Beauty & The Balance
The Walsh-designed 1978 offense kept everyone involved
The late Bill Walsh's extraordinary offensive effectiveness at the college
level can be attributed to many factors, including his ability to recognize
exceptional athletic talent, the design of his plays to take advantage of an
opposing defense, the knack for identifying potential mismatches, and the
ability to put support players in a position to succeed. Critical to maintaining
his advantage over an adversary was his insistence on providing his quarterbacks
with a multitude of options, and then using those options to keep opposing
defenders guessing. To set up his key threats to make big plays, Walsh knew he
had to spread the ball around. Involving each and every skill position player in
the offensive game plan not only rendered his offensive schemes difficult to
defend, but the sharing of the wealth also helped maintain positive team morale
and kept everyone from future NFL stars to minor role players feeling as though
they were important contributors and able to help their team achieve success on
the field. There were no decoys, no unused chess pieces. Every player kept the
defense honest. If you failed to account for any of the options, you could
expect that option subsequently to be chosen, and probably on the next play. By
designing a beautifully balanced attack, one that not only represented a healthy
mix of running and passing, but also an extraordinarily wide distribution of the
football through the air, every back, wide receiver or tight end became a viable
threat on every play.
Much attention was called to the outstanding 1977 Sun Bowl team last year on
the 30th anniversary of that talented squad, but a solid argument can be made
that the 1978 team that will be honored at half-time of today's WSU game, was
even better. Stanford finished 8-4 in 1978 and while that year is certainly
remembered as highly successful, few will recall that the Cardinal was just a
handful of plays away from a truly spectacular season. The Cardinal lost by just
six to the final AP Poll's #1-ranked USC, by six to the final AP Poll's
#3-ranked Oklahoma, by just one point to #12 UCLA, and finally by three to
Washington, 34-31, on a field goal with 14 seconds left. All together, that
meant William Walsh & Co. were just 16 points away from an undefeated
regular season and a couple of field goals away from a trip to the Rose Bowl
that year! And you wonder why we at The Bootleg wax so frequently nostalgic
about the glorious second year of "Walsh I"? No matter the opponent
that year, Stanford was a credible threat to win, each and every week!
Let's take a closer look at that remarkable second season of "Walsh
I". The 1978 Stanford offense was indeed pretty amazing, remarkably
productive for its time. There are so many measures that point to the team's
success, but let's begin with the fact that the Cardinal led the
newly-constituted Pac-10 Conference in passing and total offense at 267.9 and
435.5 yards per game respectively. Yards-per-attempt that year were a satisfying
7.35, not bad for a ball-control offense! Flanker Ken Margerum, halfback Darrin
Nelson, and versatile fullback Phil Francis would finish 1-2-3 in the conference
in receiving in 1978, the only time that the same team has produced a season's
top three receivers in the history of the Pac-10 conference.
Previously unheralded fifth-year senior quarterback Steve Dils, who will be
in attendance at the game today, entered the season having attempted just 42
passes in his college career (completing 27), but under the Walsh system he
would become the official 1978 NCAA passing champion, at the time based on
average completions per game. Statistically, Dils put up comparable if not
slightly superior numbers to those produced by his much better-known
predecessor, Guy Benjamin, who had not only won the 1977 NCAA passing title, but
had also been selected as a consensus All-American.
Dils was not just a "dink n' dunk", "move-the-chains"
guy. He put up a then-school-record 430 yards passing against Washington State
that year, a record that stood for 20 years until Todd Husak dropped 450 on
Oregon State in 1998. Dils finished his remarkable senior season with what were
then school-record marks of 243 completions and 2,943 yards through the air. His
completion percentage of .632 and 22 TD passes (still 4th all-time) were also
new Stanford single-season records at the time. He remains Stanford's all-time
career completion percentage leader at .633 and it is not surprising that Dils
crashed the gates of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame, getting inducted in
2003.
