Texas win suggests SEC isn’t impervious to passing offense

Offensive innovation, recently heading more and more in the direction of the spread offense and  passing-intensive schemes like the Air Raid, has long been a staple of NCAA football, but the SEC has long stood apart from the passing trend.

While teams in other conferences like the Big 12 have gone more and more toward pass-focused gameplans, the Alabamas and Floridas of the world have been content to make their reputation on smashmouth defense and an ability to run the ball. By and large, it’s worked; the last six national champions have come from the SEC, and five of those teams have finished well outside the top 10 in total offensive yards, but all of those teams (except 2010 Auburn, the only one with a top-10 offense) had top-10 defenses.

Conference newcomer Texas A&M and freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel (“Johnny Football”) dared to defy that preconception Saturday, though, downing No. 1 Alabama 29-24. Much of the dominant narrative about A&M’s entrance to the conference was that they would have to change their high-flying offensive identity to fit in. Well, perhaps they’re not the one that needs to change.

That’s not to say that the era of defense and the ground game is over. In fact, it’s still working quite well for the SEC’s squads in general. Although Alabama’s fall to No. 4 in the BCS standings this week would prevent the conference from having a team in the national championship game if the season ended today, SEC teams sit fourth-through-ninth in those rankings (including A&M at eighth). However, it’s worth noting that many of these teams traditionally dominate the recruiting rankings as well. Defense is incredibly important, and having a strong rushing attack can still lead you to plenty of success, but it’s a lot easier to win in those areas when you have incredible talent. That’s a large part of the reason why many SEC teams have historically looked down on new-wave passing-focused offenses, and if the current plan isn’t broken, why fix it?

However, perhaps Texas A&M coming to the SEC is as the footsteps of doom for the old way of doing business. Yes, SEC teams have done just fine against high-powered attacks in selected non-conference games. Yes, the Alabamas and Floridas of the world can still win a lot with a dominant defense and a solid rushing attack. The Aggies’ road win over the Crimson Tide, coupled with their 7-2 season before that, proved they fit into the SEC just fine. Moreover, far from being a liability, their passing-focused offense has proved perhaps their greatest strength to date. Apparently, you can throw the ball around in the SEC.

Is that going to prompt a wholesale change? Well, not at first. Alabama and the other SEC powerhouses that build around defense and the ground game are still going to be successful for years to come. We’ve seen cracks in the facade elsewhere, though, and some of them precede A&M’s arrival. Arkansas found some substantial success with prototypical pocket passer Ryan Mallett over the last few years, Georgia’s offense has become more pass-focused thanks to Aaron Murray, and South Carolina’s finding a nice groove with Connor Shaw.

Those attacks are closer to the still-relatively-conservative passing game you’d see from many NFL teams than the caution-to-the-wind approach of teams like Oklahoma State and West Virginia, but they’re a ways from the old three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust mantras. The Aggies’ attack represents a step further still and Saturday’s result proves it isn’t necessarily doomed in this defense-focused conference.

At the moment, the issue is more “Can Texas A&M survive in the SEC?” than “Will the SEC go to more advanced passing offenses?”, and that’s fair. Despite this impressive win, the Aggies didn’t instantly become the best team in the conference, and one game is a remarkably small sample size. Still, a road win over a top team like Alabama that’s renowned for its defense is massive and it suggests A&M coach Kevin Sumlin (formerly of the even-higher-flying Houston Cougars) and his pass-focused approach may not be as bad of a fit for this conference as many initially thought.

Don’t expect to see the SEC elite follow this tactic any time soon, but schools currently in down stretches (Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Arkansas and others) may consider shifting more toward heavily-pass-focused offenses after seeing what the Aggies did here. For right now, the case is more “a pass-focused offense can work in the SEC” than “every SEC team’s headed toward pass-focused offenses.”

That may change, though; hot trends are always copied, and if A&M can keep this performance up, they may spawn a legion of imitators. That could cause the conference that once sneered at these passing-focused attacks to start adopting them.