Return of the Wishbone : Orange Bowl Game May Have Been a Preview of College Football’s Future

As a new year came to college football this week, the wishbone formation was back on top. And there are two bad things to say about that:

--Against opponents who are outmanned, a wishbone team like Oklahoma can push up and down the field, keeping the ball away from players who have more skill throwing and catching it.

--Against teams that match them in personnel, wishbone players can turn a game into an uninspiring defensive struggle in which turnovers become decisive.

And we’re in for a long run of this.

The Oklahoma team that won the Orange Bowl game Wednesday--as the only one of college football’s four top-ranked powerhouses to escape defeat--is among the nation’s youngest.

The quarterback, Jamelle Holieway, is a freshman, and many other Sooners are freshmen and sophomores. There are only a few seniors on the squad.

They’ll be with us on national television into the distant future, running wild against teams that are less talented than they, scratching and clawing when they’re more evenly matched.

The Orange Bowl was a sample of what’s ahead for college football with Oklahoma as a big-game attraction.

Penn State whipped Holieway on wishbone runs. With a gifted defense, the Nittany Lions kept a grip on the Oklahoma triple option. But on offense, the Lions couldn’t keep from throwing the ball away. Through a dull night of football, turnovers led to the 25-10 end of Penn State as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Earlier this year, facing less-powerful regular-season opponents, Holieway had emerged as a master of wishbone quarterback techniques.

Some coaches described him as the best they’d ever seen at the position, although, at 5-11 and 175 pounds, he is less than a giant.

At times in the Orange Bowl, you could see flashes of the Holieway who had romped through the Big Eight. But his running and ballhandling were never a factor in this decision.

He won the game with a pass--one of the three he threw in the first half--that surprised the socks off Penn State.

Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke, Holieway threw three more passes in the second half.

The wishbone had nothing to do with the outcome.

As an offensive system, the wishbone was popularized by Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma in the 1970s, reaching its summit at Alabama under the late Bear Bryant. It is football’s most unusual formation. Operated with four closely bunched backs and only one wide receiver, the wishbone is basically ground-bound.

Thus it is easily controlled by any rival with the talent and know-how. The right defensive means are nothing more than simple, continuous assaults on the quarterback. Penn State followed the blueprint. As each Oklahoma play began Wednesday night, the Nittany Lions hit Holieway when he had the ball and when he didn’t.

It takes an athlete, however, to fight his way through Oklahoma’s good athletes and get to Holieway in time. Most of the teams Oklahoma plays can’t do it. Accordingly, on an average Saturday in the fall, Oklahoma rolls up the yards and points.

Sooner Coach Barry Switzer has made an effort in recent years to get away from the wishbone. When he had Marcus DuPree, the Sooners ran from the I-formation for a spell.

As recently as last September, they were operating a more-or-less pass-oriented wishbone with an above-average wishbone passer, Troy Aikman.

But when Aikman broke a leg in the fourth game of the season, Holieway came in and turned the clock back to the 1970s.

It will stay there awhile.