Georgia Tech’s 2015 season has played out like this.
Last Saturday afternoon, defensive tackle Adam Gotsis was holed up in an office in Tech’s football facility, still able to hear the marching band in the adjacent Bobby Dodd Stadium. He had been disqualified from the Yellow Jackets’ loss to North Carolina last week for a targeting penalty. He watched the game on a television with A-back Qua Searcy, who is out for the season with a broken leg.
“I was just, like, in shock,” Gotsis said. “I didn’t really feel anything. It didn’t even feel like it was real life.”
After the loss, cornerback D.J. White, who supplied many of the more memorable moments of the Jackets’ 2014 season, kept replaying in his mind a North Carolina pass that he anticipated perfectly but let drop to the ground. Instead of a possible interception return for a touchdown, North Carolina scored on the next play, a 14-point swing in a game decided by a touchdown.
“Just broke the cardinal rule,” he said. “Just took my eye off the ball, tried to run before I caught it, and just missed a big, big opportunity for our team.”
Even with his family in town, guard Trey Braun couldn’t let go of the loss until Monday morning. Braun was part of the offensive line that couldn’t provide enough force to enable quarterback Justin Thomas to cross the goal line on third down or fourth down from the North Carolina 1-yard line. Tech, ranked in the top 15 in the country three weeks ago going into its showdown with Notre Dame, is now 2-3 and off the radar.
“We’ve been caught up in the predictions and caught up in, if this happens and this happens, yadda, yadda, yadda,” Braun said.
It lends a different tenor to Saturday’s game at No. 6 Clemson and the final seven games of the regular season.
“There’s realities about dropping three,” Braun said. “There’s things that we wanted to do that (have a) very slim chance. Never say never, but it can’t be about that. It has to be about winning the next game.”
The agony of the 2015 season has drawn a sharp contract to the joyride of 2014 and perhaps provided further accentuation of how remarkable it was. Through five games, the Jackets have not been rescued by a questionable reversal of a forward pass after a video review (Georgia Southern), not converted a clutch fourth-and-15 (Virginia Tech) or forced and recovered fumbles on four of an opponent’s first six plays (Pittsburgh), let alone hammered a 53-yard field goal to force overtime (Georgia).
Instead, they’ve seen parts of their depth chart wiped clean by injuries, given up a kickoff return for a touchdown for the first time since 2010 and lost for three quarters arguably their best defensive player (Gotsis) for an infraction that was by rule a foul, but probably not in spirit.
“There’s such a fine line between winning and losing, it’s crazy,” White said.
Against the Tigers, a touchdown favorite over the Jackets, Tech risks its first four-game losing streak since 1996 and its first 0-3 start in ACC play since 1994.
A loss would place Tech’s 18-year bowl streak, tied with Georgia for the third longest active string, in further jeopardy. Perhaps a more impressive, if less recognized, run likewise would be endangered. Tech has finished .500 or better in league play for the past 20 seasons, the longest active streak in the country.
It may not feel like real life, but in some ways, it undeniably is.
“You’re going to have times where, we’ve never done it, thankfully, but some teams work really hard and drop six in a row,” Braun said. “That’s just the way things go. The only thing you can do is work on how you respond to it.”
Braun walked to Tuesday’s practice with a song on his lips. He was not blithe to his team’s position, just determined to have a positive attitude. He saw teammates with like mindsets.
“I just saw guys flying around,” he said. “I saw the scout team was working really hard to give us a look. I saw some guys getting chippy.”
White acknowledged he was “very disappointed” following the loss and his role in it, particularly given his role as a captain. He went home with his family to McDonough to get away from football for a moment. In his teammates, he has seen resolve to not fragment.
“Which is a positve,” he said. “We all know we’re not where we want to be. But the biggest thing is just staying close as a group and keeping that brotherhood.”
On Saturday, they’ll be a small band of white and gold in a sea of purple and orange. Chippiness and brotherhood will come in handy, not to mention some well-placed blocks on the perimeter.
Said coach Paul Johnson, “Ain’t nobody coming to rescue us.”