Free-spirited wide receiver Ken Margerum, a former Orange Country Athlete of
the Year and another Stanford Athletic Hall of Famer, would gain consensus
All-American honors in both 1979 and 1980. Some, including the editorial staff
of The Bootleg Magazine, feel he really deserved All-American honors in 1978 as
well. The Associated Press honored #28 with Honorable Mention All-America, but
there was not a more effective and elusive receiver on a Division I roster. He
had 300 more receiving yards during the 1978 regular season than the next-best
effort in the entire Pac-10 conference…and he was just a sophomore! Including
an outstanding Bluebonnet Bowl performance, Margerum had 58 catches for 1,029
yards, and 11 TDs for the season. Not bad.
Electrifying halfback Darrin Nelson, who would put up his second consecutive
1,000-yard rushing season and became the second player in NCAA history to run
for 1,000 yards and catch 50 passes in the season, repeating his incredible
accomplishment from the previous season and going a step further, upping his
touchdown tally from six in 1977 to 10 in 1978! To put things into perspective,
please note that Stanford has not produced a 1,000-yard rusher during the past
16 seasons. In modern Cardinal football history, only Vincent White, Brad Muster
and Glyn Milburn have ever even been in the same ballpark when it comes to
representing that type of consistent and credible dual-threat. Adding Nelson and
tackle Brian Holloway, that makes four members of the 1978 offense who today
grace the membership of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.
Walsh really knew how to keep his entire team involved. First of all, throw
the damn ball. Back in the late 1970s, run-oriented teams routinely used to
feature a star running back 25-30 times a game, turning most of the remaining
players on the team into full-time blockers and glorified cheerleaders. Case in
point: In 1978, USC's highly-regarded Charles White, who would win the Heisman
Trophy the following year, rushed for 1,760 yards, but did it on a
body-battering 342 carries, a 28.5 carry per game average. White averaged just
5.1 yards per carry compared to Darrin Nelson's remarkable 6.4, but Nelson only
carried the ball an average of 15 times a game. Hey, clearly both approaches can
work well! The point is that Walsh's balanced attack, further enhanced by his
employment of three solid tight ends, generated excellent production from every
position and kept players fresh and relatively healthy. Between them Nelson,
Dils, Margerum, and Francis missed a combined total of just two starts!
To understand the beauty of balance Walsh crafted in 1978, let's take a look
at some of the notable numbers, in fact, please look once and then look again!:
" 53 catches for Kenny Margerum, a split end (the same number James Lofton
had in 1977, but with 942 regular season yards to Lofton's 931, Kenny posted the
second-best season of any receiver in Stanford history to that point! " 50
catches for Darrin Nelson. Unheard of for any halfback not named
"Nelson" " 49 catches by Francis, a fullback! 106 carries, just
two yards lost! Remarkable. " 54 catches from three TEs, with a combined
nine TDs, none of them with less than two! " 45 catches combined by the
other receivers including Vince Mulroy, Gordon Banks, etc. " A school
record-shattering 251 team completions, spread out unbelievably evenly!
In fact, just for fun, let's take a quick look at the percentage breakdown of
Walsh's first two seasons, the 1977 and 1978 ("Walsh I") regular
season offenses, as well as his final two seasons in football, the 1993 and 1994
(Walsh II) offenses and compare them to the last two years under Walt Harris in
2005 and 2006. Sure, he came back in 1992, but let's face it, 1992 was a
defense-centered coaching transition year and we wanted to do direct two-year
comparisons.
1977 Walsh Offense Rush/Pass Yardage: 1,894/2,856 = 39.9%/60.1% Total
Completions: 235
22.5% Halfbacks (53) Darrin Nelson redefines the tailback as a receiver, sets
records 17.9% Fullbacks (42) Phil Francis demonstrates that indeed, a FB can
catch the ball too! 10.2% Tight Ends (24) Marty Smith and Pat Bowe, Sr. have yet
to fully emerge 20.9% Split Ends (49) Bill Kellar is 5th in the conference in
receptions 28.5% Flankers (67) James Lofton is a 2nd Team AP All-American and
fairly fleet of foot
More than 40% of the balls went to backs coming out of the backfield.
