Having been at LSU while Fisher ran the offense to the 2003 national championship, I'm pretty familiar with what he likes to run out there. He's always been able to develop his quarterback into at least a solid, and potentially great, player under his tutelage (JaMarcus Russell, Patrick Nix, Matt Mauck) and Christian Ponder might be the best pure athlete he's had at the position. Make no mistake, Ponder is the center of this offense and is the key to limit as best as possible.

The Fisher offensive system is a pro-style spread, in that sense its the same as Clemson's, but this is a catch-all term. It is a system that uses considerably less pre-snap motion and more personnel groupings than what Clemson does. It is more multiple in formations: I-formation, offset I, Ace, Jumbo Ace (2TE-1RB-2WR), 3/4 wide shotgun, pistol...with liberal use of the H-back or a 2nd TE. Its not a system that is designed to dink & dunk you in a West-Coast style like Miami, but attacks all levels of the defense. He always took what the defense gave: if they can run, he'll run it. They'll throw it deep, intermediate, and short. Fisher did not run quite as many screens at LSU in my recollection, but it has been developed into a heavier screen offense to keep pressure off Ponder and force the defense to make plays in space: 37 times so far this year of all types (bubbles, tunnels/jailbreaks, cracks, and regular).

This is great stuff, please do read.