Paul Johnson and the "option."

"We CAN'T hire Paul Johnson-he runs the option and the option doesn't work in college football anymore!"

I can't believe how many uninformed dolts there are when it comes to understanding who Paul Johnson is and what his offense is about. I create a blog devoted to informing people about Paul Johnson and his offense and people just continue to believe whatever they want to. Or continue to make up bizarre tales so they can say "We need Bo because Bo...is a tough guy....and won't run the option." Let's try to clear up a few misconceptions here:

1.) The option is alive and well in college football. Florida, West Virginia, Wake Forest and a myriad of other teams all run some form of the option. Now its not the option that you think of when you think of days gone by but its still an option and is disguised very well. Barry Switzer has been quoted recently as saying if he were to get back into coaching he would run Osborne's offense. But hey, who is Barry Switzer, right? Hell, Texas A&M came in and ran the option right up our asses a week ago. And Tom Osborne appears to be infatuated with what Urban Meyer does at Florida. So you people need to shut your cake holes when it comes to saying the option doesn't exist in college football or wouldn't work anymore.

2.) Paul Johnson has compared his Navy offensive scheme to what Urban Meyer and Rich Rodriguez do at their respective schools, except that they run their QB out of the shotgun. Mike Leach has said what Johnson does is essentially the same that Tech does except Navy runs the ball and TT throws the ball.

3.) Now pay attention very closely to this point. WHO says Paul Johnson would run the same exactly flexbone system he runs at Navy, at a school like say, Nebraska?? Who says that? Where does this come from?? Do you people realize that he does what he does at Navy because of the type of players he has? Doesn't that seem logical for a good head coach to do? Adapt your schemes to the type of players you have. Check his work as OC at Hawaii-he threw the ball all over because he had a QB that could throw. Ya know what though? If he did run his spread option flexbone at NU, I wouldn't be complaining. Its tailor-made to the type of talent he could easily stockpile around here and that talent is still 10x better than what he can get at Navy. And if his current system can rush for 350 yards on Wake Forest and Navy, and 250 on Rutgers, who is to assume with better talent, he couldn't do the same against Kansas, Missouri and even Texas? As Jim Grobe from Wake says:

"You just don't see anybody doing that anymore, so (Navy is) very unique … and they do it better than anyone we've ever seen," Grobe said. "Knowing things you'd like to do to stop the option is one thing. But being able to prepare for it in a week, getting the scout team to perform at the same speed of a game, is quite another.

"There are so many problems that go into preparing for this offense that knowing what to do doesn't always do much for you. You've got to be able to practice it, and nobody can do a very good job of that."

The people that do research...

Actually understand what Navy football and Paul Johnson are about and anticipated what would happen this year:

From a May 14th, 2007 article titled "Can't wait to see these things in the fall" by ESPN college football analysts Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach:

From Schlabach:

This is the year to catch Navy, where coach Paul Johnson must rebuild his defense and his offensive line. But with Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada established at quarterback, and Army and Air Force dealing with new coaches, the Midshipmen should win their fifth consecutive Commander-In-Chief's Trophy. After all, if a wizened head like Bobby Ross couldn't turn it around at Army, what can be said for his replacement, former NFL stalwart Stan Brock?

From Maisel:
Can Paul Johnson do it again at Navy? The Midshipmen must replace nine starters on defense and a few regulars on the offensive line. But with quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada and a handful of talented slotbacks returning, there is no reason to believe the Midshipmen can't win at least six games, which would earn them another trip to the Dec. 20 San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. If that happens, will the rest of college football recognize that Johnson is truly one of the best coaches in the land?

-----------------------------

So you see, not only did Navy have to replace nine starters on defense, its three best and most experienced defensive players (and team captain Jeff Deliz) are standing on the sidelines injured. Despite the defensive issues, Navy is still on track to win 7 games, win the commander in chief trophy again and exceed expectations yet again.

Johnson at GA Southern

Looks like some pretty good defenses to me.

1997 8/30/1997	Valdosta State	45-26
9/6/1997	William & Mary	28-29
9/20/1997	Wofford	22-7
9/27/1997	Chattanooga	37-10
10/4/1997	VMI	49-0
10/11/1997	Western Carolina	30-7
10/18/1997	Appalachian State	12-24
10/25/1997	The Citadel	49-7
11/1/1997	East Tennessee	38-30
11/8/1997	Furman	30-13
11/15/1997	South Florida	24-23
11/29/1997	Florida A&M	52-37
12/6/1997	Delaware	7-16

