Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Georgia Tech football: Paul Johnson's way is an old-school system and joyless demeanor, but second-year coach has guided No. 10 Yellow Jackets to highest ranking in eight seasons

ATLANTA — Go ahead and tell Paul Johnson that his throwback offense can’t work at a big-time university.

He’s heard it all before.

Heck, he thrives on the skepticism.

“You enjoy proving people wrong,” said Johnson, who rarely smiles but allowed himself a bit of a satisfied smirk when he considered how many times he’s done just that.

Down at Georgia Southern, he took over a program in disarray and quickly restored it to small-college prominence. Up at Navy, he proved that a military school could be competitive with the big boys. And now, in his second year at Georgia Tech, he’s winning with the same ol’ regularity in one of the BCS conferences.

The No. 10 Yellow Jackets (8-1, 5-1 ACC) are two wins away from playing in the league championship game. They’ve already achieved their highest ranking since 2001, all this coming on the heels of a nine-win season in 2008 that went a long way toward answering all those questions about Johnson’s trademark spread option.

True to his nature, Johnson glosses over all the wins and praise from his debut season in Atlanta. Instead, he prefers to remember those handful of haters who cropped up again after Georgia Tech was blown out by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, supposedly exposing a way to shut down his run-oriented offense.

“It seems that no matter how much success you have, that never goes away,” Johnson said. “They keep saying, ‘Next year, they’re going to get you.’ Last year, after the LSU game, everyone said, ‘That’s it. It’s over. There’s the blueprint.’ It’s funny. LSU can hold Florida to 10 points or whatever it was, but it ain’t over for (the Gators).”

Georgia Tech is certainly unique among major colleges, most of whom use a prostyle offense (better for recruiting quarterbacks who long to play in the NFL) or some version of the spread that Florida’s Urban Meyer helped popularize.

Johnson’s offense is more in line with run-dominated schemes that were so popular in the 1960s and ‘70s, like the wishbone and veer. While Georgia Tech usually lines up only one runner behind the quarterback, there are two wingbacks on each edge of the line who essentially serve the same purpose as halfbacks in those old-style offenses.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt takes the snap and has several options. He can hand off to the running back up the middle, pitch the ball to one of his wingbacks (known as A-backs in Johnson-speak) or just run it himself. Occasionally, Nesbitt drops back for a pass — a rarely used but often lethal weapon because defenses usually leave receiver Demaryius Thomas in single coverage.

“We run a lot, but this is actually a good offense for the big plays,” said Thomas, who leads the ACC in receiving yards per game (91.4). “You’ve just got to be patient until you get your chance — and then make a play on it.”