Thoughts on Navy vs. Mizzou

The Middies made my day yesterday with a 35-13 pasting of Gary Pinkel's mouthy Missouri Tigers. Combined with Air Force's lopsided win over favored Houston, it was power option teams 2, finesse pass happy spread teams 0.

Even with almost a month to prepare for the "triple option," Missouri was run over and through by a Navy team that was simply tougher, more prepared and executed better. So much for the theory that if you have a month to prepare you can magically slow down this spread option offense.

Some interesting analysis from a blogger from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Good article from the Houston Chron

Postgame quotes:
Missouri LB Sean Weatherspoon
"They take your instinct away. I was trying to slow-play (read instead of react to) the quarterback and the next thing I knew he stepped back and went 23 yards. It's stuff like that where you think you can do one thing and obviously you should be doing exactly what you've been coached to do."

"You really don't know until the games, the speed of it," Weatherspoon said. "And it's all about doing your assignment, and we had several plays where guys didn't take the quarterback, myself included, and that will kill you."

Missouri tackle Jerome Baston said he'd never seen anything like it. "They just kept coming," he said, noting he wasn't concerned about it (cut blocking) being illegal as Notre Dame coaches said earlier this season. "If the refs don't call it, then it's not a problem."

Gary Pinkel:
“It’s a great offensive scheme and they’re very good at it. Ricky is exceptional. I hugged him and congratulated him after the game. He’s a great kid and just a great player.”

Other thoughts:

How long before Ken N gets hired away from Navy?

Has the passing version of the spread offense reached it's peak? Are we destined to move back to more power running option-based offenses? I'll guarantee you that the upcoming spring coaches clinic at Georgia Tech will be standing room only.

Saw a comment about Barry Switzer saying if he got back into coaching today and had the right QB, he could run the wishbone and score 90 points a game on current college defenses.

Georgia Tech fans should be very excited about the future of the program under CPJ. The success in the first two years has been remarkable considering the most critical element of running this offense successfully-the offensive line-has been a hodgepodge patchwork assembly of converted tight ends, defensive linemen and walk-ons. Next year there will be 15 or 16 scholarship O-linemen on the roster, including the current group of redshirts from Paul Johnson's first full recruiting class. Navy clearly executes their offense better than Georgia Tech right now but GT will get there sooner rather than later. And when they do, they'll be like Navy on steroids.

Does the success of Navy and Air Force in the bowls mean anything in regards to Georgia Tech vs. Iowa? No. Navy is in year 8 of running their offense. Georgia Tech is in year 2. We know at some point that Georgia Tech will run the offense like Navy did yesterday, only with bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic players. It's demonstrated this will work. There are no questions about the validity of the scheme anymore at the highest level of college football. It will work against any defense in the country if the right QB is behind center and the right OL is in place. This offense forces it's will on the opposing defense and forces teams to do what they normally don't want to do. Ask Missouri if you don't believe me.