There’s a great Southern saying I like to use from time to time to describe a problem that has many acceptable solutions: There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Most of my family is from below the Mason-Dixon Line, so we say things like this quite often. I’ve never skinned a cat before, nor have I seen one skinned, but I know exactly what those words mean.
In college football, this philosophy has led to some great innovation. A few years before I was born, the West Coast offense emerged as an alternative to the I-formation and the “chuck it as far as they can run” Al Davis Raiders offense. Those schemes came as a response to something, and so on, and so forth.
In 1999, Rich Rodriguez brought his hurry-up, no-huddle spread offense to Clemson with Tommy Bowden. The pair had implemented it at Tulane with great success as a way to counteract bigger, stronger, faster teams with pace. Truly mobile quarterbacks began to emerge, and the zone read became a part of college football’s fringes.
It was one of the “other ways to skin a cat”, as the saying goes.
As bigger programs like Clemson began hiring coaches from lower levels—many of whom either ran these schemes or were exposed to them—the prevalence of HUNH offense grew exponentially. The philosophy became more mainstream as its pupils began designing their own systems at schools across the country.
Over time, the scheme designed to level the playing field between the haves and have-nots became coopted by the haves. Now, high school coaches all over America are running these hurry-up spread schemes, feeding talented players into cutting-edge blueblood programs ready to make an impact immediately.
The advantage is gone for these smaller programs. Now, it’s about having better players again, unless you do something dramatically different—as different as Rodriguez’s system was to the ACC around the turn of the century.
Enter Paul Johnson’s offense, with its throwback look and its reliance on old-school principles to move the football. Johnson relies on his own intellect to scout the opposition within the game and on precision from his players to execute well.
Johnson used to have NFL players running his offense. (Frankly, the myth that Tech can’t recruit is a myth. See Johnson’s first team that won the ACC.) He used to have multiple backs capable of finding homes on pro rosters in his backfield. He just lost two outstanding guards who could move the pile for his running game. He has a quarterback who was born to run the option.
Yet, none of it mattered against Clemson yesterday. The system that was supposed to close the gap for a school apparently struggling to recruit talented players failed.
When Bowden came to Clemson in 1999, recruiting was not a major issue—at least, not relative to the program’s peers. It had to be elevated in order for Clemson’s program to elevate to a new level.
The same is true for Georgia Tech. Chan Gailey recruited a bunch of players who are still on NFL rosters, but his staff struggled to consistently coach them up. Johnson is open about his indifference toward recruiting and his insistence that he doesn’t need blue chip players to be successful.
That’s the problem with Georgia Tech’s program as it’s currently constituted. Even though Johnson has recently seen his recruiting apparatus expand with more staffers and finances, it can’t compete at Clemson’s level when both teams are clicking. That much is obvious.
Clemson stifled Tech’s offense last year. It stifled Tech’s offense in a loss in 2011. It did to Tech what elite teams did to Rodriguez’s Clemson offense a decade and a half ago. It trumped scheme with stars.
Jayron Kearse blew up the scheme. Ben Boulware blew up the scheme. Shaq Lawson blew up the scheme. Kevin Dodd blew up the scheme. Mackensie Alexander blew up the scheme.
The list goes on and on. Clemson’s players were good enough to beat Georgia Tech’s players on almost every snap. And before you cry alligator tears for Johnson because of injuries at tailback, this is a program that trumpeted its ability to make Robert Godhigh—a walk-on that stood generously at 5’6”—into a 1,000-yard rusher. Depth isn’t supposed to be an issue, because Johnson is supposed to spin straw into gold.
On Saturday, the flaws in his logic were exposed. There’s a reason the HUNH offense never won a championship until it was adopted by a traditional power. Leveling the playing field only works to a point.
Clemson outgained Tech by 307 yards. It held the Yellow Jackets to just 72 yards rushing and a miniscule 1.7 yards per carry. The Tigers totally and completely dominated the game in every way during the meaningful portions of play.
It was a stark reminder to Tech fans that gimmicks and gadgetry only work until the opposition has dialed-in studs capable of blowing up plays at every level. It was also a reminder to Clemson fans that those days are gone.
Coaching is nice, but players win games and championships—a reality that was on full display in Clemson this week.
God Bless!
WQ