Georgia Tech throttles Tar Heels on rainy day

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said he saw the fire in his team, oh, about 11 a.m. Saturday morning.

That's when team chaplain Derrick Moore spoke to the players about accountability, about the need to do their job right.

Boy, did they listen.

The Yellow Jackets' offense and defense, maligned after last week's loss to Miami, came out and walloped North Carolina 24-7 at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday.

Tech rang up 406 yards of offense and limited the Tar Heels to 154, just nine days after posting 225 and giving up 454 to the Hurricanes in a 33-17 loss. The win improved the Jackets to 3-1, 1-1 in the Coastal. The win, coupled with Virginia Tech?s win over Miami on Saturday, means the division is wide open.

And, if Tech continues to play the way it did against No. 22 North Carolina, it may be there at the end.

The difference this week, coaches and players said, was a combination of execution and rest. It's something they have said has been missing for all or parts of the past three-games-in-12-days-stretch. Against North Carolina, the offense called more reads, but fewer options, and the defense simplified its schemes so that, as Johnson put it, the players could play.

"I'm really proud of the guys," Johnson said. "I think a lot of people had written them off, and us off. We came out with some intensity and focus, bBut we played hard."

The Jackets dominated every facet of the game: They held the ball 42 minutes to North Carolina's 18; outrushed them 317-17 and won the turnover battle 3-0.

And, going to back to Johnson's thoughts, no one played harder than quarterback Josh Nesbitt and B-back Jonathan Dwyer.

Dwyer had the type of game that fans had been waiting four weeks to see, gaining 158 yards on 19 carries. It was the first time he cracked the 100-yard barrier this season. Many of those yards came on quick-pitches and draws, which was a new wrinkle to offense.

Nesbitt, whom Dwyer said is the toughest quarterback he has ever played with, set a career-high with 32 carries, gaining 97 yards and scoring two touchdowns. He said after the game that he's not worried about the number of carries.

"It takes a pounding on my body, but my body's built for it," said Nesbitt, who also completed 7 of 11 passes for 89 yards. "You just got to stay out there and go through the pain."

On defense, the Jackets stopped North Carolina 10 of 11 times on third downs, something they couldn't do against Miami last week when the Hurricanes converted 8 of 13. Defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said he was embarrassed by last week's effort, in which players were lining up incorrectly or not covering the correct man. He said he wanted to narrow choices this week to give the guys a chance to win. Defensive ends Derrick Morgan and Anthony Egbuniwe said the simpler schemes made their jobs much easier.

"Guys heads weren't out there spinning," said Morgan, who had his sixth sack of the season. "Everybody knew what their assignments were, and we went out and executed."

The win avenged last season's 28-7 loss in Chapel Hill, which killed the Jackets' chances of playing in the ACC championship game. It also sets up an interesting non-conference game next Saturday against Mississippi State in Starkville. The Jackets throttled the Bulldogs 38-7 last season in Atlanta. Saturday, Mississippi State pushed No. 7 LSU to the wire, losing 30-26.

Johnson and Wommack said the team was by no means perfect Saturday. They still lined up wrong a few times, or made the wrong reads. But it's a start.

"We've still got a lot of room to grow to get where we need to be, but we competed," Johnson said.