Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley is an expert at the subject of how to coach football, and one thing this offense is all about is creating space for their athletes.

Everyone loves to talk about the spread offense these days and the importance of spacing, and for good reason. After all, the more you can get your athletes in space against a single defender, or no defenders at all, the better.

Still, there's one thing that never seems to get a lot of attention when the commentators are on TV giving predictions. It's really incredible when you think about it, because something this important should get a lot more attention.

If we're talking about spacing, how to create it (or how to minimize it depending on what side of the ball you're coaching), then we've gotta include this topic too.

Since I've got you all here, let's talk about it right now.

The 'Field' and 'Boundary'

First, a specific definition...

When coaches talk about the field and the boundary, they're referring to the different sides of the offense when the ball is spotted on the hash (which happens a lot).

The boundary is the smaller area, from the hash to the near sideline. The field, is the much larger area, from the hash to the far sideline. It's that simple.

Why is this such a big deal? Just look at the diagram below.

That's a huge difference in the amount of space between the field and the boundary. Let's just look at the dimensions of a college football field.

Using the example above, it's 20 yards from the right hash to the sideline, but 33 1/3 yards from the right hash to the opposite sideline! Put another way, the offense has 67% more space to work with to their left than their right!

You think coaches don't take that into account when they're putting together the gameplan? Of course they do.

Offensive coordinators spend a lot of time coming up with ways to get their guys in space, while defensive coordinators spend a lot of time doing the exact opposite. Defensive coaches would love to be able to keep offenses from exploiting the entire width of the football field, which is why so many teams have calls to put an extra defender to the wide side of the field.

The less space an offense has to work with, the easier it is for the defense to force an offensive player out of bounds (and the sideline never misses a tackle).

Conversely, offensive coordinators know this, so if you're gonna put most of your defenders to the wide side of the field, I'm gonna put most of my guys into the boundary and see if I can outnumber you to the short side of the field.

Coaches go back and forth, and the chess game continues.

To get a better understanding, let's look at a real life example from the game against Clemson this past January.

The Orange Bowl - 1:40 2Q

The Sooners are lined up with four out of five eligible receivers aligned into the boundary, or the short side of the field (yes that includes the tailback).

Before Baker Mayfield sends anyone in motion, just look at the alignment of the defense. You've got the nickel, the strong safety, and the Sam linebacker all to that side of the formation as well, and all of them tucked away in that same short side of the field.

So, Oklahoma is doing what we just talked about a moment ago. They've put most of their guys into the short side of the field to see how the defense reacts.

If Clemson doesn't move enough people into the boundary to cover all those eligible receivers, Oklahoma has a call for that and can make an adjustment at the line to take advantage of it.

However, this time the defense put a bunch of guys into the short side of the field. What's that mean?

It means there aren't a lot of defenders left to cover all that extra space to the wide side of the field.

Mayfield sends the slot receiver Mark Andrews in motion from right to left to see how the defense reacts. As it turns out, no one runs with him, and when the ball is snapped, he runs his short little out pattern and is all alone.

Mayfield gets it out to Andrews in the flat, who because of the spacing is now one-on-one in the flat against the safety Van Smith. Andrews makes one quick move, shakes Smith, and barrels his way into the end zone to give Oklahoma the lead at the half.

Conclusion

The future is bright in Norman.

Despite falling short in the end to Clemson, Bob Stoops and the boys accomplished a lot in 2015, and they return a lot of the talent, especially on offense, that got them to the playoff.

The great thing about an offense like this is that it has the ability to adapt to just about anything a defense can throw at it, and with another year of experience in this scheme, the Sooners will be even tougher this fall.