A tough hodgepodge.

Byline: Rob Moseley The Register-Guard

As the increasingly popular spread offense has been implemented more frequently around the country, it has naturally begun to mutate.

Schools from Texas Tech to Hawaii to Florida run unique variations of the scheme. Oregon this fall will use a hybrid of its traditional pro-style attack along with the spread and the option.

And another variation of the spread began to crop up on high school fields in Texas a decade ago before making its way to the University of Houston, which will host the Ducks on Thursday in a game to be telecast by ESPN2 at 4 p.m. PDT.

With its combination of the spread passing game and option rushing game, its frequent use of odd formations, motion and shifting, plus a fair number of trick plays, the Houston offense promises to be one of the most entertaining - and most difficult to defend - that the Ducks will see all season.

"It's fun, as a former offensive coordinator, to watch it," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "As a defensive coordinator, it gives you nightmares."

Houston's offense is the brainchild of head coach Art Briles, who was a highly successful high school coach in Texas before spending three years as an assistant at Texas Tech from 2000-02. He is entering his third season as head coach of the Cougars.

Briles' last season in the prep ranks was 1999 at Stephenville High School. Kevin Kolb learned the offense that year as a freshman quarterback at Stephenville, and this fall he enters his third year running it for Briles as the starter for Houston.

"We pretty much say it's a give-and-take offense," said Kolb (pronounced Cobb). "We're trying to adjust to the defense even during the play. ... Whatever the defense gives us, we're going to take it."

The Cougars do that in part by not relying on set routes by their receivers. Kolb described the UH passing attack as "more area-oriented," in that receivers run to a zone on the field rather than following a specific path to a specific spot. It's an even more wide-open system than the one run by Oregon, which requires its receivers to end up at a certain spot during the play but allows some freedom in the routes they run.

It's up to Kolb to sort through everything and find the open man - Houston's freshman quarterbacks "are really confused" trying to grasp all the variations of the system this fall, Kolb said. But the unconventional passing attack combined with all the different formations, motion and shifts Houston uses all serve to keep the defense confused.

"If you can get somebody thinking out on the football field, they don't react as fast," Kolb said. "That creates holes, and that leads to touchdowns."

Unlike Oregon, which balances its spread passing game with an option rushing attack out of similar formations, the Cougars occasionally rely on the veer. Invented by legendary Houston coach Bill Yeoman in the '60s and a precursor to the wishbone, the veer gives the Cougars a triple-option rushing game to complement their base spread offense.

It's as if, Houston receiver Vincent Marshall explained, the Cougars combined the veer option of Navy with the spread passing game of Hawaii.

"We're like all those teams built into one," Marshall said.

With so many different options for Kolb and the offense on each play, Cougars defensive end Kade Lane said he sometimes feels sorry for opposing defenders.

"It's just so confusing," said Lane, who has seen more than enough of the UH offense in practice. "You try to play all your responsibilities, and then a guy makes a little mistake. ... There are so many options that the quarterback has to choose from. One time we'll defend it right, but on the next play he'll go to a different guy and something big will happen."

A major difference between the Cougars and other offenses, Lane said, is the number of screens they run.

"It's a lot of sideways pursuit," he said. "It's not as much downfield. There are lots of plays that go to the sideline real fast. You've got to be able to react to that."

Facing the Houston offense in practice can only benefit the Cougar defense as it prepares to face Oregon.

"They tell us everyday," Kolb said, " 'Man, if we can figure out y'all's stuff, we can figure out anybody's.' '

Sometimes, Kolb said, Houston's own defense provides the offense its greatest challenge. The Cougars run so many variations that opposing teams get caught flat-footed and can't even stop plays they're prepared to face.

"There's a lot of times it'll be the eighth, ninth game of the season, you're still getting something easy," Kolb said, "that in practice you're not getting because the scout team has picked it up. You're sitting there in film the next day saying, `We do this every week. How did they not see it?' '

And besides all the odd formations and multiple options on each play, one other factor makes the Houston offense unique: there is no playbook, at least in the conventional sense.

Before the snap, backs and receivers know where to line up, and which zone they'll try to occupy down the field.

Other than those details, though, "none of it's written down anywhere," Kolb said. "It's all in the coaches' minds. ... If they had to write down five different options for each play, they'd be there for three months writing the playbook."

It all adds up to a system Kolb believes is even more unconventional than the spread-option offense employed by Florida coach Urban Meyer with such great success when he was at Utah last year.

"Nobody in the nation has our offense," said Marshall, the senior wide receiver. "They might run a similar offense to ours. But nobody has an offense like we do."

OREGON FOOTBALL UPDATE

Injury updates: Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata is expected to practice today after being held out of almost all the drills Sunday because of a slight sprain of his left knee.

UO coach Mike Bellotti said that Ngata `felt a lot better and took part in a weight workout' earlier Sunday. He was pulled out of Saturday's practice after a teammate fell on Ngata's leg during a drill. Ngata wasn't in pads or a helmet Sunday but did some light running, including participating in his role with the punt team during some non-contact drills.

There seems to be no question, barring further injury, that Ngata will play in the opener. There is uncertainty about whether receiver Kyle Weatherspoon, who aggravated an ankle injury Saturday, will be ready. Also in doubt is David Faaeteete, a reserve defensive tackle, who hasn't practiced for a few days because of a mild knee ligament strain.

Preview show: The Oregon Sports Network's preview show on the Ducks will air locally on KEZI tonight at about 8. The start time will be determined by when a preseason football game being aired on the ABC affiliate ends, with the Detroit Lions and former UO quarterback Joey Harrington meeting the St. Louis Rams in a 5 p.m. kickoff.

Next Game: Thursday at Houston at 4 p.m. PDT. TV: Televised live on ESPN2.

CAPTION(S):

Houston's Kevin Kolb has run the Cougars' version of the spread offense for the past three years under coach Art Briles. "If you can get somebody thinking out on the football field, they don't react as fast." - KEVIN KOLB, HOUSTON QUARTERBACK