Wishbone was best for spring

I thought the Red-White Game was boring. But I think most spring games are boring. I’m always excited to go, because it’s been about three months since I last saw live football, then 5-10 minutes into the spring, I grow tired.

I guess it’s the quarterback protectionism, and the lack of drama, and lack of momentum, and everything else that goes into making a real football game but is missing in the spring.

And maybe I’m getting old, but it seems like the wishbone was more to watch in scrimmages. The modern OU offense has its moments, even in the Red-White Game, but not unless Sam Bradford or Landry Jones or Drew Allen is firing the football through the air. The run game is humdrum and basically not worth watching.

Once the autumn arrives, the OU run game comes alive, with better blocking, better precision, more surprise. But in the spring, it’s hard to watch.

Not so in the wishbone era. You know how in any football game, live or on TV, involving a team you’re passionate about or not, really no matter even the score, anytime the quarterback drops back, suspense heightens?

Remember the old Darrell Royal saying, three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad? He meant completion, incompletion, interception. But truth is, a thousand things can happen when you pass. A sack, a scramble, a scramble/pass, a hundred different pass routes with a dozen different results for each. The most exciting part of any football game is when the ball is in the air, launched by a quarterback, headed to hands unknown.

Well, the old wishbone produced that kind of excitement running play after running play. Who had the ball, fullback or quarterback? Would they counter and head the other way? Would the QB keep or pitch? Would he pitch it in stride or off-line? Would the halfback have a lane or have to cut or be snowed under?