1998

9/5/1998	Elon	31-17
9/12/1998	Jacksonville State	51-32
9/19/1998	Wofford	45-10
9/25/1998	Chattanooga	42-25
10/3/1998	VMI	63-7
10/10/1998	Western Carolina	28-21
10/17/1998	Appalachian State	37-24
10/24/1998	The Citadel	51-34
10/31/1998	East Tennessee	47-26
11/7/1998	Furman	45-17
11/14/1998	South Florida	28-23
11/28/1998	Colgate	49-28
12/5/1998	Connecticut	52-30
12/12/1998	Western Illinois	42-14
12/19/1998	Massachusetts	43-55

1999

9/4/1999	Fayetteville State	76-0
9/11/1999	Wofford	55-14
9/18/1999	Oregon State	41-48
9/25/1999	Chattanooga	49-10
10/2/1999	VMI	62-0
10/9/1999	Western Carolina	70-7
10/16/1999	Appalachian State	16-17
10/23/1999	The Citadel	34-17
10/30/1999	East Tennessee	55-6
11/6/1999	Furman	41-38
11/13/1999	Jacksonville State	51-14
11/27/1999	Northern Arizona	72-29
12/4/1999	Massachusetts	38-21
12/11/1999	Illinois State	28-17
12/18/1999	Youngstown State	59-24

2000

9/2/2000	Georgia	7-29
9/9/2000	Johnson C. Smith	57-12
9/16/2000	Wofford	24-17
9/23/2000	Chattanooga	31-10
9/30/2000	VMI	56-3
10/7/2000	Western Carolina	42-24
10/14/2000	Appalachian State	34-28
10/21/2000	The Citadel	27-10
10/28/2000	East Tennessee	42-7
11/4/2000	Furman	10-45
11/11/2000	Elon	32-9
11/25/2000	McNeese State	42-17
12/2/2000	Hofstra	48-20
12/9/2000	Delaware	27-18
12/16/2000	Montana	27-25

2001

9/1/2001	Savannah State	69-6
9/8/2001	Delaware	38-7
9/22/2001	Chattanooga	70-7
9/29/2001	VMI	31-14
10/6/2001	Western Carolina	50-14
10/13/2001	Appalachian State	27-18
10/20/2001	The Citadel	14-6
10/27/2001	East Tennessee	16-19
11/3/2001	Furman	20-10
11/10/2001	Elon	27-21
11/24/2001	Wofford	48-10
12/1/2001	Florida A&M	60-35
12/8/2001	Appalachian State	38-24
12/15/2001	Furman	17-24

Navy lost. So what? (part 2)

As a followup to my post below and a certain anonymous poster that ridiculously says in Johnson's 6th season, Navy should be established and not rebuilding. Well son, I guess you don't spend too much time around the Navy football offices to see what kind of players the Naval academy can actually get to compete for them. So lets look at some other established and high profile coaches that aren't struggling for talent and cherrypick some notable losses:

-Greg Schiano from Rutgers inherited a better team than Johnson did at Navy (go back and look and you'll see in 2001 when Schiano arrived his team beat Navy). So if Greg Schiano is such a hot coach, why is his team losing to 1st year Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly in his 7th season at Rutgers? That same Cincinnati team that lost to Pitt, which lost to Navy a week earlier. Why is Schiano losing 30-3 and looking hapless against West Virginia? Shouldn't his team be putting up more of a fight 7 years into his coaching tenure? Why in his 6th year is his team getting 33 hung up on them by a 2-9 Illinois team?

-Why is the once invincible Jim Leavitt from South Florida now skidding out of control with two straight losses to Rutgers and UConn? Those appear to be good, but not great teams with similar talent levels. Shouldn't the mighty Leavitt, who has been at South Florida since 1995, be winning against these programs? Wouldn't it be easier to look at the entire body of work of each of Leavitt and Schiano, along with Paul Johnson?

-In Bob Stoops sixth season, he lost 45-12 to a Texas team with no more talent than his own. And in his seventh season last year, he lost to Boise State and their first year coach Chris Peterson-and Boise State doesn't have a player on their roster that could crack the two deeps at OU.

-And what about Bo Pelini. His defense gives up more yards and points to Kentucky in a loss, than lowly Mississippi State did when they beat Kentucky yesterday. Maybe just a bad game for Jesus H. Pelini?

-And what in holy hell is Pete Carroll doing at USC?? Every player on his two-deeps will eventually play in the NFL and the team he's manned for 8 years is losing to Stanford?? Fire him now!

So what's it all mean Einstein? It means that you need to look at the entire body of work for a coach over the course of his tenure/career and put wins and losses into context. Trying to cherrypick a loss or even a season for negatives, without looking closer at the details, just means you're pushing an agenda.

