The philosophy of a series-based offense

The offensive philosophy of a series-based offense is simple: We will run one play, our bread and butter play, that you won't be able to stop. If you over-align yourselves to stop that one play, you leave yourself open to the other plays in that offensive series.
A perfect example of this is the Double Wing Offense, a ground-bound offense that currently holds the national HS record for average points scored in a game, with Don Markham winning a state championship while averaging 63 points per game.
The main play of the Double Wing Offense is the Toss, or Power play.



Double wing power play video

Once the defense has become accustomed to seeing the wingback receive the pitch on Toss, the LBs and DTs will be slanting playside every time they see motion to stop the play. When this happens, the offensive coordinator will call a Counter.
The Counter shows the same motion and backfield action as the Power, but with the backside wingback taking the ball and coming back the other way, away from motion, countering the normal action of the Power play. In this way, you take advantage of the LBs and DTs being out of position watching for Power, and pop the Counter for a big play.


The Double Wing Counter play video

After the defense decides they are tired of getting hammered off-tackle by the Power and Counter, they will bring all their defenders up on the line to stuff the run. Often, they will stack LBs and CBs over and outside the OTs and TEs. The offensive coordinator will then call for the Wedge, having the whole offensive line attack one defensive lineman (usually the NT) as a unit. The five-on-one blocking is brutal, but effective. Wedge-blocking is often used in the NFL and college football in short yardage situations.

The Wedge play

Once the whole defense is packed into the box, and the offense has the defense committed to playing "football in a phone booth", the offensive coordinator can then call on a variety of play-action passes to his TEs or wingbacks, exposing DEs and LBs who are crashing down into the line, expecting a downblock that never materializes.


Passing from the Double Wing

You can now see why a series-based offense is very effective and many coaches run them, especially at the youth and high school level. A good series-based offense will have an answer for whatever the defense throws at them, making it very difficult, if not impossible, for the defense to stop them.