Option Football

Enuratique

Jolly Good Fellow
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320
The other issue (sorry to rehash the dead horse) that helped nail CPJ's coffin at GT was the blocking rule changes... Took away the blocker's leverage / required bigger bodies to block legally (more man up than dive blocks) and bigger bodies are slower / harder to recruit the faster ones and so our blocks were less effective against superior talent, and that put us behind the chains. Crappy D too kept us on the field.
 

jgtengineer

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Enuratique said:
The other issue (sorry to rehash the dead horse) that helped nail CPJ's coffin at GT was the blocking rule changes... Took away the blocker's leverage / required bigger bodies to block legally (more man up than dive blocks) and bigger bodies are slower / harder to recruit the faster ones and so our blocks were less effective against superior talent, and that put us behind the chains. Crappy D too kept us on the field.
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I don't think that rule change would have hurt us as bad. Calhoun and Airforce adapted quickly and they were also heavy veer. I think if Johnson was coaching in that era we'd have done what Monken has started to do which is shift to the gun/pistol more. But Johnson had been coaching for 40 years. So retirement was better options.
 
stinger78

stinger78

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jgtengineer said:
I don't think that rule change would have hurt us as bad. Calhoun and Airforce adapted quickly and they were also heavy veer. I think if Johnson was coaching in that era we'd have done what Monken has started to do which is shift to the gun/pistol more. But Johnson had been coaching for 40 years. So retirement was better options.
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I agree, but he chose to retire rather than to adapt. I don't blame him one bit. Leave it to the proteges to adapt the thing.
 

takethepoints

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jgtengineer said:
I don't think that rule change would have hurt us as bad. Calhoun and Airforce adapted quickly and they were also heavy veer. I think if Johnson was coaching in that era we'd have done what Monken has started to do which is shift to the gun/pistol more. But Johnson had been coaching for 40 years. So retirement was better options.
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I agree. I might also point out that Air Force led the NCAA in rushing last year. Again.
 
4shotB

4shotB

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stinger78 said:
I agree, but he chose to retire rather than to adapt. I don't blame him one bit. Leave it to the proteges to adapt the thing.
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I agree. Reflecting back upon things I was constantly adapting and evolving. Hustling/ Grinding/etc. Then one day you wake up and realize you don't have to do it any longer. At least at a job that takes the greater % of your waking hours. Then you pass the baton on to the young Turks who need to do what you did when you were their age to generate income. and satisfy egos. and build up a nest egg. Then you take your a$$ to the golf course 3-4 times a week instead of 2 Saturdays a month. CPJ probably got less than that given his profession. The reason CPJ hung 'em up is because, at the end of the day, he's a pretty smart guy.
 

cpf2001

Ramblin' Wreck
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822
Randy Carson said:
Good point.

I would counter that if the TO were more prevalent, prima donna QB's would be replaced by less expensive QB's and B's that can run instead of throw on every down.

Maybe?
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I don’t think so, personally. If everybody was running it then the guys who can make the throws and make the right decisions more often are still going to be at a huge premium. They’d have a different skill set but someone would still be willing to pay $$$ to lock up the best QB.
 

Blue&Gold1034

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
101
jgtengineer said:
Every play is a potential TD. Even the dive an you never know when its going to pop off.

The option is only boring to people that don't understand the option.

Clarifying his point here for the inevitable person who thinks he was serious.
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You can say this about every offense. If a player breaks a tackle or two in any offense, it could go for a big gain or TD. That isn't unique to an option offense.
 

jgtengineer

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Blue&Gold1034 said:
You can say this about every offense. If a player breaks a tackle or two in any offense, it could go for a big gain or TD. That isn't unique to an option offense.
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That's not true. It is true in every offense predicated on the run. West Coast short passing game offenses are often designed to get 5 and then save the TD plays for shot plays.

They do this with ball placement. Low curls and outs on the sidelines.
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

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jgtengineer said:
That's not true. It is true in every offense predicated on the run. West Coast short passing game offenses are often designed to get 5 and then save the TD plays for shot plays.

They do this with ball placement. Low curls and outs on the sidelines.
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I think this is correct. It is a misnomer to say that any play perfectly executed will result in a touchdown. Lots of plays are designed only to pick up the necessary yards in a given situation, whether two yards or twenty.

The option creates a mismatch which, when coupled with a wrong guess by a defender, can break wide open.
 
Randy Carson

Randy Carson

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If you enjoy watching your team go 80 yards in three minutes followed by the other team doing the same thing to you, the NFL was tailor-made for your attention span.

If you prefer watching your team go 80 yards in eight minutes while the other team looks nervously at the clock wondering if they will get the ball back, well, the TO is your game.
 

jgtengineer

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Northeast Stinger said:
I think this is correct. It is a misnomer to say that any play perfectly executed will result in a touchdown. Lots of plays are designed only to pick up the necessary yards in a given situation, whether two yards or twenty.

The option creates a mismatch which, when coupled with a wrong guess by a defender, can break wide open.
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Exactly.

Can there be blown coverage on a curl or ut that turns into a go on a read? Yeah. Is that going to happen often... well only if someone named collins is in charge.

Warrick Dunn had a saying about the old-school single back zone run offense. "Get 4 yards". That meant you got to the second level and that is where magic can happen in a run game.
 
iceeater1969

iceeater1969

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Still don't understand why, early in season, we didn't
go for broke with a very aggressive defense. By 4th quarter the heat and the option would have been a killer.

Seems like we were trying to play a little too conservative.

Watch the 2008 uga replay. Uga and gt were loaded, but our defense was aggressive and we wore them down.
 
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