Florida State's Upset Antidote in ACC Title Game
ATLANTA — Florida State, winner of 28 straight, will get all kinds of advice this week before Saturday's ACC Championship Game against Georgia Tech in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hey, 'Noles don't mess around and fall behind these guys. You can fall behind Louisville and N.C. State, but not these guys. The Yellow Jackets play Monopoly with the football. You might not get the ball back.
Hey, 'Noles, don't underestimate that offense Tech runs. It might look like a high school offense, but it will grind you up.
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To respond to that advice, those warnings of potential doom, FSU will look to its defensive coordinator, Charles Kelly. FSU may downplay his significance. Here is why you shouldn't.
Kelly was an assistant coach under head coach Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech from 2008 to 2012. He was well-liked, trusted. He still has close friends at Tech.
In 2012, after Al Groh was fired six games into the season, Kelly took over the defense, and by all accounts, Tech got much better on defense, eventually beating Southern Cal in the Sun Bowl. He likely would have been the Jackets' defensive coordinator full time in 2013 had he not left for Florida State.
Kelly was the defensive backs coach before the short temp stint as Tech's defensive coordinator. He was in on those practices where Tech first-teamers on defense lined up against Johnson's first-teamers on offense. Kelly saw the triple-option up close. And this week, he will scold any FSU defensive player who utters one word of contempt about Tech's option scheme.
That's where you start when trying to defend Georgia Tech's offense. Have some respect. Don't be magisterial because you think that offense is something the high school down the block still runs.
Kelly understands Johnson's offense can be wicked. The Jackets block and block and block.
There is nothing rational about the way Tech does business on offense in the digital age. The Jackets have four running backs while most teams have four wide receivers. After losing in overtime to Tech last Saturday, Georgia's defensive players still had a hard time believing they fell to an option offense. The Bulldogs watched their words and wouldn't say it out loud, but you could tell there was scorn.
One week is not a lot of time to prepare for that attack, especially considering the Seminoles have not seen Tech since 2012. But Kelly's insight can close the gap and get the freshmen and sophomores up to speed.
Kelly can also remind the Seminoles that Johnson's Georgia Tech teams do not go away easily. In that 2012 game, with first-round pick EJ Manuel as quarterback, FSU won by just six points, 21-15. Kelly was the defensive backs coach for Tech.
The Yellow Jackets won the two other meetings in the Paul Johnson era, 31-28 in 2008 and 49-44 in 2009 in Tallahassee.
Here is another thing about Tech's unique style and how Kelly can help. Look at Johnson on the sidelines. Notice anything? He's not holding one of those Creamsicle-colored, laminated play-calling sheets that all the whiz-bang offensive guys have.
He takes some cues from the coach's box upstairs about which way defensive linemen are slanting on certain downs, but he is calling the game on feel, down and distance, instinct. Johnson does not leave a paper trail. There is no call sheet lying around.
Try to pick his tendencies at your peril.
A wiseguy would say, "There is no call sheet because CPJ only has three plays: dive, keeper, pitch." Go back and look at the film, and think again. Look at the counters, look at the sprint outs, the end-zone toss to the big split end, 6'5" Darren Waller.
The Yellow Jackets' best receiver, DeAndre Smelter, won't play Saturday—he's out for the year with an ACL tear, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Ken Sugiura—but Tech still has enough offense to win.
Johnson puts a pea under a cup and moves it around. The defense says, "Don't look for the ball, play your responsibility." That's exactly what Tech wants you to do. Sit there. Suddenly, you are giving up four yards on first down, four yards on second down, and it is 3rd-and-2. You're so busy playing your responsibility you don't get off blocks, and linebackers can't get to the ball.
I watched from the end zone as runner Zach Laskey, with his eyes up, would see a Bulldog middle linebacker fill the A-gap. Laskey told me he would just bounce to the B-gap and find air. It happened over and over, and he had a career-high 140 yards and three touchdowns in the 30-24 overtime win.
Against Georgia, the Yellow Jackets' average third-down play was 3rd-and-5 after the first two series of the game. On first down, Tech averaged 5.9 yards.
Justin Thomas, the sneaky pipsqueak at quarterback, will have his team in so many 3rd-and-2s you swear he's spotting the ball himself. Third down is key in so many football games but not in football games involving Georgia Tech.
"You got to stop them first down," said Georgia linebacker Ramik Wilson. "First down is bigger than third down against those guys."
Third-and-short meant Georgia Tech had 32 first downs to 21 for Georgia. It meant Tech led time of possession 36 minutes and 23 seconds to Georgia's 23:37. That's standard operating procedure. You can't get off the field. Tech is ninth nationally in turnover margin. You have to take it. The Jackets won't give it to you.
That's important Saturday. Florida State has been playing with a light switch, turning it on and off and falling behind with turnovers. Most games you might get 12, 13, 14 turns with the ball. You get nine possessions in a game with Tech, which averages 333.83 yards rushing per game, good for fourth nationally.
Say what you will about Seminoles QB Jameis Winston, but he is to be admired for his play under pressure. In the three games this season in which FSU trailed by 15 points or more, his quarterback rating is 194.26. When he has the ball and his team is behind, look out.
But he needs the ball. Tech does not give that up easily. If FSU is down two scores in the second half Saturday, it's doomed. The 'Noles will need takeaways or stops.
Georgia Tech can beat Florida State on Saturday, but it won't. It can also get blown off the face of the earth. The Yellow Jackets believe they can win because they just beat the SEC's Georgia, and the Seminoles have SEC-caliber talent.
"We definitely might be putting some doubts into people's heads," said Georgia Tech tackle Shaq Mason on whether Florida State is a shoo-in for a spot in the College Football Playoff. "We have some good players, too."
Kelly will sound that alarm this week. FSU may have more first-round picks on its defense than Georgia Tech has on its offense, but the schemer on the Tech sideline, Johnson, couldn't care less about all that with his offense, and Kelly knows it.
Ray Glier covers college football for Bleacher Report. He has covered college football and various other sports for 20 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post and Al Jazeera America. He is the author of How the SEC Became Goliath (Howard/Simon & Schuster, 2013).
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
