ND Navy Perspective Part 2

They can certainly cut block between the tackles.

A clean cut block is when the blocker aims his shoulders at the defender's waist, or even upper thigh. This allows a smaller offensive lineman to get leverage against a larger defensive lineman.

The West Coast Offensive schemes of the 80's and 90's used cut blocking extensively, and those championship 49'ers teams with Walsh and Siefert, typically had undersized offensive linemen who would employ such blocking.

While some defenders would complain about bruised thighs, clean cut blocking wasn't any more dangerous than standard blocking up high.

A chop block is when one blocker engages the defender up high, and another one dives at the defender's legs while the high blocker still holds on. This is illegal by all means.

Navy, Air Force, et al., though, would use a special kind of double team, where one blocker would engage the defender up high, and actually hold onto him like the chop block.

Another blocker would then dive at the defender's knees or ankles. Just a split second before the 2nd blocker made his impact, the first blocker would release the high block, but by that time, it was too late for the defender to avoid the diving blocker.

By the narrowest of margins, that kind of block is still technically a cut block since only one blocker is technically engaged at the point of impact, even though it is difficult for the defender to avoid the diver.

This kind of block is what gave Bryant Young a badly sprained knee in 1991, and ended the career of Eric Jones during that same game, where a diving Air Force blocker nearly severed his foot from his ankle. Losing both of those guys before the Tennessee game was easily the difference that fiasco of a game.

Today's rules for cut blocking forbid making cut blocks outside the tackle box, which greatly reduces Navy's effectiveness in the veer option game.