Grobe Knows the Option All Too Well
Jim Grobe sounded almost wistful the other day when he was discussing the triple option offense that Georgia Tech will run against his Deacons this Saturday in Atlanta. Grobe knows the offense well, from having been an assistant coach at Air Force before installing the option upon taking over as head coach at Ohio University.
He remembers all the fun he had.
“I’ve got to tell you, it drives me crazy because we used to do that to people and now they’re doing that to us,’’ Grobe said.
Grobe said recently he aways felt it was almost like cheating. When you run an offense that almost no one else does, and it’s an offense as deadly efficient as the triple option, then there’s no way a defense can be ready for everything it will face. Wake Forest has played Navy, a vaunted option team, four times in the last three years, and still Grobe is wary about what he will have to stop Saturday.
“The thing is, they execute it 12 months a year and we get four days to try to execute (against) it,’’ Grobe said. “One of the things we pride ourselves on defensively is being a well-coached defense, but to think you’re going to out-technique guys who do something that you never see except for a couple of times a year. . .
“Our kids are used to seeing it, but they’re not used to seeing this talent running it.’‘
Johnson has surprised some with the success he has enjoyed at Georgia Tech, which has won six and a row and is currently ranked No. 10 at 8-1 overall and 5-1 in the ACC. Grobe doesn’t understand why.
“Everybody who runs it has success,’’ Grobe said. “To think he wouldn’t have success at Georgia Tech is ridiculous. I’m not sure anybody expected him to have the success that he’s had, the kind of over-the-top kind of success he’s had. But he’s wearing people out with that offense.
“It’s a unique thing that nobody else does. When you’re the only show it town it makes it really hard for people to get ready for.’‘
All of which begs the question of whether Grobe will ever install the triple option at Wake Forest. I doubt he will, at least not anytime soon.. It obviously takes the right kind of players, especially at quarterback, and the two quarterbacks most likely to compete for the chance to succeed Riley Skinner, freshman Brendan Cross and redshirt freshman Ted Stachitas, both appear to be better suited for a multiple offense. But I’m sure an ace in the hole is the possibility he could plug a speedster like Skylar Jones in the position and go back to all the fun he had at Air Force and Ohio.