Ratcliffe: Stopping Georgia Tech offense like an in-game chess match

Six-point-five.

That’s how many yards Georgia Tech averages rushing every time the Yellow Jackets call a running play, which is often, and what Virginia’s defense must contend with on Saturday at Scott Stadium.

Coach Paul Johnson’s unbeaten and 12th-ranked football team has rushed for 2,163 yards and 27 TDs in six games, nearly double its nearest ACC competitors. While the triple option features solid running backs and usually a mobile quarterback who can multi-task, what is most often overlooked is the offensive line, something UVa’s defense is focusing on in this week’s practices.

A few weeks ago, North Carolina coach Everett Withers mentioned what a good job that Johnson does in terms of making adjustments, particularly with how the Yellow Jackets block opponents, during the course of a game. It’s something few fans ever notice but opposing coaches are keenly aware.

“Coach Johnson does a great job with formations early in the game to see how you’re going to play his option, how you’re going to play his run game, how you’re going to roll your secondary, fit the coverage,” Withers explained. “From there he does what I think is one of the best jobs in college football of adjusting, giving you a different formation to combat what you tried to stop on the other side.”

A huge part of those adjustments are how the Yellow Jackets are going to block an opponent.

As Virginia coach Mike London said on Monday, whatever strategy a defense comes up with to stop Georgia Tech’s running game, Johnson usually has an answer and often than answer is by making changes in the Jackets’ blocking schemes.

“Coach Johnson has been doing this offense for so long that even though you many have a guy assigned to the quarterback (as Maryland did last week), and the next thing you know [Johnson] will pull a lineman that’s going to block [the defender assigned to stop the quarterback] and now you’ve got to protect your legs, get off the block and make a play at the quarterback,” London said.

So, Virginia will go in with its own plan and see how Johnson counters in the gridiron chess match.

Cavaliers defensive end Billy Schautz said this week that Virginia has a few schemes planned that it hopes will confuse Georgia Tech’s offensive line.

“We’re going to keep moving on them in certain situations, just so they won’t quite know what’s coming,” Schautz said. “[The Jackets] do switch a lot as to what their blocking scheme will be, who they are going to face and what we are going to do to them.”

As Schautz mentioned in yesterday’s column, Virginia’s defense will be playing assignment football and has practiced tackling the three basic options in Georgia Tech’s offense: tackling the dive back, tackling the quarterback, tackling the pitch man on every play regardless of whether they have the ball or not.

Still, there are challenges when it comes to avoiding blocks.

“It’s a lot different as far as stunting goes and it will be a lot more difficult for us this week because [Tech] runs off the ball, so we’ll have to be moving quickly on them,” Schautz said. “The most important thing this week is that we know our responsibilities and tackle every option.”

Georgia Tech has different line splits on most every play, which sometimes hints as to what the Jackets’ play call might be. Still, it’s often difficult to detect whether it’s a running play or pass play because the offensive linemen’s stances do not change like many teams.

Some teams give that away by how much pressure a defensive lineman puts on his hand or fingers in a three-point stance. If he’s putting lots of pressure on his fingers on the ground, most likely it’s a running play, because he’s going to put weight on that hand/fingers to fire off the line to attack the defender and gain leverage.

If it’s a pass call, he’s either not going to get into a three-point stance to begin with, or if he does, he will not put much weight or pressure on his hand on the ground.

“You never really know if it’s a run or a pass with them to be honest because even their pass set, they’ll take a step forward and try to come at you as if it were a run,” Schautz said. “So, it takes at least a second to read that.”

Sometimes one second is all the time Tech needs to find a crack in the line and run to daylight.

It’s not like the Yellow Jackets can’t be stopped, although no one has found a way this season as 6-0 Tech is off to its best start since 1966. Maryland may have come up with the best plan to date, holding Tech to 272 yards rushing (more than a hundred yards fewer than the Jackets averaged coming into that contest) in a 21-16 loss to Johnson’s team in Atlanta last weekend.

Part of the Terps’ strategy was to cover the pitch man and force GT quarterback Tevin Washington to keep the ball on the options. Washington ended up with 32 carries.

Meanwhile, Maryland linebacker Joe Vellano came up with 22 tackles in the game, assuming that he was assigned to stop Washington.

Perhaps that defensive strategy was what prevented Georgia Tech from making the usual numerous big plays on offense that it has been accustomed to enjoying. Still, the Jackets led the Terps 21-3 with 12 minutes left in the game.

According to UNC’s Withers, Johnson’s adjustments are helped along by “his eyes in the press box,” where Georgia Tech’s assistant coaches are constantly evaluating how the defense reacts to certain things, and Johnson then adjusts accordingly.

Should be an interesting match of cat and mouse between UVa defensive coordinator Jim Reid and Johnson and Johnson’s eyes in the sky come Saturday.