(12-09-2013 12:25 PM)gsu2583 Wrote:  Here's the thing that worries me most about the option at the FBS level.

BOWL GAMES: For instance:

GaTech is 1-4 in bowl games running the option.
Navy is 3-6 in recent bowl games running the option.
Air Force is 3-5 in bowl games going back to 2000 (though I'm not sure if they were running the option that whole span.)

One a week-to-week basis, the option is a great way to seriously jack up some defenses. BUT, with 2-4 weeks of prep between the last game of a season and a bowl game, the opposing team has PLENTY of time to prep for the option. Hell, in FCS playoffs, it's still a week-to-week deal.

I think we will have some pretty decent success in the regular season, but Bowl Games will be a great big pain in the ass (if we get to any.)

Biggest issue with GT in bowl games was being outmatched by LSU and Iowa, and then defensive/special teams collapses in the other games. One of the Air Force games that they won was against GT.

Also, some guys for the GT SB Nation blog did some looking into this last year and tried to identify a correllation between time to prepare and offensive production....and they couldn't find it. More important was the QUALITY of defense they face. The LSU and Iowa defenses they faced were far and above better than any of the other ones they faced. Here's a link to the post. http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2012/8/...ple-option

They lost to Air Force 14-7 on some pretty big Special Teams plays late in the game. It makes sense that game would be a low scoring affair all around since they both know the offense inside and out. You tend to see that when 2 option teams go against each other. Against Utah they were up by a couple of touchdowns until the defense broke and let the Utes tie it and take it to OT. GT couldn't keep up at that point. Then in 2012, they ran all over USC who had Monte Kiffin as their DC.....if he couldn't get his guys ready in time to stop the TO then who would? Their defense was just bad all around.

So basically, the important thing here is, a good defense should stop the offense no matter how much time they have to prepare. All about execution.