Jackets ground up Hurricanes

It was a whitewash.

In their gleaming home whites, playing before their whiteout-celebrating fans, Georgia Tech piled on Miami.

The Jackets delivered a stunning 41-23 beating of the Hurricanes Thursday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The thrashing kept alive Tech’s faint hopes of an ACC title for at least two more days and presumably gave rival Georgia something to ponder in advance of the in-state clash Nov. 29 in Athens.

“I hope they enjoyed the game tonight,” defensive tackle Darryl Richard said. “I’m looking forward to a showdown at high noon in Athens, Georgia.”

One game after playing what coach Paul Johnson said was probably their worst game of the season, the Jackets ripped holes in the Miami defense and hemmed in its offense.

Coming off a 12-day respite and before an ESPN audience, the Jackets played with energy, crispness and no shortage of emotion. It was evident in the way B-back Jonathan Dwyer barely broke stride in discarding Miami defenders. It showed as linemen, backs and receivers cleared running lanes with airtight blocks and defenders batted down passes and repeatedly flushed Miami’s quarterbacks out of the pocket.

“You could see it before the game,” said A-back Roddy Jones. “Everybody was pumped, everybody was focused, everybody was ready.”

Miami, No. 23 in the Associated Press poll and BCS standings, had won five games in a row and gave up 77 rushing yards last week against Virginia Tech.

“That’s option football,” Miami coach Randy Shannon said. “It’s assignment football, and when you don’t play assignment football, bad things can happen.”

Georgia Tech is now 8-3 overall and has earned at least a tie for the ACC Coastal Division title with a 5-3 record. In his first season at Tech, Johnson has led the Jackets to more wins than all but one of Chan Gailey’s six teams.

A berth in the league title game in Tampa Dec. 6 is still a possibility, though the Jackets will need a handful of games to go their way in order for it to happen. Miami fell to 7-4 and 4-3 and lost control of the Coastal Division race.

The Jackets seemed to come at the Hurricanes from all angles. Their first play from scrimmage was a 22-yard pass by wide receiver Demaryius Thomas to A-back Lucas Cox. Coach Paul Johnson called a surprise onsides kick (unsuccessful) in the first half. Linebacker Tony Clark got his hand on a punt.

The bewildered Hurricanes gave up 10 plays covering 20 or more yards to quarterbacks Josh Nesbitt and Jaybo Shaw, Jones, Cox and Dwyer. The Jackets finished with 472 rushing yards, their most in 30 years and the second most ever allowed by a Miami team. Co-offensive line coach Mike Sewak said he thought it was the best the Jackets’ offensive line has played this season.

Said Jones, “For most of the game, we felt like no matter what play was called, we could move the ball pretty well.”

Fan favorite Michael Johnson gave Tech fans a memorable valedictory in the senior’s final home game. On Miami’s first drive of the second quarter, the defensive end dropped into coverage, leapt to intercept Miami quarterback Robert Marve and ran 26 yards into the north end zone.