AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > September > 21
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Mississippi State - Post Game Thoughts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How much can you really say about a 38-7 woodshed beating?
Actually, you can say quite a bit when your opponent and the recipient of the beating is an SEC team that had just gotten done battling well respected and Top 10 Auburn to a 3-2 “standstill” the week before. I’m still not sure Mississippi State knew what hit them…the game wasn’t as close as the 38-7 score implies…which is saying something.
The day set up perfectly. I was able to get down to campus in time to catch Yellow Jacket Alley and visit some friends over in the AMC lot. I then wandered back towards our spot on West Campus where I had a bacon wrapped filet and some hashbrowns with my name on them waiting on me. By 10:30am I was settled in at the tailgate with my plate piled high and our normal crowd of usual suspects gathering round to discuss the upcoming game.
The feeling going into the game was that we’d be competitive and pull out a defensive battle that might be decided on turnovers or special teams plays. Noone was talking about a big offensive breakout or blowout. We were just happy to be back home after two weeks on the road.
The crowd was slow to fill in as kickoff rolled around. (Noon kickoffs STINK!) But we had close to 50 thousand by the time the game started and the sky was crystal clear and there was a light breeze to keep things crisp. It was the sort of fall morning that keeps guys like me paying the seat license fees and buying season tickets.
The offense was clicking pretty well there on the first drive but then we lost Dan Voss at center and Josh Nesbitt at quarterback. I remember thinking to myself, “Great. We get to play a true frosh quarterback and a walkon center against this vaunted Mississippi State defense.” But then a few plays later we’re up 7-0 and Jaybo Shaw is looking like he was born to make option reads and pitches. And then we observe the strangest looking bad snap in the history of Georgia Tech football and we have a short field and Shaw makes a few more plays and we’re up 14-0. After that, the game was never in doubt again as Shaw continued to drive the Yellow Jacket offense with a proficiency that seemed misplaced in a true freshman.
The final score was 38-7 but the game wasn’t even that close. It could have easily been 60-0 if Paul Johnson had desired it. We played upwards of 70 players in this game…pretty much everyone who was dressed out and wasn’t off limits because of redshirts or injuries. We treated Mississippi State worse than we treated Jacksonville State earlier in the season, not something we expected to see happen against an SEC team.
There were many, many highs to discuss from this game but I’ll reduce the list down to the ones I consider the most important or worthy of discussion:
1) We played a ton of depth and got everyone some playing time. This bodes well for depth deeper into the season and does great things for morale. Our third and fourth string guys were out there running the defense and moving the ball. It was outstanding!
2) Greg Smith had a really good game and may have finally turned the corner on what has been a lackluster season for him so far. We needed this to happen.
3) Jaybo, Jaybo, Jaybo…’nuff said!
4) We won the turnover battle! This may be our most crucial stat in games against teams like Miami, FSU, or UGA. We cannot give away free points and put ourselves in a hole.
5) Michael Johnson finally had the breakout game we’d been waiting for. All the double teams on MJ have given Derrick Morgan a chance to really stand out. And now that teams have to also pay attention to Morgan, MJ will pull more one on one matches…which he will almost always win.
All of the game specifics aside, the biggest factor right now may be how Tech’s schedule sets up in the next few weeks. We get a week off to heal and rehab various injuries. This will give Jaybo more time taking practice snaps with the first team offense if it looks like Nesbitt will need sometime to rehab his hamstring. And we follow the off week with home games against Duke and Gardner Webb before we go on the road to face Clemson. Essentially, we have the opportunity to stay at home and get healthy before we go to Clemson…and we could be 5-1 and Top 25 ranked when we face the Tigers.
Regardless of what happens the next 3-4 weeks…know one thing…Paul Johnson is a heck of a coach and this “rebuilding” project may turn into “reloading” sooner rather than later. I’m going to enjoy the ride. Its a great time to be a Yellow Jacket!
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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