Major Applewhite is young-only 27-was born in Louisiana and played quarterback at Texas. He knows his college football, but perhaps he doesn’t quite grasp the magnitude in Syracuse, of all places, shifting to the West Coast Offense.

‘You might see certain things you haven’t seen here in the past,’ SU’s quarterback coach said.

That has hereby been nominated for Major Understatement of the Year.

The school that has always been known for running the ball-producing a storied line of ground gainers like Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Larry Csonka and Joe Morris-will now take to the air and pin its hopes of a return to glory on the pass.

New SU offensive coordinator Brian Pariani brings a pro-style, pass-first offense from the Denver Broncos, where he served as tight ends coach for the last 10 years. Denver’s offense has been one of the most successful in the NFL over the last decade.

Under offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak, the Broncos have finished in the top three in offense six times in 10 seasons, including the two years Denver won Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998.

‘It’s more wide open, more spread out,’ quarterback Perry Patterson said. ‘Getting the ball to receivers, tight ends, running backs and making them look good, letting them have all the fun.’

Designed by Bill Walsh when he was assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals in the early 70s, the West Coast Offense, simply defined, relies on short and intermediate passes in place of the running game. For the first time, a team could control the clock by passing instead of running.

‘With a lot of quick, short passes we can get the ball into the hands of our playmakers and have them run with it,’ wide receiver Landel Bembo said. ‘That’s versus going deep down the field where you need a good offensive line to handle seven-step drops.’

Today, according to Pariani, almost half of all NFL teams run some version of the offense. Not only has it produced two championships in Denver with John Elway as quarterback, but five in San Francisco with Joe Montana and Steve Young (where it became famous with Walsh as head coach, thus giving the offense its name) and one in Green Bay with Brett Favre.

The West Coast Offense became more widespread in the college game later, and only recently has it enjoyed success. Most notably, Southern California won two consecutive national championships with 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart at the controls.

Of course, SU Director of Athletics Daryl Gross arrived from USC in December and picked a new head coach in Greg Robinson whose regime would use the offense.

Bembo said the Orange’s version will use an array of formations, ranging from a traditional two-back, two wide receiver set to ones with four receivers, three tight ends, or a running back or fullback in the slot. Pariani intends to spread receptions across all positions.

Following a season in which Patterson threw seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions, Pariani said his starting quarterback must be in sync with his pass catchers for this particular air game to click because throws come quicker after the snap.

‘So much of it is crossing routes and you want to hit guys on the move,’ Robinson said. ‘I don’t know what offense could care less about accuracy, but in this system it’s really important.’

But before thinking balls are about to fly all over the Carrier Dome on every play, people should know the running game isn’t about to disappear any time soon from the school where it has been the trademark. While the West Coast Offense is primarily associated with the pass, the run is hardly forgotten, especially in the Denver version.

The Broncos actually ran more than they threw during their two Super Bowl-winning seasons. In 1998, Terrell Davis rushed for more than 2,000 yards, a feat accomplished only five times in NFL history.

Denver is famous for a zone blocking scheme that has propelled five different backs to 1,000-yard seasons during Kubiak’s tenure, leading many in professional football to praise the system even more than the actual runners-great for college, where players overturn rapidly.

‘Our philosophy is that you have to run the ball to be good,’ Kubiak said. ‘That’s where offensive football begins. Once you get good enough at that is when you can pass. In the end you want 50/50, and I’m sure that’s what they want (at SU).’

In the zone blocking system, the offensive linemen, depending on which way the run goes, either block the zone diagonally to the left or to the right of them. None are assigned to a specific defensive player. The running back glides laterally until a cutback lane opens up.

That means even though Syracuse fans are accustomed to seeing the ground game, even it will look foreign.

‘Zoning is a beautiful thing,’ running back Damien Rhodes said. ‘You find where you got to go and hit it. It’s more instinct. For a running back, you’ve got to love it.’

Based on that, it seems Syracuse may still achieve balance between the run and the pass.

‘We’ve got a versatile offense,’ Bembo said. ‘To prepare for this offense is going to be hard because we can throw a lot of things at you. I hope it will be 50/50 because then nobody can come into the game and say all they’re going to do is run or pass.’

Pariani said there is no desired ratio, only that it depends on each particular game and which match-ups are favorable to the Orange.

But Pariani made it no secret that Syracuse’s offensive future, however strange it sounds, lies in the passing of the wide-open West Coast Offense.

The main reason why the Broncos ran more than they threw in their title seasons was because they often had large leads in the second half. They got a significant portion of those leads with their precise short and intermediate passing game, and SU hopes do the same.

‘There’s going to be more passing,’ Pariani said. ‘The key to whole thing is (the quarterback) has to know where his players are. He’s got to be a great decision maker.’

Published on September 17, 2005 at 12:00 pm