GA News: OnlineAthens - UGA defense sees benefit of facing option-offense for second straight

TideFans Reporter

Click for Real-Time Bama News
Sep 21, 2006
167,258
105
0
From OnlineAthens.com
November 27th, 2015 06:19 AM

Preparing to defend Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense can present challenges for teams in a regular game week.
Georgia at least has the luxury of having just gone up against Georgia Southern’s own option offense before facing the Yellow Jackets on Saturday.
“I won’t say I like it,” Georgia cornerback Malkom Parrish said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it all, but it prepares me. I like the preparation, but I don’t like the cut blocking at all.”
Outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins welcomes the back-to-back Georgia Southern-Georgia Tech games to end the regular season, particularly because he was sidelined by injury during Georgia’s open date in October when he said the defense spent time working on some of its prep for Georgia Tech and Georgia Southern.
“It definitely was good seeing that offense and remembering how to play against it,” Jenkins said of last week’s 23-17 overtime win. “It’s definitely a huge, huge advantage for us coming into this game. … It just helps out so much getting that extra work early.”
The Yellow Jackets run their option offense under center. Georgia Southern operates out of the shotgun and relies more on zone blocking.
“Somewhat it will help them just because of the assignment,” said Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz, whose team lost to Georgia Tech last season 42-38. “Someone on the dive, quarterback, pitch. Really, I don’t know all the background in scheduling. I’ve only been here a couple of years. I think originally it was intended for an under-center, triple-option like Georgia Tech runs and what we used to run before I got here. In that regard, there’s quite a bit of difference between the two teams.”
What’s not different is the reliance on the run.
Georgia Southern attempts the third fewest pass attempts nationally per game. Georgia Tech is fifth.
“It definitely gets us used to it,” said outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, who had a career-high 12 tackles and 3 1/2 for loss last Saturday. “As a defense, everybody has to do their job. You can’t do somebody else’s job. That’s how a lane opens up when you play those Wing-T type teams.”
Georgia held Georgia Southern to 277 total yards of offense and the nation’s top ranked rushing team to 233, which was 145 below their average.
“They stretch you from sideline to sideline and guys got to play off blocks on the perimeter and make some plays, so it’s got to help hopefully,” Georgia defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt said. “There are some things we can take away from it. We have to do a better job on the perimeter, we let some balls out on us. We were fortunate on a couple of others that were close to getting out on us.”
Said coach Mark Richt: “The fundamentals of defeat blocks the fundamentals of being responsible for gaps, the fundamentals of assignment football when it comes to option, those things do carry over. But they do it just different enough where it’s not like, let’s do it exactly like we did last week. It’s not like that.
Georgia players are on even higher alert this week to avoid cut blocks, legal blocks below the waist.
“If you stay on your feet, you can make plays,” Parrish said. “You can’t make plays on your stomach.”
Georgia Tech beat Georgia in overtime last year, but the Yellow Jackets are averaging 89 yards less per game, scoring 6.6 fewer points and are down 80.3 yards per game rushing from last season.
“Most of the things that we’ve seen this year are not new,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said of what defenses are doing against his team. “It’s not like we’ve seen anybody play us any differently. In fact, most everybody’s played us the same as they did last year.”
Johnson views the Bulldogs last two opponents — not just Georgia Southern — as having some similar styles on offense.
“They really played three option teams in a row if you want to count,” he said. “That’s what Auburn is really. …You know, they’ve played against us. We’ve played against them. I don’t think there will be a whole lot of change. They played three fronts against us last year, that’s what they play against everybody. Nobody is going to reinvent the wheel in three days.”


...READ MORE HERE...
 

New Posts

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.