Sept. 11, 2010
By Bob Socci
Four years after the option offense was torn from the Georgia Southern playbook - assuming the Eagles, unlike the Navy Midshipmen, used one - a familiar sight returned to Statesboro, Ga. last Saturday.
Southern aligned with an `A' back on each wing, a `B' back in a three-point stance and a quarterback about to take the snap from center and make a decision: hand the ball off, keep it or pitch it.
For any of the 20,000-plus in attendance with any awareness of the Eagles' football history, it was a formation of beauty.
"The option is back," proclaimed a voice ringing from the P.A. speakers.
If not understand at that point, one play in, the message would be heard, loud and clear, the rest of the afternoon in a 48-3 rout of Savannah State.
Georgia Southern totaled 540 yards, including 431 rushing. Six different Eagles ran for touchdowns. Fullback Robert Brown - a.k.a. the `B' back - gained 122 yards, the most by a GSU freshman in his college debut since Adrian Peterson - the other Adrian Peterson - first appeared as an Eagle in 1998.
The option was back, alright, exactly where it's belonged since Paul Johnson, an assistant to GSU head coach Erk Russell, conceptualized his style of play four games into the 1985 season. For the next 21 years, the Eagles won more than 200 games, evolving into a Division I-AA/FCS dynasty.
They won six national championships for three coaches, including two under Russell and two under Johnson. The latter left Statesboro to coordinate his offense - essentially a mix of the wishbone with the run-and-shoot - at Hawaii (1987-94) and Navy (1995-96), before returning as GSU's head coach in 1997.
By now you should know the rest of the story, or what's been written to this point. Johnson's Eagles won 86 percent of the time (62-10 record) and reigned over the Southern Conference (five straight titles). Meanwhile, here in Annapolis, the Midshipmen were floundering into the 21st century.
After a winless 2001, the Academy hired Johnson as its head coach. For six years at Navy, Johnson often joked that he didn't even have a playbook. He didn't need one. By year two, the Mids were well on their way to becoming one of college football's most remarkable success stories.
Since 2003, they've won 61 games, gone bowling seven straight years and captured seven consecutive Commander-In-Chief's championships. Johnson was here for the first five of those seasons, as were assistants Ken Niumatalolo and Jeff Monken.
Prior to the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl, when Johnson was lured away to Atlanta and Georgia Tech, Niumatalolo succeeded his coaching mentor. He's kept Navy on course. Monken joined Johnson and the Yellow Jackets, until Georgia Southern asked him to return the option to its rightful place.
So, last Saturday, after four mostly-futile seasons trying to operate a pro-style attack, the option was back in Statesboro. And so was the 43-year-old Monken, who counts 12 football coaches among his relatives, including his father.
Today Monken returns to Annapolis for the first-ever encounter of the Eagles and Midshipmen. Both teams will be operating, in essence, the same offense, which poses problems for both.
One of the great advantages that Navy and GSU enjoy most Saturdays is that their style of option football is unfamiliar to opponents in today's college football world. At most places - even where `three yards and a cloud of dust' used to make a statement about your Big Ten manhood - programs would rather pass it than pitch it.
While Navy and GSU practice the option all year, the opposition usually gets a couple of days to try to simulate it - with any speed, much less than full speed - and prepare for it.
Defending it is almost counterintuitive for the modern player. Against the option, it's all about staying home and maintaining your assignment. Against other attacks, it's often about counter-attacking, getting up-field aggressively to pressure the quarterback.
In contrast, the defenses we'll see today in Annapolis practice against the option throughout the spring and for much of August camp. Unfamiliarity with what the other is doing shouldn't be a problem.
There's another concern, potentially, for the future. Think about it, if you were a defensive coordinator about to face the Mids, you'd probably wonder, "How would Navy defend Navy?"
Well, the video from today's matchup with GSU could provide insight.
"It's a legitimate concern," said Niumatalolo. "Nobody defends the option as well as Buddy."
Of course, he's referring to Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green, who's coached the Mids well enough to hold option-based rivals Air Force and Army scoreless the last 12 quarters and an overtime period.
"Hopefully, with two days to prepare, teams can't do it as well as we do," Niumatalolo says.
AUDIBLES
One thing that's likely to differentiate the offensive approach of the Mids and Eagles today is Navy's no-huddle system. The Mids installed the no-huddle after Niumatalolo took over for Johnson.
Previously, when Johnson and Monken were on the Navy staff, the Mids would huddle before each play and the quarterback would audible at the line of scrimmage, based on how the defense aligned. If he needed to change the direction of the play, the quarterback verbalized it to the rest of the offense via a code of numbers.
Now, with Navy eschewing the huddle, those "checks" are made by offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper and relayed from his seat in the press box to an assistant on the sideline to quarterback Ricky Dobbs. No numbers, just words.
And, presumably, no advantage for Monken and the Eagles' defense, whether he remembers the Mids' numbering system or not...
GSU quarterback Jaybo Shaw was among Paul Johnson's first recruits at Georgia Tech. As a freshman, he relieved an injured Josh Nesbitt, led the Yellow Jackets over Mississippi State and passed for 230 yards in his first start against Duke - all nine completions were to current Denver Bronco Damaryius Thomas.
But Shaw suffered a concussion, never regained the starter's role and transferred to Southern in March...
Shaw's backup, Jerick McKinnon, was on Navy's recruiting radar coming out of Sprayberry High in Georgia. He's a 5-foot-9, 180-pound freshman who turned a breaking-down pass play into an electrifying 20-yard touchdown run vs. Savannah State...
Both Shaw and McKinnon are tutored by quarterbacks coach Mitch Ware, a former assistant to then Navy head coach Charlie Weatherbie...
Finally, as much I look forward to this afternoon's game, and our broadcast on the Navy Radio Network, my thoughts - like yours, I'm sure - tend to occasionally drift as far away from football as possible.
It's a morning of extreme emotions, readying for the home opener while recalling the early hours of September 11, 2001.
Nine years removed from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, today Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium - as always - will be home to both festivity and solemnity.
We, as we always do on these Saturdays in Annapolis, will remember. We'll never forget.
