JJ Joe: Welcome Back Spread Offense!

Former Baylor QB JJ Joe (1990-1993) joins SicEm365 in this daily segment throughout the 2024 football season to discuss a variety of topics as it relates to upcoming and previous games

The new season kicks off on Saturday. Baylor fans get to see a different style of offense, but one they have been clamoring for since Art Briles left in 2016. I couldn't be more pleased that we hired Jake Spavital. He's a coach with a lot of experience and success, but he's not even 40 years old, so I think we have a great OC in his prime. I know you have been a fan of the hire. What do you hope to see from the offense this year besides the obvious answer of points and wins?

JJ Joe:

It's always refreshing to finally get to the start of a new season. I'd say this offseason has been one of the longest, and definitely one of the longest, since the end of Rhule's first season. This season brings more excitement for me because I really feel that Baylor has gone “All In” and not the type of “All In” that Jerry Jones prefers.

Offensively, I'm excited that we're moving back to an attacking style and selectively using tempo. Coach Briles showed Baylor Nation the best way to compete against the Blue Bloods when you're not going to stack four and five-star recruits like those programs often do. Coach Spavital's approach is to spread the field and create one-versus-one matchups while still utilizing the tighe end. Now, ultimately, you have to develop upfront and be good enough to run the ball when it's necessary. The misconception is that Briles and even Spavital's offenses are just gimmicky, high-flying offenses that can't win at a high level.

Last season, we saw Washington get to the National Championship running a high-flying spread concept but ran into the Michigan Wolverines, who were simply the best CFB team last season. With all that said, I love that we're returning to an offensive approach that utilizes the talent that “grows on trees” in Texas. Our youth and high school systems develop QBs, WRs and CBs, if nothing else. While Coach Grimes' offense was perfect for us in 2021, I just felt that it didn't fit or attract our talent pool in this state.

Offensively, I expect us to have a few growing pains, which isn't good with Utah looming in week two, but there will be more about that next week. I believe quarterback Dequan Finn (6Sr.) gives this Baylor offense a chance to still succeed while we learn how to operate most efficiently. I think the Tarleton game should be one where we should be able to run our base offense with a couple of wrinkles and still be able to produce offense that will allow us to win by two or three scores.

It won't be easy because we've seen this movie before where a team with “lesser” talent comes into McLane Stadium and outplays us in a few key positions which result in an “L” for our Bears. I don't expect that this year. Finn gives us the ability to make the wrong call or not execute a play that still results in a positive outcome. His ability to do that will come in handy during the first three to four weeks of the season. Once we get to midseason, if we keep Finn healthy and our guys up front come along as I anticipate, we will; I expect to see our guys begin to hit their stride once conference play starts in Boulder.

Besides development upfront, I'm hoping that Coach Spavital can crack the code so our offense can take advantage of Richard Reese's (Jr.) speed. I love the physical runs, and you need them, but in any offense, you need to have the ability at “multiple” spots on the field to score in one play. On the edge, we have that with the speed of Monaray Baldwin (Sr.) and Ashtyn Hawkins (5Sr.), but there's nothing like having the ability to hand the ball off to a back with the field spread and watching your running back make that one cut and hitting the seam between two wide safeties. That scares defensive coordinators, as most defensive coordinators fear “home run hitters” or guys who can change the game in one play.

With all that noted, there has been a lot of change with new transfer offensive players expected to play a lot in Finn, Hawkins, Jamaal Bell (5Sr.), Michael Trigg (RJr.), Omar Aigbedion (Jr.) and Sidney Fugar (RJr.). This offense really goes when the quarterback and outside players are on the same page and have a lot of reps under their belt that allow them to read the defense together. This conference will be tough to string together wins because I feel that all the teams are really close in talent. Maybe Utah, Oklahoma State and Kansas State have a slight edge, but it wouldn't surprise me to see West Virginia, TCU, Kansas, Arizona or Baylor pull it together and make a run.

I know leaps can be made, but my “Spidey Sense” tells me we will know what we need to know about this squad by the conclusion of week five against BYU. If Baylor is at least 3-2, I think Coach Aranda's squad will produce a seven or eight-win season. It won't be easy, but three wins in the first five weeks mean you've most likely beat Tarleton and two of some combination of Air Force, Colorado, Utah or BYU. Go 2-2 in that stretch by, let's say, beating Air Force and BYU at home or putting your big boy pants on and knocking off Utah or Colorado on the road. I think that'll give this team exactly what it needs, and that's a belief that we can actually “win” around here again. It’s a tough conference, and we'll need Coach Aranda's defense to be vastly improved over last year, but in my humble opinion, seven to eight wins are out there for this team if they can figure out how to close games.