Allow me to quote a fantastic article written by a Navy fan last summer:

The spread option, as run by Paul Johnson and Ivin Jasper, is not the wishbone.

Emphasis mine. And indeed, said article explains exactly why defenses designed to stop the wishbone don’t work very well against Paul Johnson’s offense, whatever you want to call it. Apparently neither Mickey Andrews nor Bobby Bowden have read it.

One last thing. Bob Davie even showed a video of late-70’s Texas running the wishbone and said that since Tech has 3 guys in the backfield we’re obviously running the exact same offense! Well, gee, if that’s the case I guess the Wishbone is the same as the Wing-T and Maryland I. Sheesh.