PJ will not be brought here to run the defense. He will hire the best possible DC he can get at the University of Nebraska. He will be brought here for his leadership, proven head coaching ability and offensive wizardry. And if you have questions about what he's done over the entire course of his career at Ga Southern and Navy, please feel free to read this entire blog from top to bottom. There's a ceiling to what can be done at the US Naval Academy. And PJ reached that ceiling about two years ago when his team won 10 games.

Navy lost. So what?

Yes Navy is a D-1 classified school. Yes they lost to 1-AA power Delaware today 59-52. Big deal. Almost everyone who follows Navy closely, thought they would lose this game this weekend. What's worse? Navy losing to a highly rated 1-AA team or star-studded Michigan losing to Appalachian State (which has since lost twice this season)? Is it worse for Navy to lose to Delaware than it is for Dan Hawkins' Colorado team to lose to Montana State last year, who then turned around and lost to DII Chadron State. Hawkins seems to be doing just fine right now at Colorado. Gene Chizik was supposed to be the hottest hire in the country when he signed on with Iowa State. Guess what? He lost this year to Northern Iowa but beat later beat Iowa.

The bottom line is that there's only so much you can do with the personnel Navy has. Yes they're classified as a D-1 school. But lets be honest-they've got 1-AA offensive talent and D-2 defensive talent. Even that might be being kind. With the injuries to three of Navy's best defensive players, it has crippled an already depth-challenged, talent-deficient and inexperienced defense. Delaware was much more athletic and talented than Navy and are a team loaded with D-1 transfers. QB Joe Flacco transferred from Pitt, which ironically, lost to Navy two weeks ago at Pitt. And lets not forget the controversial onside kick which Navy recovered with 4 minutes left, only to have reversed on a horrible offsides call that replays show didn't happen.

As the old saying goes, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. In this case, Johnson has squeezed blood from a turnip and there's simply nothing left to squeeze. If Navy losing to Delaware is so bad, then how must Pitt, Air Force, Ball State and Duke feel? After all, they all lost to Navy. And for the most part, those teams have been fairly competitive against most of their schedule. Pitt beat Cincinnati and lost to Michigan State by 4. Air Force beat Utah, TCU, Wyoming and Colorado State. Ball State took our beloved Huskers to the wire and beat Turner Gill's upstart Buffalo team by 35. They were also competitive against Illinois today.

Johnson has already proven himself over the course of the past 5 years at Navy by doing more with less than any coach in the country. He proved himself at Georgia Southern where he was the one putting the scare into D-1 schools like Georgia and Oregon State. PJ will have his team on national TV next week going up against Notre Dame. A win there would be the kind of win that could put him on the radar for other high profile schools looking for a new coach next year.

A look at Navy's rushing offense

In 2007, Paul Johnson's Navy team once again leads the NCAA in rushing yards with an average of 343 yards per game. This is on par with what Navy has done since Johnson took over the program in 2002:

2002 (2-10) 3rd nation rushing 271 YPG
2003 (8-5) 1st nation rushing 323 YPG
2004 (10-2) 3rd nation rushing 290 YPG
2005 (8-4) 1st nation rushing 318 YPG
2006 (9-4) 1st nation rushing 327 YPG

Navy has also rushed the ball extremely well against the four best teams on their schedule:

Rutgers
254 yards

Pitt
331 yards

Wake Forest
328 yards

Air Force
302 yards


The Midshipmen are more of a "run by committee" team with no player averaging more than 84 yards per game. And they're doing it with players with the talent of Nebraska's walk-ons. Imagine Zac Lee running the offense, handing off to a committee of RBs like Quentin Castille, Marlon Lucky, Roy Helu, Kenny Wilson, Collins Okafor, Marcus Mendoza etc. And running behind a line that doesn't average about 6'1 and 270 lbs like Navy's does.

There's no guarantee that Johnson would run the same style of offense he does at Navy because he is a coach that will adapt his schemes to the type of players on his roster. However, being able to run the ball at a cold weather (and windy) school like Nebraska is essential.

News Journal discusses upcoming Navy game

This article discusses Navy and Paul Johnson as Navy prepares to play I-AA powerhouse Delaware this weekend:

Navy is hardly a typical I-A program, however. As a service academy, it only admits students who fit Navy's rigorous academic demands. It does not award scholarships, as the academy pays the tuition and room and board of all its midshipmen.

In football, Navy has succeeded at the I-A level largely by perfecting Johnson's signature offense, the triple option.

"They find a weakness on you, and they just exploit it," Delaware coach K.C. Keeler said. "He's a master of how you're trying to stop him, these are things he's now going to attack you with."

Johnson's first Navy squad in 2002 went 2-10 but trounced Army 58-12. His subsequent teams have finished 8-5, 10-2, 8-4 and 9-4, beaten Army and gone to a bowl game.