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Analyzing Urban Meyer's Offense From a High Level

By John Ness

| Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 | Updated 7:18 AM EST

Analyzing Urban Meyer's Offense From a High Level

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There aren't many new things about Meyer's offense, but it works so well.

If you have the appetite for a truly enormous breakdown of this weekend's SEC championship game between Alabama and Florida, it's hard to beat Chris Brown's Smart Football blog.

Whearas most popular blogs are about instantaneous reaction, Smart Football revolves around high-level analysis. In lieu of snark, it offers the occasional telling metaphor. Case in point, this week Brown describes Coach Urban Meyer's offensive "flying Circus, complete with his rhinoceros of a quarterback," as it prepares to face Alabama's equally dynamic defense.

Brown diagrams plays on the ground, explains the philosophies behind them, and puts them all in historical context:

If the old running offenses of yesteryear, in reflecting earlier times, were like punishing boxers who engaged in matches where the biggest and strongest won, then offenses like Johnson's ... in reflecting their times, are like martial arts: without sacrificing either strength or power, they punish you but also use speed, quickness, and cleverness to hit you where you do not expect and probe to find your weak spots, and to exploit them, without mercy.

If you want to sound smart on Saturday (and beyond), read the whole thing.