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Are you talking about trying to convert on 4th and short or the offense in general? Because it works well enough against better opponents. (Ask Florida who lost
by ericcumbee 11y ago
Are you talking about trying to convert on 4th and short or the offense in general? Because it works well enough against better opponents. (Ask Florida who lost to a "lesser" team with the option, or Georgia Tech who you would think would be ready to for the option got taken to the wire by Georgia Southern).
If you are fan of the nuts and bolts of offenses then the 1990s Paul Johnson Option playbook is really interesting. Especially the section about the quarterback and the attributes of a successful option quarterback.
http://fastandfuriousfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/collegeoffense2/1990%20GSU%20Paul%20Johnson%20Option.pdf http://fastandfuriousfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/college...
- gtaylor 11y agoGT and Paul Johnson still punts and goes for the PAT pretty often. It's very situational, though he does go for it on 4th far more than most BCS-level teams. He's not doing what the aforementioned highschool coach does, though. Also, I'll take the bait and point out that Florida has been pretty bad for a number of years now. They do get ranked highly every year because of their success the last decade+, but they haven't been a real contender for some time now.
- ericcumbee 11y agoYeah 4th down is where Paul Johnson likes to roll the dice. Although I'm not sure he would consider it rolling the dice. being able to pick up 2-3 yards a run on the Fullback dive is the cornerstone of the offense. Establishing the dive is the first stage of the flexbone spread option offense. As to Florida they were still a Power 5 sec school with SEC level talent. They also had one of the better Defenses in FBS that year, and were still made to look foolish against a FCS school that quite honestly was not that good that year(24 Scholarship players out for that game due to injuries). To me that is the prime example of why that offense is so good.
- gtaylor 11y agoIt's great when it works, but without the dive you are screwed. In the present era, it's a gimmicky offense that fails spectacularly if your opponent is talented and prepared. You need only look at Paul Johnson's bowl record at GT to see what happens when a more evenly matched team is prepared for him. He victimizes schools that only have a week (or less) to gameplan for him. He only got his second bowl win in a good while last year, after many failures. Again with UF, I am assuming you are talking about 2013 when they lost to GA Southern. The problem is, they lost to a lot of teams that year (4-8). They were a fundamentally bad team in the midst of a five game losing streak when they lost to GA Southern (not to take away from what the Eagles accomplished). That GA Southern loss wasn't because of their offensive scheme. It was more about a team feeling that they failed fantastically, that some of their coaches were going to be removed, and that it's going to be seen as a lost season. The only two offensively strong teams they played wore them out (Missou 36-17 and FSU 37-7). Throw in a loss to an awful Miami (21-16) and an even worse Vandy (34-17!?!?).