By: Elton Alexander (Cleveland Plain Dealer) — Toledo, O. — Some `Spread Offenses’ seem to be played in sand. There’s an endless string of sideline passes (read: long handoffs) designed to get a player out in space (read: one-on-one) hoping for an explosion (read: big) play.

The coach-speak covers up for its blandness. Quite often, that’s all done for a three-yard gain.

Then there are `Spread Offenses’ like the Toledo Rockets, a mostly vertical attack designed for passes thrown and caught 10 or more yards downfield. It can be considered an ‘explosion’ when the play is for a first down. If a player gets `out in space’ there could be a downright volcanic experience.

In coach-speak it’s called `taking it to the house’ (read: a touchdown).

If you didn’t get all that, get this; Toledo (1-1) makes house calls. The Rockets have a big-play offense designed to play fast and score big.

Ohio State (1-1) fans may bemoan the fact head coach Jim Tressel plays the game conservatively. Yet Saturday against underdog Toledo in Browns Stadium, Tressel could be the Buckeyes MVP; hold the ball, run the clock, score at every opportunity and keep the ball out of UT’s hands. On third-and-long OSU better make it. On fourth-and-one, the Buckeyes better go for it.

“To defend us, you have to control the game,” Toledo’s first-year head coach Tim Beckman said last week following the Rockets 54-38 victory over Colorado.

* Understand, in two games UT already has 1,117 yards of total offense and 85 points.

* All but one of 14 scoring drives against Big Ten Purdue and Big 12 Colorado were eight plays or less.

* Eight of 10 TDs Toledo has scored are single plays of 70, 61, 42, 34, 27, 26, 23 and 23 yards. One of the two remaining TDs was set up with a 60-yard pass play.

“You’ve got to be able to bend but don’t break,” said Beckman, who was a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State before taking the job at UT.

Sure OSU is bigger, stronger and faster. But just like a bevy of hot undersized 3-point shooters can neutralize a powerhouse hoops program, the spread on vertical attack can give a hot grid underdog the chance at an upset.

“We’ll pharmacy online have a legitimate opportunity if we can do that, and do it on a continuous basis,” Beckman said.

There is also a ‘tempo’ to what UT does offensively. Many spread offenses look like a hurry-up, and act like a slowdown. QBs take 30 seconds getting signals from the sidelines, then getting players aligned for the play.

That’s not UT’s tempo.

“It’s so fast,” Beckman said. “There are two or three plays called at one time in the huddle.”

It doesn’t matter where or when, down or distance, the three plays will be run as called. UT has run 157 plays in two games, a modest 78 per contest. But 91 were run in a comeback effort vs. Purdue; 66 in the blowout against Colorado. Either way, defenses are stressed.

“There is a speed that we have where the next play is ‘X’, the next play is ‘Y’, and the next play is ‘Z,’ ” Beckman said, “regardless of the situation or where (the ball is) at. It might not be the best scenario for the next play, but it might be because it is happening so fast.”

Sure it all sounds gimmicky, and not really how the big boys play. So no surprise UT’s passing coordinator, Scott Satterfield, is from tiny Appalachian State. What’s the biggest game that team ever won?

Hmmmm, App State beat Michigan, 34-32, in 2007.

Ultimately, any one of those quick tempo plays could be taken to the house. And the more house calls the better for the Toledo Rockets.

Finally, with an upset win, the triggerman for this quick-strike offense, Toledo QB Aaron Opelt, could fast become the answer to the ultimate MAC trivia question. Name the MAC QB who defeated both Michigan and Ohio State.

Yes, Opelt was the Toledo QB last year when the Rockets topped Michigan on the road, 13-10.

And this teams shows signs of being a whole lot better than that one.

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