The Gophers offense has been described as pedestrian, old school, a throwback. Some might even find it boring amid a fast-and-furious craze in college football.

The new offensive model is to play at supersonic speed. No huddle, up-tempo, run as many plays as humanly possible in a 60-minute game to put pressure on defenses by making them tired, confused and uncomfortable.

The Gophers prefer the tortoise-and-hare approach.

They run the ball. They huddle after plays. Then they run the ball again, a methodical mind-set that spits in the eye of breakneck offense.

"The old station wagon," offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said.

The Gophers take pride in their approach because it's efficient and tough. They like to think it's built to last, too.

Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner says the team practices the no-huddle offense and could use it at any time.
Video (00:33): Leidner says Gophers can run no-huddle

The Gophers are 6-1 overall and sit alone atop the Big Ten West Division despite averaging the second-fewest offensive plays per game (63.7) in the conference.

Nationally, the rate of plays per game has steadily increased as no-huddle, hurry-up offense has become more fashionable. Football inspires copycats, and the success of quick-trigger, high-scoring offenses has spawned a new trend.

Here's one snapshot of the evolution:

In Week 1 of the 2008 season, 49 teams ran more than 70 plays; 17 teams had 80-plus plays; nobody reached 90.

In Week 1 this season, 71 teams ran at least 70 plays; 34 teams posted 80-plus plays; 11 ran 90 plays; two teams eclipsed 100 plays.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Limegrover said. "That's just the way it's been going."

Not everyone is a fan of offenses that produce 80 to 90 plays a game.

"Is this what we want football to be?" Alabama's Nick Saban grumbled a few years ago.

Limegrover compared hurry-up offenses to sports cars. They're breathtaking to watch at full-throttle sometimes. His station wagon serves the same purpose. They just operate at different speeds.

"No Ferrari or Jaguar," he said. "Just a good old-fashioned family car from Detroit."

Their model works for them, and Jerry Kill's hard-hat mentality is a good fit at Minnesota because recruiting blue-chip skill players to this program will always be a challenge. The bedrock of the Gophers offense should be power running, physical line play and a grind-'em-down focus.

Only six teams nationally average fewer pass plays per game than the Gophers (17.3), and three of those teams are service academies.

"Boom, boom, bam," Gophers receiver KJ Maye said as his way of describing the Gophers offense.

That doesn't mean the Gophers should rely solely on their running game. They need quarterback Mitch Leidner to continue to develop as a passer and provide the offense some balance. The Gophers overcame a double-digit deficit against a bad Purdue defense last week, but that's not their blueprint for success, certainly not against better opponents.

"Look at teams that run and gun in basketball," Limegrover said. "They're scoring 100 points and they're giving up 96 a game. There are pros and cons. I think if we were to spread it out and go no-huddle, there's more offensive plays, so there's more chance for fans to get excited. But I don't know if we'd have more wins."

The Gophers haven't run more than 70 plays in a game this season. They ran 38 fewer plays than Eastern Illinois in the season opener and still won by 22 points.

Matt Leidner, right, and Tommy Olson departed after beating Northwestern, which ran 30 more plays than the Gophers.

The Gophers ran 30 fewer plays than Northwestern in a 24-17 victory that prompted an interesting compliment from Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald.

"To Minnesota's credit, Jerry's offense takes half the game away by standing in the huddle and talking about what they're ordering for dinner," Fitzgerald said.

No-huddle offense has become more than an oddity. Half of the Gophers opponents this season use no-huddle, including the first four teams they faced.

The tactic has become so prevalent that Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys eliminated huddles for his players, too. That allows them to save time in getting lined up properly.

"I used to hate going against no-huddle, spread it, throw it all over," Claeys said. "Now you see it all the time."

Even the Gophers dabbled with the no-huddle once this season, in a 24-7 victory against San Jose State. They were pleased with the results.

"You always look at it and go, 'Boy, I wonder if …" Limegrover said. "But when you look at the big picture, it's bigger than just me going, 'Hey, what the heck. Let's do it.' "

In other words, it's an organizational philosophy that takes into account all areas of the team, not just offense. The Gophers formula remains dear to their heart: run the ball, play tough defense, create turnovers, excel on special teams.

The success of Cobb and the running game has allowed the offense to focus on grinding down its opponent.

However, they rehearse their no-huddle offense often in practice just in case.

"We could run no-huddle at any time if we wanted to," Leidner said. "It would probably catch a team off guard, that's for sure."

A station wagon in a drag race? Yeah, that would cause a double take.

Chip Scoggins chip.scoggins@startribune.com