Georgia Tech wins, but has work to do

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

No. 16 Georgia Tech opened its season by defeating S.C. State 41-10 on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

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Johnny Crawford, jcrawford@ajc.com Jackets QB Joshua Nesbitt (9) completed one of six passes for a career-low 8 yards against SC State.

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But the questions asked since last season's loss in the Orange Bowl weren't answered, at least not yet:

-- Can Joshua Nesbitt pass more efficiently?

-- Can the defense limit rushing yards and big plays?

-- Can the special teams, particularly the field-goal and kickoff units, improve?

The good news, aside from the score, is that Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson said a team shows the most improvement between its first and second games, and this team, the defending ACC champions, now knows its homework assignments before it plays Kansas next Saturday.

"We made a lot of mistakes, missed a lot of tackles, got sloppy, but we have a lot of stuff to work on now," Johnson said.

Chief among those may be the passing, an area in which Tech's coaches have said they want to see improvement, particularly in the percentage of passes completed. Nesbitt completed 46.3 percent last season, less than the 55 percent the coaches hoped for.

On Saturday, Nesbitt completed one of six passes for a career-low 8 yards. The previous low was 12 yards in the Orange Bowl. The completion against S.C. State matched his lowest total, done twice before. He threw away two passes and tried to squeeze a touchdown pass to Stephen Hill through a tiny hole and missed. Nesbitt's backup, Tevin Washington, also missed Roddy Jones, who was wide open down the middle of the field in the fourth quarter, on a play that would have been another touchdown. Tech ran that play successfully many times last season.

But Nesbitt looked like his reliable self when running, finishing with 130 yards and three touchdowns, including two touchdown runs on fourth downs.

"I think that we had a good start, but we have a lot of work to do still," Nesbitt said. "The team got in game shape this week. We will be better next week."

While the Jackets scored on their first three possessions, their defense had some early trouble. Last season the Jackets allowed 151.6 rushing yards per game. They gave up 178 to the Bulldogs, an FCS (formerly Division I-AA) team.

Mixing short passes with runs up the middle, S.C. State moved the ball well on its first two possessions. It drove 58 yards, including a "here we go again" 32-yard pass play caused when safety Cooper Taylor overran the receiver, for a field goal on its first possession. The Bulldogs added a 53-yard drive on their second possession, 51 of which came on the ground. But Tech's defense mostly held after those two possessions, giving up one more big play, a 55-yard run by Asheton Jordon in the third quarter that led to a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Malcolm Long.

Johnson attributed most of the problems to missed tackles, joking that at one point he hoped defensive coordinator Al Groh could play so that someone could make a tackle. The Bulldogs finished with 272 yards, compared with Tech's 384.

"We'd like to do better against the run," Groh said. "Some significant things popped up."

On special teams, the highlight came when freshman Justin Moore put his kickoff into the end zone in the second half and received a standing ovation from the crowd when he came to the sideline. The lowlight came when a point-after attempt was blocked because the holder dropped the snap, forcing Scott Blair to try a soccer-style kick as the ball spun on the ground.

"We talked to the team. They understand; they are pretty subdued," Johnson said. "You only get to play 12 regular-season games. When you win 41-10, you've got to be a little happy. But at the same time I think that we know that we can play better.

"It's my job to point that out to them, and I did. We'll come back and go to work on Monday and see if we can get better.

"They know. They're not dumb. They'll watch the tape, and they'll see. We've got to get better."