![Wishbone Formation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Wishbone_Formation.svg)
The wishbone formation, also known simply as the bone, is an offensive
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
in
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
. The style of attack to which it gives rise is known as the wishbone offense. Like the
spread offense
:''"Spread offense" may also refer to the four corners offense in basketball.''
The spread offense is an offensive scheme in gridiron football that typically places the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spreads" the defense horizontall ...
in the 2000s to the present, the wishbone was considered to be the most productive and innovative offensive scheme in
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States.
Unlike most ...
during the 1970s and 1980s.
History
While the record books commonly refer to
Emory Bellard
Emory Dilworth Bellard (December 17, 1927 – February 10, 2011) was a college football coach. He was head coach at Texas A&M University from 1972 to 1978 and at Mississippi State University from 1979 until 1985. Bellard died on February 10, 2011 a ...
developing the wishbone formation in 1968 as
offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...
at
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, the wishbone's roots can be traced back to the 1950s. According to
Barry Switzer
Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...
, it was Charles “Spud” Cason, football coach at William Monnig Junior High School of
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, who first modified the classic
T formation
In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterba ...
in order “to get a slow fullback into the play quicker.” Cason called the formation “Monnig T”. Bellard learned about Cason's tactics while coaching at
Breckenridge High School
Breckenridge High School is a public high school located in the city of Breckenridge, Texas and classified as a 3A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Breckenridge Independent School District located in Stephens County. In 2013, the sc ...
, a small community west of Fort Worth.
Earlier in his career Bellard saw a similar approach implemented by former
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
guard
Ox Emerson, then head coach at
Alice High School
Alice High School is a senior high school in Alice, Texas. A part of the Alice Independent School District, it serves Alice and surrounding communities in Jim Wells County.
Attendance area
Areas within Alice ISD, of which Alice High is its on ...
near
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...
. Trying to avoid the frequent pounding of his offensive line, Emerson moved one of the starting guards into the backfield, enabling him to get a running start at the opposing
defensive line
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...
. Bellard served as Emerson's assistant at that time. 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 Breckenridge in 1958 and 1959 and a 4A state title at
San Angelo Central High School in 1966, using a wishbone-like option offense.
In 1967 Bellard was hired by
Darrell Royal
Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an All-American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), and the University of Texas (1957 ...
and became offensive coordinator a year later. The
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
only scored 18.6 points per game in a 6–4 season in 1967. After watching
Texas A&M
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
—running offensive coordinator
Bud Moore and
Gene Stallings
Eugene Clifton Stallings Jr. (born March 2, 1935) is a retired American football player and coach. He played college football at Texas A&M University (1954–1956), where he was one of the "Junction Boys", and later served as the head coach at ...
' option offense—beat
Bear Bryant
Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...
's Alabama team in the
1968 Cotton Bowl Classic
The 1968 Cotton Bowl Classic, part of the 1967 bowl game season, was the 32nd edition of the college football bowl game, held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, January 1. It matched the eighth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide of t ...
, Royal instructed Bellard to design a new three-man back-field triple option offense. Bellard tried to merge his old high school tactics with Stallings' triple option out of the
Slot-I formation and
Homer Rice
Homer C. Rice (born February 20, 1927) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. As Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech, Rice successfully developed and implemented the Total Person Program which is now ...
's variations of the
Veer
The Veer is an option running play often associated with option offenses in American football, made famous at the collegiate level by Bill Yeoman's Houston Cougars. It is currently run primarily on the high school level, with some usage at t ...
, an offensive formation created by
Bill Yeoman
William Frank Yeoman (December 26, 1927 – August 12, 2020) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Houston from 1962 to 1986. In his tenure, he became the winningest coach i ...
.
When Texas introduced the new offensive scheme at the beginning of the 1968 season, ''
Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...
'' sportswriter
Mickey Herskowitz
Milton Leon "Mickey" Herskowitz (born April 4, 1933 in Houston, Texas) is an American journalist and biographer. He has written more than 50 books and has published autobiographies with several athletes. He was a sportswriter and columnist for t ...
stated it looked like a “
pulley bone”; Royal agreed but changed the name to “wishbone”. Royal quickly embraced the idea of the wishbone, though it did not immediately work, as the Longhorns tied their first game running the new offense and went into halftime of their second game against
Texas Tech
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
trailing 21–0. This led Royal to make the first of two changes which proved key to the future success of the wishbone. He replaced initial starting quarterback
Bill Bradley
William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination f ...
