The charitable view of Georgia Tech’s all-systems failures at Notre Dame was that they were specific to that one Saturday in South Bend, Ind. The Yellow Jackets had a tough day against a tough opponent in a tough place to play. It happens.
The view was different in Durham on Saturday. Now it’s clear the Jackets didn’t just have a bad day against a good Fighting Irish defense, but that they can’t do much of anything against a defense that isn’t bad. That doesn’t happen.
Tech’s hopes for a special season were extinguished by the 34-20 loss to Duke. Silly me for believing the Jackets still were capable of winning 10 in a row and making the College Football Playoff. The Jackets still can win the ACC Coastal, but it’s hard to predict better things for Tech when the triple-option flopped against the two good teams it’s faced.
If that’s hard to believe considering Tech’s talent and coach Paul Johnson’s track record, well, listen to Johnson.
“I told you two weeks ago,” Johnson said. “You guys might be shocked, but I’m not. I’m disappointed we didn’t play better, but we weren’t playing great the first two weeks. We just had people overmatched.”
You can believe him now.
The Irish represented the first real defensive test for the Jackets, who gained their fewest yards rushing (216 ) since the bowl game against Ole Miss in 2013. Duke isn’t as good against the run, yet the Jackets were even worse with 173 yards rushing, ending the nation’s longest streak of 200-plus yards rushing at 17 games.
Tech had an incomprehensible average of 2.9 yards per rush. Add the two sacks for 18 yards against quarterback Justin Thomas to the rushing tally, and the Jackets still gained only 191 yards on 58 carries for 3.3 yards per carry.
“We’re just not a very good offensive football team right now,” Johnson said.
That implies it will get better, but with so much is going wrong for Tech, where to begin?
Sometimes the B-backs fail to get the tough yards inside. Other times the A-backs aren’t making defenders miss outside. Too often the offensive line gives the backs no chance. And now Thomas is making the wrong plays at the worst times.
Everything the Jackets do is built on the certainty that they will run the ball efficiently most times and break big running plays a few times. They’ve done neither in two games against good opponents.
Once again Tech B-back Patrick Skov could do little on the dives that are crucial to setting up other plays. The Jackets couldn’t muster a yard when they absolutely needed it: Duke stuffed Skov for no gain on fourth down when they were 26 yards away from the go-ahead touchdown with five minutes left in the game.
“You’d like to have that play all over again, but you play to the strength of your football team,” Johnson said.
Once again Thomas seemed unsure of himself. The read and keep/pitch routine didn’t go so well for Thomas and neither did ball security: Thomas fumbled three times and lost one, ending Tech’s comeback attempt, after he also lost a key fumble at Notre Dame.
“What happens is the quarterback starts pressing and then it gets worse,” Johnson said. “I understand where he’s at. He’s trying to make plays himself. He gets frustrated.”
He’s not the only one. For two weekends in a row, the triple-option offense produced long stretches of nothing. For two weekends in a row, a fast and sound defense swarmed everything the Jackets wanted to do on the ground.
To the list of offensive problems the Jackets added a defense that offered little resistance early before stiffening. Special teams have never really been strong for Johnson’s teams, but now they are a calamity: a 69-yard punt return set up Duke’s third TD, a 100-yard kickoff return TD snuffed Tech’s rally, and a snap over the punter’s head created a short field for another Duke TD.
Maybe the Jackets survive if none of that happens, but they can’t count on their offense, either.
“There is no secret formula,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing you can do if you cannot block people and you cannot execute and go to the right people.”
Thus the Jackets are doing nothing. That wasn’t just a bad day for Tech at Notre Dame. It was the sign of more trouble to come.
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