AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > November > 30
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Breaking News!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roddy Jones is still running rampant in Athens…and the Georgia defense is still nowhere to be found…
Go Jackets!
To Hell With Georgia!
45-42!
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Jackets Sting Mutts 45-42!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If any Tech fans out there are still holding out to see what Paul Johnson is all about…well, I don’t think they’ll ever be convinced.
I’ll admit that I was “cautiously optimistic” going into this season and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Splitting the Boston College and Virginia Tech games on the road showed me that Johnson had quickly implemented the attitude and grit needed to win in the ACC.
Following that up with big wins over Mississippi State and Duke, while playing the backup QB, showed me that Johnson’s offensive system worked and could be run efficiently using just about any piece available on the offensive roster.
By the time we’d beaten Clemson, Florida State, and Miami en route to an 8-3 record I had been completely sold on Paul Johnson as THE coach to guide the Georgia Tech program forward. The VT, UVA, and UNC losses were aggravating but it was obvious where those losses came from…bad penalties at the end against VT, a great performance by the UVA offensive line, and turnovers on the road against a solid UNC team.
The coup de grace occurred yesterday in Athens.
Paul Johnson took his first Georgia Tech squad into the belly of the beast and promptly fell behind 28-12. But instead of folding up the tent and losing hope, like previous Tech teams would have done, the Jackets came out in the second half and went back to work.
Johnson didn’t panic and neither did the players. They believed and stepped up and executed and suddenly the score had flipped around to an amazing 38-28 advantage to GT. In what may have been the best quarter Tech played all season, the Jackets scored 26 points while forcing three UGA punts and recovering a fumble kick off return.
Give the Dawgs credit though…they rallied after that dismal third quarter and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Only Roddy Jones’ 54 yard scamper on 3rd and 7 from midfield protected the Jackets’ ultimate three point margin of victory.
To my eyes, the level of talent on the field seemed to be pretty close. That is largely the result of the sophomores and redshirt freshmen that comprise a large majority of the Tech starting lineup.
The real difference appeared to be the level of talent on the sidelines.
Paul Johnson outcoached Mark Richt in two very fundamental areas.
1) Johnson did not panic and stuck with his bread and butter. He made adjustments at the half and established his running game. Richt, by comparison, never got the UGA ground game going despite the fact that Knowshon Moreno was running extremely well and was consistently gashing the GT defense when given opportunities. Moreno averaged 5.5 yards per carry but was only given the ball 17 times while Stafford threw it 39 times.
2) Johnson did a much better job of managing the game clock and timeouts. Consider the fact that UGA outgained Tech 488-428, picked up 7 more first downs, and converted at nearly 50% on third down chances. Given that information, not many people would predict that GT would have won the time of possession battle 33:24 to 26:36…and run the clock out to 0 seconds on fourth down to win the game.
But getting back to my original point…Tech fans have reason to be excited. Paul Johnson is probably one of the Top 5 coaches in the nation and is a difference maker. He’s not just a good coach (7-5 consistency)…he’s a great coach and he understands Georgia Tech.
Paul Johnson is truly…the Perfect Option.
Go Jackets!
45-42!
THWG!
