Defending the option in football is like trying to catch three robbers who don’t mind getting caught, because they’re going to get up 60 more times, pound the snot out of you and eventually get something out of it.
The Utes take on Air Force this Saturday, a team that is notoriously known for its use of the option. They are one of only a handful of teams in FBS football, other notables being Navy and Rice, that channel their lack of size and focus on exploiting speed through the option. Air Force has it down to perfection to say the least. At about 65 rushes per game, they run the ball more than any other team in the country by far. They average 358 rushing yards per game, putting them at No. 2 in the country.
“We’ve ran well on defense every game so far,” Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen said. “But this will be, by far, our biggest test on the defensive side of the ball.”
There is a vast number of formations that an option team can run. Air Force basically runs two forms8212;the triple option, the spread option, and some variations between the two. It’s a very complex offense that gives the defense fits because they don’t know who will end up with the ball.
“(Air Force) uses everybody, so we can’t focus on any straight player,” linebacker Stevenson Sylvester said. “We gotta just play sound and play ready.”
The triple option gives the quarterback three choices8212;keep it himself, pitch it to the slot back or pitch it to the full back. In the spread option, the offense is spread across the field and the Falcons use all of it. Urban Meyer became famous for this offense at Utah, which typically incorporates the pass game, but rarely do you see a pass with Air Force’s spread, a team that has completed a meager 23 passes this season.
“It’s much different than what you hear people say is a spread or triple option,” Andersen said. “It’s more of a true triple option; some of it’s a shotgun, some of it’s not, but it’s a true smash-mouth option.”
So how will the Utes prepare themselves to defend Air Force this weekend?
Andersen said that the most important thing when preparing for the option is the scout team. If the scout team can perform the option well enough, the Utes will be much more prepared for Saturday’s showdown. The scout team watches hours of film to run a scheme that isn’t too difficult for them to understand, but tough enough to give the defense a good look.
“The look that the scout team gives us is fantastic,” Andersen said. “Tysen Clements is our (scout) quarterback and he’s an off-the-charts option quarterback.”
The Utes started their prep for the option in the spring and have done a few option workouts up until this week. The option is such a difficult system for players to understand that they got started early to be ready for this game.
Practices this week have consisted of rep after rep of the option. Thanks to a solid performance by the scout team, the defense will be alive and perhaps better prepared to stop it than in years past.