Elery Alexander isn't scared of the triple option. Growing up in Van Vleck, Texas, a town of fewer than 2,000 along the Gulf of Mexico between Houston and Corpus Christi, the senior safety dealt with run-heavy attacks all the time, playing against other small schools.
"I haven't played [the option] in years but I know what it takes to shut it down," Alexander said earlier this week.
He's the exception, however, not the rule when it comes to a much-maligned Arkansas State defense. And the Red Wolves will encounter yet another challenge this afternoon when they visit Georgia Southern, which will still run its triple-option offense despite firing Coach Chad Lunsford on Sunday.
"It's truly assignment football," ASU Coach Butch Jones said. "Everyone's responsible for different aspects of the offense, you've got to trust what you see and you have to play fast."
The Eagles are one of just a few college football teams still utilizing the Wishbone, a scheme predicated on running the ball with a trio of backs lined up directly behind the quarterback -- first the fullback, then two tailbacks split to the left and right.
The triple option has been long associated with the service academies as Army, Navy and Air Force have relied on the scheme for many years, but Georgia Southern has also had success with the offense. The Eagles won the 1986 Division I-AA national title over the Red Wolves (1-3, 0-0 Sun Belt Conference) with the wishbone, leaned into it even more with Paul Johnson as coach from 1997-2001 and then returned to the offense when Lunsford became head coach in 2017.
What makes the triple option particularly tough to defend, though, is that pretty much every snap begins with the same formation, and while there are plays, it's on the quarterback to read the defense and then decide which of the runners to hand the ball off to -- or perhaps pull it entirely and keep the ball himself.
Lake Hamilton High School has run a wing-T offense since Tommy Gilleran was hired in 2017. While the scheme is somewhat similar to Georgia Southern's triple option -- it's a run-heavy attack with three backs who could get the ball on any play -- it varies in that the ball carrier is designated before the snap.
Gilleran said many of the difficulties in trying to slow down his Wolves are identical to the ones ASU will need in Statesboro today.
"It's just different because you're seeing guards pull and it really puts [defensive linemen and linebackers in a bind]," Gilleran said. "[Then] instead of [a cornerback or a safety] being a coverage guy, he comes down to be a run-support guy. ... Usually, they're not responsible for that kind of stuff."
Dealing with any kind of option offense is a chess match. The early portion of a game is a time for both sides to feel one another out and get a sense of what the other team wants to do.
Today, that'll be even more of the case. It's Jones' first game against the Eagles as a head coach and Georgia Southern (1-3, 0-1) interim head coach Kevin Whitley will be leading a college team for the first time.
A cursory glance at the numbers suggests this first Sun Belt contest of 2021 could a problem for the Red Wolves. Although they've won six of their last eight conference openers, only 16 teams in the nation are surrendering more yards per game than ASU. The Eagles, despite averaging just 16.5 points per game, have run the ball on 2/3 of their offensive plays and rank 14th nationally in yards per game rushing.
Thus far, the Red Wolves haven't had a problem getting into the backfield -- defensive ends Kivon Bennett and Joe Ozougwu have teamed up for a dominant edge rush. But the triple option requires a lot more than simply getting after the quarterback.
With ASU defenders repeatedly speaking to their inability to play assignment football throughout the month of September, the first game of October has the potential to exacerbate the Red Wolves' defensive woes.
"We've got to make sure everybody's in their gap and not trying to do too much," Ozougwu said.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS STATE AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN
WHEN 3 p.m. Central
WHERE Allen E. Paulson Stadium, Statesboro, Ga.
RECORDS Arkansas State 1-3, 0-0 Sun Belt Conference; Georgia Southern 1-3, 0-1
TV None
STREAMING ESPN-Plus
RADIO KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro; KHLR-FM, 106.7, in Little Rock
COACHES Butch Jones (1-3 in first season at ASU); Kevin Whitley (first game as Georgia Southern interim head coach)
SERIES ASU leads 3-2
NOTEWORTHY Georgia Southern is a 2-point favorite over ASU. … The Red Wolves and Eagles weren’t scheduled to meet in 2020 after playing the previous four years — ASU won the 2019 matchup 38-33, hanging on after Layne Hatcher threw for four touchdowns in the opening half. … Georgia Southern fired Coach Chad Lunsford on Sunday following a 28-20 home loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. Lunsford compiled a 28-21 record over four-plus seasons and took the Eagles to bowl games each of the past three seasons. … Butch Jones has a combined 5-11 record over the first four games of his inaugural seasons at Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Tennessee and ASU but he’s won his fifth game at each of his previous stops. … Although Georgia Southern is not the top rushing team in the Sun Belt — Coastal Carolina averages 253.0 yards per game on the ground — the Eagles are still 14th in the nation thanks to a triple-option offense that averages 232.2 rush yards. … Last weekend was the first time the Red Wolves have lost the turnover battle this season, and with one more interception, they would match their total from 2020.
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ASU's assignment: Stop triple option - Arkansas Online
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