Summer Study: Tweaking the option game

Option offenses are evolving, with Coastal Carolina perhaps the biggest example. Here is how these systems dress up their core design.

The summer study series into the flexbone formation and option offenses rolls on here at Touchdown Wire. In the first piece, we dove into how these systems incorporate both “orbit” motion and “orbit-return” motion into their designs, with a focus on the running game.

In this piece we’ll dive into a twist on the core component of these systems: The option play. When you think of these offenses you probably envision the standard “triple option,” with the quarterback either handing the ball to the fullback — or “B back” — or keeping it and then reading an unblocked defender and deciding whether to pitch or keep based on that player’s movements.

On paper, that looks generally like this:

As you can see, the end man on the line of scrimmage (the linebacker, shaded in red) will be the player the quarterback eventually reads when deciding between keeping it himself or pitching to the A back coming from the left wing. That linebacker is left unblocked, and in essence the QB’s decision is what blocks him on the play.

Here is Army running this design against Middle Tennessee State:

Now, in terms of the quarterback’s decision making you can listen to a failed flexbone QB or a master. Paul Johnson, the retired coach who was most recently with Georgia Tech, ran flexbone option offenses for decades. In his 2002 Georgia Southern playbook, which you can find online, he dove into the QB’s thought process in detail:

Regardless of how complex double or triple option decisions appear those decisions aren’t complex when a simple, logical decision-making process is coached, practiced and applied in a game. In an option offense the quarterback must have the decision-making tools to minimize the risks in an option offense. An option quarterback to consistently make the proper decisions must be coached to:

  1. Make one way decisions,
  2. Pre-snap read the defense, and
  3. Understand the perimeter of the defense.

The key to consistently making correct decisions in an option offense is for the quarterback to make one way decisions. One way decisions are predetermined in the huddle or at the line of scrimmage.

In a double option play the quarterback can’t come down the line of scrimmage to option number three, hesitate and then decide whether to pitch the ball to the tailback or not to pitch the ball. The decision can be predetermined for the quarterback with a one way decision-making process. The one way decision-making process removes any hesitancy because the process instructs the quarterback exactly what to do when he reaches number three. The one way decision-making process instructs the quarterback to pitch the ball off number three, until number three won’t allow him to pitch the ball.

With some of the basics installed, now we can expand the playbook a bit. As we have already seen, option offenses are using orbit-return motion to add a little “eye candy” to these traditional option designs:

Motion is just one way that option offenses can dress up their core design. Formation is another. Even teams that are historically flexbone offenses have begun to branch out, running their core staples out of different alignments. On this play against Boise State, the Air Force Falcons run the option out of a “pro” formation, using the H-Back/Sniffer as the pitch player:

This design employs a bit of misdirection, as the H-Back starts to work away from the play, showing the defense a bit of counter option, before doubling back to the right edge. The run action on the interior sucks up the inside linebackers, and the Falcons are able to get to the edge. The QB makes the decision to pitch, and Air Force has a big gain.

Another formational tweak we have seen option offenses employ is the use of the shotgun. As Ted Nguyen stated in his deep dive into the Coastal Carolina offense, the use of the shotgun formation has a two-fold impact on these offenses. First, it allows for more in the passing game. Second, it helps to attract recruits:

A commitment to a two-back option offense with a heavy emphasis on pitching the ball was more commonplace with traditional under-center option teams. By running his offense from the shotgun, Chadwell got the edge of the option but also didn’t hamper his passing game. Also, the marketability of a shotgun offense matters to recruits. It’s a hard sell for recruits to go to a school running an under-center option offense.

Of course, Coastal Carolina is not the only team looking to entice recruits to campus, so here is Navy running their option out of a shotgun look:

Of course, with the Coastal Carolina reference we need to include an example of their pistol option design. Here is that look against the Kansas Jayhawks:

This play goes for a minimal gain, but allow Nguyen to outline the problems this formation poses for the defense pre-snap:

Here, the Chanticleers were in a pistol formation with a tailback directly behind the quarterback and a halfback offset to his right. This look presents a triple-option threat to the defense. The opponent knows it has to defend a running back dive, quarterback keep and pitch. But before the snap, the defense doesn’t know yet which back will carry out which phase of the option.

