I love the Triple Option

[flounder]

could apply to ANY offensive system, couldn't it? I mean... execution is execution.

That's certainly true, but it seems like our offense looks worse than others when it's not clicking. I think it might be because we end up in 3rd and long so much, and our pass plays look so horrendous.

 

[alaguy]

What I hear you saying in your last sentence is you don't like the execution of our offense, or lack thereof, not the offense itself. That's an important distinction. How would you like our offense if it was actually executed as designed and that led to more wins?

Cheese,
I would like the single wing if it allowed us to move the ball and score consistently.yes,I love execution.But some offenses are more flexible than others AND ALLOWS YOU TO EXECUTE BETTER.Ours is great when we are ahead and don't really have to pass or are in short yardage.Not good in 3rd and long or having to go far in short time.

The other downside that I'm now amazed at-we can't get REALLY good running backs by the drove.Understand the WR deal but this a run- Offense, so they should flock to us..

 

[GTonTop88]

I like how we can recruit great HS athletes that don't fit in to the factories offense, were not goin head to head against them most of the time. I like how we can take undersized players and turn them into impact players. Godhigh wouldn't have fit into a pro style, unless he coulda been a slot or a passing down back. When run to perfection, and when able to complete passes its next to unstoppable even with sub par talent

 

[awbuzz]

You would have loved it even more a few weeks ago.

true!!

 

[awbuzz]

I like it when the talking heads on TV or radio show their ignorance saying this is a 3-O team with the inference that is all we do.
Like the mind game it seems to play on other teams defenses / coaches.
(don't like how "we" seem to let the ignorance of the talking heads, etc. say that it's a negative for recruiting and allow it to become "fact" in too many folks minds.)

 

[johncu]

I love when the ball gets on the perimeter and defenders suddenly start getting cut down left and right. A properly blocked pitch play is beautiful to watch.

I love the big play potential of this offense. When we had playmakers in 2008-2009, we were literally the most explosive offense in the country in terms of big plays. That's pretty much the definition of "exciting" when it comes to football.

I love the frustration of opposing fans when their defense is absolutely bewildered by all of the options.

Lastly, I love that it differentiates us from other schools. While it may currently hold us back in certain recruiting circles (although the overall impact is debatable), there is nothing that says it HAS to be that way. If we start winning consistently, kids will want to play at Georgia Tech, just like they want to play at Oregon or Clemson or other schools that run offenses that are not pro-style by any means.

 

[Boomergump]

Lets face it. We were not a TO team this year. Heck, Fridge's offense ran more TO plays a game than we did in 2013. We need to get back to it. Vad's problem, and our problem this year was not making positive plays necessarily, but rather, avoiding the negative plays. There were plenty enough good productive plays run this year, and in the bowl game for that matter. The problem was the botched plays that go for -3, -5, or -8 yards for no other reason but timidness, bad reads, or missed assignments stalling drives in the process. The number of times we lost 3 yards this year when +2 was possible is staggering. Properly running the TO (which I love) reduces these occurrences to a manageable level.

 

[jchens_GT]

Lets face it. We were not a TO team this year. Heck, Fridge's offense ran more TO plays a game than we did in 2013. We need to get back to it. Vad's problem, and our problem this year was not making positive plays necessarily, but rather, avoiding the negative plays. There were plenty enough good productive plays run this year, and in the bowl game for that matter. The problem was the botched plays that go for -3, -5, or -8 yards for no other reason but timidness, bad reads, or missed assignments stalling drives in the process. The number of times we lost 3 yards this year when +2 was possible is staggering. Properly running the TO (which I love) reduces these occurrences to a manageable level.

As is typical for you, this is pretty dead on Boomer. I can't tell you how many times I was pulling my hair out this season because we killed a perfectly good drive by taking a sack, missing a read, missing a block, or stringing a play too far outside. We would be moving the ball very well, but then before you knew it, it was 3rd and long.

