remaining sound in the box.