ATLANTA — The limits of what Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy started has no bounds.
The Monday prior to the annual Bedlam matchup with Oklahoma, Gundy went on a long rant about Oklahoma’s offense.
The Sooners were known for its bombing offense with deep vertical concepts and innovative route combinations that Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray flourished in. In 2019, that changed in the middle of the season as Oklahoma morphed into a physical running, ball control offense that fit more of what Jalen Hurts can do.
Gundy, in his rant, said that the Sooners are “a triple-option team and it’s just disguised as a spread.”
That has since spread.
LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger and LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda called Oklahoma’s offense a ‘triple-option’ offense on Monday.
Something that is just not true.
“I think it’s just another way to look at these offenses and you see a lot of players on the field that are great athletes and just trying to use from sideline to sideline, and just ways you can get the ball in different players’ hands,” said Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator and inside wide receivers coach Cale Gundy, “I would venture to say almost more than half the teams across the country are doing the exact same thing. It’s just the style of football that we’re playing today. With the great young athletes that are coming out of the high school ranks in football and the better skill players, it makes it an exciting time in college football to be on the offensive side.”
Oklahoma has run a single set of plays all year that is actually a triple-option, as can be seen in the second tweet underneath.
i mean poor GPat. lord. pic.twitter.com/BgfjUPcgN1
— Kegan Reneau (@KeganReneau) November 26, 2019
In that play, Hurts is reading the play-side defensive end to hand it off to the running back. From there, he is reading the play-side linebacker to dump off the swing pass to the wide receiver in motion or keep it and run.
It is the only concept the entire 2019 season that truly has three options after the snap.
What Aranda and Ensminger are referring to are designed plays, such as the patented pop pass concept to Dimitri Flowers or Oklahoma’s new leak concept to Brayden Willis.
This leak concept with Brayden Willis is becoming as automatic as the pop pass to Dimitri Flowers: pic.twitter.com/1FHsjQbhBD
— Kegan Reneau (@KeganReneau) December 9, 2019
They even could be referring to Riley’s quarterback guard-tackle counter plays that have a read concept for a handoff to the running back or something else that does not have three options to it after the snap.
Here is what Riley told reporters after the Oklahoma State game on Nov. 30:
“The Wishbone comment … I took that as a complete compliment. I think it’s one of the great offenses ever. It means you are spreading the ball around. You’re physical. Getting your playmakers the ball in space and letting them play. I thought he was spot on.”
No—Oklahoma’s 2019 offense is not a triple option offense in the spread.
It’s just Lincoln Riley’s ability to mold an offense to its quarterback and has more creative run concepts than it does pass concepts unlike past years. College football just needs to find something to describe it as and here we are.
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between Oklahoma and LSU kicks off on Dec 28 at 3 p.m. in Atlanta.