Mississippi State cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend has never coached against an option offense like Georgia Tech’s, nor did he ever play against one, even in high school. Also, outside of scrimmages, he has never called plays.
But Wednesday night in the Orange Bowl, he’ll be doing both.
There’s a first for everything, Townsend said Monday, “and what better stage to have your first opportunity than the Orange Bowl?”
Performing Townsend’s baptism by veer block will be Tech coach Paul Johnson. The No. 12 Yellow Jackets, seeking any edge over No. 7 Mississippi State as they seek to capture an 11th win for just the fifth time in school history, could have a significant one in the tactical matchup between Tech’s offense and the Bulldogs defense.
“The bottom line is, you’re not going to out-scheme Paul Johnson,” former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said Monday. “He’s too good at it.”
Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen assigned Townsend play-calling responsibilities after former coordinator Geoff Collins left for the same position at Florida in mid-December. Townsend has four years of coaching experience, two as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Arizona Cardinals and the past two seasons with Mississippi State.
Johnson, meanwhile, has been calling plays for his spread-option offense since 1985, when he was offensive coordinator at Georgia Southern, a span of 29 seasons and 390 games. He is renowned among peers for his play-calling acumen. Tech is in its second Orange Bowl in six years after not playing in a major bowl game since the 1966 season due in no small part to Johnson’s ability to break down defenses and dial up touchdown plays.
“Paul is one of the brightest coaches I’ve ever been around,” Miami coach Al Golden said earlier this season. “To me, he looks at it like a chess game.”
Speaking at the bowl media day at Sun Life Stadium, Townsend acknowledged the same. Townsend, who played 13 years in the NFL as a defensive back, compared him to quarterbacking luminaries Peyton Manning and Drew Bledsoe, “where, so many formations you give those guys, they’ve seen it. It’s kind of the same way with Coach Johnson and thinking that he’s seen the formations, the alignments. He’s seen about all he can see.”
Mullen, who calls the Bulldogs’ offensive plays, said he considered running the defense himself before giving the duty to Townsend. Mullen has worked with Townsend in bowl preparation to hep him get a sense of the play-calling rhythm he’ll need Wednesday night.
They’ve gone over plans to shift to different parts of the game plan when the Yellow Jackets emphasize certain plays. They have watched game video together, with Mullen quizzing Townsend for his answers to different scenarios.
“Hey, second-and-8, they’ve just run the dive for two yards,” Mullen said. “What’s your call?”
To develop a foundation, Townsend said he “went as far back as I could” to watch video of Johnson’s teams. He has spoken with colleagues with experience facing the offense and relied heavily on Mullen and Mississippi State’s other defensive assistants. Mullen has a unique perspective. The Bulldogs’ offense has option elements in it, some of it culled from time spent with Johnson when Mullen was an assistant to Urban Meyer at Utah and Johnson was at Navy. Coincidentally, Mullen’s first experience as a play-caller was in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl after Meyer had been hired at Florida, a 35-7 win for the Utes over Pittsburgh.
Townsend was respectful of Johnson but undaunted.
“As a competitor, you look for as many challenges as you can get,” he said. “You want to be the one that puts yourself out there with the opportunity to fail or succeed.”
Townsend has the benefit of being able to call plays for a defensive front that is among the best that the Jackets will have played. The Bulldogs defense, featuring All-American linebacker Benardrick McKinney, is ranked in the top 30 nationally in passing efficiency and yards per rush and No. 1 in red-zone defense.
“What you’ve got to do is be sound in your scheme and get off blocks,” Grobe said. “If you can’t, you’re in trouble. You’re not competing with your scheme. You’ve got to beat him with better players.”
For his part, Johnson was typically nonplussed.
“I don’t worry about that,” he said. “I’ve got enough to worry about me calling the game.”
