Paul Johnson met the media Monday looking as if he hadn’t slept in a month. Sure enough, it had been 29 days since Georgia Tech last won. It’s about to face Georgia with no assurance quarterback Justin Thomas will play. At the Flats, this isn’t a time of fun ‘n frolic.
“I’m not a good loser,” Johnson said. “Everyone around me can tell you that.”
Tech is 3-8, the worst it has been since 1994, which was the final season under Bill Lewis, whose name is never spoken around the Institute. Said Johnson: “This is new territory for me.”
And: “It’s like a dike. Put your finger in one hole and something pops up over here.”
And: “It’s just been one of those deals.”
At issue is whether it’s a one-shot deal. Even after going 11-3 last season, Tech is 42-36 since 2009. That’s a winning percentage of .538 over six seasons. Chan Gailey, fired in 2007 to make way for Johnson, had a winning percentage of .579 over his six seasons. As grand as 2014 was, it’s looking more and more like an outlier.
Johnson: “I know everybody who watches the games is frustrated. I’m frustrated; the players are frustrated.”
He cited Saturday’s 38-21 loss at Miami. Justin Thomas had been lost to a still-undisclosed injury, but the Yellow Jackets were nearing a touchdown that would give them a 14-7 lead. Backup quarterback Matthew Jordan fumbled inside the Miami 5. The Hurricanes drove 97 yards to score.
Johnson: “I personally walked through that (goal-line play) for 10 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday. Then when we don’t do it right, you just shake your head … It’s mind-boggling.”
Plummeting from 11-3 to 3-8 can have a boggling effect. But what’s the cause?
Johnson: “The biggest difference is we’re not as good on offense and we haven’t gotten the turnovers (on defense). We’re probably better statistically on defense, although not enough to make a difference. Last year the offense was good enough to carry the whole team. ‘You want a shootout? Let’s go. We’ll play a shootout with you, and you’ll miss your turn before we will.’ This year we can’t. We’re not that good. You’re not going to be with six or seven freshmen. We lost both receivers to the NFL. We lost both running backs to the NFL. We’ve got seven A-backs hurt, two quarterbacks hurt – (it’s) hard to play. That sounds like an excuse and I don’t mean it to be an excuse. But it’s the truth.”
The one thing we’ve never heard from Johnson: “Defenses have caught up to my offense.” You didn’t hear it Monday, either.
Johnson: “I’d be the first to tell you if somebody came up with a new way of playing and we just couldn’t play against it. They all play about the same way, some with better players than others.”
He cited Clemson, which held Tech to 71 yards rushing, the fewest by Tech under Johnson. “They physically kicked the bejeezus out of us … Physical superiority cancels all theory sometimes.”
How is it that Tech, which has been employing this offense since 2008, suddenly can’t run it to specification? Personnel losses? Injuries? Bad recruiting? Bad coaching? For such questions, the answer is usually, “All of the above.” And Johnson is, after last year’s extension, under contract at $3 million per year through 2020.
Asked if he’d given thought to staff changes, Johnson said: “I’ll look at everything after the season’s over. For the most part, it’s the same coaches who won 11 games and the Orange Bowl last year. They didn’t forget how to coach overnight. Now, is everybody accountable? Yeah, I’m ultimately accountable, and everybody’s accountable for their position. I’ll sit down and take a little time and think about it and figure out what we need to do to get it right.”
Something he should consider: The landscape is shifting. If Virginia fires Mike London, half of Tech’s division brethren will have new coaches. In Year 1 at Pittsburgh, Pat Narduzzi has made a splash. North Carolina has finally broken through. There was a time when the Jackets could win the Coastal because Johnson would outflank everybody, but that didn’t work this year — they were 0-6 in division play — and might not again. Fun ‘n frolic can be fleeting.
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