FootballSaturday, September 7, 2019
8B

How to defend Army’s triple-option

Brian 
Smith 
remembers 
the first time he saw Army on 
the 
schedule. 
The 
reaction, 
naturally, was dread. Now the 
defensive coordinator at Rice, 
which lost 14-7 to the Black 
Knights last week, that’s what 
happens when he thinks about 
preparing his defense to face the 
triple option.
His second reaction was more 
calculated. Smith didn’t need 
to dig too far into the recesses 
of his memory to recall the last 
time he faced a triple-option 
offense. It was only two years 
ago and the results — 13 points 
allowed on 3.4 yards per carry 
— were exactly what he hoped 
to replicate last Friday. So Smith 
took to his notes.
If 
that 
sounds 
familiar, 
that’s because it should. Smith 
was 
Michigan’s 
defensive 
backs coach in 2017, when the 
Wolverines beat Air Force, 29-13, 
holding the Falcons to 232 yards 
of offense.
“That was kind of my starting 
point for everything,” Smith said 
of his notes from that game.
Smith counts himself among 
Don 
Brown’s 
disciples. 
He 
played 
and 
coached 
under 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defensive 
coordinator 
at 
University 
of 
Massachusetts before nine years 
in the NFL — a stint that ended 
when Brown pulled him back 
to the college ranks. Many of 
his schemes stem from what 
he learned in all 
those stops under 
Brown.
But 
defending 
the 
triple 
option, he says, 
is 
a 
uniform 
philosophy. 
It’s 
an 
exercise 
in 
discipline 
and 
assignments, 
in 
preparation 
and 
endurance.
“I’ll 
tell 
you 
one thing, any time you see one 
of the (service) academies on 
the schedule, you sure don’t 
get excited, facing the triple 
option, just being honest with 
you,” Smith told The Daily this 
week. “Because it’s so different. 
And as a player, having played 
against the offense a few times, 
I wouldn’t consider it fun to have 
to go against guys that are trying 

to cut block you every snap.”
For Rice, the task was made 
easier by opening their season 
with Army, giving them double 
the time to prepare. Michigan 
didn’t have that luxury — Jim 
Harbaugh and his staff started 
working on their preparations 
during 
spring 
practices 
to 
compensate.
“I think the biggest thing you 
really need to focus on is getting 
your scout team 
ready, just from 
a 
coaching 
standpoint 
to 
be able to get a 
good look from 
the scout team,” 
Smith 
said. 
“Because they’re 
going to be doing 
things 
that 
they’re not used 
to doing.
“And if you can 
try to simulate as best as you can 
what it’s going to look like during 
the week, it helps the guys be 
more confident going into the 
game.”
Once game time arrives, the 
task shifts from preparation to 
discipline, something that can 
be especially challenging against 
such a unique look. “It’s such a 
spread offensive world now that 

you see the triple option, it’s 
just different,” said Michigan 
defensive line coach Shaun Nua.
The basic principle of the 
option is the same as the spread 
offense: get talented players in 
space with room to work. That’s 
where the similarities end.
If 
the 
offense 
takes 
the 
first read — a handoff to the 
running back — the defense’s 
responsibilities are no different 
than in any other scheme. But 
if the quarterback keeps the 
ball, assignments take over. One 
player, usually a linebacker, is 
responsible for the quarterback 
on a given play. Another is the 
“pitch player,” responsible for 
the third option. A mistake from 
either of those players can spell 
disaster.
“Say your quarterback player 
does something undisciplined 
and say he goes for the dive, he 
tries to go and tackle the (third 
option), then you’ve got no 
quarterback player,” Smith said. 
“Same with the pitch player, if 
he goes and tries to tackle the 
quarterback, then you have no 
pitch player.”
The 
importance 
of 
that 
discipline 
only 
magnifies 
as 
the game progresses. Army’s 
run percentage stands above 
85 percent each of the past 

three years. That wears down 
a 
defense, 
compromising 
its 
focus as the repetition can numb 
defensive players’ minds.
Last week, Smith saw that 
firsthand, 
with 
his 
defense 
undoing three quarters of good 
work by allowing a 18-play, 
96-yard touchdown drive deep 
in the fourth quarter.
“They keep doing the same 
thing over and over again to try 
to lull you to sleep,” Smith said. 
“And the DBs, they’re supposed 
to read their keys every play. And 
they may try to get a jump on the 
run game because they’ve been 
seeing the same thing over and 
over again. So instead of reading 
the keys, they stop reading their 
keys and start just playing run-
first. And now, next thing you 
know, you give up a big play 
because one guy doesn’t do his 
assignment.”
Still, 
Smith 
trusts 
Brown 
better than anyone to prepare 
his defense to overcome these 
hurdles.
He remembers playing in the 
1998 FCS national championship 
game, 
when 
Brown 
coached 
UMass past Georgia Southern, 
led by Paul Johnson, who Smith 
calls the “godfather” of the 
modern triple-option offense. 
Johnson’s 
highest-profile 
job 

came as head coach of Georgia 
Tech from 2008-18, but his 
coaching tree permeates nearly 
every 
triple-option 
team 
in 
Division I.
Among that coaching tree? 
Army coach Jeff Monken.

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan vs. Army
2.4
Yards per carry by Middle Tennessee 
against Michigan

4.1
Rushing yards by the Black Knights 
against Rice

4/15 
Middle Tennessee on third downs 
against Michigan

8
Passing attempts by Army against 
Rice

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michigan’s defensive line must stay disciplined in its rush lanes against Army’s triple-option offensive attack, which is headed by coach Jeff Monken.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Editor

You sure don’t 
get excited 
facing the triple 
option.