After summer’s worth of worry, Gibson enters final week of option preparation

COMMENTARY

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On the gauges of hype, dread and fan-ticipation, West Virginia’s opener versus 20-point underdog Georgia Southern doesn’t come near last year’s game against Alabama.

Where Tony Gibson is concerned, however, you’d think he was Bruce Willis trying to detonate a nuclear bomb on an asteroid.

Gibson’s second season as West Virginia’s defensive coordinator begins with a task unfamiliar and therefor unsettling. He hasn’t game-planned to stop an option offense since September 2005, when Wofford came to Morgantown. (A day that ultimately proved satisfying as WVU trimmed the Terriers to 1.7 yards per carry.)

Gibby isn’t dusting off that decade-old game film. Georgia Southern’s option system isn’t the double-wing, under-center version used by Wofford or Navy or Georgia Tech—or even previous teams at Georgia Southern. Instead it’s based out of spread formations, an evolution coach Willie Fritz began making at Sam Houston State in 2010 when quality offensive linemen were scarce.

“Their option system is totally different,” said Gibson. “These guys are in the shotgun, and to the fans, when they line up it will look like any other team. Then they start the motion and go unbalanced and guys are cross-crossing.”

Alabama boasted massive linemen, two future NFL running backs and a Biletnikoff winner. Still, preparing for the Tide’s pro-style system was much easier than Georgia Southern’s, Gibson said.

He phoned contacts throughout the coaching industry for advice on defending the option, though none had faced the “Fritzkrieg.” Then, during the early days of camp, West Virginia made the unprecedented move of taking time away from its basic installations to focus on scouting Georgia Southern—principles that will be essentially useless after Week 1.

“Nobody does what they’re doing,” Gibson said.

Then again, few defenses do what West Virginia’s 3-3-5 does, which should make the early series next Saturday night ripe for adjustments, maybe even outright panic.

“We’ll know about 7:40 p.m.,” Gibson said.

Even though Georgia Southern lost starting quarterback Kevin Ellison to a two-game academic suspension, backup Fabian Upshaw owns ample game experience. Then there’s the kid who really puts defensive coaches on alert—junior running back Matt Brieda. His 8.7 yards per carry topped the nation last season. He scored 17 touchdowns, five from beyond 60 yards.

“He may be one of the best running backs we face all year at hitting the hole and taking it the distance,” said West Virginia cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell. “That kid can do it.”

“May be the fastest tailback we play all year,” added Gibson. “Reminds me a lot of Wendell (Smallwood).”

If such concern seems overblown for a Sun Belt program in only Year 2 of FBS status, recall that an FCS version of the Eagles won at Florida in 2013. And before that, in 2011, GSU ran for 302 yards on a BCS-champion Alabama defense that allowed only 53 yards to its other 12 opponents.

“You have to prepare all summer for them,” Gibson said. “I’m glad they’re first on the schedule and not second or third or fourth.”

Now the professional worrier is down to one final week of preparation, at the end of which we’ll learn whether Georgia Southern was an exaggerated threat or a full-fledged asteroid.

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