A-11 offense WHAT THE HECK ????

scoretide

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as some of you know I own my own business and we sell, install & service fair-play scoreboards. I have someone that was in AUBURN this week and they told me they seen AUUBURN lining up and running the A-11 offense. At one time I coached, and have been away from the game for 10+ years .Has anyone heard of this. he told me he seen both QB'S on the field during play's I will try to find out more about it. he said it Looks like ANOTHER GIMMICK. But several play were ran out of this. INTRESTING
 

B1GTide

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I don't think that the college rulebook allows for these formations outside of scrimmage kicks.
 

RTR91

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Found this about the A-11

I am the farthest thing from an expert on football strategy, but here is what I can tell you about the A-11: It is one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. What's weird about it is that it violates all of our basic instincts about the game, those noble truths we gleaned from John Facenda about the game being won in the trenches by men the size of water buffaloes. It shouldn't work, and yet it does. The A-11 is the spread offense, evolved to its most advanced stage. On film, the A-11 often resembles a hybrid of the spread and an elementary-school fire drill gone wrong.

Here's how it works: On every play in the A-11, there are two quarterbacks in the backfield at one time, both set up seven yards behind the line of scrimmage. Every man on the field wears a number that potentially makes him an eligible receiver. Potential receivers set up in "pods" at each end of the field. The line, in the base set, consists of two tight ends and a center. Once the ball is snapped, up to six players (including both quarterbacks) become eligible receivers. All of this is legal because technically, according to the rules of high-school football, the Piedmont players are lined up in what is known as a "scrimmage kick" formation (hence, the quarterbacks placed seven yards behind the line, so as to comply with the rules), and therefore, normal eligibility issues do not apply.
This story from al.com yesterday seems fitting.

Gus Malzahn was not a conservative offensive coordinator, but the Auburn coach has kept most of his tricks in his pockets as a head coach.

The days of onside kicks, and trick formations and play designs appear to be in the rearview mirror. Auburn has utilized a few "trick" plays this season, but Malzahn refers to those as standard options in his playbook: a toss to a receiver -- sometimes a second quarterback such as Jeremy Johnson or Jonathan Wallace -- for a pass down field, or a toss to tight end C.J. Uzomah.

"We do have our full arsenal but a lot of times you only run them, first of all, when it feels right and second of all when the odds of being successful are very high," Malzahn said. "So, I think those two variables have played into the fact and sometimes how the game is going, too. But we do have a full arsenal."
 

RTR91

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I don't think that the college rulebook allows for these formations outside of scrimmage kicks.
Yep. From the A-11 Wikipedia page:

The scrimmage kick formation is allowed on fourth downs under NCAA rules and on conversion attempts, and a few situations which define a scrimmage kick formation with an additional requirement that "it is obvious that a kick may be attempted." It is otherwise not allowed for most normal plays, making the A-11 impossible to use on an every-down basis.[11]
 

jthomas666

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The scrimmage kick formation is allowed on fourth downs under NCAA rules and on conversion attempts, and a few situations which define a scrimmage kick formation with an additional requirement that "it is obvious that a kick may be attempted." It is otherwise not allowed for most normal plays, making the A-11 impossible to use on an every-down basis.*[11]
*Unless, of course, you've run the officials so ragged that they don't notice.

Would it be legal to initially line up in that formation, and then shift to a legal one? If so, they might try to confuse defensive assignments, or get the defense to burn a time out. It would be a particularly classless move...in other words, perfectly suited for Auburn.
 

KentuckianaBFan

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*Unless, of course, you've run the officials so ragged that they don't notice.

Would it be legal to initially line up in that formation, and then shift to a legal one? If so, they might try to confuse defensive assignments, or get the defense to burn a time out. It would be a particularly classless move...in other words, perfectly suited for Auburn.
We know that it is illegal to break the huddle with 12 players--would the same hold for illegal numbers?

And what if there is no huddle?
 

CajunCrimson

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I'm guessing this is just a rumor started from some Boog's trying to salvage some fun from the disappointing season.

They have turned into The Florida Marlins....every few years, drop some cash, hire some mercenaries, and compete for the NC. The rest of the time, Become insignificant
 

KrAzY3

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I'm guessing this is just a rumor started from some Boog's trying to salvage some fun from the disappointing season.
The OP's account doesn't indicate it was a rumor.

Having said that, the offense is clearly a gimmick, but that's pretty much the entirety of Gus' offense. I know some HUNH teams like doing silly stuff on extra point attempts/two point conversions, so sadly it does make some sense that he'd try to find a way to use this sort of thing on fourth downs and extra points. Assuming the other team isn't familiar with it, it seems like it would have a good chance of working. I don't think the rules on it matter much, as if someone tried to run this the whole game I'd assume the opponents would have it figured out fairly well. The whole point is confusion.
 

BamaDMD

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If this is allowed on fourth down, I wonder if that is when they'd try to use it. Say they start getting behind and things get desparate, this might be their goto to convert fourth downs and keep things alive.
 

AgentAntiOrange

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If I'm understanding correctly, this could legally be utilized on any 4th down situation, any XP/2PT conversion attempt, any play at the end of a half within FG range, and possibly even 3rd downs within FG range? I mean, if the key is
it is obvious that a kick may be attempted
then it's easy to get the water pretty murky in a real time, game speed situation. I mean, hey, if you wanted to attempt a FG from the 45 yard line on 1st down, you could right?

Hopefully, someone will alert the SEC office and the league officials to read up on the rules concerning this. If we know about it, then I'm sure CNS does as well.
 

Moro Creek

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The A11 can be defended like you would defend most any spread formation if this particular offense is run without any breaking of the rules. The difference is that this offense is designed so the officials miss the linemen down field blocking (which does break the rules). This is just one of the rules it would break. In that case, it would be difficult to defend. As far as breaking the rules for an advantage, it's right down the barn's cornfield.
 

bamaga

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Yes Spurrier used it at Florida and South Carolina. It is used in the NFL by Philly and Cincy. It is called the Emory and Henry offense.

Here is how it is used at upper football levels, an article about Cincy's use of it from SB. Nation. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/10/10/6956009/bengals-emory-henry-andy-dalton-giovani-bernard

The Emory & Henry Wasps are credited with inventing an American football offensive formation, named in the college's honor, that divides the offensive line and wide receivers into three groupings of three.[14] While it is primarily used today as a trick play, it was revived in 2007 as an integral part of theA-11 offense, a high school football offensive scheme that was eventually banned due to the exploitation of loopholes in the high school rulebooks. The offense inspired Steve Spurrier to use variations of it as a trickplay formation at Florida and South Carolina named "Emory and Henry", as Spurrier attended Wasps games as a child growing up in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee.[15] .
Essentially, the play has up to four options (though they're not necessarily all on the table every time they run this). Depending on the defensive look that Andy Dalton gets in response to this weird formation, he has the option of running a read-option run play to Giovani Bernard, keeping it himself to run downfield, or throwing a quick screen pass out to either wing.


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