Just saw Archie Manning stepping in to defend Ole Miss against Sarkisian and Kiffin taking shots, and it got me thinking about something we have completely lost in this sport. When was the last time you saw a true option offense? Not that RPO stuff they run now where the quarterback reads one defender and throws a bubble screen. I am talking about the veer. The wishbone. The triple option where the fullback gets the ball with a head of steam and the quarterback has to decide in a split second whether to give, keep, or pitch.
I remember watching Coach Bryant's wishbone in the late 70s and early 80s. We would line up with three backs behind a fullback and there was nothing prettier than watching that mesh point. The defense knew what was coming and they still could not stop it. That is football. That is toughness. That is what made the SEC the SEC before all these spread offenses started throwing it 50 times a game.
Nowadays every team runs the same stuff. Shotgun. Four wide. Quarterback stands back there like a statue reading coveraegs. Where is the discipline? Where is the execution? Back in 1979 when we beat Penn State for the national title, we ran the wishbone and Bob Baumhower anchored that defense and we did not need all these fancy analytics to know what worked.
You watch these Big 12 teams and the SEC teams now and it is all the same. Nobody runs the option anymore outside of Army and Navy and that is a crying shame. Coach Stallings understood this. In 1992 we ran enough option to keep defenses honest and our defense won us a championship. That is the formula. Control the line of scrimmage. Run the football. Play defense. It is not complicated.
The portal has killed team chemistry and NIL has killed loyalty but the thing that really makes me sad is nobody runs the option anymore. You cannot teach toughness with a transfer portal class. You have to build it in the weight room and on the practice field running the same play until you get it right. That is what made this program great.