And that is exactly what the Chanticleers can do with this formation, because while the above example had the deep back run the dive to the left side, with the upback becoming the pitch player moving to the left, here is Coastal Carolina running a different play out of the same formation later in the game:

On this play, the upback is not the pitch player but rather a blocker, as he aims directly for the edge. The quarterback and the deep back run the speed option to the left side, with the QB making a late pitch off the read defender for a big gain.

So now as a defense facing these offenses, there are even more variations you have to account for. And that’s before we start getting into blocking variations, as well as the passing game.

All of which is coming next in this series.

See: Notre Dame ‘21 commit Pat Coogan maul defender

Up close and personal, Pat Coogan is a bad man

I had to pleasure to going out to Notre Dame yesterday, the College Prep school in Niles, Illinois to see the Don’s host the Marist Red Hawks. One of the best players on the field yesterday was Notre Dame commit Pat Coogan. The Red Hawks easily took care of the Don’s in the opener for both teams, 34-13.

It was a great performance for the Red Hawk’s as the offense led the way. Their quarterback Dontrell Jackson, a Coastal Carolina commit, was untouched all evening in part due to plays like this from Coogan:

The left guard was spectacular last night, finishing plays like this one and even getting reps as the teams long-snapper. Coogan showed the high level talent that the Notre Dame coaching staff saw when they originally offered him.

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In an interview with him earlier in the year, Coogan told he was would play his final year then head out to South Bend. That was bad news for opposing high school players.

Jamey Chadwell discusses spread-option offense

Jamey Chadwell discusses spread-option offense.

Jamey Chadwell has experienced success as head coach at Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers finished the 2020 season 11-1 and Sun Belt champions.

Chadwell’s offense is a spread-option that presents challenges for the opposition.

He implemented the spread-option offense in 2009 during his first season as head coach at Division II North Greenville.

Chadwell’s offense centers around the backfield with a variety of different looks that showcases 20 and 21-personnel.

A running back typically lines up next to the quarterback, while one tailback is behind the signal-caller in a pistol formation.

The offensive line has pulling guards with inside and outside zone blocking.

The quarterback will read the defensive end within an RPO to determine whether a handoff should be made, to attack the perimeter in the run game or to find a one-on-one matchup in the passing game.

“The jobs that I have taken over have been rebuilds. I had to go in there and really try to completely change the mindset and a culture.” — Jamey Chadwell

Chadwell played high school football in East Tennessee at Anderson County High School. He went on to play quarterback at East Tennessee State (1995-99) and launched his coaching career with the Buccaneers from 2000-03.

Sep 7, 2019; Lawrence, KS, USA; Coastal Carolina Chanticleers head coach Jamey Chadwell reacts after a play against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Chadwell joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss implementing his spread-option offense into programs at North Greenville, Delta State, Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina.

“The reason why we like to run the offense that we do, you don’t have to have the best linemen in the country to win games,” Chadwell said. “You don’t have to have the best receivers in the country to win games. Every job that I have had has been a rebuild. We’ve had to develop and recruit talent that fits your system.

“Part of the reason that we like to do the offense, is it gives you a chance to win games. We were probably the eighth most talented team out of ten in our league — and won the league this year. Part of that is because you get kids to buy into your scheme and your system, and they fit that. We can do a variety of different things. Recruiting is not hard for it, you just have to find the right guys that want to fit into what you do.”

Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell, right, talks with side judge Rick Ockey, left, during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Chadwell discussed the importance of spring practices in creating an identity for a team that will take the field in the fall.

“Spring is important no matter what you do,” Chadwell said. “More so why spring is important with your system is just your identity. What you want to be about. To me that’s what spring ball is about. This is who we are, this is what we value on the football field and that’s why you want to do those things.”

The entire show with Chadwell can be listened to here or below.

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Coastal Carolina EDGE Tarron Jackson declares for 2021 NFL draft

Coastal Carolina edge defender prospect Tarron Jackson is leaving school early to enter the 2021 NFL draft

One of the nation’s more slept-on EDGE prospects will be leaving school early for the next level.

