Miss the option?

Miss the option?

  • No

    Votes: 28 49.1%
  • No

    Votes: 29 50.9%

  • Total voters
    57

GTLiebs

Dodd-Like
Joined
Jan 2, 2009
Messages
10,233
So here's my questions: Think people will still be bringing up this debate with the next coach if they aren't from the Johnson coaching tree? How many years until it stops?
 

FullMetalBuzz

Posting from your mom’s house
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Messages
221
I enjoyed PJ’s run, but enough with the arguing over it.

The pure option attack is dead at FBS level. Recruiting suffered and defense got worse practicing against it. Other teams hated it so much that blocking rules were changed to make it more difficult on us.

KSU Saturday looked like GT playing Clemson and uga post 2014 - physically superior D-Lines blew up their mesh point and their small defense just couldn’t get many stops.
 

gtchief

Not Wrong, Just An A******
Joined
Jul 4, 2015
Messages
5,372
Paul "Daddy" Johnson and his option offense gave us the TWO OUT OF THREE BEST SEASONS IN MODERN GT HISTORY
THANK YOU. ööööing morons everywhere. He accomplished ALL that in his
FIRST SIX YEARS HERE...
FIRST SEVEN YEARS.....
EIGHT years....
nine years....
10...
...wait
 

ScionOfSouthland

Dodd-Like
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
34,796
With CPJ the highs were high and the lows were low... 2009 v 2010, 2014 v 2015. At the end of his time at GT his win % decreased enough that he was tied with Chan Gailey. He was also a major reason for coaching upgrades in the ACC. He had 1 win against Venables, 1 win against Smart. That wasn't going to change any time soon. Talent had dropped so far we stopped putting people in the NFL. I'm thankful for CPJ and everything he did but his time ran its course.
 

Old-Fashioned UGA Hater

Varsity Lurker
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
399
Yes. So many ways yes. I miss being excited for what our mad genius was going to throw at teams. Mostly I miss an offense that could score points on purpose rather than what seems like happy accidents or athletic prowess alone.

If our coach/oc don’t want to run PJ’s option, fine. But we need some kind of edge or system as we have never recruited 4/5 star players consistently and clearly that hasn’t changed with CGC. We need some of those to reach a championship but our O line is never going to be what you see at a football factory. If our players can’t outplay they other guys 1-1 then we have to have use scheme, technique and conditioning.

Our scheme is hot garbage based on what I see each week.
You seem like a guy who probably agreed with Dave Braine that Tech has a 10 win ceiling. With your reasoning every yeam besides the top 10 or 15 programs should just run the option since they can't recruit the 5 stars. I wonder how we had any success in the 90's without running a gimmick offense?
 

Liberty

Kayar hunu bhanda marnu ramro
Joined
Aug 15, 2021
Messages
2,034
I don’t miss the option, I miss having a football team that has a chance every weekend. We don’t have to have a good chance, just any chance against the top teams we play. I’m actully not sure what’s the biggest issue right now- offense, defense or special teams. When none of those are on the field, we tend to keep the score even.
 

johncu

Dodd-Like
Joined
Mar 17, 2011
Messages
9,557
With CPJ the highs were high and the lows were low... 2009 v 2010, 2014 v 2015. At the end of his time at GT his win % decreased enough that he was tied with Chan Gailey. He was also a major reason for coaching upgrades in the ACC. He had 1 win against Venables, 1 win against Smart. That wasn't going to change any time soon. Talent had dropped so far we stopped putting people in the NFL. I'm thankful for CPJ and everything he did but his time ran its course.
I’d drink piss for a season like 2010 right now. We won or were competitive in 12 of 13 games, won half our ACC games, and put up over 500 yards while nearly winning at UGA. I was as disappointed as anyone that year, but now that standard just seems like a distant memory.

As far as beating Venables and Smart, that seems like quite the standard to judge by. Neither O’Leary nor Gailey ever beat Bowden once - we are now in an era where both of our biggest rivals are that type of program. Over his entire tenure, CPJ beat Clemson/UGA both 8 times. If I told you that we could have 8 wins over Clemson/UGA over the next decade, would you take it?
 

18in32

Petard Hoister
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
27,979
[Our] defense got worse practicing against [the option].
I can understand the argument that running the option made our defense worse because our defense spent so much time playing against an offense that was unlike what they saw most Saturdays. (And yes, I understand that the defense practiced against a scout team that tried to mimic what they'd see on Saturday. Nevertheless, some not-insignificant part of the time the defense was defending the option.)

But even though I understand that argument... it doesn't seem like the evidence bears it out. Our defense remains worse than it was for most of CPJ's tenure. According to Football Outsiders, our Defensive FEI rank was #88 in 2020, #93 in 2019, #102 in 2018, #47 in 2017, #66 in 2016, #48 in 2015, and #58 in 2014. Why is our defense still so bad, worse than it was during the meat of CPJ's tenure, if the option was causing our defense to struggle?

(For those unfamiliar with this stat, defensive FEI is a measure of per-possession scoring defense efficiency, and therefore would account for the fact that CPJ chewed up the clock and gave opposing teams fewer possessions. IOW, CPJ's defenses were better than CGC's defenses, but *not* because they faced fewer offensive possessions.)
 

Old-Fashioned UGA Hater

Varsity Lurker
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
399
I can understand the argument that running the option made our defense worse because our defense spent so much time playing against an offense that was unlike what they saw most Saturdays. (And yes, I understand that the defense practiced against a scout team that tried to mimic what they'd see on Saturday. Nevertheless, some not-insignificant part of the time the defense was defending the option.)

But even though I understand that argument... it doesn't seem like the evidence bears it out. Our defense remains worse than it was for most of CPJ's tenure. According to Football Outsiders, our Defensive FEI rank was #88 in 2020, #93 in 2019, #102 in 2018, #47 in 2017, #66 in 2016, #48 in 2015, and #58 in 2014. Why is our defense still so bad, worse than it was during the meat of CPJ's tenure, if the option was causing our defense to struggle?

(For those unfamiliar with this stat, defensive FEI is a measure of per-possession scoring defense efficiency, and therefore would account for the fact that CPJ chewed up the clock and gave opposing teams fewer possessions. IOW, CPJ's defenses were better than CGC's defenses, but *not* because they faced fewer offensive possessions.)
I don't think you mention that players on defense eyeing the NFL or elite defensive players don't want to practice against an option team. In a recruiting battle this was often used against us.
 

gambler

Went all in with 80k
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
674
I miss the option. I miss nesbitt. I miss dwyer. I miss tchoice. I miss dthomas. I miss Shaq. I miss orange bowls. Hell I miss bowls period. I miss made FGs. I also miss your moms wanting playful, friendly, party all night Lovins, instead of angry, frustrated, do me hard cause we lost again Lovins.

I miss a lot of things that happened even before the option came to Tech.

But what I miss more than that....is that damn chicken Ceasar pita thing that they used to sell at Wendy's. And I would trade it all, (except, national titles and beating UGHEY) to have that back......every man has his price.
 
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