Johnson's big spread means big production for Tech

ATLANTA (AP) -The question arose even before Paul Johnson was introduced as Georgia Tech coach in December: Would he continue to use the triple-option offense that worked so well for him at Navy?

The answer was yes, which led to more questions.

What's an A-back? What's a B-back? What's a spread option, Johnson's preferred moniker for the offense?

But the one question that really irritated Johnson: Could the scheme that thrived at Georgia Southern and Navy have success in a BCS conference such as the Atlantic Coast Conference?

"That's the thing that's hilarious, 'At this level,' " Johnson said before the season. "I mean, what? Are we in the NFC East?"

After six games, most of the remaining questions about Johnson's offense are from opposing defensive coordinators. Such as, "How do we stop this thing?"

Georgia Tech, which plays at Clemson on Saturday, is 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, including a win at Boston College in Johnson's conference debut.

Georgia Tech is eighth in the nation in rushing at 255 yards per game even after its only poor performance, 79 yards rushing in last week's ugly 10-7 win against Gardner-Webb.

"Certainly you can tell he feels vindicated a little bit," offensive tackle Andrew Gardner said Tuesday. "He had to answer a million questions about can he be successful and certainly we've shown in some games we can be and we've beaten some good teams. You can see he's pleased when it works and it comes together."

The Gardner-Webb game can be dismissed as an aberration. The Yellow Jackets may have been looking ahead to Clemson. More important, they were without their top two quarterbacks, Josh Nesbitt and Jaybo Shaw, and the offense fell flat.

"When you're beat up and you're playing with some backup guys and you come out that way, you're going to struggle," Johnson said. "I don't care who you play."

Nesbitt and Shaw are both back this week. Nesbitt, who strained a hamstring on the first possession of the Yellow Jackets' 38-7 win against Mississippi State on Sept. 20, is expected to start. Shaw, a freshman who led Georgia Tech to 438 yards rushing and 500 total yards against Mississippi State, should be ready, too.

For all Georgia Tech's success, the Yellow Jackets don't believe the offense has peaked.