Coastal Carolina’s Tarron Jackson announced via social media that he has declared for the 2021 NFL draft.

Listed at 6-2, 260 pounds, Jackson has been a matchup nightmare for opposing offensive tackles all year long. Jackson recently wrapped up his 2020 campaign with an impressive 8.5 sacks in 13 games. He rode that success en route to earning Associated Press All-America honors. Jackson has also captured All-America recognition from ESPN. He was also named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year and earned All-Sun Belt first team honors for the second-straight season.

Jackson is Pro Football Focus’ sixth-highest graded EDGE prospect since 2019.

We’ll get to see Jackson against better competition at the 2021 Senior Bowl. A good performance there could land him squarely on the Day 2 radar.

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The College Football Playoff will only make sense if you follow the money

It’s built to be this way.

The College Football Playoff are set, and you will not be surprised to find that four schools with robust fan support have emerged from the most bizarre season in history.

It was always going to be this way. Because this is the point.

Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame will move on to the most high-profile games of the season not simply because they have been good at football but because they are vastly better than many of the alternatives at holding the attention of fans and deriving revenue from them.

Yes, the No. 5 team, Texas A&M, has its share of support and draws 100,000 fans to home games. But Notre Dame remains a national brand. Just ignore the way it got completely dominated by the No. 2 seed, Clemson, only a day ago!

The real mess occurs outside of the actual playoff hunt, though. Undefeated Cincinnati came in at No. 8, behind 8-2 Oklahoma and a Florida team that just lost the SEC Championship (its *third* loss!). That means the Bearcats were never really even in the discussion, which means that No. 1 Cincinnati advocate Nate Scott remains enraged.

Coastal Carolina, finished 11-0 and never broke into the Top 10 of the CFP rankings.

Smart college football writers have explained why so many decisions made by the 13-person CFP selection committee don’t make any sense at all. You should read Nicole Auerbach and Chris Vannini at The Athletic, and Dan Wetzel over at Yahoo.  Or Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated. USA Today’s Dan Wolken has been an important voice on this story, too.

The problem, of course, is that the CFP tries to uphold the illusion that all things are equal and that every team has a chance. It’s such a silly mirage. Here’s the selection committee chair Gary Barta, just carrying water for the whole group — and, by extension, the so-called Power Five.

Barta is the AD at Iowa, of the Big Ten, and it’s abundantly clear who he works for. It’s not just the five “elite” conferences, it’s the elite within those conferences too. Indiana, which has a much smaller base of hardcore football fans than the Big Ten’s top programs, hasn’t gotten nearly the respect it deserves.

That’s because Barta actually works for the TV networks and sponsors that provide the money behind the CFP games and the other top bowl games. Once upon a time, these groups may have had the imagination needed to accept an upstart Cincinnati team or an underdog like Coastal Carolina or Indiana and tried to sell those stories to viewers. But with ever-fractured attention spans pulling fans toward so many other things, a team with a built-in following is preferred. Unexpected winners make for good movies, but they don’t move tickets or merchandise or drive TV deals.

The Power Five derives power from its ability to generate revenue, and will therefore make decisions based almost entirely on ensuring that revenue is maximized. Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina and the rest of the Group of Five — what a name! — are left chasing, hoping for scraps. That’s the dynamic. That’s the explanation for decisions that otherwise can’t be explained.

Gary Barta isn’t earnestly trying to explain the ins and outs of something that is admittedly intricate and difficult when he discusses the committee’s process. He’s deflecting your attention from a money grab built on the backs of unpaid athletes who’ve played through a global pandemic — and the fact that the whole thing is ultimately built to prioritize the brands that monetize the most. Football long ago stopped being the point.

I’ve seen this sentiment quite a bit today: If there ever was a year to vary the playoff field, this was it! To those of use watching from afar, hoping for something different, that makes sense. But Barta and Co. only have to pretend to care about that notion; the pandemic made them watch a few unexpected teams and forced them to craft unusual justifications, but mostly it cost them their usual revenue streams. So changing things up now was never really a consideration.

