You want to know what I miss most about this sport? The option. I will die on this hill. Watching a quarterback actually read a defensive end, pull the ball, and hit the pitch at the last second is the most beautiful thing in football and these kids today will never appreciate it. I remember watching us run the wishbone in the early 80s and seeing defenses just completely lost because they had to account for three different runners every single snap. That was real football. That was chess. Not this spread stuff where you throw it 50 times a game and hope your quarterback doesnt get killed.
I think about the 1980 Sugar Bowl when we ran that option to perfection against Notre Dame and Herschel was just the final piece of a system that punished defenses for overpursuing. Every single player on that field had to be disciplined. One mistake and the play went for six. Now you watch these offenses and its all about scheem and spacing and analytics and I just shake my head. The option taught you toughness. It taught you that football was won in the trenches, not in some coordinator's whiteboard session.
You see these Oregon and Colorado teams loading up on transfers and five stars and I guarantee you none of them could run a simple triple option to save their lives. They would fumble the pitch on the first series and then hit the portal the next morning. The option required trust. It required timing. It required a quarterback who could take a hit and still make the right read. That is why I will always respect what Paul Johnson did at Georgia Tech even though I hated playing against it. He kept the option alive when everyone else was going shotgun.
And you know what else? The option offense meant you had to have a fullback who was willing to put his face in the fan and take on a linebacker. You had to have a quarterback who could run the midline read and not flinch when a 250 pound defensive end came crashing down. Those were real football players. Not these athletes who run 40 yards in 4.3 seconds but cant make a block to save their lives. Give me a 1992 Georgia team that could line up in the I formation and run the option until you quit. That is football. Everything else is just window dressing.