Georgia Tech-LSU: Jackets Embarrass the Option in Peach Bowl

Georgia Tech taught me something I already knew:

The option doesn't work in college football anymore.

Lesson learned, Yellow Jackets. Now stop making fools of yourselves.

I was taught, in the state of Oklahoma, that the option died over the course of several horrific Orange Bowls, at the hands of Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes. A rude, cruel football murder was perpetrated in South Beach in the late 80's that set OU back a decade.

But you know what OU did?

They ditched the option for a more viable offense. Sure, they didn't find it until Bob Stoops and Mike Leach came along ten years later, but they found one.

Nebraska still ran the option for years after Oklahoma jettisoned it, eventually coming to the same conclusion as their rivals to the south: This can't work anymore.

And for a time, all was well with the world.

Then, along came Navy. The option was revived, and Georgia Tech's 2008 season began to take shape.

I respect a "mid-major" program that does things a little different than a big time program. I went to Tulsa, and graduated with a legendary offense including a 5,000 yard passer, a 1,000 yard rusher, and three 1,000 yard receivers, so I know a little bit about a "mid-major" doing things a little different. 

What I have observed of coaches that run these "prolific" offenses at small schools, who eventually are hired by schools in the power conferences, is that their system rarely makes the transition intact, and as productive as it was.

Short story: It's really easy to run the option at Navy. Name three teams Navy plays each year other than Army, Air Force, and Notre Dame. Can you? I couldn't, so I looked it up. Suffice it to say, the run defenses of Towson, Duke, Temple, and SMU don't have offensive coaches scared.

Sure Georgia Tech did well during the regular season this year, but how good is the ACC? I think the WAC and the Mountain West might be better, at the top of the conference, than the ACC. BC played for the championship of the ACC this year, andVandy, VANDY, went legendary on the Eagles today. 

The real reason the wishbone, option, whatever you want to call it, worked was because there were a stable of running backs to execute it. Due to scholarship limits on programs today, the lateral speed of defenses, and the fact that almost no one gets caught by surprise anymore, the deck is stacked against the option.

I will say this though, if USC had kept all nine of their five-star running back recruits, and got a QB like West Virginia's Pat White, they could run the wishbone. Same goes for OU with Brown, Murray, and Madu. 

As it is, Georgia Tech needs to get with the program, and decade.