The Citadel - Oct. 7

[The Jackal]

I was looking a bit at the Citadel. The Bulldogs have a new head coach, former DC Maurice Drayton. Their new OC is familiar to us, former Furman standout Patrick Covington who arrives via stints at Coastal Carolina and Lamar.

The Bulldogs are coming off a disappointing 2022 campaign at 4-7 that cost Brent Thompson (who seemed perennially on the hot seat) his job.

The 2023 schedule does not appear to do them any favors, as they come out of the gate with 4 road games in their first 6 contests and play Georgia Southern, Campbell, UTC, SCSU, WCU, and then Furman. No real gimmes in that group.

Good news for Furman is whatever changes they made offensive and defensively we will have a good look at before they come to Greenville.

[The Jackal]

As a sidenote, it was my opinion for years that no team in college football had more experience defending the "triple option" than Furman. For nearly 40 years (maybe longer), Furman faced option-based offenses at least once a season, and frequently two or three times a season.

It would appear that in 2023, Furman will - for the first time in who knows how long - not have an option team on its schedule.

Even the two teams on the schedule this year that looked likely to run the option - Kennesaw State and the Citadel - both are moving away from that offense this year. Wofford, of course, changed their offense a few years ago. Georgia Southern, which ran it for years, is gone (and doesn't run it anymore anyway).

[FUBeAR]

As a sidenote, it was my opinion for years that no team in college football had more experience defending the "triple option" than Furman. For nearly 40 years (maybe longer), Furman faced option-based offenses at least once a season, and frequently two or three times a season.

It would appear that in 2023, Furman will - for the first time in who knows how long - not have an option team on its schedule.

Even the two teams on the schedule this year that looked likely to run the option - Kennesaw State and the Citadel - both are moving away from that offense this year. Wofford, of course, changed their offense a few years ago. Georgia Southern, which ran it for years, is gone (and doesn't run it anymore anyway).

Not sure any Team in college football is running the double wing triple option anymore.

Army has ditched it. Air Force has steadily moved away from it, while still retaining some option elements…maybe kinda what we will see from KSU if Murphy remains their QB. Cal Poly ditched it several years and 2 Head Coaches ago.

Hang on … Even though Navy fired Coach Nienfjfienuhrfuksdolo, a dyed-in-the-wool Paul Johnson disciple, they replaced him with their DC and hired an OC from KSU…so seems the Middies may be the lone Double Wang TO ship on the horizon.

Anyone know of any others?

All that said…QB Zone Read with an RPO component is today’s triple option. Like to see more Teams figure out how to execute that well with the QB moving and applying edge pressure on the D vs. Inside Zone (only) as the 1st piece of the play.

[The Jackal]

I think you still see a lot of elements of the triple in the modern game. It just seems the traditional double wing/full back dive/pitch option offense that we've seen so frequently has largely been phased out at the D1 level.

I expect we'll still see some elements of that offense with a few of these teams as they try to rebuild their rosters.