The Option: Still an Offense of Beauty

In a recent viewers poll conducted by ESPN research after the October 15 USC-Notre Dame historic match-up, people were asked to vote on the best regular season football game in the past 50 years. The winner: the ND-SC encounter that left Trojan fans relieved and Notre Dame followers emotionally drained. The game had everything a viewer could want: outstanding plays on both offense and defense, a lead changing hands a number of times, and a dramatic and controversial finish as Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart scored on the last play of the game. One writer mentioned that there were four Heisman candidates on the field that day: Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White for USC and Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn. What was interesting, offensively, is that both colleges ran the pro-set offense, sometimes with a single back formation but often with multiple wideouts. Similar to many NFL