At his Monday press briefing, Paul Johnson told reporters: “Last year was a great year. You win 11 games and win a BCS bowl game and beat your instate rival – that probably hasn’t happened here a lot.”
If we tweak the criteria to “win 10-plus games” – teams didn’t play as much back in the day – and “win a major bowl,” that trifecta had occurred only three times in Georgia Tech annals. The first was in 1928 under William Alexander: Tech went 10-0 and beat California in the Rose Bowl. The other two times came in consecutive seasons under Bobby Dodd: The 1951 Yellow Jackets were 11-0-1 and beat Baylor in the Orange; the 1952 team was 12-0 and won the Sugar over Ole Miss.
(What, you’re asking, of Bobby Ross’ 11-0-1 UPI national champions of 1990? Didn’t win a major bowl. Those Jackets beat Nebraska in the Citrus.)
It’s no stretch to call last season one of the five best in Tech history. It was also no stretch to suggest that the achievements of 2014 weren’t apt to be bettered in 2015. My prediction: 9-3. Yeah, I overshot. Everybody did.
Tech must win its three remaining games not to finish below .500, something that also hasn’t happened much. (The Jackets’ only losing season since 1996 was the 6-7 of 2010, which featured an Independence Bowl loss to Air Force.) Johnson has trotted out all manner of excuses for this team, citing youth and injuries and a tough schedule and rotten luck, but still: A year after extracting the most from a pretty good team, he has gotten the least from this bunch.
Oh, and about luck: Any team that arrives at Veterans Day with its single victory over a competitive opponent having come on a return of blocked field goal as time expired can’t be said to have had the ball bounce against it every time. “You could make a case that this team could easily be 6-3,” Johnson said Monday, but if Robert Aguayo’s 56-yard sails untouched and true, the Jackets would be 2-7, winless in ACC play, winless since Sept. 12.
Nothing that has happened the past two months can stain 2014. That’s in the books, inviolate. But if we remove the 11-3 of 2014, Tech’s record since 2009 is 31-31. Those who mentioned that Johnson had gone 28-25 over a four-year span were subjected to much tut-tutting toward the end of last season, but tutting comes harder when you’re 3-6 and holding last place in a division you were supposed to win.
Owing to its 18 consecutive bowl appearances, we tend to regard Tech as a program that’s always pretty good and occasionally very good. But here’s how the Jackets have fared since the (since-vacated) 2009 ACC championship – 6-7, 8-5, 7-7, 7-6, 11-3 and now 3-6. Which is the outlier?
In January 2014, athletic director Mike Bobinski said seven-win seasons weren’t good enough. Tech then won 11 games, buying Johnson a contract extension. If Tech can fashion another such season between now and 2020, that four-year re-up will seem sagacious. But Johnson followed the 9-4 of 2008 and the 11-3 of 2009 with four seasons of mediocrity. Is that what Tech can expect for its $3 million per annum – a valley after a peak?
Tech fans aren’t as demanding as some others – Tech alums took calculus and have the scars to prove it – but this season has been a retreat on roller skates. Under new coach Pat Narduzzi, Pitt beat Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Duke and North Carolina beat Tech for the second year running. Even wretched Virginia beat Tech.
This season hasn’t been a failure of Ted Roof’s defense, which has cut its yield by 46 yards per game. This has been a breakdown of Johnson’s creation. The Jackets rank 62nd nationally in total offense and 110th in third-down conversions; a year ago they were 19th and first, respectively. It’s the same scheme with same quarterback and the same play-caller (Johnson) and mostly the same offensive line. So maybe the identities of the A-backs and B-backs and receivers do matter, huh?
As grand as last season was, it was one season. Given current events, we need to ask: For Tech, was 2014 the exception that proves the rule?
About the Author
