As ever, when still in the clutches of defeat, Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson can find multiple ways his team aided and abetted the result.
Late Saturday, immediately after defending national champion Clemson had won by the exact margin the bookmakers said it would – 24-10 – was no different.
So many missed reads, Johnson said afterward. So many missed blocks. And missed opportunities. “Some of the stuff was ridiculous,” he said.
“I can’t explain why we do some of the stuff we do here, but we do,” he said.
Explanations really aren’t that difficult to come by. There is a reason Clemson has been to the last two national championship games and might just play its way back into the playoffs again this year. This has been a demonstrably better team than most – certainly better than Georgia Tech – and better teams make a habit of winning games.
This one is as easy to explain as the concept of survival of the fittest.
Clemson’s defense is populated by too many superior athletes to be troubled by the Tech option. It is the breeze and Georgia Tech is the candle. No way it remains lit over the course of the game.
And the Clemson offense, while obviously missing the spark of quarterback Deshaun Watson, and while being the facet that may yet spoil the local designs for a return to the tournament, was still capable of out-gaining the Yellow Jackets by a couple hundred yards and even winning the time-of-possession sweepstakes.
It could be argued that the Yellow Jackets did about all that could be reasonably expected of them this night, actually out-scoring the Tigers 7-3 in the second half. Yes, moral victories mean close to nothing, but they might be all that’s available to a team that matches up as poorly as Georgia Tech does now with Clemson.
Syracuse had, somehow, beaten Clemson just two weeks ago. But Syracuse could throw the ball, passing for 278 yards and three touchdowns. You may have noticed that is not Georgia Tech’s game.
Saturday had to be an eye-opener for Yellow Jackets quarterback TaQuon Marshall. Much of his first season running the option has been a charmed one. He has flashed the kind of quickness of foot and mind that plays extraordinarily well in this offense.
But Saturday Marshall was overwhelmed by the strongest, quickest defense he’s likely to encounter. He had erupted with 249 rushing yards in his first game against Tennessee. He had but 23 against Clemson. In between dodging an uncompromising pass rush and throwing the ball out of bounds when no other option was present, he completed but three passes for 32 yards.
Marshall never got comfortable, never got into the sort of rhythm upon which this offense depends. But Clemson makes you uncomfortable. It makes you offensively tone-deaf.
“I don’t think I got too settled in. I was kind of all over the place at the beginning of the game. I settled down more the second half,” Marshall said.
He then, at least, processed this loss the way you’d hope your quarterback would.
“It starts with me. I really let the team down,” Marshall said. “I got to come back next week ready to work and get better because the guys rally around me. I’ve got to make sure I’m up. We’re going to watch the film next week, flush it and get ready for Virginia.”
What Marshall has most in his favor is that Virginia is most certainly not Clemson.
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