FSU preps for Tech’s rare flexbone attack
TALLAHASSEE — Georgia Tech will test the physical and mental resolve of FSU’s defense.
It will test its discipline. It will test its ability to consistently keep proper assignments amid chaos. It will test its penchant for tackling in space.
Few teams can present a test like the Yellow Jackets. From the interior to the outer boundary, the Seminoles’ improved run defense will get a chance to see just how good it is against one of the country’s most confounding and complicated offensive attacks.
The unorthodox Flexbone offense Georgia Tech (2-5, 0-4 ACC) runs is an old-school approach that figures to place a lot of pressure on No. 9 FSU (6-0, 4-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“They’re going to try to run the ball, God knows how many times a game,” FSU defensive tackle Nile Lawrence-Stample said. “[If ] everyone plays their keys and does what they have to do, we’ll be fine.”
Georgia Tech runs the ball an average of 50.86 times a game, using mobile quarterback Justin Thomas and a slew of running backs and fullbacks to attack both the interior and exterior of defenses.
That is what makes the Yellow Jackets more dangerous than their record indicates. Coach Paul Johnson forces opponents to play assignment-sound football for four quarters with the intent to either break a team’s confidence with one inside dive after another or to break off big plays stemming from option runs by the quarterback or play-action passes if teams over-commit.
“They’re really good at what they do,” FSU cornerback Marquez White said. “[They’ve] got really elusive players. They do a lot of things that you’re not normally used to seeing, but it’s football. [You’ve] gotta be able to adapt and like I said, I’m looking forward to the challenge. Just coming up, just playing physical.”
FSU’s run defense ranks No. 19 nationally, allowing 113.5 yards per game. It is a drastic improvement from when the Seminoles surrendered an average of 170.14 yards on the ground in 2014.
The turnaround, according to White, comes from the play of FSU’s defensive front. Players like Lawrence-Stample, Derrick Nnadi and Giorgio Newberry have embraced their roles of eating up blocks and making way for linebackers to fly to ball carriers.
Advanced metrics show FSU has been particularly good in short-yardage situations this season, allowing opponents to pick up first downs just 50 percent of the time when facing third-and-2 or less or fourth-and-2 or less. That ranks 15th nationally out of 128 teams.
The apparent strengths of FSU’s defense — tackling well in the open field and winning battles up front — will be tested against Georgia Tech.
The Yellow Jackets like to get Thomas and their athletic backs on the perimeter of the field to create mismatches against smaller cornerbacks, but that’s after they soften up the inside of a defense with fullback runs. Plus Johnson’s team is known for cut blocks — a technique in which offensive linemen attack at defenders knees. The form of blocking is allowed in a limited area at the NCAA level.
This unique approach to the game is uncommon and can be stressful even for toprated defenses.
“It makes it so challenging just because you play a team like that once a year,” Lawrence-Stample said. “If you played that team six or seven times a year, it’d be a lot easier.
“Having to go from you being able to have one type of defense and you’re able to kind of freelance a little bit and make that mistake once in a while, your discipline kind of gets kind of slackish. So having a team to where you can’t do that at all, it obviously creates problems for teams. But I think we’ll be fine.”