College football’s offensive revolution has come to an end.
From the Air Raid to the run-pass option, offensive coaches spent the better part of two decades confounding defenses. The rules even seemed slanted to produce more points and yards.
Over the past few years, and with a big assist from changes in the rules governing the game clock, defenses have stabilized not just to counterpunch but to become exotic weapons and go on the attack.
“We’re starting to see some wild defenses out there,” Florida Atlantic coach Zach Kittley said.
Throw in a sharp decline in quarterback continuity throughout college football thanks to loosened transfer rules, and for the first time in a while, conditions are less than ideal for offense. Yards per game (383.5) and points per game (27.5) hit 15-year lows in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season.
What’s an offensive coach to do when their counterparts finally catch up to years of innovation? From conversations with 18 offensive coaches across the FBS, plus two other X’s-and-O’s experts, turning back the clock might be the future.
“There’s not a new trend, yet,” Washington coach Jedd Fisch said. “There really isn’t. Well, I think there’s a lot of old trends returning that haven’t been defended for a long time.”
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Fewer plays, greater stakes
To be very clear, defenses have not figured it all out. The biggest factor in suppressing points and yards is that there is simply not as much football being played during college football games.
For two decades, offensive coaches were using fairly simple techniques to put defenses in a blender. Spread the field sideline to sideline. Play fast. Force defenders to guess where the ball is going. In those respects, the Air Raid and the triple option are really not so different.
Run-pass option plays took deception a step further, taking advantage of the rule that allows offensive linemen to drift as much as 3 yards downfield so they can run-block on pass plays. (NFL linemen cannot be farther than 1 yard downfield on pass plays.)
“We were able to do things operationally to get an advantage,” Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell said. “Now, we gotta figure out how to block ’em.”
It took a while, but defensive coordinators found solutions, and they are giving offenses a lot more to think about. Simulated pressures. Disguised coverages. Twists and stunts at the line.
The up-tempo craze of the 2010s spurred by Chip Kelly’s Oregon teams started to wane in the early 2020s. Then in 2023, a major change to clock rules really put the brakes on the pace of play. Plays per game in the Football Bowl Subdivision have dropped to about 67 per team over the last three seasons after regularly cracking 70 for years. Possessions per game (23.9 in 2025) have been on a steady decline, too, according to data tracked by bcftoys.com.
Possessions per game have steadily declined since 2015Points per game reached a 15-year lowPlays per game have held steady in the last three seasonsPoints per possession are maybe leveling off?Plays per possession jumped to a 19-year (all-time?) high
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— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Overall, though, offenses are still pretty effective, gaining 5.73 yards per play and scoring 2.19 points per possession. Those numbers are in line with where they have been since 2007, when offense across college football spiked after an even more radical clock rule change was repealed.
The pace of play is, without question, causing offensive coaches to rethink how they operate.
“You’re seeing guys want more quality plays than quantity,” Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said. “At one point in my career I was like, hey, we need to get 90 snaps a game.”
As Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said, if you’re going to play slower, “We better be on our s—, right?”
While possessions per game are down, plays per possession have increased. Mimicking the NFL, college teams are playing more defenses focused on preventing long gains. The data is pretty clear: The team with more explosive plays usually wins. Executing eight- to 12-play marches to the end zone without some kind of drive-stalling mistake is difficult. Not coincidentally, teams are going for it on fourth down more than ever. With fewer possessions, kicking and not trying to maximize each possession is more of a gamble than going for it on fourth-and-3.
“It’s almost like today’s football has become a little bit of a battle of discipline, because eventually one of the two of you is going to lose your discipline,” Denbrock said. “Either the offense is going to lose theirs and throw the ball into coverage because they’re frustrated that they haven’t hit a 40-yard bomb or the defense is going to get sick of being picked to pieces.”
Huddles are coming back in style, alongside the introduction of coach-to-quarterback helmet communication. The downside is overthinking it.
“The headset communication, I think it’s caused that a little bit, where offenses are trying to get in the perfect play every time, and it’s slowed down their play instead of just calling plays and letting your kids go execute,” said Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris, whose North Texas team led the nation in total yards and scoring last year. The Mean Green’s average of 512.4 total yards per game was the lowest figure to lead the nation since 2001.
With possessions often at a premium, coaches become more risk-averse when it comes to what plays they call.
“In the pro game it is really pretty simple. It’s which team screws up the least,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “So (college) football has gone from you got to go outscore everybody to now it’s, OK, we just don’t want to screw up as bad as everybody else is screwing up.”
Play like the pros
For Dykes, a member of the late Mike Leach’s Air Raid coaching tree, that meant bringing in Gordon Sammis from UConn to be his offensive coordinator and install what he describes as a more pro-style attack.
“A little bit more under center, a little bit more play-action pass,” Dykes said.
If there is a trend fans may notice once the ball is spotted this fall, it’s an uptick in heavier personnel groupings that use two or three tight ends, aka 12 and 13 personnel. Some teams are even bringing fullbacks back. For Penn State offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser, who followed head coach Matt Campbell from Iowa State to Happy Valley, it’s like watching the rest of college football catch up with what they have been doing in Ames since 2020.
It’s no coincidence that the Los Angeles Rams have gone tight end-heavy in recent years. Offensive coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase was on Campbell’s Iowa State staff from 2018 to ‘23.
No matter how coaches get there, the goal is the same: “Trying to get defenses to play simple and then being able to take advantage of what their base defense is,” Mouser said.
Keep it simple
West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez likes to talk about making his offense “freshman-friendly,” but these days it’s not just the recent high school graduates who have to be brought up to speed quickly on a new system.
The increased yearly roster turnover through the transfer portal and decreased continuity, especially at quarterback, add up to a significant advantage for defensive coaches.
“You should be way more aggressive, because you have less quarterbacks that can take advantage of your aggressiveness,” UNLV coach Dan Mullen said.
How do you make an offense simple for your team but complicated for other teams to face? Motions. Shifts. Unbalanced lines. Put as many bells and whistles on your favorite plays as possible.
“I think formations are cheap, and you can run your base system out of a lot of formations, which should give your defense a lot of problems,” said Rice coach Scott Abell, a triple-option devotee.
Another tried-and-true way to get defensive coaches to pull back on some of the pre-snap mind games: Run your quarterback.
“That’s the first question you have to ask is, are you willing to run your quarterback or not?” Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck said. “Because if you are, and not just dabble with it, but if you are going to use him as an actual threat to the defenses, then it gives you one extra person that they have to account for.”
The era of Big 12 shootouts, wild Pac-12 After Dark comebacks and video game numbers is over. It’s an oversimplification to say old-school, smashmouth football is making a comeback, but being able to line up under center, hand the ball off and run between the tackles for 4 or 5 yards is still the most effective way to keep defenses honest and make life easy for your quarterback.
After more than 20 years of one “next big thing” after another, college football offense has entered a retro phase.
“I think the adjustment that you’re going to see, and are seeing right now, is more stabilizing the offenses with what’s been done over the years,” Fisch said, “but stuff that the defenses have not seen most recently.”
