Dana Holgorsen doesn’t have a moniker for his offense. Nothing like a run and shoot or an option spread or the veer or the wishbone. Not even Air Raid. He just has theories.

Pass it some. Run it some. Pass it some more. Then pass it again. Within that, he finds some plays, works on them, figures out what the team does well and then keeps those plays. And he uses a lot of receivers.

But there’s no name on it. He just knows what he does and, more important than that, the opponent knows what he does. By now, he’s fairly familiar with how teams will try to defend the offense … until he doesn’t.

In a way, that is what makes it so intriguing, this chess game between football coaches. It was driven home best to Holgorsen last year when he played arch-rival Oklahoma.

“Talk about a shock,” he said. “I have know (Brent) Venables and Bob (Stoops) for about 10 or 11 years now. I have played against and coached against them for nine years. They have been a traditional four-down front for 10 years. I watched tape and they were doing the same thing they had been doing.

“They had been a zone blitz team. Every now and then they will bring a safety down or bring everyone down and play man to man.”

Imagine Holgorsen’s surprise when Oklahoma went out of what has come to be known as the Oklahoma Defense.

“They came out against us in a three-down front for the first time in their careers at Oklahoma. That is when you have to adjust, and it took us about a quarter to do it. We figured out what they were doing and attacked it. We were able to have some success,” Holgorsen said.

Some success translated into 41 points scored. Unfortunately for Holgorsen’s Cowboys, the defense gave up 47 and they lost.