Attack of the HUNHs
How the hurry-up, no-huddle offense brings asymmetrical warfare to football
Asymmetrical tactics are one of the more interesting components of America’s war game, football.
One of the constants of civilization is struggle between the highly ordered empire with their tightly drilled troops who can wage war in mass, and then the barbarians on the outskirts who are martial and tough, but less structured and often more mobile, often because they lived on horseback.
The great Eurasian Steppe produced a number of these, great hordes of horsed marauders who bedeviled civilizations in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. In American history the plains tribes of American Indians were able to incorporate the horse into their culture and way of life and consequently into how they fought. The horse combined with the bow and arrow has tended to create endless issues for the tightly ordered formations of bigger, more resourceful societies.
The more nomadic people were not only superior horsemen because of their lifestyle, but their ability to ride up, fire endless arrows into the tight formations, and then ride back away again rather than offering direct combat would cause massive issues. They didn’t play by the same rules as their more socially advanced foes.
In America’s war game of football, college football in particular, you regularly have massive imbalances between different teams. There are only so many 250+ pound athletes in the world and schools like Alabama are hoarding as many of them as possible, leaving fewer for smaller programs with fewer resources.
Consequently, other programs routinely mimic mobile and asymmetrical warfare akin to the tactics of old nomadic tribes. The best example of it today is the hurry-up, no-huddle (HUNH) spread.
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