What’s a G5 school or conference commissioner to do? I’m not sure there’s an answer. Even the scraps from above are lucrative. These teams literally get paid to go play games against P5 teams. That’s their place in the ecosystem.

Each year, one or two of them get to make a case for being more, and we have discussions like this one, and it’s nice for the discourse but it all goes nowhere. Then their coaches get hired away using the money they can’t get access to and the cycle goes and goes and goes.

Put Cincinnati in the College Football Playoff, you absolute cowards

Sun Belt Heat: The College Football Playoff Is A Lie

The College Football Playoff Committee screwed the conferences that risked life and limb to save the season Contact @astatefanrules It was as anticlimactic as it was profoundly unjust. The College Football Playoff committee delivered their annual …

The College Football Playoff Committee screwed the conferences that risked life and limb to save the season


Contact @astatefanrules

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It was as anticlimactic as it was profoundly unjust. The College Football Playoff committee delivered their annual bounty to the game’s wealthy elite – the same committee who had once upon a time said that “if you take care of business, win your conference, and go undefeated, the Playoff will take care of itself.

This was a lie.

Even during an unprecedented season that turned the entire college football world upside down, the Committee did what they do best: maintain the status quo. Consider, not a single team selected for the Playoff is new to the format. Even worse, not a single team truly deserves to be there.

Alabama didn’t play a single opponent outside of the SEC.

Ohio State played six games. They shouldn’t even qualify.

Clemson and Notre Dame have already played twice, and canceled each other out.

Meanwhile, two programs – Coastal Carolina and Cincinnati – did everything the Committee told them to do, which is to beat Top 25 teams, win its conference, and (as if it’s not hard enough) go undefeated. The Committee’s response was to rank Florida, Oklahoma and Texas A&M ahead of the Bearcats, and rank the Chanticleers completely out of NY6 consideration.

It. Was. A. Lie.

I’m not the only one bitching. While the Committee patted itself on the back for rewarding the same wealthy programs year in and year out, a handful of pundits raised a voice to grouse:

The Playoff is just one insult. The Bowl lineup is a completely separate line-item of Power Privilege. Look at this ghastly menu of sub .500 SEC teams who are awarded a plum Bowl game in 2020:

2-8 South Carolina – Gasparilla Bowl
4-6 Kentucky – Gator Bowl
3-7 Arkansas – Texas Bowl
3-6 Tennessee – Liberty Bowl
2-7 MissState – Armed Forces Bowl

Combined, they have exactly two more wins than Coastal Carolina, And yes, 2-7 Mississippi State is going to the Armed Forces Bowl while 9-2 Army get the shaft. This system is complete crap. It rewards teams not for their merit, but for their privilege.

It was all a lie. The College Football Playoff was supposed to bring balance to college football. We were told we’d have a place at the table so long as we pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps and proved our mettle to out just and benevolent overlords. In this dumb season of COVID, you’d have thought that playing more than 10 games would count for something, or that playing only within your conference would count against you. Nope. Not a bit. It’s they eye test that counts.

Why do we even play?

A former notary public, Jeremy Harper is a professional writer and Chief Instigator for Storm the Castle Creative. He spends much of his free time staring blankly into space. 

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Positive COVID test at Coast Carolina scuttles Sun Belt Championship

A COVID-19 positive test at Coastal Carolina has led to the cancelation of the Sun Belt Championship game with Louisiana

One of the more interesting conference championship games is no more.

The Sun Belt championship between once-defeated Louisiana and unbeaten Coastal Carolina is off due to a positive COVID-19 test in the Chanticleers’ program.

The teams had played earlier in the season with Coastal coming away with a thrilling, 30-27 victory.

Combined, the teams were 21-1.

“We are very disappointed that the championship game cannot be played, but we are so proud of all of the players and staff members and their hard work during this truly challenging season,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill in a statement.

Louisiana Athletic Director Bryan Maggard said in a separate statement released by the Ragin’ Cajuns, “We are severely disappointed for our student-athletes and staff to not have the opportunity to play in what would have been a truly exciting championship game for the Sun Belt Conference. For our football program, fans and alumni, we look forward to learning of our bowl destination this weekend.”

