But they were so busy setting offensive records, none bothered to seek a patent, and credit has gone elsewhere.

"The Northwest is where it all developed," said Smith, whose Michigan State team plays Hawai'i tonight at Aloha Stadium. "June and Mouse (Davis, his mentor) were running this stuff before anyone ever heard of the 'West Coast Offense.' That was like us (at Idaho). We ran the spread for years before they ever named it that. All of a sudden, one guy comes up and says, 'Oh, this is West Coast,' and everybody is like, 'Oh, that's a neat thing to call it, so let's all call it that.' "

Smith has slowly tried to implement his spread schemes in the Big Ten. "It's been a little different for us," said Smith, completing his second season at MSU. "It's a black-and-blue league. You can't be totally not black and blue. You still have to be able to run the ball in our league."

Two offenses with genetic ties to the Northwest spread will be on display tonight. Here's a closer look:

Michigan State offense

LWR—6 Matt Trannon 6-6 217 Jr.

LT—72 Stefon Wheeler 6-5 330 Jr.

LG—74 Kyle Cook 6-3 303 So.

C—51 Chris Morris 6-4 298 Jr.

RG—76 William Whitticker 6-5 329 Sr.

RT—79 Sean Poole 6-7 290 Sr.

TE—81 Jason Randall 6-5 269 Sr.

RWR—3 Kyle Brown 6-1 208 Jr.

SB—32 Jeramy Scott 5-10 188 So.

QB—5 Drew Stanton 6-3 225 So.

RB—20 Jason Teague 5-9 193 Jr.

Outlook: As a high school freshman, Stanton was poised to play at the next level. Oregon's football system allows a freshman a maximum of five quarters to play at all levels. Stanton played for his freshman and junior-varsity teams on Thursdays and was a quarterback/safety for the varsity on Friday nights. "It was kind of busy," he said, "but fun." Before the start of his junior year, he moved with his family to Michigan, where he became the starting quarterback on two undefeated state champions and a standout shortstop/pitcher who batted .561 as a junior and threw a 90-plus mph heater. His success is traced to advice from his high school coach in Oregon, Mel deLaura, now UH's strength coach. DeLaura promised Christine Stanton her son would be safe playing football if he bulked up.

In steering the Spartans' offense, Stanton's strength is useful in reaching 6-foot-6 Trannon at the end of deep patterns or breaking tackles on bootlegs. He has rushed for 611 yards this season. Stanton will start despite suffering partially torn ligaments in his right (throwing) shoulder two weeks ago. He is expected to undergo surgery during the offseason.

Teague (654 rushing yards, 4.8 yards per carry), speedy DeAndra Cobb (600, 7.5) and 235-pound Jehuu Caulcrick (587, 5.5) follow the power-slant schemes of an offensive line whose average blocker is 6 feet 5 and 310 pounds.

Michigan State defense

E—59 Clifford Dukes 6-3 258 Sr.

T—96 Domata Peko 6-2 297 Jr.

NG—99 Brandon McKinney 6-3 320 Jr.

SLB—92 Clifton Ryan 6-2 288 So.

MLB—44 Ronald Stanley 6-0 234 Sr.

WLB—41 David Herron 6-1 251 So.

B—34 Tyrell Dortch 5-10 208 Sr.

LC—31 Jaren Hayes 5-9 186 Jr.

FS—25 Jason Harmon 5-11 202 Sr.

SS—36 Eric Smith 6-1 193 Jr.

RC—17 Roderick Maples 5-10 190 Sr.

Outlook: The Spartans' defensive scheme — attacking out of a shifting front — also has a Northwest flavor. It mirrors the schemes used by former UH defensive coordinator Greg McMackin, who used to coach in Oregon and Idaho, and by former Washington defensive coordinator Tim Hundley.

The Spartans' base defense has three down linemen, but it can expand to four — or five — by shifting the linebackers. The Spartans also can drop defensive ends and outside linebackers into pass coverage while blitzing a cornerback or safety.

The Spartans' defensive strength, like a good baseball team's, is up the middle: Stanley and Smith each have more than 100 tackles.

Michigan State specialists

PK—16 Dave Rayner 6-2 209 Sr.

P—8 Brandon Fields 6-6 234 So.

SS—51 Chris Morris 6-4 298 Jr.

LS—56 Brian Bury 6-0 240 So.

KR—21 DeAndra Cobb 5-10 197 Sr.

