I reported for my first training camp at Colorado College in August 2008. The Tigers' offensive coordinator left during the offseason to take the head coaching job at Grinnell, which is actually where I ended up once Colorado College cut football. Anyway, while meeting my fellow freshmen football players for the first time, I heard rumblings that we were going to run "the triple option."
I was coming from a high school where we were in the shotgun 95% of the time, and using 5-wide sets for at least a third of our plays. This was during a magical time when coaches across the country thought the spread offense couldn't be stopped. Unicorns danced in fields made of rainbows and puppy smiles. I liked playing o-line in the spread, and the pressure of passing on most plays developed in me an unflappable confidence in pass protection. I hadn't even heard of the triple option.
Our rival high school ran a bastardized double-tight version of the flexbone which we affectionately referred to as "the turtle," but I didn't know that it was actually an abomination derived from Paul Johnson's triple option. In the coming weeks and months, I would come to simultaneously revile and enjoy playing in the sweet simplicity of the triple option.
What's so great about playing in an offense that passes the football maybe three times a game, you ask? You can absolutely terrorize the defensive linemen.
Ask any d-lineman who has played against the triple option, and he will tell you he absolutely hates it; he will also probably call it stupid, because he doesn't want to say he is afraid of it. Offensive linemen have three jobs on the base triple option play: cut a d-lineman, double-team a d-lineman, or cut a linebacker. (a cut block is aimed at the defender's knees with the intention of getting them to fall down.)
At Colorado College, we literally used our entire practice time practicing these three blocks. It gets ingrained in the very fiber of your being, to the point where all you have to think about before a snap is how you are going to ruin your defender's world.
Did I mention we played out of a four-point stance? On passing plays, we actually had to take a step forward before we could start our pass blocking. When a defensive lineman is uncertain of whether he is going to be double-teamed or cut, he can't play to the best of his ability. I prided myself in causing these d-linemen to live in fear. I was a football terrorist, and I loved it.
Let's take a look at what makes the base play of the triple option so simple for offensive linemen.
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| The video footage used in making these images is courtesy of ESPN. |
The center and left guard will execute scoop blocks. They will take at least three steps at a 45-degree angle to the right; if the noseguard stays where he is the guard will cut him while the center goes downfield to cut the flowing linebacker.
The left tackle's job is essentially to keep the 5-technique lined up on his outside shoulder from making a play. Any line-of-scrimmage players outside the 5-tech are too far away to make a play if the quarterback hands off to the fullback.
After the first step, everything is going fairly well. The left guard is in the process of cutting the nose while the center works up to the backside linebacker, and the frontside double-team is nearly underway. The quarterback already has his eyes on the defensive end in order to see whether he should give the ball up the middle or keep it.
All blocks are developing flawlessly. You can see that the left tackle's assignment is too busy trying not to get cut to pursue after the play. Meanwhile, the #1 option player has come down to tackle the fullback, so the quarterback is pulling the ball to keep his second and third options alive (keep it or pitch it).
The play has devolved into absolute carnage at the line of scrimmage, which is exactly what the offensive linemen want. It is a hallmark of this offense to be able to get your skill players in space with defenders who could potentially make mistakes. To be clear, the offensive linemen have no idea whether the ball will be given, kept, or pitched on this play. They simply execute their assignment and let the brains of the offense (the quarterback) call all the shots. It's a very blue-collar type of football to play o-line in; just punch the timeclock and beat the crap out of defenders.
The triple option is all about getting the defenders to second-guess themselves, and this play does so perfectly. The circled defender is supposed to follow the pitch man, but with the quarterback running straight at him, he hesitates. The resulting pitch goes for a touchdown.
Of course, this isn't the only play in the triple option; however, defenses think they can stop it by assigning defenders specific roles against this play. As Chris Brown has pointed out, this doesn't work. A triple-option guru can just change the blocking assignments. As an offensive lineman, you just do what they tell you. It's nice being able to turn your brain off (or at least down a little) while playing football.
In the interest of full disclosure, our offense was absolutely terrible that season. Attempting to run the triple option with spread personnel is insanely difficult; it requires lots of time drilling the concepts into players. Especially crucial is having a quarterback who is comfortable making the split-second decisions crucial to the offense's success. However, as an o-lineman, it was rather pleasant just focusing on hitting people as hard as possible. Offenses where I was actually required to think before plays were more rewarding, but this one was pretty damn fun.