It would be great if the conference and schools could work something out with one of the bowl games in this bizarro season to have the teams eventually play, anyway.

The new CFP ranking is a slap in the face to Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina

The newest CFP ranking makes clear: Only a few teams every year actually have a chance to make the playoff and play for a national title.

This is a strange year to be certain, but the latest College Football Playoff ranking, which came out on Tuesday, reinforces something that’s sadly true every year: Only a select group of teams every year actually have a chance to make the playoff and play for a national title.

Two undefeated teams, Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina, are nowhere near the top four in the rankings this week despite remaining undefeated. Cincinnati, who didn’t play this week, dropped to 9, and is now trailing Iowa State, Georgia, and Florida, who just blew a game to a bad LSU team thanks to a shoe toss. All three of Iowa State, Georgia, and Florida have two losses.

Coastal Carolina sits at 12th. The school needed a late touchdown to beat Troy and remain undefeated, but apparently only winning by a touchdown isn’t enough to even crack the top 10.

Cynics will say that the CFP is loading the dice here. The members of the committee don’t want to rank a team like Cincinnati too high, and especially don’t want to rank Cincy ahead of Florida, because if Florida beats Alabama in the SEC championship game, then the committee might be forced to [dramatic music plays] not have an SEC team in the playoff. 

I have no idea if the members are that cynical. I pray they’re not, and honestly — Alabama is probably going to the playoff whether the Crimson Tide win or lose.

What I do know is this: At this point, if you’re not in a Power 5 conference, you’re playing in a different league. You quite simply cannot win. 

It doesn’t matter how perfect you are, how badly you beat your opponents, how many big wins against Top-25 schools you can possibly record — you can’t get in. The members of the committee will hit you with the “eye test” argument, shrug their shoulders, and call it a day.

And by the “eye test” they may be right! Those P5 schools may be more talented. But doesn’t a team like Cincinnati deserve the chance to find out? Iowa State, Florida and Georgia have had their chances against these big schools, and they lost. It’s been settled.

This is true every year, of course. UCF has showed us time and time again it doesn’t matter how perfect you are, you’re not getting in. The latest rankings during this strange year only reinforce it.

There are ways to fix this. The easiest: Expand the playoff to eight teams and let a couple mid-majors in to see what happens. It’s one extra round of games, and, you know, would make it so half of the DI schools and their fan bases feels like there’s actually point to any of this.

Otherwise, the message the committee is sending to these schools is: It doesn’t matter how perfect you are, you don’t have a chance.

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Alabama stays No. 1 in latest CFB Playoff rankings despite shakeup

The Alabama Crimson Tide remain the top team in the nation, and the team to beat to earn the 2020 College Football Playoff National Champ…

The Alabama Crimson Tide remains the top team in the nation, according to the College Football Playoff committee, who recently released the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

Alabama remains the only undefeated team in the conference, and will be facing off against Florida, which previously had a shot to make the final four, but suffered a devastating loss to LSU.

Here’s how the penultimate rankings look after a hectic final week of the college football regular season:

  1. Alabama
  2. Notre Dame
  3. Clemson
  4. Ohio State

The next two out are Texas A&M (5) and Iowa State (6).

The Crimson Tide are on a steady pace to make the playoffs and be the team to beat in the National Championship in Miami.

Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on all things Alabama football as the 2020 postseason gets underway.

Coastal Carolina 11-0 after another magical finish

Coastal Carolina with another thrilling finish as it upped its mark to 11-0

The magic never seems to run out for Coastal Carolina, the true darlings of the 2020 college football season.

Troy, which brought a 5-5 mark into the game, took a 38-35 lead over the Chanticleers in the final 1:20 Saturday.

The miracle run of the team picked last in the Sun Belt prior to the season was tenuous.

Never doubt Graham McCall, the quarterback for Coastal.

He led a five-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a TD pass to Javon Heiligh with 35 seconds left and the perfect season continued.

The final was Coastal 42, Troy 38 and the Chanticleers are on their way to the conference championship against Louisiana with an 11-0 mark.