, 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
Stephen Clark Worster (July 8, 1949 – August 13, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a fullback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Following his prep career in Texas, he played college f ...
was reaching the line of scrimmage too soon. At the assistant's suggestion, Royal and Bellard then had Worster start a step farther back from the quarterback. According to Bradley, "When we moved Worster back and James took over, we just caught fire."
Texas won its next 30 games, leading to two national championships using the formation. In 1971 Royal showed the offense to Bear Bryant, who was so enamored with it that he installed it at
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
complete with his own touches.
Bellard later left Texas and – using the wishbone – guided Texas A&M and
Mississippi State
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...
to
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
appearances in the late 1970s. 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. Another variation of the wishbone formation is called the
flexbone
The flexbone formation is an offensive formation in American football that includes a quarterback, five offensive linemen, three running backs, and varying numbers of tight ends and wide receivers. The flexbone formation is a predominant turnover ...
.
Ironically, the longest running wishbone offense was run not by Texas but by their arch-rivals, the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
, who ran variations of the wishbone well into the mid-1990s. Oklahoma coach
Barry Switzer
Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...
has been credited by some for having “perfected” the use of the wishbone offense and former OU quarterback
Jack Mildren
Larry Jack Mildren (October 10, 1949 – May 22, 2008), was an All-American quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, and professional football player with the Baltimore Colts and New England Patriots. A native Texan, he was later an oil compa ...
is often referred to as "the Godfather of the wishbone" by University of Oklahoma football fans. In 1971, the Oklahoma Sooners wishbone offense set the all-time NCAA single-season rushing record at 472.4 yards per game, a record which still stands to this day.
The wishbone's reliance on execution and discipline, along with its ability to eat up the play clock, make it a favorite of programs that routinely play opponents with superior size and speed, such as the three service academies.
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
saw tremendous success running the option game out of the wishbone. In 1985, Air Force climbed to #2 in the country, just barely missing the national championship game, under head coach
Fisher DeBerry
James Fisher DeBerry (born June 8, 1938) is a retired American football player. He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy from 1984 to 2006, compiling a record of 169–109–1. DeBerry led 17 of his 23 Air Forc ...
.
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
saw success using the wishbone under head coaches
Jim Young
James Norman Young (born June 6, 1943) is a former professional American football and Canadian football player. Young played running back and wide receiver for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for two seasons (1965–66), and the CFL's BC Lions f ...
and
Bob Sutton Robert Sutton may refer to:
Politicians
*Robert Sutton (died 1414), MP for Lincoln
*Robert Sutton (MP for Derby), see Derby (UK Parliament constituency), Derby
*Robert Dudley alias Sutton (died 1539), MP
*Robert Sutton, 1st Baron Lexinton (1594– ...
in the 1980s and early 1990s, leading to the school's first four bowl appearances (10–6 win over Michigan State in the 1984 Cherry Bowl; 31–29 win over Illinois in the 1985 Peach Bowl; 29–28 loss to Alabama in the 1988 Sun Bowl; and a 32–29 loss to Auburn in the 1996 Independence Bowl) and the first of the program's two 10-win seasons.
Phil Jack Dawson, then head coach of
Westbrook High School in
Westbrook, Maine
Westbrook is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States and a suburb of Portland. The population was 20,400 at the 2020 census, making it the fastest-growing city in Maine between 2010 and 2020. It is part of the Portland– South Portla ...
, developed an effective defense against the wishbone offense then in use by Texas, called “backbone defense”. Dawson contacted
Ara Parseghian
Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bri ...
, then head coach of the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
, and convinced him to use it against Texas in the 1971 Cotton Bowl Classic. Notre Dame beat Texas 24-11.
In the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
, during the strike season of 1987, the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
used the wishbone successfully against the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
to win 41–21. Coach
Bill Walsh used the wishbone because of his replacement quarterback's familiarity with a similar formation in college. The
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
also utilized the wishbone at the pro level in a 2018 28–16 win over the
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
.