 

[daBuzz]

I have refrained from posting in this thread until now because I am NOT a fan of the TO. But I have a serious question for you guys who love it:
- How do we stop the better teams from negating the TO by lining 2 defenders up in the A gap and disrupting the mesh? I know CPJ says there's an answer to every defense with this offense but I've yet to see it. I haven't seen us be able to do it with Nesbitt, Tevin, nor Vad. Justin may indeed be faster than all of the above, but when he's getting hit in the backfield 2 yards deep within a second of taking the snap, he better have a Superman cape underneath that jersey if he's going to escape that play and get the ball to the perimeter.

Again, not a slam on the offense. I'm seriously interested in knowing how to stop that.

 

[gtdrew]

First of all, there's a call that the center has to make, letting one of the guards know that he's responsible for the a-gap opposite the center. Whichever one the a-gap's going to. That also effects the blocking of the middle backer, as he's normally the responsibility of whoever's chipping off of the center-guard double-team. It's something that can be adjusted to, blocking wise, but the kids have to make the calls and then make the blocks. Too many times this season one of the interior linemen was late making the adjustment or the call was never made. I suspect that the lack of continuity on the offensive line this year had a lot to do with that.

 

[gtg936g]

I have refrained from posting in this thread until now because I am NOT a fan of the TO. But I have a serious question for you guys who love it:
- How do we stop the better teams from negating the TO by lining 2 defenders up in the A gap and disrupting the mesh? I know CPJ says there's an answer to every defense with this offense but I've yet to see it. I haven't seen us be able to do it with Nesbitt, Tevin, nor Vad. Justin may indeed be faster than all of the above, but when he's getting hit in the backfield 2 yards deep within a second of taking the snap, he better have a Superman cape underneath that jersey if he's going to escape that play and get the ball to the perimeter.

Again, not a slam on the offense. I'm seriously interested in knowing how to stop that.

In addition to what @gtdrew said there are several non option counters that work in that situation if you cannot physically block the defenders. The rocket toss, smoke route, wr sweep etc. I think the diamond may be the most effective counter, but like I have said before you must be able to charge the line and not get a negative play. To run out of the gun, you must be able to make up those yards off the LOS quickly or a possible gain will be a 5 yard loss.

 

[daBuzz]

First of all, there's a call that the center has to make, letting one of the guards know that he's responsible for the a-gap opposite the center. Whichever one the a-gap's going to. That also effects the blocking of the middle backer, as he's normally the responsibility of whoever's chipping off of the center-guard double-team. It's something that can be adjusted to, blocking wise, but the kids have to make the calls and then make the blocks. Too many times this season one of the interior linemen was late making the adjustment or the call was never made. I suspect that the lack of continuity on the offensive line this year had a lot to do with that.

Nice answer. Thank you both for posting. Now, the big loaded question: why haven't we been able to do that against VT, Clemson, UGA, and Miami the past 4 years?

 

[gtg936g]

I must admit VT is an enigma to me. We have lost that game almost every concivable way since Nesbitt hot hurt.

We have scored a lot of points on the other three (with the exception of ugag in 2012), and I am not sure any other offensive scheme would have yeilded a different result.

My old boss used to say engineering and sales needed to have their heads and asses wired together. I think the offense and defense needs to put together some games against the big 4 where they have their heads and asses wired together. It takes a total team effort, not just a good day on O or D to win those games.

 

[Longestday]

Bad reads or bad blocking or just over powered/outplayed by great DL.

First, Vad was very uncomfortable with the pitch much of this season and had big issues reading the cross charge.

The second part is no real starting O line. Our OL starters were out much of the spring and fall practice. You have to practice at this level to be good.

We also failed to take advantage of the D's oversells on the run with a less than 50% passing average.

 

[Fatmike91]

Nice answer. Thank you both for posting. Now, the big loaded question: why haven't we been able to do that against VT, Clemson, UGA, and Miami the past 4 years?

