Georgia Tech won last Thursday’s game with a near-record output and just one scoring drive allowed in 14 Alcorn State possessions. After reviewing the game video, coach Paul Johnson saw a team that won despite making plenty of mistakes. The No. 16 Yellow Jackets have corrections to make as they prepare for Tulane this Saturday.
“I thought the first quarter went about as well as it could go,” Johnson said at his Monday news conference. “And then after that, once the game got out of hand, we made some mistakes and a lot of technical things we can clean up, and some other issues.”
Lapses in ball security were among the chief sins committed against the Braves. Freshman B-back Marcus Marshall had the ball stripped, leading to a turnover. Quarterback Justin Thomas, while he didn’t fumble, did not carry the ball with sufficient care. Qua Searcy dropped a punt late in the game.
Johnson said that Thomas needs to be “smart” with the ball and not carry it in one hand. On his 13-yard touchdown scramble in the first quarter, Thomas held the ball in his right hand away from his body. Alcorn State cornerback Warren Gatewood swiped at the ball as Thomas raced for the pylon, but came up empty.
“While he’s a dynamic player, that’s one area that he can really improve on,” Johnson said. “I think sometimes, he’s so quick and so fast that he gets away with not being as sound in that area as he needs to be. That’ll be a real focal point for him this week.”
Tech fumbled three times against Tulane last season, losing two. Through that game, Tech was averaging one fumble for every 31 offensive plays, although one of the fumbles was on a punt return. Over the remainder of the season, the Jackets’ fumble rate decreased to one for every 54.3 offensive snaps. Tech’s ability to hold onto the ball and give its highly-efficient offense more scoring chances became one of the most important facets of the Jackets’ success last season.
Backup quarterback Tim Byerly has said the Tulane game helped reinforce the importance of ball security.
“Last year, the ball security thing got really exposed in that game, and we’ve talked about it,” Johnson said.
Ball security aside, Johnson’s video review of the game revealed few standouts. The A-backs “played about like I thought they would play.”
Said Johnson of the wide receivers, “Nobody was great, but nobody was really bad.”
On the whole, the line, backs and receivers could have blocked better, the quarterbacks missed reads in the option game and the receivers could have run better routes. Defensively, players missed tackles and made mistakes on their assignments. Johnson said that players at times “went brain dead.” He did say center Freddie Burden, named the team’s offensive player of the week “was pretty dominant.”
“Everybody usually gets better from the first game to the second game,” Johnson said. “And I’m sure Tulane will, as well.”
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