While run-based option offenses, including the wishbone, are now used only by a small number of NCAA Division I programs—mainly the service academies and programs influenced by
Paul Johnson such as
Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
—wishbone principles still influence college football to this day. The original architects of the pass-oriented
Air Raid offense
In American football the air raid offense refers to an offensive scheme popularized by such coaches as Mike Leach, Hal Mumme, Sonny Dykes, and Tony Franklin during their tenures at Iowa Wesleyan University, Valdosta State, Kentucky, Oklahoma, ...
,
Mike Leach and
Hal Mumme
Hal Clay Mumme (born March 29, 1952) is a former American football coach and former player. He most recently served as an offensive advisor for the Dallas Renegades of the XFL. Previously, Mumme served as the head football coach at Iowa Wesleyan C ...
, explicitly employed wishbone principles in the offense's creation. In a 2018
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
story, current
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
head coach
Ken Niumatalolo
Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo (born May 8, 1965) is an American football coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Naval Academy from 2007 to 2022, accumulating the most wins in program history. Niumatalolo played college football at ...
noted that modern spread option offenses also conceptually borrow from the wishbone. Some coaches are convinced that the wishbone could still work in the modern college game. One of them is Switzer, who in the aforementioned ESPN piece specifically named 2016 Heisman Trophy winner
Lamar Jackson
Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. (born January 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisville, where he won the Heisman Trophy during his soph ...
as a quarterback who would be "perfect in the Wishbone", adding, "There's a lot of them
uarterbacks that could run the formationout there, with the great speed and quickness that can also throw the football. They're out there by the dozens. They're just playing different positions." In the same piece, Leach said, "Nobody has ever truly stopped the Wishbone. There's a point to where people have lost interest in the Wishbone. But nobody ever really successfully stopped it."
[
]
Athletes required
The Oklahoma playbook describes the quarterback, the architect behind the Wishbone, as, "a running back who can throw." They must also have an aptitude for the option and the decision making that lies within the play design as well as durability (cannot miss a practice).
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.
Running the bone
The wishbone was designed to run a triple-option with a lead blocker. The purpose of an option is to eliminate one defender without blocking him. Ideally, the defender must make a choice to eliminate one of two offensive players. This is a double option. This option offensive scheme forces a defender to choose one of two offensive players who can advance the ball and then allows the other offensive player to carry the ball, making whatever choice the defender made the "wrong" choice. Because of this aspect of the defensive player taking himself out of the play by his choice, the offensive player that would otherwise block that defensive player can now block a different defender, placing severe pressure on the defense to cover the dive, the quarterback run, the pitch or the pass to a receiver.
The triple-option, then, eliminates two defenders without blocking them. This frees two offensive linemen to block different defenders, usually inside defenders. This isolates the dive key and the pitch key for the QB to "read" and should leave only an outside support defender (usually a safety) and the cornerback to cover the End, who is running a deep pass route. As Pepper Rodgers and Homer Smith stated in "Installing Football's Wishbone T Offense", "To run a Triple Option with a lead blocker is the reason for the Wishbone formation." It is the "extra blocker" concept that drives the success of the wishbone and its derivatives. The cornerback must cover the outside receiver. The support/safety must support the run defense and (usually) covers the pitch back. The defensive end typically attacks the quarterback and a defensive tackle is assigned the fullback dive. These assignments must be made before the play begins and that totals eight defensive players to both sides of the ball.
As stated above, however, the offense now has linemen that can be released to block other defenders, usually inside. The play is designed to handle five defenders on either side of the ball. Thus, the defender least able to affect the play, the offside cornerback or deep safety, is not blocked by design. The offensive linemen, now free to block inside, can block the first down lineman to the playside and the first linebacker to the playside. Emory Bellard once said, "If the threat of the fullback can be applied to the defense, the offense is sound.". Then, the lead back principle takes over. 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. In order to stop this attack, the defense must defeat blocks or flow defenders to the playside.
This makes the wishbone a "complete" offense. The offense expects to get a one-on-none in the running game and a one-on-one in open space with the passing game. The safety, who must support the run and also defend against the pass, is under tremendous pressure in this attack. The basic wishbone triple option play accounts for every defender on the field. Every defender is threatened before the basic play begins. There is an invitation to overplay or compensate on the basic play and overplaying or making a misstep on the basic play leaves the defense open for counters that leave no one to make up for the mistake.
