AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2009 > January > 02
Friday, January 2, 2009
What’s next?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good morning, all-
Hopefully you’ve gotten some of the anguish of the Chick-fil-A Bowl out of your system, though I’m guessing the Capital One Bowl result didn’t help you much. Looks like the Bulldogs took out the frustration of the Tech loss out on the Sparties. It’s quite possible, too, that UGA was just a better team than Michigan State. I’m guessing, for those of you who work with UGA fans, this morning wasn’t a lot of fun.
Anyway, some thoughts. Don’t know how much you have thought or heard that LSU “solved” the triple option. Paul Johnson was asked something to this effect after the game and he was a bit sarcastic about it, that LSU figuring out the triple option is what made Tech fumble the punt, put the opening kickoff out of bounds, etc.
It was true that Tech couldn’t run the ball effectively, but Johnson and co-offensive line coach Mike Sewak’s take was that LSU dominated the line of scrimmage. It was a little like the Boston College game, where Ron Brace and B.J. Raji kept driving the guards and center back into Josh Nesbitt. The same thing was happening with LSU, and that takes away the dive in the triple option and screws up the rest of the play. My guess would be that Tech will have its problems against defensive lines that are stout more than those that are fast, not to say that LSU’s line wasn’t also fast.
At any rate, I think I’d trust the results of the season and Johnson’s tenure at Georgia Southern and Navy over one game.
And about the rings - I didn’t do a great job (or maybe even a good job) of conveying the meaning of the rings. It’s something Johnson has always done for his teams. It was meant to commemorate the season, not just the win over Georgia. Obviously, the win was a highlight of the year, which is why that went on the ring. But it’s not like that’s the only thing that’s going on it.
Also, I’ve seen some posts on some other boards about how Johnson treating bowls as a reward backfired. It’s possible, but I don’t know if that was the problem. What Johnson meant, and has said, is that he doesn’t use bowl practices like an additional spring practice, where sessions are longer and more grinding. The practices Tech had were like typical in-season practices, where the focus is on preparing for the opponent. Most, if not all, of Tech’s practices before Christmas were in full pads. I can’t vouch for the intensity of them, as reporters aren’t allowed to watch practice, but I never got the sense that they were goofing off or anything.
In some ways, the Chick-fil-A Bowl may have the sort of effect going into the offseason that the Gardner-Webb game did in the season. Johnson and Sewak both wondered aloud if beating Georgia and then having a month of fans (and media) patting them on their back didn’t give them a false sense of security about the game. I think this will likely bring them back to earth a little bit. I can see this game being brought up every time offseason workouts start to slacken.
Which brings me to my question. What are your priorities for this team - becoming bigger/stronger/faster? Continuing to develop the Run & Shoot? Find answers on the offensive line? Defensive line? More depth at A-back and B-back?
