Cardale and Zeke ran the Inside Option at least 50 times in the 3 games CJ started... Ball extended. Eyes on the DE.
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While I'd agree with many posters that Cardale ran a very limited version of Meyer's Zone-Read-Spread-Option offense, I'd say what he ran, he ran very well. And clearly, the reads he made were highly effective.
Dan Mullin's video (link below - Mullin was Meyer's former OC) describes the reads the QB makes in the the "14/15 read"* (the 14/15 is the basic inside option running play). This scheme has the QB reading the off-side edge defender (usually a DE). The options for the QB are pretty simple - the "keep read", or the "give read", depending on what the QB's key does. Then, of course, if the D secondary cheats up, that become a read to attack the D with the deep ball. It ain't rocket science.
Again, I agree that Cardale ran about 20% of Meyer's playbook. But its hard to argue that Cardale was anything but highly effective with the portion he ran and with the reads he made.
As you'll note from Mullin's video - reads are not always crystal clear. At the "mesh point", Cardale tended to err on the side of the "give read". Give the ball to Zeke. That's just smart football.
Mullin's video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOyNtHL79ag
*14/15 is how they referred to it at Utah - not sure what term they have for it now - nomenclature can be inconsistent from program to program and from OC to OC.
