Why Rich Rodriguez Should Be Earning Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson a Raise

Rich Rodriguez is an unhappy man.

A seriously unhappy man.

A get an audit notice from the IRS, and find out there's no Santa on Christmas Eve unhappy kind of man.

This, of course, means there are an entire state of Ohioans with the general disposition of a man who just won the lottery twice.

But of all the fans that should find immense reasons to cheer in the Big House-sized egg Rodriguez's spread-like-Ebola offense has laid in Ann Arbor, none should be giddier than Georgia Tech fans.

There, but by the grace of the triple option, go thee.

If Georgia Tech first-year coach Paul Johnson seems like an unlikely beneficiary for the glow of the flames of Michigan's season, that too, is fitting.

An unfailingly polite coach who likley changes the sheets on his own bed and leaves a mint for the maid and peppers his conversation with phrases like "happier than a pig in slop," Johnson is an unlikely star on the big stage of college football.

He's about as menacing as your accountant, but through nine games this season, Paul Johnson is the baddest coach on the first year block. Alan Dershowitz couldn't make the argument better than simply pointing to Rodriguez' contentious stumbles.

Both coaches entered difficult situations, trying to implement radically different systems onto personnel recruited for skills that might as well be jai-alai.

For Rodriguez and Johnson it was like trying to build a stock car out of four wheels, a door and a cupholder.

Johnson turned out a speed demon that starts 14 freshmen, but that's eighth in the nation in rushing yards, second in the ACC in total offense, is 8-3 with wins over Florida State , Boston College and a nationally televised tattooing of Miami Thursday night.

Rodriguez is 3-8 and was buried in turn four by Toledo.

Both teams lost their starting quarterbacks in the offseason. Traditional drop-back passers Ryan Mallett left Michigan while Taylor Bennett departed from Georgia Tech. Both teams lost star running backs who led their league in rushing. Both teams had to rebuild their offensive lines – the Jackets lost their all-ACC center and both guards and their best returning offensive lineman, Trey Dunmon, transferred; Michigan lost a host of talent to the NFL and its best returning offensive lineman, Justin Boren, transferred to Ohio State. James Johnson, the Yellow Jackets' 13th-leading touchdown catcher in history, just up and quit football.

What talent did remain among the Yellow Jackets' 70 scholarship players has been hit by injury. Starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt missed two games and all put a handful of plays in a third. The offensive line has been wrecked with ailments as though somebody shot a cannon ball right down the trenches.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, inherited the expectations that go with being college's biggest brother, a resume with more wins than any program and fan base that even a win over Florida in the Capital One Bowl couldn't placate.

Johnson took over a program that burrowed itself in mediocrity and plumbed the depths of 7-5 the way Ken Burns worked the Civil War.

And while the Rambling Wreck rolls, Michigan fans are sorer than all those legs getting chop-blocked by Georgia Tech's linemen.

This may not exactly be the season of destiny that they'll make films about and cast a Jonas Brother as a plucky but determined B back. Even with the win over Miami, a trip to the ACC title game requires more twists and turns than a Sarah Palin sentence (the Jackets would need North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Virginia to lose another game), but, unlike Michigan's postseason bowl hopes, it's still alive.

But the Jackets are in the conversation and on their way to a bowl. That alone should earn the coach a round of applause.

The work he and 28-year coaching veteran Dave Wommack have done with the defense should earn him a standing ovation. Despite losing star linebackers Philip Wheeler and Gary Guyton, now both in the NFL and abandoning ex-defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta's blitz-heavy packages, the Yellow Jackets have improved from 20th in the nation in total defense to 14th and still average nearly three sacks a game.

It might be overly generous to credit Johnson entirely for a front four that's the best argument in football for quarterbacks to buckle down on whatever they're majoring in since Ryan Leaf's career, or at least to learn to accessorize with bruise purple, but even if Johnson hasn't reinvented the wheel on defense, give him credit for knowing the darn thing rolls when vertical, not horizontal.

And there have been problems in Johnson's first year, like the dreary spring game that looked more like the new offense was the New Jersey Devils' trap instead of the triple-option. And there's the 17 fumbles lost that rank 118th in college football out of 119 teams. (Johnson, the former Navy coach, is sticking it to Army again. The Black Knights are dead last with 21 fumbles lost). But few of the problems relate to his offense. Even the fumbles have been concentrated on muffed punts and the mundane aspects of the offense like snaps under center, rather than the mesh or the option pitch-catches.

And when you run the football 79.3 percent of the time, you just can't make an omelet without fumbling an egg or two.

And Johnson, should you ask him, would be more than happy to provide a list of problems that's laundry list long – assuming you're cleaning clothes for every fan in Bobby Dodd Stadium. The third down percentage allowed is too high. His quarterback hasn't progressed enough to allow the Jackets to mount a credible running threat. His offensive line at times couldn't find a blocking assignment if it had a GPS locator.

But you better believe there are push-ups and up-downs like something out of a Parris Island drill seargent's dream.

Still, once glance north might make these problems seem a little inconsequential.

While the Yellow Jackets are only wondering which bowl they'll go to, the Wolverines are staring at their longest offseason in school history.

Paul Johnson and the Georgia Tech faithful are one big bunch of smiles.

And Rich Rodriguez is very, very unhappy.