KR—27 Sir Darean Adams 6-0 223 Fr.

PR—2 Agim Shabaj 5-10 195 Jr.

PR—3 Kyle Brown 6-1 208 Jr.

Outlook: The Ray Guy Camp is the most prestigious workshop for punters from across the country. Fields is a camp counselor. As the NCAA leader in punting with an average of 48.3 yards, Fields also is a finalist for the Ray Guy Award as the nation's best punter.

Rayner is Michigan State's career leader in scoring (326 points), field goals (61) and extra points (143).

Hawai'i offense

LWO—84 Jason Rivers 6-1 189 So.

LSB—2 Chad Owens 5-9 177 Sr.

LT—70 Tala Esera 6-3 291 So.

LG—64 Samson Satele 6-2 278 So.

C—59 Derek Fa'avi 6-0 271 Jr.

RG—69 Uriah Moenoa 6-2 325 Sr.

RT—66 Brandon Eaton 6-2 291 Jr.

RSB—38 Gerald Welch 5-7 216 Sr.

RWO—9 Britton Komine 5-10 180 Sr.

QB—14 Tim Chang 6-2 204 Sr.

RB—6 Michael Brewster 5-5 185 Sr.

RB—16 West Keli'ikipi 6-0 260 Sr.

Outlook: It is apparent Chang is more successful playing in Aloha Stadium. In seven home games, he has completed 66.4 percent of his passes and averaged 340.9 passing yards and 3.4 touchdowns. In four road games, he has completed 54.7 percent of his passes and averaged 252.8 passing yards and 1.5 touchdowns. In UH's secret rating system factoring accuracy and decision-making, Chang produced off-the-chart scores against Idaho two weeks ago and from the second quarter of last week's game against Northwestern. Chang easily has the quickest passing release among Western Athletic Conference quarterbacks. In some plays, Chang's snap-to-throw time is 2 seconds. Against Northwestern, Chang was not sacked in any of the plays when UH used only five blockers.

After a stretch of 13 quarters without completing a deep pass (in which the ball was in flight for at least 20 yards from the line of scrimmage), Chang was 8 of 17 (47 percent) on long passes in the past two games. The goal is 33 percent or better.

UH has used role-switching to stretch defenses. Owens is running streak patterns and Rivers is getting open on slants and post routes. Owens' yards-after-catch (YAC) average was 4.05 in the first nine games and 7.45 in the past two games.

UH gets a boost with the return of Fa'avi and Moenoa to the lineup.

Hawai'i defense

LE—98 Melila Purcell 6-4 266 Jr.

LT—99 Lui Fuga 6-1 294 Sr.

RT—96 Matt Faga 6-2 317 Sr.

RE—30 Kila Kamakawiwo'ole 6-3 241 Jr.

SLB—50 Lincoln Manutai 6-0 228 Sr.

MLB—55 Watson Ho'ohuli 5-11 222 Sr.

WLB—45 Tanuvasa Moe 5-11 225 Jr.

LC/NB—37 Abraham Elimimian 5-10 185 Sr.

LC—10 Turmarian Moreland 6-0 194 Jr.

LS—42 Leonard Peters 6-1 184 Jr.

RS—8 Landon Kafentzis 6-0 194 Jr.

RC—24 Kenny Patton 6-0 187 So.

Outlook: Last week, the Warriors used what is regarded as a pass defense — a nickel package featuring cornerback Abraham Elimimian as a linebacker/blitzer — to contain Northwestern's running attack. UH's success was based largely on the Wildcats' four-wide alignment, which allowed the Warriors to use single coverage on the receivers and place seven defenders in the running lanes. But with Michigan State's power running schemes, the Warriors might revert to the base alignment of three true linebackers. In that formation, Manutai gets the start on the strong side, although Ikaika Curnan, who has recovered from a high-ankle sprain, will play extensively.

Hawai'i Specialists

PK—47 Justin Ayat 6-0 195 Sr.

P—25 Kurt Milne 6-0 196 So.

LS—61 Bryce Runge 5-11 236 Jr.

KR—21 Jason Ferguson 5-5 157 Fr.

PR—2 Chad Owens 5-9 177 Sr.

Outlook: The Warriors received an emotional boost last week when Owens joined Ferguson as a deep returner on kickoffs. Because Michigan State does not spray its kickoffs, as Northwestern did, UH is expected to go back to the one-returner scheme.