Tech's offense steamrolls Vandy

Print
E-mail

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

NASHVILLE -- It was a play drawn up on the sidelines, and it helped lead Georgia Tech to a 56-31 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Enlarge photo

Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt dives into the end zone for one of his two rushing touchdowns. He had two more over the air.

Samuel M. Simpkins, The Tennessean Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt dives into the end zone for one of his two rushing touchdowns. He had two more over the air.

Latest Georgia Tech news »

Coach Paul Johnson said he noticed that Vanderbilt strong safety Sean Richardson was firing up when the Yellow Jackets started to run a certain play. So, after the play resulted in a 4-yard loss on the previous series, Johnson told A-back Embry Peeples to take off down the field the next time they called it.

He did, and Josh Nesbitt hit him for an 87-yard touchdown pass. In all, Jonathan Dwyer scored three touchdowns and rushed for a career high 186 yards, and Nesbitt added four more as Georgia Tech rolled up 597 yards on the Commodores.

"All in all, we went on the road and won the game and now we're back on task next week," Johnson said. "The big goal continues next week, and we have to play better than we did today."

The Jackets (8-1, 6-1 ACC) now will turn their attention to securing a berth the ACC championship game on Dec. 5 in Tampa. Tech will host Wake Forest next weekend at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Game time hasn't been decided. The Demon Deacons lost to Miami on Saturday in Winston-Salem. In two weeks the Jackets will play at Duke in a game that could decide the ACC's Coastal Division title. The Blue Devils defeated Virginia on Saturday to improve to 3-1 in the conference, and will play at North Carolina next week.

As efficient as the offense was, the defense was as ineffective in the first half, reverting to the form that made shootouts of games against Clemson, Mississippi State, Florida State and Virginia Tech. Missed tackles and missed assignments were the issue. But the Jackets seemed to get things figured out at halftime by switching to zone coverages. The Commodores had 257 yards in offense at halftime, and were within 70 of their season average, but had just 140 more in the third and fourth quarters.

"We tackled so poorly in the first half it was unbelievable," defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said. "They were diving for quarters out in the middle of the field, it was that bad."

Tech made some personnel adjustments in the second half -- subbing out Dominique Reese (shoulder) and Jerrard Tarrant (back), both of whom were playing with nagging injuries -- and the defense stepped up.

"All we did was get in their face and told they need to be in defensive position," Wommack said.

But the defense didn't need to do much in the second, thanks to Nesbitt and Dwyer.

Dwyer said that last week his teammates challenged him to run like he ran last year, with a purpose and toughness that helped him earn the ACC's player of the year award.

He did that against the Commodores, again running over defenders, just like he did last week against Virginia.

"That's all I'm trying to do every time I touch the ball is make plays," Dwyer said.

The Commodores grabbed a 31-28 lead after its first possession of the second half, marching 81 yards on 12 plays. Tech had Vanderbilt stopped, but a pass on third-and-10 ricocheted off Brad Jefferson, and was caught by Udom Umoh for a 41-yard completion to Tech's 24-yard line.

"We thought it was going to be one of those nights," Johnson said.

But the defense held the Commodores to a field goal on that drive and then began to grind down the Vanderbilt.

After Tech took a 28-14 lead midway through the second quarter, the Commodores rallied quickly using big plays. Warren Norman returned a kickoff 80 yards up the middle to make it to 28-21. On Vandy's next possession Zac Stacy added a 62-yard run on an option to tie the game at 28.

The Jackets took a 28-14 lead on a 13-yard run by Dwyer with 5:55 remaining in the first half. Tech took advantage of a fumble by Vandy quarterback MacKenzi Adams on the 22-yard line, and needed just two plays to punch it in. Dwyer, looking more and more like the back who rushed for 1,395 yards last season, ran over a Vanderbilt defender to plow his way into the end zone.

Tech took a 21-14 lead on a 35-yard touchdown reception by Demaryius Thomas with 8:06 remaining before the half. Thomas won the man-to-man battle and Nesbitt simply floated a pass to the right that Thomas easily caught.

AJC Marketplace

Smart Shopping
starts here!
This week's inserts | Today's Deals | Grocery Coupons