By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA(AP) -- Go ahead and tell Paul Johnson that his throwback
offense can't work at a big-time university.

He's heard it all before.

Heck, he thrives on the skepticism.

"You enjoy proving people wrong," said Johnson, who rarely
smiles but allowed himself a bit of a satisfied smirk when he
considered how many times he's done just that.

Down at Georgia Southern, he took over a program in disarray and
quickly restored it to small-college prominence. Up at Navy, he
proved that a military school could be competitive with the big
boys. And now, in his second year at Georgia Tech, he's winning
with the same ol' regularity in one of the BCS conferences.

The No. 10 Yellow Jackets (8-1, 5-1 ACC) are two wins away from
playing in the league championship game. They've already
achieved their highest ranking since 2001, all this coming on
the heels of a nine-win season in 2008 that went a long way
toward answering all those questions about Johnson's trademark
spread option.

True to his nature, Johnson glosses over all the wins and praise
from his debut season in Atlanta. Instead, he prefers to
remember those handful of haters who cropped up again after
Georgia Tech was blown out by LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl,
supposedly exposing a way to shut down his run-oriented offense.

"It seems that no matter how much success you have, that never
goes away," Johnson said. "They keep saying, 'Next year, they're
going to get you.' Last year, after the LSU game, everyone said,
'That's it. It's over. There's the blueprint.' It's funny. LSU
can hold Florida to 10 points or whatever it was, but it ain't
over for (the Gators)."

Georgia Tech is certainly unique among major colleges, most of
whom use a prostyle offense (better for recruiting quarterbacks
who long to play in the NFL) or some version of the spread that
Florida's Urban Meyer helped popularize.

Johnson's offense is more in line with run-dominated schemes
that were so popular in the 1960s and '70s, like the wishbone
and veer. While Georgia Tech usually lines up only one runner
behind the quarterback, there are two wingbacks on each edge of
the line who essentially serve the same purpose as halfbacks in
those old-style offenses.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt takes the snap and has several options.
He can hand off to the running back up the middle, pitch the
ball to one of his wingbacks (known as A-backs in Johnson-speak)
or just run it himself. Occasionally, Nesbitt drops back for a
pass - a rarely used but often lethal weapon because defenses
usually leave receiver Demaryius Thomas in single coverage.

"We run a lot, but this is actually a good offense for the big
plays," said Thomas, who leads the ACC in receiving yards per
game (91.4). "You've just got to be patient until you get your
chance - and then make a play on it."

Of course, the Yellow Jackets spend most of their time running
the ball, befuddling defenses with a potpourri of pitches and
deception. They're averaging more than 304 yards on the ground
(ranking second nationally) and managed to beat then-No. 4
Virginia Tech while completing only one pass.

"This is something that kind of reminds you of the old Texas
teams and the Oklahoma teams when they were running the
wishbone," said Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, whose team faces
Georgia Tech on Saturday. "You've got a coach in Paul Johnson
who's as good as there's ever been running the triple option,
and you've got all these all-solar system talent guys running
it. It really is scary to watch."

Certainly, much of the credit goes to the man calling the shots.
Johnson has unwavering faith in his offense, so much so that he
seems to take every little snippet of criticism as a personal
affront.

"When you have to answer those same questions every week," he
said, in a moment of self-reflection, "you probably do become
more defensive than you should be."

All those doubters have created a coach who doesn't fit neatly
into one easily defined category. Johnson appears to be
overflowing with confidence in what he does, yet he's driven by
those who believe he can't possibly keep having so much success.
He often comes across as someone who believes he knows a little
bit more than everyone else, but any perceived arrogance is
tempered by the seemingly joyless way Johnson goes about his
work.

No matter what his team does, it never seems quite good enough.

He never seems to take time to savor the triumphs.

"I probably need to do more of that," Johnson acknowledged. "But
it's just not in my nature. I'm always pushing, I guess. I've
always been that way. I don't know why. That's just me."

The biggest challenge at Georgia Tech came at the beginning.
Several players transferred and others considered leaving, and
Johnson just asked everyone to give his offense a chance.

"We had so many people telling these kids it wasn't going to
work, so many people telling them, 'Man, you need to get out of
here. It's not going to fit you,"' he said.

"My experience is when the players are around the offense, when
they practice it and go through it for a while, they're smart
kids. They say, 'Hey, dude, this may be hard to stop if we do it
right."'

Surely, there will come another game when the Yellow Jackets
struggle.

Surely, there will be a skeptic out there who raises questions
about the offense.

Rest assured, Johnson will be listening.