Technical Tidbits 11/2: Johnson burns Duke by watching warm-ups, Baylor scandal escalates

Opposing defenses, be wary: hawkeye Johnson will watch your warmups and use it to burn you when the game gets started. That’s exactly what Tech head coach Paul Johnson was able to do last weekend against Duke, when a defensive route that a few Blue Devil defenders were practicing consistently during warmups piqued the interest of the ACC’s most-tenured coach. On the third play of the game, Johnson called for a stop-and-go — which he knew would beat the coverage — from wide receiver Brad Stewart; the play would go for 50 yards. Let it be known that on that day in history, Paul Johnson finessed the pants off of David Cutcliffe. There can be no safety from the option, not even before the game starts.

It appears that Tech’s Jalen Johnson was not the only one arrested on campus last weekend: LSU’s Donavaughn Campbell, brother of Tech safety Christian Campbell, was busted for misdemeanor battery. Campbell, a former Tech target who elected to attend LSU late in the 2016 cycle, was subsequently suspended from the LSU football team. It also seems that Paul Johnson will continue to back Jalen Johnson until more details about his case become public:

Johnson has consistently punished players for immoral behavior in the past, so there’s reason to believe that this situation may be a little bit different in one way or another. I doubt that Jalen gets off easy if any condemning facts are released in the coming days, but Paul Johnson seems less than convinced.

A recent edition of “60 Minutes Sports” focused on the allegations of sexual assault at Baylor yielded the revelation that the situation down in Texas is exponentially worse than anyone thought. It has now been revealed that as many as 17 female students reported sexual assault at the hands of at least 19 Baylor football players, a far cry from the handful that were previously reported. We are quickly entering death penalty territory here, with a clear culture of assault-enabling having been established at one of college football’s biggest powerhouses. I’d be silly to expect that after the NCAA’s past failures to set precedents against such behavior at other schools (including Penn State), but there’s a small chance it could happen. Feel free to share your opinion on a potential Baylor death penalty below.