Voice Of Reason said:
Wait a minute....it's very well documented that teams can't win with the triple option anymore. It's outdated.
Georgia tech triple option, is a tad bit different then what the husker ran back in the day.
The principles of all option schemes date back to two major influences: the two-back Veer formation, and the single wing formation. The Wishbone (popularized by Texas in the... 1950s I think?) combined elements of the Single wing (pulling guards, misdirection, inside and outside running attacks, chip blocks proceeding to secondary blocks, ext...) with elements of the Veer (more misdirection, and I think the earliest uses of the triple option... could be wrong... but most importantly, the read option. Reading an unblocked defender, forcing him to make a decision, and either decision would remove him from the play.)
The wishbone developed into the flexbone, the I formation, and (combined with the shotgun snap of the Single Wing and the West coast passing philosophy) the various spread formations. Including the modern spread option.
In fact, everything in football is so interconnected that, with a little creativity, you can run any kind of offensive system out of any kind of formation. I could run triple option out of an empty backfield with some creative pre and post snap motion. I know how to run power out of a 4 WR shotgun formation. I know how to run 5 verts out of a 3 TE power set. It's easy to do anything out of any formation once you realize two things: everything in football is related in some way, and everything has already been done before in some form or another.
Shotgun doesn't mean you can't run a FB-lead, pulling guard, between the tackles power dive.
3 TE doesn't mean you're limited only to power runs and short passes.
Triple option can be deadly. The "modern" variant is Auburn's run-pass option. All that is is a read option. If the DE plays contain, hand it off. If he crashes after the RB, the QB runs a naked bootleg. Then, the force player (usually the OLB or safety, identified pre-snap) will either attack the QB, in which case the QB throws it to the guy the defender was supposed to be covering for a good 7 yards (which is the "pitch" in the traditional triple option) or the defender stays in coverage and the QB scamper for 5 to 7 yards on a keeper. The exact same principles of the triple option thats been around since WWII, just the "pitch" replaced with a forward pass.
If you want examples, give me a play you want run out of any formation, and I'll post a playbook pic for it.