The wishbone has the quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
taking the snap from under center, with a fullback close behind him, and two halfbacks (sometimes called ''tailbacks'') further back, one slightly to the left, and the other slightly to the right. The alignment of the four backs makes an inverted Y, or “wishbone”, shape. There is typically one wide receiver and one tight end
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...
, but sometimes two wide receivers, or two tight ends.
The wishbone was designed to facilitate a running, option offense
An option offense is an American football offensive system in which a key player (usually the quarterback) has several "options" of how each play will proceed based upon the actions of the defense. Traditionally, option-based offenses rely on ru ...
. It allows the quarterback to easily run the triple option
The triple option is an American football play used to offer several ways to move the football forward on the field of play. The triple option is based on the option run, but uses three players who might run with the ball instead of the two used ...
to either side of the line. The quarterback first reads the defensive tackle or linebacker who is unblocked. As he reads the tackle/linebacker, he rides the ball in the fullback's gut. If the defensive tackle/linebacker looks to tackle the fullback the quarterback pulls the ball out and runs down the line to his next option read, usually the defensive end/outside linebacker. If the end/linebacker looks to tackle the quarterback, the ball is pitched to the trailing halfback. The lead halfback is a lead blocker usually looking to block the outside defensive player, a safety or corner. The tight end to the option side 'arc' releases to block the safety.
Teams using wishbone
* 1968 Texas Longhorns –1–1* 1969 Texas Longhorns 1–0AP and UPI national champions
* 1970 Texas Longhorns 1–1UPI national champions
* 1971 Alabama Crimson Tide 1–1* 1971 Oklahoma Sooners 1–14 players ran for over 625 yards
* 1971 Texas Longhorns –3* 1972 Alabama Crimson Tide 0–2* 1972 Oklahoma Sooners 1–18 players ran for over 240 yards
* 1972 Purdue Boilermakers –5Ran for 2,592 Yards
* 1972 Texas Longhorns 0–1* 1972 UCLA Bruins –3* 1973 Alabama Crimson Tide 1–1UPI national champions
* 1973 Oklahoma Sooners 0–0–13 players ran for over 880 yards
* 1973 Purdue Boilermakers –6Ran for 2,124 Yards
* 1973 Texas Longhorns –3* 1973 UCLA Bruins –2* 1974 Army Black Knights –8* 1974 Florida Gators –44 players ran for over 398 yards
* 1974 Oklahoma Sooners 1–0AP national champions; 6 players ran for over 375 yards
* 1974 Texas Longhorns –4* 1974 Texas A&M Aggies –3* 1975 Florida Gators –35 players ran for over 244 yards
* 1975 Kansas Jayhawks –5defeated Oklahoma 23-3, the Sooners' first loss under coach Barry Switzer
Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...
, who was 28-0-1 to that point
* 1975 Oklahoma Sooners 1–1AP and UPI national champions; 6 players ran for over 322 yards
* 1975 Texas Longhorns 0–2* 1975 Texas A&M Aggies 0–2* 1976 Florida Gators –46 players ran for over 233 yards
* 1976 Holy Cross Crusaders –8* 1976 Kansas Jayhawks –5* 1976 Kentucky Wildcats –44 players ran for over 504 yards
* 1976 Oklahoma Sooners –2–15 players ran for over 443 yards
* 1976 Texas A&M Aggies 0–2* 1977 Florida Gators –4–14 players ran for over 353 yards
* 1977 Holy Cross Crusaders –9* 1977 Kansas Jayhawks –7–1* 1977 Kentucky Wildcats 0–15 players ran for over 338 yards
* 1977 Oklahoma Sooners 0–25 players ran for over 354 yards
*1977 Pennsylvania Quakers –4* 1978 Oklahoma Sooners 1–14 players ran for over 408 yards
* 1979 Kentucky Wildcats –63 players ran for over 460 yards
* 1979 Mississippi State Bulldogs –84 players ran for over 378 yards
