By Lya Wodraska

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah’s defenders are running through their drills, practicing various schemes and sharpening their tackling as they prepare for their bowl game against Georgia Tech.

But forget all the technical stuff — what they need most to beat the Yellow Jackets is discipline, the players know.

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Sun Bowl: Utah vs. Georgia Tech

Dec. 31, noon MST

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Playing the triple option, which Georgia Tech relies upon for most of its offense, is more about temptation than brute force. A cut here or a look there by the offense is made to make defenders bite just a bit.

When that happens, as Utah defensive lineman Derrick Shelby noted, defenses get burned.

"The key is no one can do anyone else’s job because that is when they go for a 50-yard run," he said.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said the need for everyone to stick to his man is so important against this defense that the Utes call it "1-11" defense.

"Everyone has to do his 1-11," he said. "If there are any breakdowns, you can have a big play against you."

The defensive philosophy sounds simple: Do your job and you’ll be fine. But the temptations to veer off course have been enough that Georgia Tech is averaging 316 yards a game on the ground.

Luckily for the Utes, they have a good run defense, which is giving up just 97 yards rushing, and have plenty of experience against the triple option thanks to their annual meetings with Air Force and their 2007 Poinsettia Bowl win, a team that was coached by Paul Johnson before he left to coach the Yellow Jackets.

"There are a lot of things that carry over for us," Utah defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake said. "With coach Johnson, Air Force and Navy all in the past. But it is a good offense — you can see that with the success they’ve had in the ACC and the wins they have."

Quarterback Tevin Washington has rushed 222 times for 890 yards and 14 touchdowns.

"That shows how athletic he is and tough he is," Sitake said. "It’s the same thing as playing Air Force — the quarterback is the captain of the offense, and we have to stop him if we are going to be successful."

Washington is 63-for-135 for 1,515 passing yards and 10 touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets, like the Utes, pass only to keep defenses honest.

Whittingham said he has learned from playing Navy and watching Georgia Tech on film that the Yellow Jackets are as disciplined a team as Air Force was.

"They are big, fast and strong on film," he said. "You can tell they are skilled."

While similar to Air Force, the Yellow Jackets do have some different formations the defense has to be mindful of, Shelby said.

"Air Force has more shotgun formations and Georgia Tech is more old school, two-wings type of team," he said. "But you still have to be disciplined."