STATESBORO, Ga. --- Of course, Jeff Monken is right. The return of the triple option to Georgia Southern doesn't guarantee the return of national championships.

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Morris News Service

Jeff Monken, a longtime Paul Johnson aide, is the Eagles new coach.

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Associated Press

Quarterback Jaybo Shaw had some impressive games when called upon to play at Georgia Tech, but he transferred to Georgia Southern, where he is the starter.

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Associated Press

Former Georgia Tech backup quarterback Jaybo Shaw cools off during a break. Shaw, who has two years of eligibility left, will run Georgia Southern's triple option.

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After all, the Eagles first-year head coach says, the offense isn't a magic wand.

Quarterback Jaybo Shaw nods his head when told of his coach's words, not that the Georgia Tech transfer quarterback hasn't heard the common retort to often unrealistic expectations that accompany any sentence mixing "triple-option football" and "Georgia Southern" here.

No magic wand? Didn't this offense help a bunch of Eagle misfits win championships in the 1980s? Didn't a new crew follow with the same results in 1989 and 1990?

Didn't Paul Johnson return to Statesboro in 1997, turn a four-win team to a 10-win power, and within two years begin another two-year title run?

Didn't the offense work at Navy? Wasn't that Georgia Tech running the triple option in a BCS bowl in January?

Have you ever seen the offense not work?

Shaw grins as sweat drips from his face. He had just finished practice on another hot south Georgia day.

He understands where this pitch is going, understands as clearly as making another type of pitch after seeing an opposing defensive lineman bite on a fullback fake.

"I think (the triple option) is a trend that people are trying to bring back and I don't blame them," Shaw said.

Here's at least part of the reason why Georgia Southern brought the offense back. The Eagles were 212-64 during a 21-year period that started four games into the 1985 season when Johnson, then Georgia Southern's offensive coordinator, convinced coach Erk Russell to allow Tracy Ham to run the hybrid of the then-popular run-and-shoot and wishbone offenses.

In the four years Georgia Southern decided to get away from the option, the program compiled a 21-23 mark with no postseason appearances. Last season, the Eagles posted a 5-6 record, only the third losing campaign since restarting football in 1982.

Shaw won't speculate why the offense works so well in the collegiate game.

"If anybody knew that answer you'd be able to stop it," he said. "It's a one of a kind."

The Eagles hope hiring Monken, a 13-year assistant of Johnson's, has an answer to break the program from mediocrity.

"We're not the same football team we were eight years ago. We have some ground to make up," Monken says.

That's not what Georgia Southern football fans want to hear. They're hoping he brought the wand.

Shaw, a junior, has been the key addition in Monken's rebuilding project. As a freshman with Georgia Tech in 2008, Shaw came off the sidelines when starter Joshua Nesbitt suffered a hamstring injury on the first series and led the Jackets to a 38-7 victory over Mississippi State.

Shaw ran the triple option flawlessly and Georgia Tech piled up 438 rushing yards -- then the most by the Jackets in 30 years and the fifth highest total in school history. He ran for a score and threw for another.

Two weeks later, after a bye week, Shaw got the starting nod. He completed 9 of 13 passes for 230 yards -- a school record for a player making his first start -- and again ran for a touchdown and threw for another in a 27-0 victory over Duke.

Shaw suffered a concussion in the Duke game and did not play the following week. Then, Nesbitt returned and Shaw returned to the sidelines.

With Nesbitt coming back this year for his senior season, Shaw's opportunities undoubtedly would have been limited.

But Monken was hired in December and Shaw saw a chance to play football and get a degree in education -- which isn't offered at Georgia Tech.

"The thing about Jaybo is that he has two years (of experience) and he knows the offense," Monken said. "He'll be able to get us into the right play."