Offense or Defense?

[Bullaholic]

If you could pick, would you want your offense or defense to be the better unit? The old saying goes, "Offense wins games--defense wins championships." Does this apply in 3A? I say the trend with the "spread" offenses has been to put the best athletes on the offense and ring up more points faster than conservative teams can and stay ahead of them until the final gun. The theory being that you will win a lot of high-scoring close games. Sure hard for the fans to watch---hard on the heart. The other theory is to use a fairly conservative ball control offense to keep the ball out of the hands of the high-powered offenses, and put the weight on your superior "D" to slow them down enough to win.

[jason]

burnet ran a version of the spread offense the last 2 seasons...how many titles do they have??

[Bullaholic]

That's not exactly what I was trying to bring out, Jason. I ran a thread debating "Spread vs. 3Yd and a cloud of dust" offenses earlier. In 3A ball, most teams do not have the luxury of having both a superior offense and defense unit very often, and I was wondering which unit most of you guys think makes the biggest difference in a game.

[Titans]

Yeah...

Teams such as:

Denton Ryan
Stephenville
Ennis
LaMarque
Southlake Carroll

Yeah, they run the spread and look at home many state champions they have????

What an ignorant comment, Jason!

You want to think of another reason as to not run the spread???????????

[raider red 2000]

i would think that a strong fense ios more important. even in the spread you dont have to put your best athletes on offense. it is easier to hide a kid as a reciever than as a TE or something like that.

when i was in college lubbock high (5A) had a kid who les the state in passing yds. great offense no defense. they beat a few 3a teams nondistrict and only won 1 district game. a team cant just try to outscore people....it wont happen.

the last two years burnet had a good offense and a better D i think. teams can be counted as successful even without winning a state title.

[big daddy russ]

A great spread offense will turn a good defense into a horrible one. Just look at the St. Louis Rams. From about 1999-2001 (when Warner was a stud) their defense was on the field for about 2/3 of the game. Three yards and a cloud of dust won't lose you games, so give me the great defense and I'll just take my chances on shutting down the great offenses.

[jason]

he asked if it applied in 3A, so i gave a response that applied to 3A...the past few seasons in 3A have been won with run it down your throat offense and killer defense...


titans...you want a war of words, then you got one...i hope you know what you're getting yourself into though...:hand: :hand: :hand:

[this is the way we ball]

Originally posted by Titans
Yeah...

Teams such as:

Denton Ryan
Stephenville
Ennis
LaMarque
Southlake Carroll

Yeah, they run the spread and look at home many state champions they have????

What an ignorant comment, Jason!

You want to think of another reason as to not run the spread???????????

TEXAS TECH........If it was all about offense, then Tech should win the National Championship.

The teams you listed are not only very strong offensively, but their defenses are awesome. You have to have some sort of balance.

[this is the way we ball]

The thread was about 3A teams. I believe if you can score 50 points a game, then you need to put some of those athletes on defense. Defense doesn't have to be your dominate group, but they have to have some athletes to work with.

[this is the way we ball]

Everybody wants to talk about how good Decatur's offense is. I can promise you, their defense is one of the best in the state.

[MARLINDOGS]

YOUR TEAM NEEDS TO BE BALANCE.

[espn1]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
If you could pick, would you want your offense or defense to be the better unit? The old saying goes, "Offense wins games--defense wins championships." Does this apply in 3A? I say the trend with the "spread" offenses has been to put the best athletes on the offense and ring up more points faster than conservative teams can and stay ahead of them until the final gun. The theory being that you will win a lot of high-scoring close games. Sure hard for the fans to watch---hard on the heart. The other theory is to use a fairly conservative ball control offense to keep the ball out of the hands of the high-powered offenses, and put the weight on your superior "D" to slow them down enough to win.
During the Game in question, Burnets offense was flat and still managed to put points on the board. It was their lack of defense that killed them.

[gobbler84]

You need a good offense no doubt.....ut you need a great defense!

[scotty]

What you are asking is much like what came first the chicken or the egg. However, I do know that when Sealy won those four championships in a row, skipped a year and played for the state crown only to lose to a good Commerce team by a touchdown, in all of those seasons they staffed the defense first with their best players. They were lucky enough or blessed with enough athletes where all of the players went only one way.
It’s no telling how good some of those defensive players could have been on offense if they would have used them there. To name a few, Steven Newsome, all-state linebacker 3 years; Forrest Wagner all-state safety two seasons; Derek Curry started for Notre Dame at linebacker three years and was named defensive player of the year his senior season; Chase Schavrda a bruising defensive end and nosebacker who could run and only played defense. In one game, just for the heck of it, he was put a fullback and he scattered defenders along the way for half the length of the field every time he carried the ball.
But in those years Sealy racked up all sorts of offense and one of those years they scored more than 600 points. There were also players who played only offense who would have been great defensive players.
It worked in Sealy to stock the defense first as they ran off a 63-1 record during that time.
I believe what it takes is a balanced attack and if you have enough kids to go one way stock your defense. You aren’t going to lose if you can keep the other team from scoring. And a good defense will put the offense in scoring position from time to time.

[HighSchool Fan]

i wonder if a great defense can make a great offense look flat. i really think that can happen.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by HighSchool Fan
i wonder if a great defense can make a great offense look flat. i really think that can happen.
I believe it can. A few years back (2000, maybe) C.C. Carroll had a great backfield that could do just about anything they wanted with the ball, they just didn't have much of a defense. Between QB Marc Miller and TB Johnny Smith, they had two 1,000-yard rushers and 1,500 yards through the air. Donna, on the other hand, didn't have anywhere near the talent that Carroll had and didn't have much of an offense to speak of, but they did have one of the best defenses in the state.

They met in the second round of the playoffs and a completely outmatched Donna squad (in talent alone) almost pulled off an upset of Carroll. The final score was something like 6-0. If we were talking about firepower, the score should've been closer to 30-0. But when a defense works that well together and you have that many studs on one side of the ball anything can happen.

[chubbed_up]

i personally rahter a powerhouse offense that runs the ball 80-20 over passing

sorry i will get on the subject now. i would rather put my playmakers on defense to start and maybe have them rotate in on offense. it just makes more sense to me to keep them from scoring instead of having a trackmeet out there on offense and trying to outscore your opponent