I know it wasn't always that way, but that's the way it's been for 15-20 years. As I said, there are always some exceptions to the rule, but Triple Option is not conducive to winning big consistently anymore. Paul Johnson and GT is the gold standard for successful Triple Option football, particularly at the P5 level over the last 10-15 years, and he averaged about 7.5 wins/season. Honestly, it's the same with the Air Raid. Oklahoma is really the only team that runs a full blown Air Raid (which is different than Mike Leach WSU/TTU Air Raid) that is a consistent CFP threat. It's also why Leach has had a few really good seasons, but both TTU and WSU had/has mostly been 7-8 win kind of programs under his direction.Can be both. Georgia Southern used to run the flexbone which has the QB under center all the time while in FCS ball and now their triple option operates out of the shotgun most of the time if not all the time. The triple option does not have to be run heavy and you can even do it 50-50...the only problem is the ground game version has been so effective most of the time that the play action passing game isn't needed as much.
Given that Tyson Summers, the new CU DC, was the Georgia Southern head coach when he tried to move the program away from the triple option; I'm not sure what Tucker could do in this case.
It wasn't always like that and even if you have access to the talent out there as Georgia Tech did, it still can be run pretty well. It isn't that much different from the Air Raid offenses. In the flexbone, the running backs on the outside would be akin to the inside WRs of the Air Raid. Those jet sweeps were used in those flexbone offenses as well and even in the offenses from pre-WWII.
Air Raid and Triple Option/Maryland I/Flex Bone/Wing T/etc are all gimmicky offenses that rely on a scheme to create the mismatches, rather than individual talent.