How to run the Triple Option in NCAA 14

The triple option isn't a very beginner friendly offense on NCAA 14, but if you know what you're doing you can create a seriously explosive rushing attack with it. Or you can dominate time of possession and nickel and dime defenses all the way down the field while you eat up entire quarters. All depends on your approach. I personally mix a bit of both into my attack, but in year 1 of my current dynasty I ran for well over 400 yards per game while i'm now averaging around 300. As your team and especially defense gets better and more suited for the option (more on that in a minute), I tend to settle into a more "pound a team into submission" approach in my dynasties. As a disclaimer, I rarely play against human opponents but I do use Jarrod21's Black Sliders in my dynasties and this approach has mostly brought me great offensive success in my files. Also, I will use lots of [letter] gap terminology. Here's a map of what the gaps look like so that you'll understand what I'm talking about.

To get things started.. the personnel and general setup.

Personnel & Formation Subs

Personnel is very important to running this offense to it's fullest in NCAA 14 and real life. What you absolutely need:

AT LEAST one QB with 80+ speed, preferably two. If you're really pushing it, high to mid 70s works but is much less effective. Anything lower is pretty much a no-go unless you're decimated by injury. The faster, the better. In this offense, your QBs are usually your leading rushers and need to make timely decisions. They will also take lots of hits, so having some depth in case of an injury is recommended.

You need four RBs with solid overalls, 70+ or so range. You want to put one of those RBs at fullback on the depth chart. In a TO offense, as shown on the chart below, you have two wing backs who line up outside of your tackles and you have one runner in the backfield. This is your full back, you want them to be usually fairly short and stocky in stature and have a nice trucking stat. Your wingbacks should be your faster, more shifty players because usually wing backs will be receiving pitches and tosses and other runs like that.

TEs are useless if you leave them at TE. This isn't necessary but as a general rule of thumb, put your good blocking TEs at WR. Sometimes I put my TEs at wing back in some looks if they have enough speed because they can help out with your blocking. If you're trying to mix passing into your option offense you may want to make sure these TEs have good receiving stats as well or you can just leave your receivers there but it comes at the cost of perimeter blocking on your run plays.

You want your OL to be smaller and nimble with good agility and speed so that they can get up to the 2nd level quicker and meet LBs in the rushing lanes. This also isn't necessary, but it's nice to have and having linemen who can haul ass in open field is a big bonus.

Formation subs are very important. Look at your players stats and play to their strengths. In my current Duke file, I have a TE (David Reeves) with 80 speed and an absurdly good 84 run blocking stat so in the Wishbone I sub him in as my full back and run behind him and I have a wingbone set where I put him at wingback and try to run the option to his side with him serving as a lead blocker. I also shift him around and use him at his native TE spot in my one passing set that I have in my playbook.

To piggyback off the last part, I wouldn't bother trying to mix in passing sets when you're first starting out. Personally, it distracted me from my option attack and often lead to less efficiency with my runs which are ultimately the lifeblood of your offense. Focus on running a pure option attack first and foremost and getting all the basics down, once you get that and have a qb who's worth throwing with you can start to mix that in. If I don't have a serious talent at QB, I usually don't bother with much throwing other than the bare minimum.

Using 2 QBs is the most optimal way to run this. In fact, I even use three sometimes lol. But you should try and get two and sub them in and out depending on formation. The QB touches the ball a great deal in this offense and if you're only using 1 their stamina will deplete significantly as the game goes on and less speed in an option offense is bad. The Army Split formation is good to throw out of in the rare occasion that you do, so in formation subs I usually put my better passer in on that formation and the Wishbone. In contrast, I usually have my main runner in on the Flexbone and Wingbone formations. Onto the Playbook setup.

Playbook!

The Army playbook is more than good enough for this endeavor and I'd suggest using that as your default playbook. However, the Audibles are quite important. My personal audible setup recommendation for a pure option attack would be..

Out of wingbone normal, your quick pass defaults to a screen and your run play is FB dive so there's no need to add that into your audibles. The only truly critical audibles are the triple option and midline however; if you have other unique wrinkles in your offense then you can replace the Toss/Sweep and Misdirection with those. In a future guide, I'll be covering my triple wing offense which is based on the Option but has a different audible setup to this.

Diagnosing a Defense

That's most of what you need to know about personnel. So how do you actually run it in a game? I'll start off with the basics. You need to know how to read a defense pre-snap. Thankfully the game helps you out a lot with this. Upon coming up to the line, you want to hold RT and look for an R and a P among the defensive front as shown below. R stands for Read and it's the most important of the two. It means that this is the player who's assigned to read the RB and QB exchange. As you snap the football, you need to be staring at this player and watching for his feet to chop and for him to stop running. If he does chop his feet and come to a halt you want to hold A and give it to your back. If he doesn't stop and instead crashes inside, keep the ball yourself. In this example play, he is crashing, so in that split second you need to read that and have the QB keep the ball.

