Mississippi quarterback Bo Wallace goes through the motion of passing during NCAA college football practice on Friday, April 5, 2013, in Oxford, Miss. The Rebelsare to have their full scrimmage on Saturday morning at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Wallace is participating in spring practice on a limited basis as he continues his recovery from offseason clavicle surgery. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)Alabama proved during the 2012 college football season that a powerful running game and an efficient quarterback can win a national championship.
Texas A&M proved that an up-tempo offense that spreads the field can beat Alabama.
With just three weeks remaining until preseason camps begin around the Southeastern Conference, there are programs that firmly subscribe to a deliberate pro-style attack and others that believe in a more wide-open philosophy. Ole Miss had success with the latter last autumn in Hugh Freeze’s first season as coach, and Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will bring his spread system back to the league after providing thrills as the offensive coordinator when the Tigers won the 2010 national championship.
“I think that you play to your strengths, and if you get quality players, any system can be effective,” Freeze said after spring practice. “Certainly Alabama, LSU and Florida run a different system and have been very successful, and they can be successful with any system they want if they recruit to it. They get the quality players to fit that.”
Ole Miss averaged 281.2 yards a game in 2011, when the Rebels were a dreadful 2-10 in their final season under Houston Nutt. Their offensive averaged spiked to 423.8 last season, which led to a 7-6 turnaround year in Oxford.