No Offense

Okay. I'll let you in on a little secret. The "I" formation is a waste of time in youth football. John McKay made it work at USC because he had OJ Simpson, Ricky Bell, Anthony Davis, etc. Do you have any of those guys on your team? No? Neither does USC. That's why they don't run the "I" anymore. So, unless you can run triple option like Nebraska, dump it.

Here's how offensive formations work. Put the formation your considering down on paper. Now draw a line between the two running backs. That line gives you the direction of force for the formation. In the "I" formation, that direction is straight ahead (North/South). By "coincidence", that's also the direction you've been running. In split backs (veer)the line runs East/West. That's why split back teams run to the outside (No. It's not "coincidence").

Three man (fullhouse) backfields can create multiple directions of force. If you look at the wishbone, for example, and draw a line between the two HB's, you get an East/West direction of force, same as the veer. But if you draw a line from one of the HB's to the FB, you get a line of force that points right at "B" gap (The tackle/guard gap). This is why the wishbone is successful at running the ball. They can apply force at "B" gap all the way to the outside while trapping the "A" gaps. Now that's POWER football.
You can also create angles of force intended to create compromise. The "offset I" or WCO as well as the wing T have lines of force between the FB and the HB that create a power attack at the gap between the splitend and the offensive tackle. This allows you to pound the defense on its weak side. Or, with the wing T, if you draw a line of force between the wingback and either the HB or FB, you will get a line of force that will allow you to sweep the strong side of the defense with POWER! That's why, if you read the high school coaches boards, you see so many requests for information on how to stop the wing T buck sweep. It has a huge line of force (3 backs) for this play.

Some formations use motion to set up their line of force. The Double Wing is pretty much a wasted formation until one of the wingbacks go in motion and then all of a sudden you have a three man line of force at the "C" and "D" gaps. And they can adjust this line of force to either side. That's why you see board questions asking how to stop this attack.
Now that you know about lines of force, you need to know about lines of defense. Using your own defense, draw a line between the LBers. That will give you the line of force of the defense (Usually, it's East/West). Now draw a line between the free safety and those same LBers. That gives you the North/South line of force. Every time you line up in the "I" formation, you're running smack dab into that North/South line of force and then, when you try and go outside, you run into the East/West line of force. YOU CAN'T WIN! That North/South line of defense is so strong that the defense can bring all 11 defenders to the play. Yet when you try and go outside, your "I" formation has no East/West line of force BUT THE DEFENSE DOES. When I have an "I" formation team on my schedule (Got one next Saturday) we don't even practice against it. We just show up and let the other team self destruct (To no surprise, the team I'm playing next Saturday is in last place).
So here's some tips on how to select a formation. Take the defense of your upcoming opponent and look for a gap. About 95% of all youth teams will place their DE's 2 yards outside the TE. There's the gap you're looking for. Now draw two lines of force that will attack that gap and line up your backs along that line. There's a pretty good chance you've just drawn a double wing or a two TE double slot. You can now attack the "C" gap, the weakest part of the defense, with your most powerful line of force (3 guys if you put the ball carrier in motion). Why is the "C" gap the weakest link? Because by moving the DE outside the TE, the defense has spread itself. There's more distance between the defenders than almost anywhere else in the defense. Your goal is to attack the defense where it has the "leastest" and where you have the "mostest". In other words, get as many people to and through the hole as possible, including the QB as a blocker (Usually on the CB). Don't worry about pulling guards and tackles. Every player in the backfield should be going through the hole. That's maximum force. Use a double team on at least one inside defender. Once you can run this play, then you can fake it and run a reverse to the other "C" gap. You may start out with just a four play offense (Two power plays and two reverses) but you'll be a whole lot better off than you are now.

Oh! And one last thing. You may be wondering why we attack the "D" where it has the leastest. The logic here is simple. On any given play, about half of your kids will make their blocks and half won't. That's the law of averages. If you attack the "D" in the middle with the "I", the chances are that 8 kids will get there for the defense. The law of averages say four of them will be unblocked. Now let's move the attack to the outside. At this point, only about half the defense can get there or say 6 kids. By the law of averages three will be unblocked versus the four that were unblocked before. You've just increased your changes of success by 33% simply by reducing the number of defenders that can reach the play. If you can attack an area that only four defenders can reach (2 unblocked), you will increase your chances of success by 100%.
Hope this helps.