Every season, teams come up with a way on defense to attack us on offense. This year VPISU set the tone for the entire season with their "attack the mesh" strategy. It worked because Vad was a slow at doing the mesh/keep reads, and most importantly he wasn't able to get the ball quickly outside on the pitch. Since we couldn't execute our base offense, we put in a bunch of plays (some of them passing) to counter later in the season. I don't believe that defensive strategy would have been as effective against a quarterback who can make a fast read and get the ball to the edge.

Last year, I believe DUKE set the game plan to defend us with Tevin (give up the dive, take away the pitch and force the QB to keep). Basically bend don't break and force Tevin to beat you with his feet.

Next year, if we have a guy like #5 (JT) at QB who can make quick reads, it gets interesting. Attack the mesh? Maybe, but if he can read quicker than Vad did, then you create a big problem on the edge. A team certainly can't take away the pitch and force JT to keep...forcing JT to keep in the open field is a bad defensive strategy. So you want to attack the mesh, then take away the "keep", meaning you give up the pitch. If JT can learn to pitch (ball security), there will be some big plays on the edge. Then teams will adjust and take away the outside (keep and pitch), and force us to work inside. So we turn Custis loose and maybe learn to run the mid-line again. Remember that play?


/

 

[daBuzz]

Every season, teams come up with a way on defense to attack us on offense. This year VPISU set the tone for the entire season with their "attack the mesh" strategy. It worked because Vad was a slow at doing the mesh/keep reads, and most importantly he wasn't able to get the ball quickly outside on the pitch. Since we couldn't execute our base offense, we put in a bunch of plays (some of them passing) to counter later in the season. I don't believe that defensive strategy would have been as effective against a quarterback who can make a fast read and get the ball to the edge.

Last year, I believe DUKE set the game plan to defend us with Tevin (give up the dive, take away the pitch and force the QB to keep). Basically bend don't break and force Tevin to beat you with his feet.

Next year, if we have a guy like #5 (JT) at QB who can make quick reads, it gets interesting. Attack the mesh? Maybe, but if he can read quicker than Vad did, then you create a big problem on the edge. A team certainly can't take away the pitch and force JT to keep...forcing JT to keep in the open field is a bad defensive strategy. So you want to attack the mesh, then take away the "keep", meaning you give up the pitch. If JT can learn to pitch (ball security), there will be some big plays on the edge. Then teams will adjust and take away the outside (keep and pitch), and force us to work inside. So we turn Custis loose and maybe learn to run the mid-line again. Remember that play?


/

Man, I hope you're right. I'm tired of losing.

But, I believe the successful recipe against us has been fairly consistent. Plug the middle and stop the B-back from getting the ball. Force the ball to the outside and try to use superior team speed to string the play horizontally and not vertically.

And, for the record, this isn't something that can be laid on Vad. LSU did it and Iowa did it versus Nesbitt even when we had the NFL talent. Multiple teams did it versus Tevin throughout his tenure and it has continued to Vad. I expect we will see the same thing versus JT until we prove we have a way to counter it, IMO.

 

[gtdrew]

daBuzz, I think thats when you change read keys and even reverse the option. I've seen CPJ call a handful of times something I like to call a "whirlybird" option where the qb runs wide, fakes the give to the a-back, and looks for the pitch to the b-back. What this play does is switch the "give" and "pitch" reads for the qb, and I know he ran it ton w Tracy Ham. As this team moves forward, as JT picks up this option package, I think you'll see more stuff like that...

 

[AE 87]

CPJ makes the game more like chess than most , but it still requires guys making plays.

 

[Ggee87]

Ahhh.. I hope JT is our savior next season. I hope he studies the offense and practices his reads as often as possible. He could be very dynamic if he can get this down. Hope he can be durable too, shy away from the big blows with his speed. I think there's definitely reason for hope. Well finally have Bback production again so that should help open up the rest of our offense. Can't wait to see the midlines again like another poster mentioned. Use to kill teams with all the counters and such. Miss the good ole days

 

[UgaBlows]

I've got a bad feeling that opposing teams strategy against JT will be to let him run with it and try to clobber him whether he keeps or pitches, hopefully that don't work out...