Greensboro, N.C. — Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said it wasn't a surprise that Jonathan Dwyer was voted the ACC's preseason player of the year by the media on Monday.
“He earned it on the field,” Johnson said. “There are great players in the league but from a stats standpoint, who would it be other than Jon?”
Dwyer rushed for 1,395 yards and 12 touchdowns to win the player of the year award last season. He received 39 of a possible 87 votes, 11 more than the runner-up, Clemson running back C.J. Spiller.
Last year’s preseason player of the year, Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper, wound up leading the league in passing yards, but the Tigers finished 7-6 and coach Tommy Bowden was fired at midseason.
Options on the Option
There was no consensus on when coaches in the conference said they would like to play Georgia Tech and its unique-to-the-ACC spread-option offense.
Coaches and players say Tech is a pain to prepare for, even more so for Clemson, which will have just three days of game-planning between its season-opener on Sept. 5 and its date with the Jackets on Thursday, Sept. 10.
Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said his team spent time during spring workouts on the fundamentals of defending the option and will spend more in August on the same. However, he said he has to win the opener against Middle Tennessee State first.
FSU coach Bobby Bowden said he wishes he never had to play against it, but since the teams meet on Oct. 10 in Tallahassee, he would prefer to play the Jackets early, or have an open date the week before. FSU plays Boston College on Oct. 3.
Miami coach Randy Shannon said he prefers to play option teams early in the season, when there’s a chance they “are not going on all cylinders. If they start early on all cylinders, it’s going to be tough.” He would know; Tech amassed 518 yards against his Hurricanes last season in November. They meet this year on Thursday, Sept. 17 in Miami.
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said it doesn’t matter when they play.
“This point in time, with those kids in the system a year, when you play them isn’t the issue,” Beamer said. “How you beat them is the issue. They’ve got good players and their coaches know what they’re doing.”
The Jackets and Hokies will play in Atlanta on Oct. 17.
Familiarity breeds not much
As has been the theme of the offseason, Johnson was asked repeatedly and in various ways if the 38-3 loss to LSU in the Chick-fil-A bowl gave opponents a blueprint on how to stop Tech’s offense.
His answer: when a team that runs a pro-style offense gets shut out, does that become the blueprint on how to stop the pro offense? Will the team with the pro-style offense never score again?
He said giving up 21 points in the second quarter on special teams errors is what beat the Jackets that night.
Johnson also parried questions about how facing the same teams again might breed success against his offense. He said if that were true, then Army-Navy would always end 0-0.
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