What Notre Dame veterans have learned about stopping the triple option

It sneaks up on you. Hits you faster than you’d think.

You notice a lot about Navy’s triple option when you watch it on television or in the film room. You notice how unique an offensive system is, you notice how much window-dressing the Midshipmen throw at the defense and you notice that the way to defend it is sticking to your assignment no matter what else you see.

But you don’t notice how fast the triple option can operate, graduate safety DJ Brown said, until you face it yourself.

“I would say that was kind of a surprise when I was a [redshirt] freshman,” Brown said. “The main thing is just speed. Speed of how fast they do things, how fast they move.”

Brown, entering his sixth year at Notre Dame, has butted heads with Navy three times now. He said that the speed caught him off-guard at first, but gradually, as the seasons went on, he got used to it.

“The more and more you play them, you get the speed down and see how the flow of the game goes,” Brown said.

Graduate student defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah is now in his fifth season at Notre Dame and about to face Navy for the third time. He said he wishes he knew two years ago that defending the Midshipmen really is just about doing one’s job.

Sometimes, the natural feeling defenders get when they sense they can make a big play creeps in, even though they know, in the back of their mind, that they need to maintain their assignment. 

“For how fast the triple option can hit, even with the midline, the pitch, anything like that, you never know what they’re gonna hit you with,” Osafo-Mensah said. “And if you just stay consistent with your job and don’t try to do too much, then you should be fine.”

Osafo-Mensah also now knows to ignore all the window-dressing that Navy uses to distract players across the line of scrimmage.

“One big thing I wish I knew in past years is [to] try to block out all the other noise, all the movement, all the distractions and just focus on what you have to do,” Osafo-Mensah said. “Because at the end of the day, if everybody does their one part of 11, we’ll take care of business.”

Brown agreed, noting that eye discipline is a huge part of eliminating distractions. Navy doesn’t necessarily need to move a defender off his spot, with a motion or a play-fake, it just needs to freeze their eyes in the wrong spot for a split second. 

The Midshipmen did that enough for fullback Daba Fofana to run for 133 yards on 15 carries (8.9 yards per carry) Nov. 12 against the Irish defense last season.

In an ideal world, Brown said, Notre Dame takes care of the dive and the quarterback keeper, forcing whomever lines up under center for the Midshipmen to pitch it to his wing back. If the pitch winds up being the quarterback’s decision, the Irish feel well-equipped to stop it.

“Usually, the last option is going to be the pitch,” Brown said. “If you can force them to pitch the ball and everyone is rallying to it, it’s kind of hard for them to make stuff up. That’s when they start going into their trick plays and things like that.” 

Notre Dame spent pockets of time here and there preparing for Navy over the spring and summer, as well as a full two weeks leading up to Saturday’s game. Players led much of that work, Osafo-Mensah said.

The Irish veterans tried to share their experience with some of Notre Dame’s younger players.

“Us as leaders, we’re able to get together and do a little bit of Navy work, whether it was on the field, whether that was just watching film or just going through slides of information,” Osafo-Mensah said.

One more thing Notre Dame learned about Navy, particularly from this past season: the Midshipmen are rarely out of a game, because they just keep fighting.

The Irish can jump out to an early lead all they want. Navy will not quit.

“No matter what, a team like Navy is never gonna lay down, no matter what the score is,” Osafo-Mensah said. “They’re a very respectable group that’s known for their hard work and, of course, their service to the country.”

Notre Dame knows it has to play the full four quarters starting at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland.

The post What Notre Dame veterans have learned about stopping the triple option appeared first on On3.