That is the most important part of running an option play. But there's also a P. What does that mean? P stands for Pitch. This is the defender who is assigned to watch the pitch man. The P is rarely important on option plays out of the Wing and Flexbone UNLESS you see him lined up outside of the opposing DE. If you see the P man directly beside the Read man, you have to audible because if the R man stays outside you either have to give it to your RB and take a minimal gain to potential loss thanks to the 5 or more defenders who are on the line or take a tackle for loss with your QB/pitchman and if they crash quick enough on the pitch man this can easily result in catastrophic turnovers. NEVER RUN AN OPTION TO AN EDGE WHERE THERE ARE TWO DEFENDERS. Here's an example of the sort of alignment I'm talking about;

If you see this audible out of your play and either call an option to another side. For this specific alignment, I audible into a midline that attacks the empty B gap.

This is ultimately what the Triple Option is all about; identifying the defensive front and attacking it play after play. But now that we've talked about the Triple Option itself, what about the other plays? In a triple option offense, the play actually isn't ran as often as you'd think. The offense is BASED on the triple option to make the defense have to respect it, but a good deal of your runs will have no option whatsoever. Arguably the best play in your playbook is the Midline Option out of the Wingbone. This play is incredibly effective if you use it right and can pick up large chunks of yardage. It's hard to master but the rewards are well worth it. If you see significant space in a B gap as I demonstrated in that earlier example, audible into a midline. Sometimes even if there isn't space in the B gap you can still use this play and have it gain substantial yardage as long as the DE is the read-man and not the DT. Do not overlook it, I rarely see how effective this play is discussed online. The only way that a defense can stop it if there is space in the B gap is if they are sending an outside blitz to the side that you're going towards.

The Midline has trickier timing. Sometimes when you are running the midline, the defensive tackle will become the read man instead of the usual DE. This makes the window to read him much smaller and it also usually results in less yardage. However, if a DE has the R over his head, the play will usually gain yardage. At least 5 yards or so, often times more. But don't become too predictable. If you audible into this play whenever there's space in the B-gap a human player will notice and adjust to it. Hell, the CPU will notice it and adjust to it somewhat. This play is your get out of jail free card. Use it when you need to use it in crucial situations, but don't rely on it because your offense will be shut down if you do.

Every other play in the playbook isn't particularly special. This offense is about fundamentals, not abusing cheese plays. If you're running triple option and midline over and over again, you're doing it wrong and even if this does work against the default AI it won't work as well on challenging sliders or against humans. For example, if the D-Line is spaced out audible into a designed FB dive instead of running a midline.

So what are some usages for the other plays in your playbook? I'll list a few that are of note and how I use them.

As a general rule of thumb, avoid running to areas with lots of congestion. If you see that the defensive linemen on the right side are closer together than the left side, audible whatever you're running to the left. If you see a safety dropping down to blitz on one side, go the other way because this usually creates an odd player distribution unless both safeties are blitzing.

Wingback/Speed Sweeps can be effective if there is space in the B and C gap. I mostly use these against 3-4 Bear fronts (pic below).

Wingback Tosses/Power Tosses are the same story. I mostly use these against Bear Fronts as well. With Sweeps I usually go between the B and C gaps, with Tosses I usually go outside of the C gap. Speed is very much needed for a toss play more so than a sweep play. These plays should pick up good yardage against these fronts.

Wingback Misdirection is best used if you have a backside DE lined up well outside of the hash marks without much LB help behind him. This play can be kind of janky and have your players flub the handoff in the back field (especially if you switch directions at the line of scrimmage) so I don't use it that much but it's still good to know when to use it and when not to.

FB dives in all formations are best used if the DL is more spread out than usual and there's space to run through. If the DL crashes when you audible into it you may want to audible back out and try something else.

As discussed earlier, Midline Options are best used when there is space in the B-Gap.

Triple Option is a generally safe playcall if you aren't sure how to attack a specific front. Look for wherever the least meat along a DL is and run it that way. Never run this play when there's a pitch man directly beside a read man. If you're playing against a human you need to keep your eye on who he's usering and a good user can shut this play down so you need to know how to attack other parts of the field and to not get reliant on this play.

Speed options are a bit challenging. I use the Speed Option out of the wish bone as essentially a QB sneak in short yardage situations. These plays are fairly effective against bear fronts but I typically just run tosses and sweeps instead and mix this in sparingly because it doesn't seem to gain as many yards and things can easily go wrong.

