The Option
Has Rich Rod used the option as part of his spread offense? Now that our opponents have film on Tate and Denard it seems as though defenses are effectively keeping them inside and not letting them get around the corner. I believe the option would help with this since our QB cold move parallel to the line of scrimmage and if they are unabe to turn upfield they can pitch the ball to Carlos, Minor or Shaw.
Perhaps we are saving this for the Wisco and/or OSU games.
Thoughts on this issue?
October 29th, 2009 at 5:37 PM ^
who already are having some difficulty with handling the ball in colder weather, I'd assume we won't see this until next year.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:38 PM ^
we've been running a speed option for several weeks
October 29th, 2009 at 5:47 PM ^
If you are talking about the quick pitch that we debuted in Iowa, it really hasn't proven to be an option yet because the QB always pitches it after a step and never keeps.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:04 PM ^
the qbs haven't kept it yet, but it's still an option play.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:09 PM ^
Not if it is a designed play for the QB to always pitch it so that our Freshmen QBs have fewer reads to make.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:11 PM ^
Agreed. It may have an option like look to it, but if it doesn't have multiple options, it's just a pitch.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:43 PM ^
it's an option. they are probably telling them to be safe and just pitch it because speed options get pitched most of the time anyway, but it's still an option.
i don't know how to argue this. it is what it is. i can show it to you in old rr playbooks
October 29th, 2009 at 6:59 PM ^
It doesn't really matter. It's like the caveat Brian points out in offensive UFRs on occasion. Sometimes the zone read option isn't a zone read option at all. It is a designed run that is set up like the zone read option. The QB is supposed to hand it off. That isn't an option, it's just a zone hand off.
Similarly, the pitches we've seen recently are of a speed option look, but several are being pitched off so soon that it doesn't appear to be an option at all. Some might be actual option plays, but we don't know that.
I maintain that several of these plays have been pitched so early, that I really feel they are just pitches and not speed options. I think they could eventually turn into speed options, but I just don't think they are there yet. I've felt like the pitches were just the first wave until the speed option wrinkle is going to be unveiled in its entirety.
That's just my e-pinion.
October 29th, 2009 at 7:33 PM ^
Let's assume RichRod told the QBs to just pitch it... I'd still call it an option, because if the defense doesn't defend it properly, RichRod will start telling the QB to just keep it.
So while the QB may not be making an instant decision on a given play, I'm quite sure that RichRod has the option of calling for the QB to run it if the defense isn't respecting the QB run.
In sum, the defense has to defend it like an option because RichRod could just mix up the call if they dont.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:19 PM ^
I still disagree. It's not an option if the play call is pitch it and pitch it only. I go back to the zone runs that we run out of the zone read option look. It's not an option because we are going to hand it off. We just run it out of that play to set up the opponent later with the zone read option.
Here, we are setting them up by running pitches. As I said above, I feel like eventually we're going to catch a team sleeping because all we've run are pitches, and one week, perhaps OSU, we'll start running full option. We'll hope they prepare for just pitches, then we bust out the tougher play.
QED, if Paul Johnson calls a straight dive play - that isn't a triple option, even though the triple option shifts are going on in the backfield. It becomes the triple option if the QB is making the read and decides to go with the dive because the defense doesn't have enough players over the middle.
As I said, we as fans don't know when that really is. I admit that these might be option plays, but they are being pitched so early, it looks like just a straight pitch play.
I don't think you call a play something just because it has a look or ability to change. That's like calling a play-action pass a run because the coach could change his option later. That's all I'm saying.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:44 PM ^
This is like arguing that when we run a FB Dive out of I-Form, we are really running the triple option because if they start pinching the D-Line and blitzing their LBs, we are going to pull it and do the second option with the HB.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:56 PM ^
I'm sure it's in RR plans, but I think hes takin into consideration the health of the QBs. The QB takes a beating when the option is run often.
October 29th, 2009 at 6:08 PM ^
I would love to see an old-school triple option with a 4th option added for the quick out to the slot. Also, the speed option mentioned above would be sweet if it came into full fruition.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:17 AM ^
If UM was able to have an effective triple option by that 12th game it would be a very interesting game.
It was pretty obvious what Navy did against them.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:01 PM ^
What about the swing passes/bubble screens? I don't remember seeing too many later in the game last week, and I know they were working, especially to Odoms. It's an easy throw that Tate or Denard could make, and it gets the ball to the outside quickly.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:54 AM ^
I've been wanting them to run a speed option for awhile now and I hope they pull it out this year. I dont think they will need it for IL, but hopefully vs WI or OSU. Especially when run with Denard this could be very effective.
October 30th, 2009 at 11:33 AM ^
Saying that the pitch play is an option is like saying a play action pass is a run. "Well, it looks like a run, so it's a run."
It's only an "option" if the quarterback has the option of keeping the ball, throwing the ball, or doing something else with the ball besides pitching it. If the play is "Take two steps to your left and pitch the ball to the running back" then it's not an option.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:08 PM ^
I think the point is from the Defensive perspective the play still has to be defended as an option. RR is choosing which option of the play to execute before the play is run, when RR has more confidence in his QB's he will shift the decision to them.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:08 PM ^
So what you are saying is that every play is an option? Whenever we line up with wide receivers and a running back, the defense still has to defend against the possibility of a run by the running back, a run by the quarterback, and a pass to one of the receivers. Just because the defense has to protect against it does not mean that a triple option was called (although we do have the triple option of this kind).
October 30th, 2009 at 3:29 PM ^
What I am saying is eventually RR will call the play and it will be at Tate/Denard discretion as to what read to make.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:36 PM ^
I think we all agree on that part. I think the disagreement is calling this pitch play an option. You call the pitch so when the time comes that you start running it as an actual option, the team that week may not be prepared for it.
But as you put it, RR isn't calling for an option right now. Eventually he [probably] will. Right now, he is calling something else, and that's the argument that's going on here.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:03 PM ^
I don't see the arguement, it is a question of understanding how much of the offense is installed. The offense is incomplete, RR said recently that he has about 75% installed, so I think this is to be expected. People looking forward can see the pitch is part of the spread offense and will be utilzed in an option format, for the present and recent past RR is more comfortable making the decision for the QB.
October 31st, 2009 at 12:05 AM ^
Yes. The point is: they haven't run the option, so the "option" part of that play is part of the 25% that hasn't been installed.