Defending Air Force's triple option

Facing an offense like Air Force’s every year is like cramming for a final exam. There’s not much time to prepare for the triple option.

BYU has a couple of quarterbacks who ran the option in high school — Matt Marshall, a former Skyline High QB and Stephen Covey from Timpview. Marshall ran more of the style of option that Air Force will run, so he took the majority of snaps for the Cougar scout team, which goes against BYU’s first-team defense. How did the defense look? Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. The scout team was successful moving the ball and it scored a deep touchdown on a pass play.

After practice on Monday I asked linebacker David Nixon about the role the scout team QBs play this week.

‘They’re getting us ready, but at the same time, this is my fourth year playing Air Force. The speed of the scout team compared to the real game, there’s no comparison,” Nixon said. “It takes you a quarter to get used to the speed of the game with Air Force. You hope to hold on for dear life for those first couple of drives and try to dominate from there. It’s a whole different ball game this week. As a team captain, it’s something I’ve got to help these guys understand. I tell them, ‘You think this is fast out here, just wait until you have to deal with those guys ‘ that’s all they do for a living.’ As always, the coaches bring in a good scheme and we get after it. We’ve got to get ready, but I’m confident that we’ll go there and play great ball.’