Wishbone formation
According to Barry Switzer, it was Charles “Spud” Cason, football coach at William Monnig Junior High School of Fort Worth, Texas, who first modified the classic T formation in order “to get a slow fullback into the play quicker.”[3] Cason called the formation “Monnig T”.
Bellard learned about Cason's tactics while coaching at Breckenridge High School, a small community west of Fort Worth.
Earlier in his career Bellard saw a similar approach implemented by former Detroit Lions guard Ox Emerson, then head coach at Alice High School near Corpus Christi, Texas.
During his high school coaching career in the late '50s and early '60s, Bellard adopted the basic approaches of both Cason and Emerson, as he won two 3A Texas state championships for Breckenridge in 1958 and 1959 and a 4A state title at San Angelo Central High School in 1966, using a wishbone-like option offense.
After watching Texas A&M—running offensive coordinator Bud Moore and Gene Stallings' option offense—beat Bear Bryant's Alabama team in the 1968 Cotton Bowl Classic, Royal instructed Bellard to design a new three-man back-field triple option offense.
When Texas introduced the new offensive scheme at the beginning of the 1968 season, Houston Chronicle sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz stated it looked like a “pulley bone”; Royal agreed but changed the name to “wishbone”.
He replaced initial starting quarterback Bill Bradley, who proved to have trouble with the reads and pitches that were key to the new formation, with James Street, who nearly led the Longhorns to a comeback win.
Then, while analyzing film from the Texas Tech loss, an assistant noticed that fullback Steve Worster was reaching the line of scrimmage too soon.
At Mississippi State Bellard “broke the bone” and introduced the “wing-bone”, moving one of the halfbacks up to a wing formation and frequently sending him in motion.
[9] The wishbone's reliance on execution and discipline, along with its ability to eat up the game clock, make it a favorite of programs that routinely play opponents with superior size and speed, such as the three service academies.
In 1985, Air Force climbed to #2 in the country, just barely missing the national championship game, under head coach Fisher DeBerry.
[12] Dawson contacted Ara Parseghian, then head coach of the University of Notre Dame, and convinced him to use it against Texas in the 1971 Cotton Bowl Classic.
In the National Football League, during the strike season of 1987, the San Francisco 49ers used the wishbone successfully against the New York Giants to win 41–21.
Coach Bill Walsh used the wishbone because of his replacement quarterback's familiarity with a similar formation in college.
[14] While run-based option offenses, including the wishbone, are as of 2022[update] now used only by a small number of NCAA Division I programs—mainly the service academies—wishbone principles still influence college football to this day.
In a 2018 ESPN story, Ken Niumatalolo, then head coach of Navy, noted that modern spread option offenses also conceptually borrow from the wishbone.
The fullback is required to be able to handle a physical pounding because he is frequently hit without having the ball; he must also be quick with excellent stamina, and be a good blocker.
The lead back can block the defensive end or the safety and there is then a one-on-none possibility for the offensive player with the ball.
