The no-huddle offense — which has helped Cal Lutheran average 45.3 points and 524 yards in a three-game win streak — showed its versatility on the first two possessions of Saturday’s 47-12 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
CLU’s first possession lasted all of one play — a 62-yard touchdown pass from Jericho Toilolo to Chris Hammond. On the next, CLU went 99 yards in 11 plays — which still took just three minutes, 54 seconds.
“The thing about the no-huddle offense,� said coach Ben McEnroe, “is you try to dictate the tempo of the game. So when we want to really go fast, we’re shooting plays in fast and trying to gas the defense. And you see that. We saw it with our scout team this week (in practice). We’re getting 80, 85 plays per practice.
“And then when we to grind it out, we huddle up. On the 1-yard line, our first goal is to get a first down. I think we got that on the second play. Then our goal is to get another first down. And then we open it up.�
Of course, anything that can wear out the guys on the other side of the ball can take its toll on the offense, too, but lineman Jeff Briscoe is willing to make the effort.
“We’ve just got to be in good shape,� said Briscoe. “If you’re not, it’s tough to do. But we definitely have an edge with our offensive line. We pride ourselves on working hard. And it’s pretty fun to run.�
Weird play: Claremont’s first touchdown was set up by an odd and extremely rare play, one that turned a gaffe into a big gain.
On a punt attempt, the snap went over the head of punter Brian Downs, who tracked it down and got off a kick from well behind the line of scrimmage at the Claremont 45. His scrambling kick landed at the 35, where it was fielded by Claremont’ Patrick Atwater, who hesitated for a moment — thinking the ball was downed at that spot — and then, at the urging of the Claremont sideline, started running. By the time CLU reacted and caught him, Atwater had reached the CLU 3; Claremont scored two plays later.
Because the kick did not cross the line of scrimmage, it was a live ball and, as one of the officials on the field explained, “any one of the 22 players could do anything with it.� Had it crossed the line of scrimmage, only CLU could have advanced it.
Atwater, a linebacker, was therefore credited with a 62-yard rushing play.
There were protests from the CLU side of the field, but McEnroe immediately calmed down his staff.
“I said, ‘You’ll never see it again, but this is what happened,’ “ he recalled later. “But we’ll talk about it with the team tomorrow.�
It was, incidentally, the second consecutive snap that had sailed over the head of Downs. The first one didn’t work out quite so well. He was tracked down for a 34-yard loss giving CLU possession at the Claremont 9; four plays later, Connor Pearce kicked the first of his four field goals to give CLU a 17-0 lead.
Flaws: Dominant as CLU was, it had its miscues — notably 95 yards in penalties, and two cases where it began possessions inside the Claremont 20, but settled for field goals.
After the game, it was suggested to McEnroe that this was an ideal game for a coach — a big win, but with plenty of reasons to yell at players about mistakes.
“That’s the whole point of coaching,� he said, laughing. “You find what you’re doing wrong and get it fixed.�
Seriously, he added, “It just shows the potential of this football team. We’ve got a lot to clean up, and our schedule the last month of the season, we’re back-loaded. So we’ve got to play better.�
CLU’s next three games are on the road, at Chapman, Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer. The Kingsmen aren’t home again until the regular-season finale with Redlands on Nov. 10.