Overall, pass-catching duties are shared equally between the traditional wide
receivers group and the backs and tight ends. Opposing defenses (other than
USC's), couldn't key on anyone in particular and couldn't stop the Cardinal. One
problem - the defense was still giving up more (264) than the offense could put
on the board (261), which was impacted by a brutal 0-49 showing against the
Trojans. Nevertheless, in his first year on the job, Walsh completes an
unbeaten, untied home season, Stanford's first in 37 years! (Talk about
"Our House"!) The 1977 regular season was punctuated with a 21-3 win
over rival Cal, which finished off the regular season at 8-3. Stanford
subsequently appeared in the school's first ever "non-Rose Bowl" bowl
game and chalked up a 24-14 win over favored SEC power LSU! Surprising little
Stanford ended up 15th in both wire service polls. The players were pumped. The
alumni were thrilled. Bill was happy. After the Sun Bowl win, Walsh couldn't
wait for year two, where with some fine tuning, he knew his offense could be
even better, despite losing a consensus All-American quarterback in Benjamin and
a couple of first round draft picks in flanker James Lofton and offensive tackle
Gordon King.
1978 Walsh Offense Rush/Pass Yardage: 1,844/2,947 = 38.5%/61.5% Total
Completions: 251
22.7% Halfbacks (57) Nelson is 2nd in Pac-10 in receptions, breaks more
records 21.5% Fullbacks (54) Senior Phil Francis catches 49 balls! Extraordinary
for a fullback! 21.5% Tight Ends (54) All three TEs (Marty Smith, Mitch Pleis,
Pat Bowe) are heavily involved 21.1% Split Ends (53) Sophomore Ken Margerum is
Honorable Mention AP All-American 13.2% Flankers (33) Vince Mulroy and Andre
Tyler split time and are solid
Ahhhh, there it was in all its glory, what would later become known as the
"West Coast Offense". It was truly a balanced thing of beauty. One
couldn't spread things out much more evenly using a computer. Senior QB Steve
Dils could and would pick from a menu of choices, all of them good. Almost
exactly 2/3 of the balls went to backs and to a terrific trio of tight ends! The
halfback (Nelson) and fullback (Francis) were second and third in the conference
in receiving, behind an emerging star in Margerum. Cheat up with a safety and
you would be left trying to cover Kenny one-on-one, would have a linebacker
trying to hang with Nelson, or would have to watch one of our tight ends turn it
up the field.
After the Bluebonnet Bowl Walsh was comfortably certain that no one could
consistently stop his offense. Time to take it to the next level, which he would
do with the San Francisco 49ers.
1993 Walsh Offense Net Rush/Pass Yardage: 700/3,709 = 15.9%/83.1% Total
Completions: 308
15.3% Halfbacks (47): Ellery Roberts & freshman Mike Mitchell combine for
37 balls 23.1% Fullbacks (71): FB Ethan Allen team's top receiver with 52
catches, Comella on the rise 13.6% Tight Ends (42): Tony Cline produces every
catch at the position 27.9% Split Ends (86): Justin Armour has another big
season, Mark Harris is the #3 receiver 20.1% Flanker (62): David Shaw and
freshman Brian Manning provide balance and big plays
Bill was back, but even he couldn't win with this kind of a mix. Stanford
would average > 400 yards of total offense, lead the conference in passing,
average 337 yards a contest, and score 26.5 points per game, but the Cardinal
couldn't run the ball, averaging a conference-worst 63.6 yards per game. The
bent and broken defense would give up an appalling average of 465 yards, 228 of
which on the ground, would allow 47.7% conversion on 3rd downs and surrender
35.4 points a game. But man, some of those games were mighty fun to watch! The
96th Big Game, however, was not one of them. While Stenstrom airs it out for
another 346 yards to extend his many conference passing records, the gross
imbalance of the offense comes back to bite Stanford in the butt. Daring the
Cardinal to run, California stacks the box, limiting Stanford to negative five
yards of net rushing. Ellery Roberts "leads" Stanford with 12 yards
rushing. Meanwhile, the defense gives up 295 on the ground. Walsh has no balance
and is really not happy. It is his first loss to Cal, a humiliating 46-17 home
defeat after previously winning each of his first three Big Games in dominant
fashion (21-3, 30-10, 42-21). The tough loss, as would always be the case for
Bill Walsh, really didn't sit well with the brilliant, but self-critical coach.
