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The spread option seems to have forced the old stand-by right out the door. But is it too late for a revival?

For decades, the Nebraska Cornhuskers ran the traditional option with the type of power and precision that made teams quake in their Nikes. It was fast, it was hard-hitting, and it was near-impossible to stop when run properly.

But now, the Naval Academy is the only somewhat well-known team runs the true form of the option in college football. The curious thing about that is the fact that it still works pretty well even with the team’s lesser talent. The Midshipmen are currently 24th in total offense in the NCAA. The problem with that ranking is that they are 1st in rushing and last in passing, which means a lack of balance and is the offense’s achilles heel when it’s all said and done.

A true option team that falls behind by multiple scores early in a game often has little chance of catching up due to their inability to throw the ball. It was a problem even those heralded Cornhuskers teams had with QB’s like Scott Frost and Eric Crouch who were great runners but not very dependable through the air.

Can this flaw be correct within the offense? Sure, but it takes a special QB who’s good both throwing and running as well as tough enough to withstand the multiple big hits option quarterbacks sustain over the course of a long season. Recruiting such a quarterback is extremely difficult because good QB’s typically want to play in a pro-style offense that gives them a better chance to show what they can throwing the ball for NFL scouts.

The newer spread-option attack as well as the lesser-used "Pistol" formation have arrived on the scene as the new up-and-coming, popular offenses in college football, mainly because they take some of the same principles of the true option and add more balance in the passing game. The QB in the spread option has a better chance to sit back and read the defense before delivering the ball than he would on an option where the defense is constantly in attack mode going after the ballcarriers.

Another problem with the true option that the spread option solves is the high rate of fumbles caused by the constant pitching of the ball on the option. The spread option’s typical "zone read" run play is a simple fake that doesn’t involve the transferring of the ball, so the QB can either hang on to it or hand it off and still deceive the defense. In the true option, the pitch play is a little dangerous because it requires precise timing to execute.

Throw in the fact that today’s college football defenses are faster and stronger than ever before and you can see why the true option is not practiced nearly as much as it used to be. Players in the true option take a ton of punishment and it’s a tough offense to stay healthy in.

And yet, you look at Navy’s overall offensive success and wonder why almost no one else uses the option any more. Part of their success can also be attributed to the fact that teams don’t practice against it much at all, so they have a hard time reacting to it at game speed. For this reason, perhaps we haven’t seen the last of the traditional option after all, and some crafty coach out there is just waiting for the opportunity to unleash it on the college football world yet again.