Triple the Fun
The question was posed to me today - “Can Georgia Tech succeed in the ACC running the triple option that Paul Johnson employed at Navy?”
I say yes it can.
Just about any offense can succeed in college football if you have the right players, the right coaching and excellent execution (except for the West Coast offense…but that’s another story).
We already know that Johnson can coach. Anyone who can make Navy football semi-relevant again has to have some coaching skills. He doesn’t have the perfect players to run the triple option, but that is easily remedied through recruiting (which will take a few years). And once he’s go the players, it’s simply a matter of repetition and good coaching and they will have the execution part down as well. So yes, you can succeed running the triple option.
The big knocks against the triple option are that A) you can’t recruit players for that offense (i.e. no one wants to play in that offense) and B) there is too much speed in the major BCS conferences to be successful.
The first point is ridiculous. Go watch any 5 high school games in your area on any given Friday night. You know what kind of offense they are running? A variation of the triple option. Nebraska was able to recruit top high school players to run that offense until they stopped running it in 2004. There are always going to be good players who will fit into and are willing to play in the triple option. And if Johnson can convince a kid to play football at Navy (and thus, enroll in the service) then I think he can convince a kid to come to Georgia Tech (despite the 600:1 guys to girls ratio).
The second point is even more ridiculous. Nebraska was successful up through 2003 (they won 10 games and even played in the 2001 BCS championship game) running a variation of triple option. The Big 12 has lots of speed and Nebraska was successful. If the speed thing were true, then all those spread options would fail as well. They are both based on the quarterback’s ability to read the defense and either pitch the ball or run with it. With the right QB, you can neutralize much of the speed issue with any iteration of the option.
What it boils down to is that Johnson can flat out coach, he’ll get the players to run the option and he’ll be successful in the ACC running the triple option.
If you don’t believe me, remember this: everyone said that Urban Meyer’s spread option wouldn’t work in the SEC because of all the speed on defense.
And I think things have turned out pretty well for Urban Meyer and his Gators thus far.
Filed under: Conference News
Tags: acc, bcs, florida gators, georgia tech yellow jackets, national championship, navy midshipmen, nebraska cornhuskers, paul johnson, sec, spread option, triple option, urban meyer, west coast offense
