Cal's New Offense

When Cal hired Sonny Dykes to be their new head coach there was no doubt that there would be offensive changes in Berkeley. Dykes has been one of the leading spread coaches in college football for years. Cal will be running the spread. That was just the beginning. Cal's new spread will be unique. Dykes brought his offensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech with him to Berkeley. Tony Franklin has a twist in his version of the spread.

The center calls the plays.

The center in Cal's new offense doesn't just snap the ball and block. He gets the play from the sidelines, reads the defense, calls the blocking assignments and then barks the snap count. The Louisiana Tech center was often hoarse at the end of games. This immense responsibility for Cal will likely fall on sophomore Matt Cochran. He's huge at 6'2" 345lbs. He's also a bright kid. He's going to have to be. The Cal quarterback no longer has to verbalize anything. Cal's quarterback will now only only have to read coverages and change routes. He can take a nap until the snap.

I'm really curious to see how all this works. This is how it's supposed to work. The center receives a jumble of signals from the sideline. "Some are alive," Franklin says, "and some are dead." The offense approaches the line without a huddle and the center calls the plays. Since the center has a lot on his plate, the right guard looks back to see when the quarterback is ready. Or, wake him up.

This center-led offense has a play designed for when the center can get the defense to jump on his cadence. He switches to a "free play" in which all the receivers take off for the end zone. This is the one benefit that I can easily see in having the center control the offense. He's right there in front of the defensive line. He can most easily see the slightest movement of those right in front of him.

It's going to take some doing to convince me of this new twist. I simply see the quarterback as the best positioned player to control an offense. I'm certainly not saying that this offense can't work. Dykes and Franklin have proven that it can work. Their Louisiana Tech offenses scored a ton of points. I just want to see it in action.