Triple option

If, for example, the defensive end (DE) is blocking the FB or for any other reason it appears to him that his group of ball-carriers are otherwise limited, he will simply keep the ball himself instead of handing it off.

In the traditional triple option the backside tailback will take a parallel course down the line of scrimmage keeping a three to five yard separation from the quarterback.

The formation consists of two wide receivers, two slotbacks, or halfbacks that lineup just behind and outside of the tackles, the quarterback, the full back, and the offensive line.

], as spread and zone read offenses have become popular, many teams have begun to run variations of the triple option with the quarterback in the shotgun.

This has been greatly popularized by the success of coaches such as Rich Rodriguez, Mark Helfrich, and Urban Meyer.

The more traditional version of the triple option uses a quarterback under center and is advocated by the service academy coaches, including Fisher DeBerry, formerly of Air Force, and Paul Johnson, formerly head coach of Navy and Georgia Tech (who installed this offense at Hawai'i and Georgia Southern, the latter school winning several Division I Football Championship Subdivision titles using it).

Teams like Ohio State, Oregon, and Arizona have used an inside zone triple option from the spread.

Much like in a traditional option attack, the quarterback "reads" the defense at the snap and quickly decides how to execute the play depending on the initial actions of one or two "key" defenders.

Because the offensive line (and usually some receivers) run block at the snap, any pass must be thrown very quickly, before blockers have pushed forward three yards.

A properly executed RPO is difficult to defend, as a quarterback who correctly reads the defense will run the version of the play which has the best chance for success.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted the option in the lead-up to the 2017 playoff between Alabama and Clemson, in which both teams "will [try to] use [it] to win".

[4] The RPO has also been utilized in the NFL despite rules disallowing linemen to block more than one yard downfield on passing plays, though NFL QBs must make quicker reads to avoid a penalty if they decide to throw a forward pass.

The Paul Johnson-concocted version of the triple option using a quarterback, two slotbacks , a fullback, and two wide receivers, known as the flexbone formation . Here, Navy is running the offense against Army in the 2008 Army–Navy Game .
The wishbone formation.
An example of an inside veer triple option
The Outside Veer (or "high dive") is shown vs. an Oklahoma defense (3–4 or 5–2). The square indicates the dive read while the diamond indicates the pitch read.
Standard I formation