Oct. 22, 2008
Lobo Football
What: Lobos (4-4, 2-2) at Air Force (5-2, 3-1)
When: 6 p.m., Thursday
Where: Falcon Stadium, USAF Academy, Colo.
TV: CBS College Sports (Comcast ch. 274, DirecTV ch. 613, Dish Network ch. 152)
Radio: 770 KKOB-AM
By Richard Stevens
Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
So, what’s the big deal with the triple option the Fly Boys at Air Force run? It’s a simple offense. The quarterback hands off the ball to the fullback. Or the QB keeps it. Or he pitches it out to a trailing tailback. Sounds simple enough.
This definitely isn’t Tulsa, which had more formations than a marching band. But it’s never been easy dealing with the Falcons’ triple offense because they made it complicated by doing a simple thing so well.
And then along comes coach Troy Calhoun, who made the option tougher to deal with because he added a bunch of bells and whistles to all that simplicity. Which created a paradox, of sort. Calhoun’s Falcons don’t run the triple option as much, or even as well, as they did when Fisher DeBerry was running the Air Force show. But Calhoun’s option might be tougher to stop.
“He added a bunch of pro ideas and that makes the triple option harder to defend because you can’t just prepare for it, like you used to,” said Lobos coach Rocky Long. “You throw in a bunch of other things and a team can’t just concentrate on stopping the option.”
The Falcons of old were almost pure triple option with that occasional, nasty play-action pass. Calhoun’s Falcons can do a bunch of stuff and he was throwing all that junk at teams most of last season and earlier this season, until Calhoun stumbled across an offense that was really working well for the Falcons.
The triple option.
“Last year, the triple option was maybe ten percent of their offensive package,” said Long. “The past two weeks, the triple option is about 50 percent of their package. If we had a whole week to get ready, we would come up with a game plan designed more to take away the triple option. But we have so little time, that we’re going to play our base defense and just try to react.”
The reason Air Force has moved more toward the option is because Calhoun has found a quarterback who shines at all that dive/keep/pitch stuff: freshman Tim Jefferson. In Air Force’s 29-28 win Saturday at UNLV, Jefferson had 99 yards on 13 carries and 162 yards and two TDs on a 6-of-7 performance through the air.
And Jefferson isn’t really supposed to be all that good a passer. “With the wishbone, play-action pass is so effective because those guys are often wide open back there,” said Long. “You just throw it where they can get to it.”
The reason the Falcon defenders get so open is because the wishbone attack requires a defense to get a lot of people to the ball as quickly as possible. So, if a defensive back abandons his assignment to give run support – and it’s not a run – there often is a Falcon standing all alone.
What makes the triple option so effective is that the Falcons run it at a high level of efficiency and the nature of the offense also gives the Falcons an advantage in numbers when it comes to blocking the defense. So, “help” defense is a must.
Long is betting that the Falcons, happy with Jefferson in the triple option, will try to polish that attack for the Lobos. But Long also has to worry about all that other stuff that Calhoun likes to place in front of a team. Jefferson probably is getting better at that stuff, too, with the extra snaps he gets in practice as a starter.
“Calhoun has been a pro football coach (Broncos/Texans) and he added some pro ideas that makes them harder to defend,” said Long. “He can add that stuff because his players are smart kids, motivated kids, overachieving kids. They are disciplined and the don’t make many mental errors.
“That type of player is good to have in the triple option and also works in giving Air Force more things to do on offense. They pick up things quickly.”
The Lobos and the Falcons both played this past Saturday with UNM stomping San Diego State 70-7 and UNLV sneaking past UNLV 29-28 in Vegas. Long isn’t happy with a short week of preparation for Air Force’s option and the Falcons can’t be happy looking at a short week to get ready for Long’s attacking brand of defense.
UNM’s offensive scheme probably won’t be any surprise to Air Force. The Lobos likely will come right at the Falcons with tailback Rodney Ferguson, the Mountain West’s top rusher averaging 108.3 yards per game. The Lobos are No. 15 in the nation on the ground averaging 223.9 yards. The Lobos have averaged 293 yards rushing in their past four games.
Still, Air Force is the King of the MWC when it comes to ground work. The Falcons are No. 3 in the nation with a 300.1 average. The Lobos beat Air Force 34-31 last season in Albuquerque, but the UNM cause was aided greatly by five Air Force fumbles. The Falcons have fumbled 10 times in their past three games, losing four.
The Lobos go into the game planning to use both Brad Gruner and Tate Smith in the QB spot, however, Gruner, the starter, has separated himself a bit from Smith. Gruner had 42 yards rushing against SDSU and went 8-of-11 through the air for 82 yards.
Long said stopping the triple option requires a team effort, but the safeties have to multi-task against the option.
“It’s important that they run the proper pursuit angle,” said Long. “If the fullback pops one, they have to drag him down after six, seven yards. If the quarterback keeps it, they have to run him down. If there is a pitch, they have to make the tackle or push the tailback toward the sidelines.”
Editor’s note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net. Previous articles are available at The Richard Stevens Corner