Iowa's defense toward Ga. Tech: Respectful

IOWA CITY - Barring bolts from the blue sea of south Florida, the most-reported angle of next week's Orange Bowl will be how Iowa's defense of renown will cope with Georgia Tech's offense of repute.

That's the flexbone, triple option, spread option, veer option, dot-dot-dot, dee-dee-dee, drive-you-nuts offense.

It's the most complex simple attack in football. It involves just a handful of different plays. But when a defense adjusts to take away one aspect, something else is left wide open.

Then the fun begins, if you're Georgia Tech, with a quarterback in Josh Nesbitt who has the smarts and skills to make the right calls and carry them out.

This may be oversimplifying Paul Johnson's Tech offense by a lot, but basically: Nesbitt has a running back lined up behind him. He's called the “B back.” That's Jonathan Dwyer, who has 1,346 rushing yards. On the outside of each offensive tackle are “A backs.” Two receivers are split wide. There is no tight end.

Nesbitt either hands off to Dwyer, pitches to an A back, keeps it himself and runs (he has 991 rushing yards), or passes. Tech does all four things with aplomb, though it throws less than once every five plays.

It has added up to 442.7 yards and 35.3 points per game, both ranking 11th in the nation. It also adds up to ball-control. The Yellow Jackets lead the nation in time of possession with 34:18 per game, 30 seconds more than anyone else and 3:26 more than Iowa.

That's why, when asked last week to describe what they've seen on film from Georgia Tech, Iowa's defenders spoke with earnest praise. I'm letting them write the rest of this column.

“You can't do too much at your position,” defensive end Adrian Clayborn said, meaning you can't buzz around all over the place like you can against some foes. “You've got to sit there and wait for it.”

“It's going to take a disciplined defense,” said safety Brett Greenwood, “and we've got to really study the film.”

“The whole offense, the way they execute, they hit it fast,” linebacker A.J. Edds said. “They know exactly what they want to do and how they want to do it. There's no second-guessing once they get going. They come at you.”

“It's a little complicated, a little complex,” Clayborn said. “We're learning it slowly. It's going to be a task, but we're getting it done.”

“We're going to have to get to the point where we can just react and play, not think,” said linebacker Pat Angerer. “If you're thinking, it's taking too long and they're running down the field.”

“The timing and the way that it hits, it's a totally whole different beast from what else you see,” Edds said.

“It's going to be making sure we're aware they can pass it,” Greenwood said. “They like to run, run, run, then pull it back and throw it. That's what they're looking for, to get that big play.”

“They've got an NFL wide receiver (Demaryius Thomas), I think,” Angerer said. “And their quarterback can run and throw. It's tough. It's going to be a big challenge for us.”

“All season we played against teams where you got to be on your P's and Q's all game, but nothing like this, though,” Clayborn said. “I haven't played against the option since high school. I'm glad we've got a couple of weeks to get prepared for it.”

Greenwood was an option quarterback at Pleasant Valley High. He rushed for 109 yards in a state playoff game.

“I don't know how much it will help me,” Greenwood said. “I ran it a little bit in high school, but this is a higher level, different speed.”

“It will definitely be pretty cool to see how fast it actually is,” Angerer said.