Football is essentially a conservative sport, from the skepticism that first greeted Bill Walsh's West Coast offense to the secrecy that envelopes any program run by a Bill Belichick or a Nick Saban. Rutgers played Princeton in the first college football game on Nov. 6, 1869, but the forward pass wasn't legalized until 1906.
Today's game looks nothing like what was played that day in New Brunswick, N.J. It was more of a rugby scrum, and more than a decade later Dr. James Naismith would invent basketball at a YMCA in Springfield, Mass.
Today's spread offense has been called "basketball on grass." Access to information has never been greater, and ideas have never moved faster. A pirate-loving graduate of Pepperdine's law school can help change the game's geometry. Who's stopping Mike Leach?
The centerpiece story in our preview section examined how technology has changed high school football. What's the next idea or breakthrough that will shape the game? Here's one crazy suggestion: The A-11 offense.
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