The Notre Dame football team takes on the Navy Midshipmen in Week 10 of the college football season, a team that runs the triple-option.
The triple option is an old-school offensive system that is rarely used in the modern game, and the Notre Dame football team will take on a team that runs it on Saturday. Some teams, like Coastal Carolina, use modernized versions of the offense that run out of the spread and shotgun formations.
However, that traditional, from the wishbone or wing-T, the triple-option isn’t run often in the modern game. Right now, only three schools run it properly at the FBS level, the three military academies.
Other schools, like Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern, come and go from the usage of the triple option. It’s been suggested that schools like UMass or Kansas should go all in and run the triple option. But, why would they want to run an antiquated system?
For the same reason the military schools do, it evens the playing field.
Notre Dame football: Enjoy the Glory of Navy’s Triple Option
What is the triple-option designed to do?
You see, the triple option is designed to do a couple of things. The first is to limit the number of possessions in a game. This prevents teams with talented and fast offenses from scoring too many points or having too many opportunities to score. It, therefore, makes games inherently closer. The other thing is that it puts defenders on islands.
This way, they’re forced to make a decision, but the option makes it so that decision they make is always wrong. The academies will also go for it on fourth down a lot, from anywhere on the field, meaning they only need to gain about three yards a play for an effective offense.
The academies love to run this system because they’re a few of the least talented teams in the country. That’s not an insult, just a reality. 247 Sports’ talent composite rankings, which average out the talent on a roster based on recruiting, list Navy as the 147th most talented team in the country.
For reference, there are 130 FBS teams, and Notre Dame football is 12th. That’s the reality for the academies, where you need to be an elite student, willing to join the military once you graduate. It’s for very few people.
Marcus Freeman, the new defensive coordinator for the Notre Dame football program, does have experience going against the triple option. During his time at Cincinnati, he coached against Navy twice and Army once. Navy dominated his defense in 2017, the first year he was at Cincinnati, scoring 42 with multiple 100 yard rushers.
By the next season, he’d corrected those issues, shutting out Navy and only giving up a total of 124 yards rushing. The 2020 meeting with Army saw the Bearcats allow 10 points on 182 yards rushing. Freeman knows how to defend the triple option.
When we watch the triple option as opposing fans, we tend to think of it as a problem to go up against. Getting cut block. Staying assignment sound. Making sound tackles.
Notre Dame football: Enjoy the Glory of Navy’s Triple Option
The beauty of the triple-option
We don’t simply enjoy the unique beauty of the triple option offense. It is, if you put yourself in the right mindset, something that everyone should enjoy. So, pay attention to it. There is a lot to be looking at, and when it flows properly it’s a great thing.
This starts with the offensive line. They cut block, which means that they dive into the legs of the defensive line, “cutting” them down. It’s a way for undersized offensive linemen to take on stronger defensive linemen. It can also lead to dangerous chop blocks and will never let the Navy offensive line get to blocking on the second level.
The thing is they’re not supposed to be getting to the second level. They’re supposed to take out the defensive line. In the triple option offense, they want linebackers to run free because they want to force those linebackers to make decisions.
Most of the time, defensive linemen are taught to beat getting cut with their hands. That means that they stay low, and if the offensive lineman wants to go low, the defensive lineman helps them, pushing them into the ground while dodging the cut itself.
Linebackers are who the option is traditionally designed to beat. The first give is a fullback up the middle. There are a few different variations on this.
The important thing to remember, though, is that the quarterback is going to give the ball to the fullback based on what the edge defender does. If they stay outside, then the offense has numbers up the middle. If they crash down, then the numbers advantage will be on the outside. So, the quarterback’s job is to keep the ball.
A linebacker is going to step up to meet the quarterback, but if the triple option has done its job properly, it will only be one linebacker against the quarterback and wingback (running back). The corner should be blocked by the wide receiver. This means that the linebacker needs to either take care of the ball carrier, in this case, the quarterback or eliminate the pitchman. The rule of thumb is to always go after the ball carrier, hitting the quarterback so that they’ll be more tentative to run at you or make a pitch that’s too quick in the future.
If the pitch comes too quickly, it can easily be defended by one linebacker. That’s why the quarterback needs to make the linebacker commit and punish them for that choice. It also means your quarterback needs to be very tough.
For the defense, this means that corners need to be elite at getting off blocks and making tackles at the line of scrimmage. It’s the only way to even out the numbers advantage.
Some people might want you to overload the box against Navy, including moving safeties up to prevent these number advantages. However, Navy works to be just effective enough in the passing game to keep you on your toes.
Notre Dame football: Enjoy the Glory of Navy’s Triple Option
Navy can mix in the pass as well
The Midshipmen, when they notice your safeties are creeping up too much, will run a play-action route and hit either a wide receiver or wingback running a seam route. So, they won’t complete more than a couple of passes a game, but when they do, they get chunk plays. The defense, therefore, can’t sell out to defend the run.
Navy loves to include misdirection and motion into their offense. They will also trap with their offensive line. All of this works to get linebackers to move their eyes to the wrong spot, getting them out of position, and creating lanes to run the ball in. They also only need to be so effective because of their aggressiveness on fourth down. Three yards a play is more than enough for Navy to win a game. Add to that the amount of clock they chew up and beating Navy means you nearly have to be perfect on offense.
For the Navy offense to work properly, it needs a quarterback who can run it well and effectively. A change at quarterback they made midseason to Tai Lavatai seems to have done the job. He’s tough, runs hard, and knows how to progress through his different reads.
Notre Dame football vs. Navy: 3 Midshipmen who must be stopped
The Notre Dame football team is looking for win No. 8 this weekend, and to earn it, these three Navy Midshipmen must be stopped.
So, while some people might complain about the speed of the game when Navy plays, they’re wrong. Just because they haven’t modernized doesn’t mean they’re not doing something special. Sit back and enjoy the beauty of the triple option. Who knows how much longer it will survive?