Schematically, it's one of the most basic plays a football team can run. Stylistically, it's something that usual power running teams don't. Realistically, though, Ohio has become masters of the speed option this year.
Run out of the pistol offense, Ohio has run the speed option very effectively this season. The play's design is to keep a defender guessing on where the ball is going — either to the quarterback or the running back.
This year, however, it's been entire defenses that have been left guessing.
"We just haven’t had any team have an answer for it," quarterback Nathan Rourke said. "We’re probably going to keep doing it until we see a team stop it, or at least give us some trouble.”
With Rourke at quarterback, the offense has flourished: Ohio is averaging 40.8 points per game and 243.4 yards rushing per game. The offense has tallied 40 touchdowns through just eight games.
“With our athleticism up front and with the size we have, they don’t know what we’re going to do," running back A.J. Ouellette said. "It’s going to be hard to scheme us up.”
The results have been astounding on an individual level, too. Ouellette has 747 yards and six touchdowns on the season, paired with other running back Dorian Brown, who has 443 yards and four touchdowns. Perhaps the most impressive stat line, however, belongs to Rourke.
He has 499 yards on the season with 13 rushing touchdowns. The all-time record for rushing touchdowns in a season is 19 — and Rourke might have six games to get there. He, as well as both Ouellette and Brown, are averaging more than six yards per carry.
The Bobcats' success on the ground is not completely due to the speed option. But it certainly doesn't hurt.
“It’s hard to stop it," Ouellette said. "The defense has to be sound and do their responsibility. Anyone takes a half a step and we’re gonna get yardage. I think it’s hard to stop the way we run option.”
Ohio runs the speed option out of the pistol, between Rourke and a running back, either to the left or the right. A defender on the outside of the line of scrimmage is deliberately left unblocked, which is where the option comes into play.
With Rourke running outside, he reads the unblocked defender. If the defender commits to the running back, Rourke will keep it. If the defender commits to Rourke, he pitches it to his running back. It's a simple layout on paper, but Ohio has turned it into one of its most successful plays in its playbook.
“I know the defense expects it because the defense is out there calling the play," left tackle Joe Lowery said with a smile. "But, (they've) got to stop it.”
It's not as easy to perfect as the Bobcats have shown, though. The line has to block the right defenders and deal with stunts and blitzes, the running backs have to prepare for the pitch and be ready to take it and run with no warning, and Rourke has to make the right decision.
“The easier ones are where you can pre-snap it and say, ‘OK, we should be able to capture the end and we’re going to be pitching off this guy,’" Rourke said. "It gets tough when either we block the wrong guy or they do something different. You don’t really see your pitch key, and you have to be looking for it. We haven’t really had too many of those situations.”
Ouellette, who ran the triple option in high school as a running back, has just as an important role as Rourke. Ouellette waits and has to read Rourke as he reads the defender. Then if the pitch comes, Ouellette turns into a ball-carrier in a matter of seconds.
“I know who’s out there, the only person unblocked is the pitch key," Ouellette said. "It’s just trust that you’re not going to take that shot that you don’t see. As soon as he pitches it, I know all I have to do is look the ball in. All it’s been all year is 10-yard gains. I know it’s gonna be grass.”
The play has been especially deadly inside the red zone, where the Bobcats have been one of the country's best teams.
Ohio is 38-of-40 in the red zone with 33 touchdowns, good for a 95 percent conversion rate. 23 of those touchdowns are rushing touchdowns. That's where most of Rourke's touchdowns have come, and it's where Ohio's offensive revitalization has come.
It's the reason for the 14-point jump in points compared to last year and the 76-yard increase in rush yards per game. It's not all due to the speed option. But it's certainly one of the biggest reasons.
“It’s just whatever the defense gives us," Ouellette said. "If you’re gonna load the box and have your outside linebacker or safety try to stop me and the other running backs and Rourke, go ahead. We’re gonna run option.”
