Could this be why the option was a thing for 20+ years?
I was watching some old college football games on youtube. Many of the fields were that old, tough astroturf - basically concrete with carpet over it. And at a few angles, I got to see how sever the crown of the field was. Some were bad, you could only see the top half of the other team across the way, then I remembered hearing old players talk about how theirs was so bad, you couldn't even see the other players across the field.
I know a crown is for drainage, and it's supposed to be slight, but over time, with no one keeping an eye on it, and these artificial fields sprouting up everywhere, the lack of regulations would lend itself to the idea some crowns were extreme.
I know the veer and single-wing were older, but didn't Royal at Texas come up with the triple option? And from that all these different incarnations came, obviously. But basically, on many of the plays, it was basically a race to the sideline, wasn't it? And with all these fields of concrete with severe crowns, wouldn't that make sense?
On a grass field with a noticeable crown, you simply fix it by moving dirt and laying some more grass on it. But back then, you weren't going to rip up your paved stadium floor, were you?
So that's the question - was a paved, crowned field surface the reason option football was a thing?