With college offenses spreading the field and throwing the football like a Steve Spurrier visor, Alabama defensive coordinator Carl Torbush knows the best way to beat 'em.

Join 'em.

That's why you'll find Torbush, and many of his defensive-guru brethren, signing recruits who play offense in high school and turning them into cornerbacks in college.

"Most of your top cornerbacks will be great running quarterbacks in high school," Torbush says. "It could be a tailback or a receiver, too. And I'd also love to see a cornerback be a great high school point guard. You need that kind of athletic ability, and with so many kids specializing in one thing at the high school level, if you're just looking at the (high school) cornerbacks you might not be looking at the best available athletes."

	“	You've got to try to trick these offensive coordinators with your defense. Show them something, then give them something else. ”
		— FSU coach Bobby Bowden

Tennessee's Casey Clausen, one of about 50 highly skilled quarterbacks who figure to dominate the 2002 college season, pays special attention to cornerbacks, too. When he studies film of the opposing defense, he wants to know what he's facing. Smaller, quicker guys who can run with taller receivers, but tend to lose mid-air battles? Or bigger, stronger players who hold their own on jump balls, assuming they can get into position to make the play?

Today's cornerback, Clausen says, had better be a combination of both. Or it's going to start raining touchdowns.

"The biggest challenge is a guy 5-foot-11 or 6-feet tall who runs 4.2, 4.3 (seconds for 40 yards)," Clausen says. "Today, they have to be big, physical and fast, because if the defense blitzes everybody, that cornerback will be on an island. He's one-on-one with the receiver, and I get excited to see that."

So that's where it starts, with the athlete at cornerback. Find a guy with the skill to play offense, and put him on defense.

But then what? What do you do next if you're a defensive coordinator whose team will have to face a quarterback like Ole Miss' Eli Manning, NC State's Philip Rivers or Texas' Chris Simms? Or, in the case of Texas Tech defensive coordinator Greg McMackin, all three?

	“	You absolutely have to get pressure on the quarterback Get to him as fast as you can. And then hang on and see what happens. ”
		— Texas Tech defensive coordinator Greg McMackin

"You've got to switch up your coverages," says McMackin, whose Red Raiders play Ole Miss, NC State and Texas in Lubbock this season. "You have to blitz -- a zone or a man blitz -- and then you have to be able to rush three guys and drop eight (into coverage). Mix up your zone and your man-to-man coverage in the secondary, and even play some man within the zone, especially if the other team has a great wide receiver."

Anything else?

"You absolutely have to get pressure on the quarterback," McMackin says. "Get to him as fast as you can."

And then?

"And then," McMackin says, "hang on and see what happens."

What happens is BYU, even in games not involving Brigham Young University. Big-time passing offenses have been around the college game for four decades, give or take a few buttonhooks, but it's no longer BYU and a handful of others tossing footballs all over the place. Even a former wishbone school like Oklahoma is not only is passing the ball, but seeing its offensive coordinators become head coaches at other schools (Mike Leach to Texas Tech, Mark Mangino to Kansas) and implement passing attacks there.

And the SEC, once dominated by the power-ball of Auburn, Alabama and Georgia, has turned into a football funhouse for everyone but the defensive coordinator, whose job it is to stop the likes of Clausen, Manning and Florida's Rex Grossman. Not to mention Georgia's David Greene and Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen.

"You've got to try to trick these offensive coordinators with your defense," says FSU coach Bobby Bowden. "Show them something, then give them something else."

As if it matters. Torbush says quarterbacks are being given more freedom to call plays at the line of scrimmage -- and are sophisticated enough to make the right decision.

"That's why on defense you're seeing more people moving around, in and out," Torbush says. "You don't want to let the quarterback get a pre-snap read on what you're trying to do."

Easier said than done. Clausen figures he fails to recognize a team's basic coverage scheme only a few times a game.

"It's a chess match," Clausen says. "The biggest key to knowing what the defense will do comes Sunday through Friday, in the film study. By then you learn to pick up tendencies the defense has."

The skill level at quarterback and receiver, coupled with innovative schemes, has offenses breaking new ground while defenses are left to the basics: recruit better athletes, disguise the coverage and hope for the best.

"If people know what (scheme) you're in -- man or zone -- consistently, you've got problems," Torbush says. "Quarterbacks are good enough, and offensive coaches are good enough, that if they always know what you're going to do, it can put you in a situation where, basically, you have to be better athletically -- or you're in trouble."

Gregg Doyel covers college football for The Charlotte Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.