It’s not an exaggeration to argue that the Wishbone offense saved three college football programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, the director and executive producer of a new ESPN Films documentary make that case exactly.

“SEC Storied: Wishbone” airs at 6 p.m. Central (7 p.m. Eastern) on Thursday on the SEC Network, and traces how Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama all rode the offense to glory during the latter third of the 20th century. Emmy-winning director Chip Rives and award-winning producer Keith Dunnavant — an Alabama native and noted author and historian — put together the film, which features original interviews with numerous players, coaches, family members and reporters directly involved in the story, as well as archive game and news footage.

“This is a film I’ve wanted to do for years, so I’m just tickled to death we finally got to do it,” said Dunnavant, who grew up in Decatur and graduated from Alabama. “It was something that I had discussed with the network, even long before Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC happened. Once it became clear that they were going to join the conference, it just made even more sense.”

The wishbone offense — a run-based attack on which the quarterback or any of three backs could carry the ball on a given play — was born in the late 1960s at Texas and was the brainchild of offensive coordinator Emory Bellard. Longhorns head coach Darrell Royal had endured three consecutive four-loss seasons from 1965-67, but won six straight Southwest Conference championships and two national titles after putting in the wishbone.

Royal then authorized Bellard to share the offense’s concepts with coaches at Oklahoma — Royal’s alma mater — and Alabama, where Royal’s close friend Paul “Bear” Bryant was head coach. The Sooners and Crimson Tide had also had some fallow years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but immediately thrived and became national powers — combining for five national championships and numerous conference titles — during the following decade.

“The prism through which I initially saw this was the power of desperation,” said Dunnavant, director of the documentary “Three Days at Foster” and author of The Missing Ring, Coach and America’s Quarterback among several other books. “First of all, the inspiration that Emory had — which I think we fully explore that; but the desperation of not just three programs, but three of the greatest programs in college football history each dealing with it in different ways.

“There’s so many layers to this story. … But the desperation aspect of it, the fact that each in their own way, all three of these programs were desperate, is a thread that ties the story together.”

Royal’s — perhaps inexplicable — decision to share the Wishbone is one of the major storylines of the film, as is the integration of Southern college football. Texas was slower than Oklahoma to recruit Black athletes and was soon left behind by the Sooners, while Alabama began to win big again immediately after both installing the offense and integrating its team.

“Wishbone” is also a love letter to Bellard, who later took the offense to Texas A&M and Mississippi State as head coach. The Wishbone’s inventor is largely a forgotten figure in the history of college football, a fact that both Dunnavant and Rives said they hoped to rectify.

“The thing that that I’m most excited about for this film is that we have the opportunity to illuminate the college football world about what a wonderful person Emory Ballard was, what a pioneer he was,” said Rives, who directed the ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries “Brian and the Boz” and “Phi Slama Jama‚” among several other films. “The truest testament to the Emory Ballard part of it all is that (former NFL coach) Bruce Arians let us spend the day with him. … He spent all day with us and he looked at film with us and was very accommodating. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have the utmost admiration for Emory Ballard.”

Also with a co-starring role in “Wishbone” is Barry Switzer, the now 87-year-old former Oklahoma coach whose team set still-unbroken rushing records during their 1970s heyday. Rives said he and his team conducted interviews for the film during the Sooners’ spring football game and the former players in attendance were hanging on Switzer’s every word.

The Wishbone largely faded from major college football by the late-1980s, following Bryant’s retirement from Alabama, Switzer’s departure from Oklahoma and Bellard’s withdrawal back to the high school game (Royal retired as Texas’ coach after the 1976 season). Few teams have attempted to run it in recent decades, with the speed of defenses and quarterbacks’ desire to throw the ball more often the most common reasons given as to why.

But for roughly 15 years beginning in the late 1960s, the Wishbone was king. And it was glorious, thanks to Royal’s generosity.

“The numbers that Oklahoma in particular put up are just mind-boggling when you go back and look at them now,” Dunnavant said. “And they had all those game-breakers in those days. Oklahoma and Alabama, they both had a lot of depth because that was right before the scholarship (limitations) came in.

“… If you think about how (Royal) gave the Wishbone to Alabama, that is curious enough. That he would give it to any major rival like Oklahoma … it’s just kind of hard to even fathom for a college football fan today.”