TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – Stay disciplined. Do your job. Focus on fundamentals.
Every week during the fall, college football teams preparing to face Navy repeat those phrases over and over as they prepare for the Midshipmen's triple option offense. And more often than not they discover that stopping Navy is not as simple as it sounds.
This week it's the University of Cincinnati's turn to try to figure out how to slow one of the top rushing attacks in the country. The Midshipmen employ an offense based on reading what the defense does and taking advantage of the numerous options available to the quarterback.
"The triple option is just not something you see every single day," said UC coach Luke Fickell. "The more unique thing about Navy is that they're so disciplined. The slightest little thing can turn into big plays, so our guys have to be disciplined."
The Midshipmen are in their 10th season under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who has posted a 79-42 record during that time. They know who they are, they're good at what they do, and it's up to their opponents to adjust to them. Making that adjustment is difficult to do in one week, so the Bearcats began preparing for this game back in training camp just to familiarize themselves with the triple option.
"Every third day we'd have a good section of doing some triple option stuff," Fickell said. "We'd take some time at night when we were at Higher Ground to study it about 15 minutes at night so that our guys, when they walked in here Monday morning, weren't surprised."
They'll find out Saturday afternoon in Annapolis if those sessions paid off.
The key to running the triple option successfully is the quarterback. On every play, he has to make decisions based on how the defense reacts to the Midshipmen, who run their offense out of multiple formations with different blocking schemes. For Navy, that responsibility falls on junior Zach Abey, who ranks third nationally in rushing with 171.5 yards per game. As a team, the Midshipmen have averaged 305 rushing yards per game this season in victories over Florida Atlantic and Tulane.
In the basic execution of this offense, the quarterback takes the snap, then turns to hand off to the fullback. If the defensive tackle commits toward the quarterback or if the offensive line opens a big enough hole, the ball will go to the fullback for a run up the middle. If the defense takes that away, the quarterback has the option of keeping the ball and running parallel to the line with a slotback running behind him. If the defense goes after the quarterback, he can pitch to the slotback. If the defense takes away the pitch, the quarterback can keep the ball and run it himself.
Navy can also pass out of the formation, although it doesn't do that very often. The Midshipmen have thrown only 22 passes in two games this season and have completed seven. But when they do pass, they make the most of it. They average 34.57 yards per completion, tops in the country
It's a lot for a defense to take into account, which is why it's so difficult to prepare for on short notice and why the Midshipmen have gone 15-2 in American Athletic Conference games since they joined the league in 2015 after 134 years playing as independent.
"They've been doing it for so long and they're great at it," said UC middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor. "They do it perfect, so you have to execute everything perfectly in order to beat this type of team. We've been kind of preparing for it. We started during the summer doing a little bit here and there. And we have two or three of our coaches that have played them multiple times, so they have a little bit more of an understanding of how we can be successful on the field and not be lost when it comes to playing them."
The triple option appears perfectly suited to the Midshipmen, whose days are filled with structure, discipline and attention to detail at the Naval Academy.
"Mindset- wise, they're different," said UC defensive tackles Cortez Broughton. "The way they train, the things they do. And knowing what they have in their future, to serve their country, it's something completely different. I definitely have respect for them."
In addition to having the chance to knock off a quality opponent, Fickell has chosen to view the challenge of stymying Navy's triple option as a pursuit that will make the UC defense better for the long haul.
"It gives us an opportunity to focus on fundamentals," Fickell said. "No, we won't see the triple option probably the rest of the year, but it'll make us a better defensive football team by being fundamentally sound, understanding what we're doing and getting back to the basics of what we're doing…This makes us play unselfish football. This makes us believe in all the things that we talked about here as a program."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.
GoBEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI – Stay disciplined. Do your job. Focus on fundamentals.
Every week during the fall, college football teams preparing to face Navy repeat those phrases over and over as they prepare for the Midshipmen's triple option offense. And more often than not they discover that stopping Navy is not as simple as it sounds.
This week it's the University of Cincinnati's turn to try to figure out how to slow one of the top rushing attacks in the country. The Midshipmen employ an offense based on reading what the defense does and taking advantage of the numerous options available to the quarterback.
"The triple option is just not something you see every single day," said UC coach Luke Fickell. "The more unique thing about Navy is that they're so disciplined. The slightest little thing can turn into big plays, so our guys have to be disciplined."
The Midshipmen are in their 10th season under head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who has posted a 79-42 record during that time. They know who they are, they're good at what they do, and it's up to their opponents to adjust to them. Making that adjustment is difficult to do in one week, so the Bearcats began preparing for this game back in training camp just to familiarize themselves with the triple option.
"Every third day we'd have a good section of doing some triple option stuff," Fickell said. "We'd take some time at night when we were at Higher Ground to study it about 15 minutes at night so that our guys, when they walked in here Monday morning, weren't surprised."
They'll find out Saturday afternoon in Annapolis if those sessions paid off.
The key to running the triple option successfully is the quarterback. On every play, he has to make decisions based on how the defense reacts to the Midshipmen, who run their offense out of multiple formations with different blocking schemes. For Navy, that responsibility falls on junior Zach Abey, who ranks third nationally in rushing with 171.5 yards per game. As a team, the Midshipmen have averaged 305 rushing yards per game this season in victories over Florida Atlantic and Tulane.
In the basic execution of this offense, the quarterback takes the snap, then turns to hand off to the fullback. If the defensive tackle commits toward the quarterback or if the offensive line opens a big enough hole, the ball will go to the fullback for a run up the middle. If the defense takes that away, the quarterback has the option of keeping the ball and running parallel to the line with a slotback running behind him. If the defense goes after the quarterback, he can pitch to the slotback. If the defense takes away the pitch, the quarterback can keep the ball and run it himself.
Navy can also pass out of the formation, although it doesn't do that very often. The Midshipmen have thrown only 22 passes in two games this season and have completed seven. But when they do pass, they make the most of it. They average 34.57 yards per completion, tops in the country
It's a lot for a defense to take into account, which is why it's so difficult to prepare for on short notice and why the Midshipmen have gone 15-2 in American Athletic Conference games since they joined the league in 2015 after 134 years playing as independent.
"They've been doing it for so long and they're great at it," said UC middle linebacker Jaylyin Minor. "They do it perfect, so you have to execute everything perfectly in order to beat this type of team. We've been kind of preparing for it. We started during the summer doing a little bit here and there. And we have two or three of our coaches that have played them multiple times, so they have a little bit more of an understanding of how we can be successful on the field and not be lost when it comes to playing them."
The triple option appears perfectly suited to the Midshipmen, whose days are filled with structure, discipline and attention to detail at the Naval Academy.
"Mindset- wise, they're different," said UC defensive tackles Cortez Broughton. "The way they train, the things they do. And knowing what they have in their future, to serve their country, it's something completely different. I definitely have respect for them."
In addition to having the chance to knock off a quality opponent, Fickell has chosen to view the challenge of stymying Navy's triple option as a pursuit that will make the UC defense better for the long haul.
"It gives us an opportunity to focus on fundamentals," Fickell said. "No, we won't see the triple option probably the rest of the year, but it'll make us a better defensive football team by being fundamentally sound, understanding what we're doing and getting back to the basics of what we're doing…This makes us play unselfish football. This makes us believe in all the things that we talked about here as a program."
Bill Koch covered UC athletics for 27 years – 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer – before joining the staff of GoBearcats.com in January, 2015.