Tech's offense stalls for too long

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MIAMI -– Jonathan Dwyer could accept running into a little adversity against Iowa’s disciplined defense. Futility, though, wasn’t something that entered his mind.

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Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt was held to 47 yards rushing on 21 carries. He was 2-for-9 for 13 passing yards and an interception.

Johnny Crawford, jcrawford@ajc.com Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt was held to 47 yards rushing on 21 carries. He was 2-for-9 for 13 passing yards and an interception.

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“It’s a matter of sticking with it and going play by play until we find one,” Georgia Tech’s top rusher had said in the days leading up to Tuesday night’s Orange Bowl. “If it takes three three-and-outs to find it, then we have to do it.”

Well, suppose it took four three-and-outs? Or five three-and-outs with a four-and-out mixed in?

That was the sum total of Tech’s six possessions in the opening half – a feeling-out period that must have felt like an eternity for coach Paul Johnson’s precision option. Each trip back to the sideline left the Yellow Jackets just a little more bewildered than the one before.

“We weren’t out there for a very long time,” Dwyer said after Iowa’s 24-14 decision was final. “We just didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we had.”

Tackle Brad Sellers said: “We’re not used to holding the ball for three plays.”

The night’s final numbers were shocking. Not only was the Yellow Jackets’ 155 yards of offense the lowest of Johnson’s two years at Tech, but the puniest seen in the past 21 years of Orange Bowls.

In fact, no Orange Bowl participant had amassed fewer than 200 yards since Nebraska was blanked by Miami 22-0 in the 1992 contest.

“We never could get any rhythm,” quarterback Josh Nesbitt said. “We talk about getting first downs to start our offense and get into a groove. We weren’t getting any first downs.”

One, in fact, for the entire first half. The Jackets finished with nine for the game, also the lowest in an Orange Bowl since 1992.

It wasn’t until the Yellow Jackets began to stretch Iowa’s defenders to the sideline in the second half. that the offense began to move. By utilizing more sweeps and straight pitches, the Jackets spent a quarter looking like the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense.

Too little, too late.

Tech pulled had pulled within 17-14 on Anthony Allen’s 1-yard touchdown run with 12:30 left, but a Nesbitt interception on the next series killed any momentum. Brandon Wegher’s 32-yard touchdown with 1:56 left sealed it.

“We don’t play very many games like that,” Johnson said. “You get behind like that and you don’t survive.”

The Yellow Jackets came to South Florida having endured only 14 three-and-outs in 13 regular-season games. They nearly got halfway to that number in Tuesday’s first half alone.

Tech went three-and-out on all three of their first-quarter series – the first time that had happened since facing Clemson back on Sept. 10. As the second period commenced, Tech gained all of three yards on its next possession.

A breakthrough finally came on Tech’s fifth series, as Allen took Nesbitt’s pitch down the right sideline for 15 yards on the first snap. The next three plays gained only seven yards, though, and Chandler Anderson punted for the fifth time.

That, by the way, was more than Anderson’s workload in the Yellow Jackets’ previous four contests. Before Tuesday night, Anderson hadn’t seen the field for anything more than holding for Scott Blair since Nov. 14.

“We were our own worst enemy,” Johnson said.

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