Option/Veer Teams in 2016

year_of_the_swarm

year_of_the_swarm

Jolly Good Fellow
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The major option teams in the country, which are Georgia Tech, Navy, Air Force, Army, and New Mexico went a combined 45-21 this year. They also went 4-1 in bowl games, with only Navy losing their bowl by 3 points. Navy lost Will Worth and wasn't the same team, but they were probably the best option team in the country with him.

When will the rest of the country wake up? Look at the accomplishments at Georgia Tech, then you take another non-military school like New Mexico and look at what they accomplished. They basically had a dead program. They hire Bob Davie, put in the option (which was modeled after Nebraska's option attack around the year 2000), and look at them.

New Mexico:
  • #1 in Mountain West in scoring offense
  • #1 in Mountain West in rushing offense
  • #3 in Mountain West in total offense
  • #2 in Mountain West in time of possession
  • Highest yardage total in a single game
  • Highest yards per play in a single game
  • Highest rushing yards in a single game
The rest of the country needs to wake up... This system works, period. It's explosive, its hard to stop, its easier to recruit, etc.

Nebraska was still doing very well with it when they ditched it around 2002 and they've basically been nothing without it. Lots of examples out there.
 
CuseJacket

CuseJacket

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Staff member
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Saw this the other day and now there's a good place to post. Another option WR "surprising".

Air Force’s Jalen Robinette earns NFL Combine invite
Air Force wide receiver Jalen Robinette has blown up since the season ended by earning an East-West Shrine invite and then a the Senior Bowl came calling. At bowl All-Star bowl games Robinette was impressive to scouts and that also led to multiple mock drafts have Robinette going in the second round.

Now, he is heading to Indianapolis for the NFL Combine.
Click to expand...
 
ATL1

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
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7,377
I see your point but they run a lot of pistol and gun sets too.
Syracuse tried to do that 2 seasons ago and it didn't work so well.
 
GTRanj

GTRanj

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Atlanta, Georgia
year_of_the_swarm said:
The major option teams in the country, which are Georgia Tech, Navy, Air Force, Army, and New Mexico went a combined 45-21 this year. They also went 4-1 in bowl games, with only Navy losing their bowl by 3 points. Navy lost Will Worth and wasn't the same team, but they were probably the best option team in the country with him.

When will the rest of the country wake up? Look at the accomplishments at Georgia Tech, then you take another non-military school like New Mexico and look at what they accomplished. They basically had a dead program. They hire Bob Davie, put in the option (which was modeled after Nebraska's option attack around the year 2000), and look at them.

New Mexico:
  • #1 in Mountain West in scoring offense
  • #1 in Mountain West in rushing offense
  • #3 in Mountain West in total offense
  • #2 in Mountain West in time of possession
  • Highest yardage total in a single game
  • Highest yards per play in a single game
  • Highest rushing yards in a single game
The rest of the country needs to wake up... This system works, period. It's explosive, its hard to stop, its easier to recruit, etc.

Nebraska was still doing very well with it when they ditched it around 2002 and they've basically been nothing without it. Lots of examples out there.
Click to expand...
I would rather no body wake up, I'd rather wake them up on game day with our sledge hammer of an alarm that we call our offense.
 
Jacket4Life9

Jacket4Life9

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210
If the NFL did not exist, half the country would implement the option lol

Big schools are too afraid of what it would do for recruiting. Why the Vandy's, Wake's, and other teams that are perennial bottom 1/3 of their conferences don't try it beats the heck out of me...
 
year_of_the_swarm

year_of_the_swarm

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
360
Jacket4Life9 said:
If the NFL did not exist, half the country would implement the option lol

Big schools are too afraid of what it would do for recruiting. Why the Vandy's, Wake's, and other teams that are perennial bottom 1/3 of their conferences don't try it beats the heck out of me...
Click to expand...

Kansas, Iowa State, Vandy, Wake, Arizona, Kentucky... I could put a huge list of teams together that would greatly benefit.
 

1939hotmagic

Jolly Good Fellow
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403
Supplemental note re QB-under-center option spread teams:

The Citadel had another solid season at the FCS level, often operating out of the familiar double-slot formation and occasionally out of a "T-bone" -- yep, running triple out of a T formation, but with WRs instead of TEs. (Think of Tech's double-slot formation, but with halfbacks instead of slotbacks.) Went 10-2 in 2016 (one loss coming in a money game to UNC). HC Brent Thompson is not part of the CPJ coaching tree, but as OC at Div. 2 Lenoir-Rhyne and now at The Citadel, now HC Thompson's teams are always national leaders in rushing. While he certainly doesn't face Tech-like academics at The Citadel, he does face the student-lifestyle challenge of recruiting to a military college. El Cid led FCS with ypg rushing in 2016, at 348.2. (Two other option teams, Cal Poly and Kennesaw State, were 2nd and 3rd.)

Eastern New Mexico State, at NCAA Div. 2 level, is now a solid winning program which regularly operates the offense familiar to Tech fans. ENMU, as of 2011, had not been to any postseason game since they were in the 1983 NAIA playoffs. Very little success in decades, few winning seasons, eight straight losing seasons through 2011 season. So, the school hired new coach Josh Lynn for 2012, new coach brought in Kelley Lee as OC, and a triple-option attack was installed. In 2016, ENMC rushing ypg of 344.6 was second in Div. 2 ranks. In the past four seasons, they made their first Div. 2 playoff appearance and in another season, they went to one of three Div. 2 bowl games open to non-playoff teams. Lee is now HC, Lynn having been hired away by U-Nebraska-Kearney, to build up what is now a poor program.

Brent Thompson at The Citadel, Kelley Lee at ENMU, Josh Lynn at Nebraska-Kearney -- three coaches each no more than in their early 40s, perhaps late 30s; all successful, all quite familiar with option-oriented offenses. And none, to my knowledge, part of the CPJ coaching tree. Wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on those guys as the years go by.
 
nod

nod

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Would Oregon , Auburn, Texas A&M, other spread option teams not be major option teams? New Mex offense looks a lot more like Auburn then Tech's. When Auburn is good they run the ball a lot.
 

takethepoints

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6,096
stylee said:
IIRC, New Mexico primarily runs zone read that looks like a veer because of the altered angles from the pistol set
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Right. I was just about to say that, except that the QB is not under center, their O is Bill Yeoman's old Houston veer. Every now and then they put a back directly behind the QB, but Houston used to do that too. Having the QB in a shotgun messed with my mind for a minute there, but you can watch it and see.

I don't think this is a regular shotgun spread, however. Yes, they do some zone read double options, but Yeoman invented that; shoot, we do it too only we call it a "speed option". They run a lot of TO out of that formation, however.

I'm glad to see Bob Davie, who was and is a good football coach, finally get a chance to run a team his way.
 

stylee

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Right, I'm saying their triple is a zone read triple. I'm fairly sure from what I saw earlier this year.
 
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