This post is a day late but for Christmas I wanted to give you all a list of my favorite offensive formations.
Regardless of the type of offense I run at that point in time, these formations have served me extremely well over the pass decade.
My idea of a good formation is one where you can use the majority of its plays.
More importantly, my favorite formations have enough good plays to where I can basically run my entire offense just from that one set.
Think of this list as Cycle Offenses. Each formation consists of exactly 18 plays so if I feel comfortable using at least half of those plays then I tend to go back to that formation often.
Let’s get to the list shall we, in no particular order.
Ace Normal – I can use at least 15 plays with effectiveness. It’s a balanced look with great variety. A truly great self sufficient formation.
Ace Big TE WR – Probably the best formation to really get your TEs involved. Oddly enough, this is a great look for goal line situations. Again, tons of variety here.
Ace Big Twins – The sister look to the Big TE WR, I can go entire drives using this formation alone. The Triple WR Option is a blast to use.
I-Form Normal – The best of the “I” formations due to the immense variety of run plays. The passing plays are underrated too.
I-Form Slot – I call this formation my Gus Malzahn formation due him using the Gun version so much at Auburn. There are a lot of great vertical concepts to complement your downhill running too.
Strong Normal – Sometimes I think running from this look is better than the “I” due to your FB getting an extra step in blocking. The passing concepts are effective too.
Shotgun Split – The run plays work well together and the passing plays fit as well. Having the TE with his hand in the dirt really makes a difference when running.
Shotgun Split Slot – Love, love, love this look! I can use almost every play at will.
Shotgun Normal – Probably my favorite passing formation from the Gun. The running plays are so so, but almost all of the passing plays fit perfectly with my passing philosophy.
Shotgun Bunch – I’m not a huge fan of compression formations but this one is great because a lot of the run plays really work well together, good enough to run a series offense. It’s also fun if you like to get a WR involved in the run game.
Shotgun Spread – This is my “Run N Shoot” formation due to so many vertical looks.
Shotgun Trips – This is my “Air Raid” formation due to so many great horizontal looks.
I can probably think of a few more but this list proves my point. All of these looks are self sufficient. If you have any questions about these, let me know and I can break them down further.
