DURING LAST FALL’S double overtime game between Northwestern and Wisconsin, I watched from the stands as Randy Walker’s Wildcats went the entire game without a huddle.
During the recent Mega football coaching clinic in Chicago, I talked about this technique with the Northwestern head coach. Instead of coaches signaling the play to the quarterback in the huddle, the Wildcats walk up to the line of scrimmage and watch for the play to be signaled in from the sideline. The ball is normally snapped within 10 to 15 seconds.
Not The First Time
“We ran a no-huddle offense for several years in the early 1990s at Miami University (of Ohio),” says Walker. “We got away from it mainly because it wasn’t a good fit for our coaches and players.”
Last winter, the no-huddle idea surfaced again and the coaches gave it a try in spring practice. “It worked very well,” says Walker. “We used it last season on all but about a dozen plays. The few times we did huddle, other teams thought it was an odd-ball play.”
Walker says the no-huddle offense places the ball in play so fast that the opposing team can’t get defensive signals called. “Sometimes we run the plays fast while at other times we take all the time allowed to throw off the defense,” he says.
Walker says the Wisconsin game was one of the more difficult for this technique. “I was irate at the officials because it took them so long to put the ball in play, which gave a definite defensive advantage to Wisconsin,” he says.
Should You Try It?
“There’s no magic to using this strategy, says Walker. “It just requires a different way of communicating with your team.”