All summer the big talk of Clemson’s schedule was road games at Wake Forest, Boston College and Florida State. And it’s obvious why: All three have given the Tigers fits over the past several years, whether it’s a weird offensive system, physical front lines or family ties.

But it might be time for Tiger Nation and the coaches to circle Oct. 18 on the schedule. That’s the Saturday the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech rolls into Death Valley.

In fact, I’d be surprised if the entire ACC hasn’t taken notice.

If the league coach of the year award was handed out after Week 3, the Yellow Jackets’ first-year coach Paul Johnson would be shaking someone’s hand right now.

The former Georgia Southern and Navy headman has quickly turned a downtrodden Tech squad into a complicated triple-option offense with a strong defense to match.

Tech tried to be a balanced team offensively under former coach Chan Gaily in 2007, but it’s all about the ground game this year with the Yellow Jackets averaging 63.7 more yards rushing.

Georgia Tech rolled the dice when handing Johnson his first BCS conference gig. And the start has been better than most thought. After pasting Jacksonville State in the opener, Tech scored a league-opening 19-16 win over Boston College and gave Virginia Tech all it could handle in a 20-17 loss last Saturday.

Running the triple option has proved difficult for opposing defenses to handle, the side of the ball the Eagles and especially Hokies usually specialize in.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt has picked up the offense pretty quickly, leading the Yellow Jackets in rushing with 261 yards and four touchdowns. Running back Jonathan Dwyer is averaging 6.4 yards per carry and has scored three TDs.

“It’s so hard to run it in practice the way Georgia Tech runs it,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said about the Yellow Jackets’ offense. “And boy, what a player (Nesbitt) is.”

And that’s where Johnson has the edge. Coaches have such little time to prepare for the next opponent that preparing for the attack won’t be easy, especially this year.

But, as strong as the rushing numbers are, the system isn’t running without hiccups. The Yellow Jackets have lost seven fumbles so far with the pitch from the quarterback to the running back still giving them issues.

The track record is proven, though. The Yellow Jackets stumbled across the real deal with Johnson. In his five years at Georgia Southern, Johnson won the Southern Conference title every season, along with back-to-back national championships in 1999 and 2000.

Moving up a level at Navy, he took the Midshipmen from a perennial doormat to a postseason staple. After going 2-10 in Johnson’s first season, Navy ran off five consecutive bowl appearances and finished 45-29 during his six-year tenure.

It doesn’t really matter what system you run or where. A winner is a winner.