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USC had Student Body Right. Syracuse has its Freeze Option. And Miami has a staple play that might be the most unstoppable of all. It's called 46 Power-O and it's the play that tailback Willis McGahee has built a Heisman campaign around.
|  | | Willis powers the Power-O |
Like the best classic plays, it's nothing fancy: just an off-tackle handoff to the strong side. The fullback kicks out the defensive end. The tight end crashes down on the C-gap and the backside guard pulls to clean up the linebacker. "It's one read [for the back], then it's all downhill," says Temple DC Ray Monica. "And if you do have it closed off, then he bounces it outside."
The Canes have been running it for years. From Edgerrin James to James Jackson to Clinton Portis to Frank Gore, 46 Power-O has been the backbone of Miami's offense, but it might be even more dangerous now, with McGahee -- the fastest man in UM history -- running it.
McGahee practically got all of his 204 yards rushing against Florida on 46 Power-O. "It was amazing to watch the film," says Monica, who played Miami the week after the Gators. "He just ran right through Florida."
Monica says he was pretty pleased with how his team coped with McGahee, holding him to 134 yards and four TDs.
"You make one slight mistake with him and he burns you because he's got so much speed," says Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, whose team surrendered 187 yards to McGahee Nov. 2, including a 68-yard scamper off 46 Power-O. "But he also has the patience. When he spots that opening he gets vertical so fast. He's got legit track speed at 228 lbs., so when you see him you get visions of Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson."
Todd Graham, West Virginia's defensive coordinator, was equally impressed with McGahee's power. "The thing people really don't realize about him is that he's such a strong runner," says Graham. "He breaks so many tackles."
How to weaken 46 Power-O? Coaches say load nine in the box and have your inside 'backers attack. Graham says they even loaded 10 men in the box. "Our No. 1 goal was to stop the run, and we kept harping to our guys 'Get as many tacklers around him as possible.' We just tried to get more than they could block and then make him run east and west."
Of course, Graham adds, when you do that, you invite -- okay, dare -- Miami's other Heisman hopeful, Ken Dorsey, to beat you because you're pretty much stuck in man coverage or playing cover-3.
NOTES
Maurice Clarett and Mike Doss got most of the headlines early this year, but no Buckeye has had a better season than MLB Matt Wilhelm, who is the biggest reason why Ohio State has gone from having the 50th-ranked run defense to the nation's fourth-best run-stuffing unit. The 6'5", 245-pound Wilhelm is unusually tall for a Mike linebacker (the tallest MLB in the NFL is Ted Johnson at 6'4", while most of the other middle men are around 6-feet), but Buckeye LB coach Mark Snyder raves about his guy's development. "He's really improved as a blitzer and in his ability to change direction and come to balance on wide receivers in the open field," says Snyder. The other reason why Wilhelm has emerged as a Butkus frontrunner is because he has become a much surer tackler. He has missed fewer than 10 tackles this season, about 40 less than he did by this point last season.
It's been a crazy year for Denver Broncos safety Kenoy Kennedy, who has been nailed several times by the NFL for his vicious hits. But his kid brother, Booger Kennedy, a 5'9", 312-pound NT at North Texas, is making a rep of his own this fall. Last weekend, Booger had six TFLs to lead the Mean Green to its third consecutive shutout. On the year, Kennedy has 21 tackles behind the line, despite facing constant double teams. Not bad for a guy who Arkansas (Kenoy's alma mater) deemed too short to offer a scholarship to.
With all the chaos around Michigan State the past few weeks, it's been easy for Spartan recruiting targets to get lost. Tyrone Moss, widely considered the top prep tailback in the South, didn't even know fired MSU coach Bobby Williams wasn't finishing out the year till we talked to him Thursday night. "Man, things are just crazy up there," said the 5'11", 215-pounder. "The thing about Michigan State was I really loved all the coaches there. Coach Williams is a real good guy. I was looking forward to playing for him."
Two weeks ago, Moss (still considering UNC, Va. Tech, Miami and MSU) visited UNC and loved his weekend in Chapel Hill: "It was great. The school has great academics and the coaches and players were really cool. And the place just felt like home."
A source tells The Magazine to forget about those up-and-comers, the guy who will be the next head coach at Michigan State is former Ga. Tech assistant George O'Leary. "He's a proven, tough, hard-nosed discipline guy and pretty much the complete opposite of Bobby Williams," says the source, "and that's exactly what they're looking for because they know they have a real mess there. He would clean it up. And he's a George Perles type guy."
O'Leary, a Minnesota Vikings assistant, told The Magazine Tuesday he is just going to wait till December and see what openings are out there. "I always believed that if people have the interest in you, they'll find you," said O'Leary. "But I do miss the college scene and all the camaraderie."
Although it's a safe bet that college football is going to lose a bunch of the huge, fast wideouts in the game early to the NFL (Charles Rogers, Andre Johnson, Roy Williams, Kelley Washington), the new kids seem to be doing just fine. The two best rookie receivers are USC's Mike Williams and Pitt's Larry Fitzgerald. Both are huge targets who attack passes like they're rebounders. It's a toss-up as to who is better, although it'd be hard to pick against Fitzgerald. He already might be better than former Panther Biletnikoff winner Antonio Bryant. "He killed us," Temple's Monica says of the 6'4", 215-pound frosh from Minnesota. "He beat us on one play where we knew exactly what was coming. We called it. We knew they were going to him on a fade route and he still got it. He's really something else. He's very tall, can jump and has just great ball skills." The scoring catch was the fourth in two games for Fitzgerald, who made three in a 28-22 upset of then-No. 3 Virginia Tech last week.
Jason Gesser may get all the hype, but don't overlook Washington State's D. With a line (led by Rien Long) that has 16 of the team's 19 sacks in the past three games, D-coordinator Bill Doba has cut back on the blitzing and aggressive stuff. The Cougs, who last year allowed 446 rushing yards to Oregon, held the Ducks to 252 total yards and forced 10 punts.
Long, Wazzu's 6'6", 287-pound junior DT, has blossomed into a star. A former prep basketball standout with limited football experience, Long has 12 sacks and 18 TFLs. As a team, the Cougars have an eye-popping 83 tackles behind the line.
Sure, everyone knows that California seems to produce most of the great QBs, but in a year or so just keep in mind what came from the Lonestar State last year. We've already seen how dangerous Texas A&M rookie QB Reggie McNeal is, but keep an eye out for Texas' Vincent Young as well as fellow Texas products Paul Thompson (Oklahoma), Alexander Webb (Northwestern); Billy Don Malone (Tulane) and Austin Flynn (Iowa State). This crop could turn out to rival any group of quarterbacks one state turned out in a single season.
Bruce Feldman covers college football for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at bruce.feldman@espnmag.com.
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Boston College vs. Miami