1994 Walsh Offense Net Rush/Pass Yardage: 1,522/3,358 = 31.2%/68.8% Total
Completions: 255
08.6% Halfbacks (22): RB Anthony Bookman is not as frequent a receiving
target 20.0% Fullbacks (51): FB Ethan Allen is huge again, Greg Comella's knee
injured in opener 14.1% Tight Ends (36): Tony Cline provides all but one catch
at the TE position 32.6% Split Ends (83): Armour earns 1st Team All-Pac-10,
Harris is a year away from stardom 24.7% Flanker (63): Brian "You the
Man"-ning becomes a big-play deep threat
Stanford would once against lead the conference in passing and total offense,
but with better balance also produced a league-high 29.7 points per game.
Nevertheless, the team posted a miserable 2-7-1 record primarily due to a porous
young defense that surrendered 32.6 points per game. If senior quarterback Steve
Stenstrom doesn't get injured against the University of Washington in Game 9,
Stanford very likely beats Cal and Walsh probably doesn't send himself into
premature retirement after the season. Without the "SuperSwede" out,
Stanford managed just 11 completions and two INTs in 27 attempts against a
relatively undistinguished Bear defense. The Card defense surrendered a whopping
301 yards on the ground, including 205 from a random guy you probably won't or
won't want to remember (Tyrone Edwards) and almost won anyway, coming up empty
on a failed two-point conversion. Walsh couldn't take it any more. Scott Frost
transferred to his home state University of Nebraska where he eventually
quarterbacked the Huskers to the 1997 National Championship, primarily running
rather than passing the football.
2005 Harris Offense Rush/Pass Yardage: 1,015/2,463 = 29.2%/70.8% Total
Completions: 207
22.7% Halfbacks (47) Evans, Lemon, Kimble by committee 08.2% Fullbacks (17)
Please, please throw the ball to the fullback! Nick Frank is open! 16.9% Tight
Ends (35) We have three pretty good ones in Traverso, Horgan, and Danahy 15.5%
Split Ends (32) Evan Moore's severe hip injury costs us a bowl game, Crochet
fills in 36.7% Flanker (76) Bradford showing signs of star potential, McCullum a
solid #3, emerges late
After fullback Nick Frank show nice hands, catching six balls for 45 yards in
the opening win at Navy, frustrated fans rightfully question why the fullback
position averages just one catch per game thereafter. If it ain't broke, don't
fix it! In the final three games of 2005, there is all of one pass completed to
a fullback. One.
2006 Harris "Offense" Net Rush/Pass Yardage: 781/2,002 =
28.1%/71.9% Total Completions: 167
21.0% Halfbacks (35) Anthony Kimble & Toby Gerhart can both catch, but
are underutilized 5.4% Fullbacks (9) Nick Frank neck injury hurts the position,
which disappears from the offense 14.4% Tight Ends (24) Redshirt freshman Jim
Dray deserved a lot more balls! 20.4% Split Ends (34) No offence, but Austin
Yancy & Mike Miller can't replace injured Moore 38.9% Flanker (65) Bradford
out early. Frosh Richard Sherman gives team an occasional prayer.
Last year, fullbacks and tight ends were hardly involved in a predictable
offense, putting too much pressure on a banged up and inexperienced wide
receiving corps. 60% of the completions are to wide receivers, which after a
rash of injuries were clearly not our team's strength last year. No balance. No
offense. Would perhaps have been a good time to start throwing a lot more swing
and flat passes to the backs, which might have moved the chains a lot better.
The Cardinal averaged less than a touchdown in five home games. For the second
consecutive season, Stanford failed to place a single offensive player on the
two-deep all-conference team. "Buh-Bye!"
Lesson to be learned: When you don't have brutes, go for beauty of balance.
It didn't take a "genius" to figure that out….or did it?