After Duke's win over Virginia Saturday, a reporter told nose guard Clifford Respress that the Blue Devils' next opponent, Georgia Tech, was basically the Navy offense with ACC-caliber athletes.
Then he asked him what he expected, and Respress was quick to respond.
"The Navy offense with ACC-caliber athletes," he said with a chuckle.
The Yellow Jackets will, in fact, closely resemble the triple-option attack of the Midshipmen. After all, Paul Johnson, the man who sketched the blueprints for the Navy offense, is Georgia Tech's first-year head coach.
After Johnson's hiring last winter, critics were skeptical that his triple option could be successful in a major BCS conference. In the triple option, the quarterback lines up under the center and has the option to keep the ball and run it himself. The wide receivers line up as slotbacks who are more likely to receive a pitch and run it up the field than they are to go deep on a passing route. And the fullback lines up behind the quarterback and is the first option to receive the handoff.
So far, the naysayers have been silenced.
The Yellow Jackets are 3-1, and their one loss was a 20-17 heartbreaker on a late field goal to No. 20 Virginia Tech.
Johnson's squad has picked up the new offensive scheme relatively quickly. Georgia Tech is second in the ACC in total offense and has racked up 379 more yards on the ground than any other ACC team. In a trait typical of the run-oriented triple-option offense, the Yellow Jackets are last in passing offense and attempt fewer than 12 passes per contest.
Even the Georgia Tech players admit to being equally surprised at their success.
"I guess if you had asked me [if the 3-1 start is a surprise] before the season, I might have said, 'Yes,'" senior offensive lineman Andrew Gardner said. "But as we headed into each game, I felt like we could win, and during each game I feel like we're going to win. I feel I speak for the entire team when I say we go into each game feeling that we're going to come out with a win."
One big break for the Yellow Jackets this week was fortuitous scheduling. They are coming off a much-needed bye week, in which they were able to rest key injured players, including starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt. Nesbitt suffered a hamstring injury on the first drive of Georgia Tech's Sept. 20 tilt with Mississippi State and had to leave the game.
Johnson is hoping Nesbitt is ready to go with an extra week's rest-he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Nesbitt would not have been able to play in a game last week-but freshman quarterback Jaybo Shaw proved himself an effective leader of the offense in the 38-7 victory over the Bulldogs.
Johnson will not reveal the starter until the game, he told reporters Wednesday.
In addition to their injury woes under center, the Yellow Jackets are lacking depth in most areas. In his press conference Tuesday, Johnson said his team could not afford to have an offensive lineman get hurt, and Georgia Tech has already been working on teaching players multiple positions.
All of that is just music to the ears of Respress and the rest of the Duke defense. They already planned on playing a physical contest anyway.
"It's going to be fun," Respress said Saturday. "We are going to have to hit them in the mouth every play for 60 minutes. Just hit them, hit them and hit them. Everybody has a plan until they get hit. So if we come out and hit them in the mouth, they will probably start wearing down in the second half just like most teams do."
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