'Out of the Dark Ages': How LSU's Lethal New Spread Attack Was Built

This story appears in the Sept. 23, 2019, issue of Sports Illustrated. For more great storytelling and in-depth analysis, subscribe to the magazine and get up to 94% off the cover price. Click here for more.

Buddy Breaux watched LSU play Texas from the far reaches of Darrell K Royal Stadium, the tip-top of the upper deck, in the “next county,” he says with a laugh. But no distance, big or small, could keep him from recognizing a truth about what he was seeing below: His LSU Tigers football team looked different.

There were rarely snaps under center. There were no fullbacks and sometimes there were even no running backs. There were—gulp—no huddles. There were as many as five receivers on the…