Rather than rely solely on gimmicks or solely on traditional “conservative” thinking, he bases his strategy on research and data he’s found and he’s okay without necessarily having to be one or the other.

In regards to how this would translate into the college game, it seems as though a lot of his strategies are intended to demoralize and throw off the opponent mentally. Maybe it’s because the author of the article used the quote where the coach talks about how demoralizing it is to lose an onside kick, but I feel like a large part of his strategy isn’t the playbook as it is getting into the opponent’s head. While strategies like an 11 man blitz works well against a high school qb (I sure know I would lose my composure), when facing a more disciplined college offense the results may be different.

Another note I wanted to make is that my initial reaction to the article is that teams that rely on unconvention tend to come from smaller, and assumedly less physically gifted teams. The article notes how the (Pulansky) Bruins have a student body 5 times smaller than their opponent. The other team that comes to my mind is Boise State (though they have their own share of troubles now), who beat bigger, faster teams using unconventional plays. However you look at a team like Oregon, who runs an unconventional offense as well, and they’re stacked with athletes. And I was just listening to some radio analysis on the Patriots offense, which has evolved into a somewhat unconventional spread as a result of having a Tom Brady who can kill you with those short passes.

I feel like our (UCLA)Bruins falls somewhere in between. We don’t have a lights out passing or running quarterback, and we don’t have a Maurice Jones-Drew taking it the distance. What we do have is a core of experienced players who have the size and speed to match-up with anybody we play. As a fan I love to see more unconventional strategies, but in order for this to work we need to play soundly within our base offense/defense. Otherwise any sort of wrinkle we put in runs a large risk of failing badly. I wonder if this is what Rick sees and this is why he continues his conservative play calling.

With that said, at the point we’re barely beating SJSU, it’s time we take some risks. I’m all for creativity, and I’m on the same boat as everyone else who’s hoping that we kept our playbook close to the chest against SJSU to save it for Texas. Our team has the athletes to make things happen, we just need to make sure we utilize them.