Virginia Polly defensive coordinator Bud Foster is generally regarded as one of the finest DC's in the country. Year in & year out, Foster manages to helm a notoriously stingy unit. But Bud has a problem. It's that damn Johnson fellow down in Atlanta who done confounds him with all that triple option shenanigans. Uncle Bud is worried. Very worried. So worried he's begun the search for the Holy Grail, I mean, he's begun traveling all over (Iowa) in search of the magic "formula" or "blueprint" to defeat the mighty spread option. Now most fellows with a few days off & the cheddar Bud totes around might spend their time thinking about women, beer, BBQ, & other such manly pursuits. Not Bud. He went off yonder to Iowa seeking the magic scroll that unlocks the power of the spread option. Somewhere there's a video of Bud Foster sitting at Norm Parker's feet. We want it & will pay well....How do we know this?
ON WHICH COACHING STAFFS AROUND THE COUNTRY HE AND THE DEFENSIVE COACHES HAVE MET WITH THIS OFFSEASON: “Ohio State came here and visited with us. We went to Iowa. It was to specifically talk about Georgia Tech. Georgia came here, but they didn’t really come to talk defense. They visited with our strength staff and wanted to see our 6 a.m. workouts. It was Iowa and Ohio State primarily. Then Sean McDermott of the Philadelphia Eagles came in here, and just the other day – it was a nice, unexpected thing – Gregg Williams of the New Orleans Saints (whose son, Chase is a freshman linebacker at Tech) came in and spent the day with us.”
ON VISITING WITH IOWA, THREE WEEKS AFTER BACK SURGERY, INDICATING HOW DEDICATED HE IS TO SOLVING THE RIDDLE OF GEORGIA TECH’S FLEXBONE OFFENSE (WHICH THE HAWKEYES DID AFTER A MONTH TO PREPARE FOR IT IN THE ORANGE BOWL): “You look at just the history of that offense, the teams that have had success against that team and that offense are teams that control the ball offensively – or bowl teams that have had a month to prepare. It was the same way with us when we played Air Force a few years back. We had a month to get ready. The biggest part is getting your offense to simulate that. And I like what we’re going to and what we’re trying to do to attack that offense, but you can’t just spend a whole spring on just that offense. I’d like to have an open date before them. We have that somewhat this year (11 days off before facing the Yellow Jackets). Those extra couple of days will help. There’s some things we can do schematically that will help us, some things we’ve worked on and studied this offseason. But you can’t do anything physically.”
ON SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON HIS OWN THINKING ABOUT THAT OPTION OFFENSE: “It was the first thing we did after we looked at all our personnel and evaluated our scheme for the year. The first thing we did was look at Georgia Tech. I’m not going to say they’re going to be our chief competition, because North Carolina is playing good football and Miami is always going to be in the mix and Duke is always getting better. But, yeah, the last few years its either been us or them it seems like on our side. I’m hoping we can keep it on that trend.”
So now you know. Uncle Bud got option on his mind. But just in case you wondered what was really going through his head, Frank & I headed up that way to check things out. Well, first we must admit, Bud didn't really have back surgery. You see, we kidnapped uncle Bud & hooked him up to Frank's brain scanner. The first scan was just about what we expected:
Yup, just about what we expected. So off to the sweat lodge with some bourbon & peyote, a little "truth serum" if you will. Bud didn't seem to mind & did graciously offer to bring some moonshine to future get togethers. I'll be damned if the second one wasn't a bit different:
Monty, a ouija board, Jobu, & George Jefferson. Interesting fella, ole' Bud. Sting in the bathtub was a bit disturbing but hey, whatever gets you through the night....Keep searching for that magic blueprint to beat the option, we're sure it's out there. And in the meantime, really, we're not all the way up in your head, we promise........"What's in your head, in your head, Johnson, Johnson......"
Very interesting that the magic bullet is being sought, near and far, and the only thing that seems to work is superior athletic talent and discipline. I wonder what the excuse will be when we have the athletes on the line (we certainly have ample stock of them elsewhere) and they have to actually scheme to beat us...
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