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UPDATE: The Missouri Tigers And The Living, Breathing Spread is now up at the mothership.
The spread offense really has taken hold in a way other formations/alignments/ways of thinking have not. The Wishbone was awesome, but it's a running offense. The run-and-shoot is a passing offense. But the spread can be whatever you want it to be. And as defenses across the country get lighter and faster in an effort to adapt to the spread's success, it is likely that offenses will adapt with more size and more running. It is a constant dance between offensive innovation and defensive adaptation, and as we reach Phase Two of the spread's life cycle, Missouri is a team worth watching.
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From 2007-09, 25 teams improved their Def. F/+ ratings by at least 10% in one season. Only 14 of them (56%) regressed the next season. Considering how telling one-year surges are for a team overall -- they are typically a sign of sure regression -- this is surprising. Quite a few teams did the deed in 2010; Missouri's +12.6% improvement was only the eighth-best in the country. About half of these eight will take steps backwards. Care to take a guess which ones?
| Overall F/+ Rk |
Season | Team | Record | Def F/+ | Change From Prev. Season |
The Next Year |
| 16 | 2009 | Nebraska | 10-4 | +23.6% | +26.3% | -9.8% |
| 23 | 2010 | N.C. State | 9-4 | +8.4% | +21.4% | |
| 4 | 2010 | Stanford | 12-1 | +10.5% | +20.6% | |
| 1 | 2008 | Florida | 13-1 | +15.8% | +18.4% | +3.8% |
| 89 | 2007 | Louisiana Tech | 5-7 | +1.6% | +17.8% | -6.3% |
| 33 | 2010 | Illinois | 7-6 | +10.2% | +17.4% | |
| 113 | 2007 | Temple | 4-8 | -2.4% | +16.8% | +6.0% |
| 62 | 2009 | Middle Tennessee | 10-3 | +9.8% | +16.4% | -13.0% |
| 17 | 2010 | Notre Dame | 8-5 | +12.8% | +16.3% | |
| 104 | 2010 | Florida Atlantic | 4-8 | -4.5% | +15.9% | |
| 6 | 2008 | TCU | 11-2 | +25.8% | +15.7% | -4.8% |
| 24 | 2010 | Texas A&M | 9-4 | +9.8% | +15.0% | |
| 41 | 2007 | Central Florida | 10-4 | +6.9% | +14.4% | +7.0% |
| 15 | 2010 | Florida State | 10-4 | +4.0% | +14.2% | |
| 9 | 2008 | Boise State | 12-1 | +14.0% | +13.5% | +1.5% |
| 16 | 2010 | Missouri | 10-3 | +10.5% | +12.6% | |
| 32 | 2007 | Utah | 9-4 | +13.3% | +12.3% | -3.8% |
| 58 | 2007 | Troy | 8-4 | +4.5% | +12.2% | -0.6% |
| 45 | 2009 | Central Michigan | 12-2 | +2.7% | +12.0% | -7.2% |
| 31 | 2010 | Maryland | 9-4 | +9.1% | +11.7% | |
| 99 | 2008 | San Jose State | 6-6 | +7.2% | +11.7% | -14.8% |
| 112 | 2007 | Army | 3-9 | -0.8% | +11.4% | +3.1% |
| 12 | 2007 | Oregon State | 9-4 | +16.7% | +11.3% | -12.2% |
| 26 | 2010 | Mississippi State | 9-4 | +13.5% | +11.2% | |
| 1 | 2009 | Alabama | 14-0 | +22.6% | +11.2% | -10.4% |
| 37 | 2009 | Oklahoma State | 9-4 | +8.7% | +11.1% | -1.6% |
| 57 | 2008 | Navy | 8-5 | -9.6% | +11.0% | +10.3% |
| 13 | 2009 | LSU | 9-4 | +14.7% | +10.8% | -3.2% |
| 99 | 2010 | Idaho | 6-7 | -6.8% | +10.7% | |
| 70 | 2008 | Minnesota | 7-6 | -0.9% | +10.3% | +4.0% |
| 20 | 2007 | UCLA | 6-7 | +17.5% | +10.3% | -13.3% |
| 79 | 2008 | Marshall | 4-8 | +2.3% | +10.3% | -4.9% |
| 46 | 2009 | Navy | 10-4 | +0.7% | +10.3% | -4.6% |
| 22 | 2009 | BYU | 11-2 | +2.2% | +10.2% | +5.0% |
| 98 | 2009 | Kent State | 5-7 | +0.5% | +10.1% | +1.0% |
| 10 | 2008 | Ole Miss | 9-4 | +7.6% | +10.0% | +2.3% |
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