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Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

Tech, Vandy coaches have deep past

ATLANTA — Paul Johnson leaned back in his chair, gazed upward and paused as he thought hard about the question he had been asked.

Finally reaching a sound conclusion, he came to an agreement with the idea that Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson probably has faced Paul Johnson’s spread option system more than any other coach.

“He’s probably played against it more than anybody else,” said Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech’s head coach. “Yeah.”

When the Johnsons — no relation — take the field at Vanderbilt Stadium on Saturday night, they will be standing opposite one another for the ninth time as head coaches and for the first time since Paul Johnson left Navy for Georgia Tech last year.

Both made names for themselves last decade when they led a pair of successful Southern Conference programs before bolting for FBS schools in 2002. While Paul Johnson led Georgia Southern to two national titles in the late 1990s, Bobby Johnson was at Furman, leading a string of nine- and 12-win teams.

“It’s like I’ve said, I know what we’re walking into,” Paul Johnson said. “I’ve played against Bobby’s teams, I know they’re going to be well-coached, I know they’re going to be ready, and it’s a game they think they can win.”

To outside eyes, it may be hard to see the Commodores (2-6) putting up any kind of fight against the No. 11 Yellow Jackets (7-1). But the Yellow Jackets are not fooled by the record.

“They’ve played everybody close,” Paul Johnson said. “They usually don’t beat themselves. They’ve got a pretty good football team. Their record is deceiving, I think.”

After blanking Western Carolina 45-0 in their season-opener, the Bobby Johnson-led Commodores have lost to a ranked LSU team late, dropped a close defensive struggle to Mississippi State and lost two other games by a combined seven points.

While the streaking Yellow Jackets — who have not lost since Week 3 against Miami — are looking to maintain focus this week on an opponent their head coach deems a quality one, the Commodores are saddled with the challenge of preparing for one of college football’s most unique offenses.

Even though Bobby Johnson has seen the system several times before, his players have not. He and his defensive coaches have worked hard to simplify their terminology about the offense and to get each of their players looking for the ball.

“I have a pretty good knowledge of what (Paul Johnson) does, but for me to get that over to our players is the trick,” Bobby Johnson said Monday in his news conference. “(Assistant coach) Bruce Fowler has been working against that offense for years and years, but there are all kinds of things that we could dream up, but you can’t get them taught that quickly.

“You’ve got to play the whole system, and that is the thing about it. ... The challenge is to be as simple as possible but have enough weapons to take away some of the best things that they do.”

One of the three assistants Bobby Johnson retained from his days at Furman, Fowler is in charge of Vanderbilt’s defense.

While Paul Johnson leads the all-time series between the two 6-2, he lost perhaps the most meaningful of the matchups.

In December 2001 — their final meeting as FCS foes — Furman pulled out a 24-17 win over Georgia Southern in the national semifinal game. After Paul Johnson’s Eagles struck to a 17-7 halftime lead, the Paladins stormed back for three second-half scores, including a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that broke a tie at 17.

“There is no key. If there were a key, someone would have it,” Bobby Johnson said. “Nobody has figured it out, and there is no way to figure it out. It is a balanced set. You’ve got to have your defense evenly distributed, and it ends up with a lot of one-on-one confrontations. If they are running the ball, you are going to have to beat a block and make the tackle.

“You just have to be a sound as you can and in my opinion, as simple as you can and still cover what they are doing.”