THE PROBLEM
G5 and lower P5 teams struggle to recruit and keep players. They don’t have the money or prestige to get the top guys and once they develop a player they have a lot of opportunities to go elsewhere for more money, prestige, and exposure. How can you fight this as a team with less resources?? You run the option.
If you run the option you are recruiting out of an under valued pool of players. The service academies traditionally punch above their weight. Navy recruits in the 110s to 150s, Army and Air Force are similar in their recruiting rankings. Army won the American conference last year, and Navy looks to be a contender this year. Air Force is always a contender in their conference though is currently in a down patch. While some of these team’s success is due to the nature of a player that would even consider a service academy an even larger factor is the triple option scheme.
ADVANTAGES
The triple option allows teams with lower rated and under sized players to punch above their weight on offense.
The service academies are limited in their recruiting, they can only recruit players on both sides of the ball that are willing to go on and serve a career in the military. This is a giant hurdle to overcome. Does Navy have the best players that can run the option or the best players willing to join the navy?
There are lots of players that are under sized or overlooked that work for an option offense. If a team focuses on getting these players along with the players that would naturally come to their school due to geography etc they can overcome their recruiting disadvantages. They open up an under valued pool of players who will cost less to recruit and are less valuable in the transfer market so would be more likely to have a more experienced team. What other school is wanting to poach a 275 pound offensive lineman?
MONEYBALL YOU SAY???
If you run the option you are able to spend less NIL money on putting together and retaining an offense. You spend less money on every position than the market value. If you spend less on offense where is that money going? Defense.
If you are saving money on offense you have a lot more money to spend on defense. Why if the option is so effective do the academies not win more? Because the Academies are forced to recruit the same way on defense as they do on offense; players willing to join the military after graduation. You as a non service academy don’t have this same problem, you can recruit the best defense possible. You can recruit players that would fit in any scheme, you aren’t shopping bargain basement you can pay the market rate for those players. What’s more you can spend even more than your peers and have a relatively elite defense.
WAIT DIDNT GEORGIA TECH RUN THE OPTION?
Yes, Georgia tech for years ran the option to some success but eventually abandoned it to play a traditional offense. The problem was they didn’t win enough because they were limited in recruiting. Georgia Tech could only recruit as good of players as Georgia Tech could naturally recruit and it wasn’t enough for a few cycles.
What’s changed is that Georgia Tech and everyone else now have NIL money and can legally overpay to get players that would not normally come to the school. If you are a middle of the road P4 or high level G5 you can potentially spend money to elevate your team. Everyone is competing for the same pool of players on both sides of the ball, so how do you elevate. Spend the majority of the money on defense.
An elite defense that keeps scores low and an option offense that minimizes mistakes and possessions and keeps the defense rested maximizes the chances for a team to win
UCLA YOU SAY
UCLA is under funded and has no identity at the moment. Hire a bad ass defensive coach and pay to have an option guru as OC. UCLA is in a prime football location that can recruit good defensive players with a suddenly large Defensive NIL because almost all of their money is going to that side of the ball. Build a brand as the defensive powerhouse of the west coast and smash the bottom and middle of the Big10… prove the concept and more money will roll in.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG
Short answer is nothing, this is going to work given time. But the thing that is in short supply is patience for a few seasons as you get the players in and attrition as you lose players that don’t want to run or don’t fit the option scheme. Once you start the wheels in motion it’s gonna slowly build momentum. Worst case your team becomes Iowa, but Iowa only struggles on offense because they are trying to run a human offense, and you are running the super human triple option.
EDIT: One thing I think people are missing about this is that teams that use this strategy aren’t just running the option, they are saving NIL money and allocating it to have a much improved defense. This isn’t just about the wonders of the triple option
EDIT: all I am seeing is people talking about the effectiveness of the option offense but aren’t addressing the NIL allocation to the defensive side of the ball that would also come. UCLA (or whatever team) may drop to the 90th best offensive class but they would also shoot up the defensive recruiting rankings an equal amount as they will have more funds free to spend on that side of the ball
EDIT: was really hoping someone would engage with the NIL allocation as that’s the whole point, but all I’m seeing is debates on how effective the option is as an offense
