The Wildcat offense has been around for a long time in football, and has recently spread into virtually every league, including the National Football League. The offensive package, which is easily identified by the direct snap to a position player other than the quarterback and often features an unbalanced line, has grown wildly popular in the NFL over the past year after its coming-out party last September, when the Miami Dolphins scored five touchdowns on six plays using the formation. There is one place, however, where the Wildcat offense has been noticeably absent—from the playbook of the Columbia football team.
The Wildcat is an offensive package rather than an offensive system. In a traditional formation with a quarterback, when a team rushes the ball, they are playing with only 10 people because the quarterback hands the ball off and then moves out of the way most of the time. In the Wildcat, the “quarterback” is the one rushing with the ball, and thus the offensive team has an even matchup of 11 on 11 against the defense.
Teams and coaches use the formation predominantly as a “gadget,” or trick play of sorts, hoping to catch their opponents out of position and unprepared. The formation traces its origins back to the “Wing-T” formation, where three runningbacks will line up behind the quarterback forming a “T,” thus giving the formation its name.
The Wildcat is often attributed to University of Delaware head coach Tubby Raymond. In the modern era, however, the Wildcat was made famous first at the University of Arkansas, where current NFL running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones ran the offense.
The Wildcat came to the NFL in a big way on September 21, 2008, when the Miami Dolphins played the New England Patriots. The Dolphins surprised the Patriots by lining up running back Ronnie Brown at quarterback and scored four rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown against a New England defense and coaching staff, which was caught completely off guard and had no answer for the formation. Since then, the Dolphins have taken the Wildcat offense to new heights, seemingly adding new wrinkles to the formation every week, including this past Monday when they rushed for 107 in the Wildcat formation.
The Wildcat is an evolving formation as well, as highlighted by the actions of some NFL teams. The Dolphins, who brought the Wildcat into the NFL, drafted West Virginia quarterback Pat White, whose combination of running and passing ability make him ideally suited for the Wildcat, either as a quarterback or a receiver. The Philadelphia Eagles made the biggest splash this offseason, signing the dynamic (and controversial) Wildcat player Michael Vick. Vick’s freakish athleticism and speed make him a threat any time he has the ball in his hands, and head coach Andy Reid has indicated that Vick will be utilized in a variety of ways this season, including as a Wildcat quarterback.
Now, the Wildcat formation clearly has its limits. It is first and foremost a gadget formation, and cannot be trusted to win games for any team consistently. The offense, while capable of consistently gaining five to eight yards per play, has shown little to no explosive capability yet, as most passing plays out of the Wildcat are for short-yardage plays near the goal line. Most importantly, a team running the Wildcat formation must have an offense that supports it. As the Dolphins showed last season in their first-round loss in the playoffs, the Wildcat formation can only take you so far.
Regardless of its downside, today more than ever, the Wildcat should be an offensive package in every team’s playbook, including the Columbia Lions. The best part for the Lions—they have the perfect personnel to run the formation as well. Millicent Olawale provides a natural running threat from the quarterback position, and wide receiver Austin Knowlin is one of the most dangerous playmakers in the Ivy League with the ball in his hands. The Lions can look to Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson as a model for how to use Knowlin out of the Wildcat. Jackson, an undersized but phenomenally fast receiver in his second year, has taken five direct snaps this season, and has rushed for 48 yards and three first downs. But perhaps the biggest advantage of the unique formation is the fact that it forces the opponent to study one extra facet of the Lions’ offense in the week leading up to the game. When the opposing defense is on the field, they have one more thing to worry about.
The bottom line is that the Wildcat deserves a look from the Columbia coaching staff at some point this season. The possibilities are endless for the Lions, who could add another wrinkle for Ivy League defensive coordinators to lose sleep over.
Kunal Gupta is a junior in the School of Engineering and Applied Science majoring in operations research.
sports@columbiaspectator.com
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