The Wishbone formation is most useful in late-game situations where you're trying to pound a team into submission late in the game. If you've mostly been running out of other formations, starting to pound the team with the Wishbone can be very effective on late game time wasting drives because the defensive line will have often spread itself out in attempt to keep the perimeters against your options. The run play defaults to a sweep play that attacks the C gap with your left running back, the HB iso play is a solid run to your right running back that can gain good yards up the middle.

Decision Making

A big aspect of triple option offense is remaining disciplined and not making mistakes. If you get stuffed on first down, don't come back to the line the next play and decide that you're going to keep it with the QB no matter what because you need yards. Take your three yards and set up a 3rd and 7. It's not ideal but it's better than gaining nothing or making another mistake. Never get lazy and lock yourself into a read, always observe the defense. And one more thing; be careful with pitches. If you're running a triple option and you've gained 5 yards don't pitch unless you're absolutely certain that you can make the pitch. A defender can easily come in-between and break it up and just like that the opposing team is set up on your 30. Below here I'll put a passage about reducing risks from Paul Johnson's writeup on the Option offense. You can read the full article here if you'd like. All of this applies in the game as well.

"The quarterback reduces the risks of executing an option play by adhering to several option rules. The option rules are part of the quarterback's option technique:

1. Always think hard end. Be mentally prepared for defensive pressure from the option man or secondary blitz.

2. When in doubt, don't. When the defensive reactions create any doubt in the decision-making process, keep the ball. (<----- THIS IS CRITICAL)

3. Don't pitch in the grasp. When in the grasp of a defender the play is over. Protect the ball.

4. Don't pitch blind. Look the pitch in. Make sure the tailback is in position to catch the pitch.

5. Never pitch off number two (except on options which are designed to option number two). When the ball is pitched off number two the option man can attack the tailback as he is about to catch the pitch. Pitching off number two is a turnover decision.

6. Get the ball pitched to the tailback. Pitch the ball when the defensive reactions allow the ball to be pitched. Don't keep the ball for a five to six yard gain when the tailback would have gained thirty yards if the ball was pitched.

7. Don't cutback. Run to the option alley on a keep to run away from the defense."

For a Triple Option team, turning the ball over is the worst thing you can do. If you do make a mistake and an opposing team scores quickly off the turnover you need to stay disciplined. This is a way that games can snowball out of control if you're new to the offense. This sort of ball is all about mental fortitude. Don't start trying to force things, keep reading and reacting to the defense and doing your thing up and down the field. If you can't stop an opposing team's offense consider going into chew clock mode. Sometimes when faced with an opponent like this and I'm in a situation such as 2nd and 2 I will intentionally call plays designed to gain nothing so that I can run the clock for longer. If you try to play a shootout against teams with higher offensive firepower you will lose; when playing more talented teams make them play your game and dictate the pace. If you want to watch a masterclass in this in real life, watch the Oklahoma vs Army game from 2018. The last part of this guide will be dedicated to throwing the football.

The Forward Pass (ew, gross.)

You won't be throwing the ball much if at all in a pure option attack. But you do need to know what to do in a situation where you need to throw and passing the football is a good way of keeping the defense honest. This is not as important in the game as it is in real life, but if you are in a 2nd and 2 situation you can leave some bodies in to pass protect and try taking a shot. This is more valuable against humans than the CPU. The best formation to throw out of in the Army playbook is the Army Split.

Corner strike is a solid play. Your running backs both drop into the flats and you have two corner routes. Often times I audible my slot WR into a slant. This usually beats man coverage and can be good for a quick first down or two per game.

Rollout smash is my go to passing play in 3rd and long situations. You shouldn't end up in these situations very often, but if you find yourself in a 3rd and 10 to 3rd and 18 or so situation then you want to go to this play. The corner route usually works very well and since you're rolling out to it's direction the pass isn't too difficult for the QB to make. If it's covered you can take off and usually pick up a good 10 yards if there's no spy.

The rest of the passing plays are mostly self explanatory. Curl flats works well against man, I usually put the slot WR on a drag for this play. In the Wingbone and Flexbone sets, you have a few passing plays as well. Screens can be lethal out of these looks and there are also curl flat plays. The passing concepts in an Option offense are usually pretty elementary and I assume most readers will have a general understanding of how to use these plays.

Concluding Notes

That's my complete guide on how to run the Triple Option in NCAA 14. Start simple and work your way up. Once you've mastered the offense you can start adding wrinkles of your own into it. My next guide will outline what's inside of and cover my Triple Wing playbook which is my most commonly used offensive playbook. Remember to always play to your teams strengths; if you recruit a very talented player who seems to be miscast add wrinkles designed around what they're good at. This is good general advice for any offense in this game. Wasting talent is no good!