- Joined
- Aug 3, 2012
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- 8,406
A lot more teams should be running it to maximize opportunity. Contrast wins. When I was a kid the NFL was indeed Any Given Sunday due to wonderful contrast. Upsets galore. Some teams were pass oriented and others were physical run oriented and defensive minded. These days contrast is gone, primarily due to rules changes and impatient fans. Everybody is throwing the ball. Consequently the league is hopelessly imbalanced, with the best quarterbacked teams winning 13 or 14 games and the worst quarterbacked teams 0-2 games. Only twice since 2003 has every NFL team won at least 3 games.
Likewise I don't know how anyone could watch that Air Force versus Washington State game without laughing throughout at the incompetent conventional wisdom that grips football fandom. One simplistic fan after another tuned in that game expecting Leach's cupcake passing attack to embarrass pathetic Air Force and its World War II offense. Meanwhile the game played out in completely normal and logical fashion. The more physical more run oriented more resourceful team controlled matters throughout. It was a thoroughly enjoyable game, easily the best of this bowl season.
It was also impossible to watch that game without recognizing the upside that option teams would have if scattered throughout the country. These days it's one lazy offensive minded coach after another. Nobody wants to devote time to actually hitting anybody, to actually stopping a relentless running game.
Ryan Leaf was surprisingly good all season as color commentator. His grasp of option football is also top notch. He recognized from the first quarter that his alma mater Washington State was in big trouble.
I've mentioned on many sites that I had a Las Vegas friend who moved away from town once the triple option teams started to disappear in the late '80s. He was shattered. He was a cab driver and didn't care about sports wagering at all, other than to bet on triple option teams in college football. They would cover at phenomenal dependability. He would parlay them together along with round robins. I can't count how many times he would knock on my Koval Lane door with a huge grin on his face, recounting his winnings. That's when there were still a good number of option teams, like 10 or 12. Once it dipped to a handful he knew the gig was up. He wasn't going to force matters and subjectively handicap normal teams. He moved back to Nebraska and I never saw him again.
Can't believe you wrote this much in response to the OP.