Option play in football

I don’t watch college football much, but I saw Notre Dame play last night. In that game I saw more option plays than I can remember in a SEASON of NFL games… Why is it that option plays are big in college but not in the NFL? Are NFL players too disciplined to be beaten by an option?

The option play in the NFL only works as a trick play. Defensive linemen and linebackers in the NFL are too fast to be drawn out of position.
Also NFL coaches are hestitant to expose their quarterbacks to the pounding that they would inevitably take if they ran the option. Kurt Warner is more valuable to the Rams dropping back and throwing, rather than running to the sideline and getting creamed by a monstrous linebacker before he pitches the ball out to Marshall Faulk.

Lou Holtz tried to run the option during the year he coached the Jets. It was a dismal failure.

Another issue is the relative dilution of talent of college football compared to the pros. When a top-notch running quarterback and a top-notch running back race toward the sideline, there may be only one or two defensive linemen and linebackers that can stay with them. The thing is, those one or two frontline defenders are the ones likely to make the pros-so on a pro option play, you’ll find that there are typically at least two big guys for each runner when the decision point comes. This can get ugly …

During the NFL strike when replacement players played, the Giants were involved in a game in which the option was tried. I think they tried it against the Redskins (could be mistaken), and it failed miserably, even with the replacement players. The think I distinctly remember is Parcells laughing and laughing about it.