Innovation Blog

No-Huddle Offense in Oregon: ‘Subtraction’ Wins Again

By Shlomo Maital

  Chip Kelly, Oregon Ducks Coach   

 

 

For years, in college football, University of Oregon was a laughingstock, playing in the tough Pac-10 conference against superior teams with winning records and even national championships.  Even its name arouses laughter:  The Ducks.  Ducks??? The fighting (quacking) ducks?  Pit a ‘duck’ mascot against, say, an Indian warrior mounted on a Palomino pony, or a bulldog? 

     What do you do to create a winning team?  Well – innovate. But how?  Football is a century-old game with a lot of proven rules.  Why not try breaking a rule? Perhaps a key one?  Let’s say – the rule that the quarterback calls the offensive plays in a ‘huddle’. 

      One of the proven principles of innovation is ‘subtraction’ – take the key ingredients of a product or service, then remove one of them, and see what happens.  OK – let’s take away the huddle and see what happens, said innovative Oregon Coach Chip Kelly.  Take away the huddle???  How then can the quarterback call plays?  Perhaps – just audibly, right at the line of scrimmage. 

Kelly’s innovative, spread-option, no-huddle offense thrives on speed.  Run a play. Race to the ball. Run another play. And so forth.  No huddle.  You only wait for the referee to ‘spot’ the ball…and off we go.  Give the opposition no time to gather their thoughts and organize defense.  Start the offensive play quickly, before the defenders can even figure out what play you’re likely to run. 

   At times Oregon takes only nine seconds from the end of the previous play to the snap of the new one.  National Football League teams have used no-huddle offense, mainly toward the end of the game, when they lack time-outs and have to race against the clock to score.  But Oregon, under coach Chip Kelly, uses it all the time, every time, every offensive play. It has even led opponents to feign injuries, just to stop the clock and slow down the superfast Oregon juggernaut. 

    According to USAToday:  “They are so good at it, and so fast at it, that a typical game sees them run about 80 plays and score about 50 points, which is the biggest reason the Ducks are playing for a national championship.”

    And play they did. Improbably, Oregon played in the Bowl Championship Game against Auburn, for the title of National US #1 College Team. 

    They lost.  But so what?  They made it to the championship for the first time, they played well in a hard-fought close game.  And they proved that creativity and innovation, through ‘subtraction’, can offset other disadvantages and create competitive advantages that can take you (almost) to the top.

    Look for Chip Kelly to make it to the NFL as head coach.  And look for other teams to emulate Oregon’s amazing innovation.