* 1979 Oklahoma Sooners 1–14 players ran for over 358 yards
* 1980 Mississippi State Bulldogs –34 players ran for over 438 yards
* 1980 Oklahoma Sooners 0–27 players ran for over 292 yards
* 1981 Air Force Falcons –75 players ran for over 235 yards
* 1981 Auburn Tigers –63 players ran for over 442 yards
* 1981 Mississippi State Bulldogs –44 players ran for over 258 yards
* 1981 Oklahoma Sooners –4–13 players ran for over 442 yards
* 1982 Air Force Falcons –55 players ran for over 404 yards
* 1982 Auburn Tigers –34 players ran for over 284 yards
* 1982 Mississippi State Bulldogs –65 players ran for over 349 yards
* 1982 Oklahoma Sooners –44 players ran for over 621 yards
* 1983 Air Force Falcons 0–23 players ran for over 767 yards
* 1983 Auburn Tigers 1–13 players ran for over 604 yards
* 1983 Mississippi State Bulldogs –86 players ran for over 232 yards
* 1983 Oklahoma Sooners –44 players ran for over 369 yards
* 1984 Air Force Falcons –46 players ran for over 232 yards
*1984 Army Black Knights –3–1* 1984 Auburn Tigers –45 players ran for over 299 yards
* 1984 Mississippi State Bulldogs –76 players ran for over 234 yards
* 1984 Oklahoma Sooners –2–14 players ran for over 465 yards
* 1985 Air Force Falcons 2–14 players ran for over 492 yards
* 1985 Army Black Knights –3* 1985 Colorado Buffaloes –55 players ran for over 269 yards
* 1985 Oklahoma Sooners 1–17 players ran for over 240 yards
* 1986 Air Force Falcons –54 players ran for over 275 yards
*1986 Army Black Knights –5* 1986 Colorado Buffaloes –64 players ran for over 224 yards
* 1986 Oklahoma Sooners 1–19 players ran for over 283 yards
* 1987 Air Force Falcons –46 players ran for over 384 yards
*1987 Army Black Knights –6* 1987 Colorado Buffaloes –46 players ran for over 332 yards
* 1987 Michigan Wolverines –4* 1987 Missouri Tigers –63 players ran for over 552 yards
* 1987 Navy Midshipmen –9* 1987 Nebraska Cornhuskers 0–2* 1987 Oklahoma Sooners 1–16 players ran for over 683 yards
* 1988 Air Force Falcons –75 players ran for over 576 yards
*1988 Army Black Knights –3* 1988 Colorado Buffaloes –45 players ran for over 257 yards
* 1988 Michigan Wolverines –2–1* 1988 Missouri Tigers –7–15 players ran for over 242 yards
* 1988 Navy Midshipmen –8* 1988 Oklahoma Sooners –36 players ran for over 308 yards
* 1989 Air Force Falcons –4–13 players ran for over 703 yards
*1989 Army Black Knights –5* 1989 Colorado Buffaloes 1–16 players ran for over 213 yards
* 1989 Michigan Wolverines 0–2* 1989 Navy Midshipmen –8* 1989 Oklahoma Sooners –4* 1989 Yale Bulldogs –2* 1990 Air Force Falcons –55 players ran for over 228 yards
*1990 Army Black Knights –5* 1990 Colorado Buffaloes 1–1–14 players ran for over 325 yards
* 1990 Oklahoma Sooners –36 players ran for over 262 yards
* 1990 Yale Bulldogs –4* 1991 Air Force Falcons 0–36 players ran for over 353 yards
*1991 Army Black Knights –7* 1991 Colorado Buffaloes –3–14 players ran for over 301 yards
* 1991 Yale Bulldogs –4* 1992 Air Force Falcons –56 players ran for over 310 yards
*1992 Army Black Knights –6* 1993 Air Force Falcons –86 players ran for over 301 yards
*1993 Army Black Knights –5* 1993 Oregon State Beavers –7ref> 5 players ran for over 338 yards
*
1994 Air Force Falcons –46 players ran for over 435 yards
*1994 Army Black Knights
–7*
1994 Oregon State Beavers –75 players ran for over 295 yards
*1995 Army Black Knights
–5–1*
1995 Oregon State Beavers –106 players ran for over 251 yards
*1996 Army Black Knights
0–27 players ran for over 229 yards
*
1996 Oregon State Beavers –94 players ran for over 387 yards
*1997 Army Black Knights
–7*
1998 Army Black Knights –8*
1999 Army Black Knights –8*
2018 Army Black Knights 1–2
References
Further reading
*
{{Oklahoma Sooners football navbox
American football formations