Commentary: Napier hopes history repeats vs. Ga. Tech coach

CLEMSON — GIVE CLEMSON OFFENSIVE coordinator Billy Napier another crack at a Paul Johnson-coached team, and he's perfect.

In 2001, Napier was a junior starting quarterback at Furman. In the regular season against Johnson's Georgia Southern team, Napier threw two interceptions and had a fumble in a 20-10 loss.

The teams met again in the Division I-AA playoff semifinals, and Napier tied a school record for consecutive completions, going 12-of-12 for 159 yards and a touchdown as Furman won 24-17 to snap Georgia Southern's 39-game home winning streak. Johnson became Navy's coach days later.

The rest of the ACC can only hope Johnson gets whisked away by another employer after his next same-season rematch, Saturday's ACC championship in Tampa, Fla., between his Georgia Tech squad and Clemson.

Johnson's flexbone option offense is a nightmare to prepare for because no other big-time programs rely on it anymore - a source of frustration for Dabo Swinney, whose staff has had short weeks to prepare for the Yellow Jackets the two times they've squared off.

Georgia Tech's offense is all the more reason Swinney believes the Tigers will have no problem moving beyond Saturday's 34-17 embarrassment at USC.

"We have to turn the page quickly because we're really preparing for the red gumball-type of offense," Swinney said. "It's so different from what we've just faced."

As unconventional as Johnson's offense is regarded to be, will Clemson have an advantage because of facing it on Sept. 10 in Atlanta? Clemson has never played the same opponent twice in a season.

And for Georgia Tech - which won that game 30-27 - is it in fact more difficult to beat the same opponent twice in the same season? The past two years, Virginia Tech beat Boston College in the ACC championship after losing to the Eagles in the regular season.

Both coaches have rematches in their coaching background. In 1999, Swinney was an assistant at Alabama when the Crimson Tide beat Florida 40-39 in overtime during the regular season, then crushed the Gators 34-7 in the SEC title game. Johnson's Georgia Southern squad lost that Furman rematch in 2001, but it had beaten Appalachian State a week earlier for a two-game season sweep.

Clemson will have a better feel for what Georgia Tech does. And Georgia Tech will have a feel for how the Tigers defended the option the first time around.

After Anthony Allen's 82-yard touchdown run on Georgia Tech's second play from scrimmage, the Tigers held the Yellow Jackets' running game in check for most of the final three quarters.

But Georgia Tech adjusted on its final two drives, and quarterback Josh Nesbitt racked up chunks of yardage by reading Clemson's defensive linemen with its series of midline option plays.

Swinney contends both teams will benefit from knowing one another's personnel, while Johnson insisted this game's dynamic could change because both coaching staffs have a sense of the other team's strengths and vulnerabilities.

As Johnson points out, the Yellow Jackets had no idea what Clemson would bring to the table under its pair of first-year coordinators.

"Ain't no guarantee everybody's going to line up the same way and do the same thing," Johnson said.