The folks who like them will call them old school. Critics will say their style is boring. Surely nobody runs out of a two-back offense anymore in the current era of the wide-open spread attacks.

Were A&M Consolidated fans bored during a district championship season when Chris Nutall and Clinton Banks each rushed for over 1,000 yards last year? Were the Bryan Vikings off base when they bested expectations by running to the playoffs on the legs of Nate Jones and Chris Watson?

Welcome back to substance over style.

Watch them play and you'll see some of the most dynamic running backs in Texas. More importantly, the Tigers and their crosstown rival Vikings have two of the best running back tandems in the state. They were so good at what they did as juniors that you can't help speculating on the possibilities in 2010.

Last year, Nutall ran 162 times for 1,226 yards and 13 touchdowns. Banks found the end zone 15 times, getting 1,154 yards on 200 carries.

Bryan's Jones returns to the Vikings' lineup after rushing for 1,525 yards and 20 TDs on 186 carries last year, a season that put him into some elite company. Former Bryan running back Curtis Dickey ran for 1,450 yards and 22 touchdowns in 1975. Michael Terrell rolled to 1,876 yards in 2006. During the 1980s, Charles Perry also excelled for Bryan.

"I just try to get better and to help the team." Jones said. Better at this point would be simply exceptional.

Jones, who joined the Vikings late during his sophomore season because of his blocking ability, has an able accomplice in Watson, who rushed for 271 yards against Round Rock McNeil last season. Watson finished the year with 774 yards and nine TDs, and he's a perfect complement to Jones who doesn't need the ball in his hands to feel like he's contributing.

"Being the blocker is great," Watson said. "[Jones] blocks for me, and I block for him, and we both score. We've gotten stronger and faster and it's hard to take us down. I've been coming in every day to work out in the summer. I run up that hill every day, and it's got my 40 time faster. I run a 4.5 now and he runs a 4.4."

They've both got good speed but slightly different styles.

"Watson is a glider who can hit the hole quickly," Bryan coach Bob Bellard said. "Nathan is an attack-the-line back. He's just a good football player, period. He's a good receiver."

While their running styles vary, the Vikings backs have one thing in common.

"They both work," Bellard said. "Their work ethic is really, really good. They are very unselfish and will block as well as they run. They help each other because one is usually blocking for the other."

The Tigers' 2008 season seemed headed nowhere until then-sophomores Banks and Nutall joined the varsity together in the final nondistrict game.

"It was amazing what a big difference that made," Consol head coach Jim Slaughter said. "I can remember against Austin Westlake running the counter trap down on the goal line. All of a sudden Nutall, instead of going up inside, breaks outside and outruns everybody and scores. It changed the complexion of our offense."

What looked relatively easy for Nutall included a few butterflies.

"I was kind of nervous my first game up and didn't know how it was going to be," Nutall said. "JV was pretty easy, but playing with the big boys was tougher. Different running backs have different ways of running. I just come up with my own stuff. It just comes to me naturally."

The bigger Banks can create his own hole with power if necessary. If you must have a first down, he's the man to hand the football.

"When you're running between the tackles most of the time, you've got to wait for the blocking, your tackles and guards to cross, so you can't really move too fast," Banks said. "It's like [Texas assistant coach Major Applewhite] told us at camp: You've got to be slow to it and fast through it."

For Bryan, the ball is more likely to go to Jones when a first down is on the line. He has a second gear, but he attacks so quickly, you may not notice it.

"When I see [tacklers] are set and I get close, I just try to make a quick move to get past them," said Jones, who has the ability to add that subtle east-west shift to his north-and-south running style.

Nutall's approach is different. From the moment he played his first varsity game, he proved to be an artist at the cutback. He has great vision and will plant his foot and turn upfield in an instant.

What Jones and Nutall have in common is that they often take would-be tacklers for a ride. Neither is easy to bring down.

What makes Consol's and Bryan's ground attacks even more special is that a third back, often the flanker, can be a major contributor. Quinton White was exceptional in that role as a sophomore with the Tigers.

"They're very talented, all three of them," Slaughter said. "It's Banks up the middle, but he's got great speed and can go outside. Chris has got different gears that he runs at. Because of that, he sets people up.

"Chris and Quinton White are a whole lot alike sizewise and quicknesswise and style of running. Banks is a load, and he's a load with speed. You can pound people or use speed to get outside, and that's a great thing to have. The common thing is an ability to find a hole and make people miss tackles. They have an uncanny ability to make people miss tackles."

Bryan's third back, Kevin Jefferson, is currently injured but has the kind of breakaway speed at flanker that should bolster the Vikings' attack when he returns.

Both teams have had their flirtations with wide-open passing attacks, yet neither team ever gave up on the run. Consol emphasized the ground game during its run to the 2005 Class 5A Division I state semifinals, and both Slaughter and Bellard have used the run as often as possible.

Caldwell, Franklin and Leon all had playoff teams by getting two running backs heavily involved, and none of the three schools has any plans to change. Like the old wishbone, which Bellard's father Emory is credited with inventing, it can be such a great time-possession tool that it acts as an extra defender. Or two or three.

And with these backs, Consol and Bryan are enjoying the run.