As was the case eight weeks ago, the Georgia Tech bandwagon once again offers plenty of leg room and enough seats for everybody. The ride is free of poll voters and at least one Tech student.
Offensive tackle Phil Smith shared a story told this week by guard Shaquille Mason, who was on a campus bus when a fellow student noted him and said, “Y’all lost to Virginia and Miami? Y’all [expletive].” Smith himself received a few malicious tweets after the Yellow Jackets lost to Miami on Saturday, a rousing start to homecoming week at Tech.
Clemson will rocket into Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday evening with an 8-0 record, the No. 5 ranking in the BCS standings and a truckload of momentum. After starting the season with six wins, which pushed them to No. 12 in the polls, the Jackets have been staggered by two consecutive losses that have dropped them out of the Top 25. But they might be in the right place.
“I don’t know, I just think we play better with a chip on our shoulder, [when] people don’t think we’re any good,” quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon said. “We’re not the kind of team that can go win without that.”
Since coach Paul Johnson’s arrival — and certainly before it — Tech has a history of pulling upsets against ranked opponents. In 2008, a week after falling out of the Top 25 with a home loss to Virginia, the Jackets hung on to top No. 16 Florida State 31-28 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The win snapped Tech’s 12-game losing streak to the Seminoles.
In 2009, the Jackets played then-No. 4 Virginia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia Tech scored its first home win over a top-five opponent since 1962 with its 28-23 win.
Of the win over the Hokies, Smith said he remembers that “we just fought our [expletive] off that day. That day was probably one of the most intense games I’ve ever been a part of.”
The game made such an impact that the offensive line often gathered to watch it during this year’s preseason camp as inspiration.
Smith and A-back Roddy Jones are two of a handful of Tech players who played integral roles in the win over Virginia Tech in 2009, and Jones is one of the few who helped defeat the Seminoles in 2008.
“But I think we do step up in that role and we end up playing hard and embracing the challenge that we’re faced with,” Jones said.
It was Jones who felt it necessary to speak to the team Monday to encourage teammates after the losses to Virginia and Miami.
“We’re really kind of taking a beating from the media, from some of the fans, maybe from people around campus asking, ‘What happened?’ and people really kind of discounting us,” he said.
“So we just have to circle the wagons and rally here and really believe in what we’re doing because we are a good team, and we just need to go out there and prove it.”
The challenge is not slight. Clemson’s spread offense has been among the more potent in ACC history, triggered by quarterback Tajh Boyd (24 touchdown passes and 297.4 passing yards per game) and incendiary wide receiver Sammy Watkins (ACC-best 10 touchdowns).
The Tigers have piled up 115 points in their past two games as they’ve grown more comfortable in the scheme directed by first-year offensive coordinator Chad Morris, a protégé of Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
Further, the Jackets’ offense has derailed. Tech’s seven points against Miami tied for the regular-season low output under Johnson, and its 211 yards were the second fewest gained by a Johnson team at Tech in a regular-season game.
All the better camouflage, perhaps, to stage an ambush. Jones asserted this week that the offense isn’t far from regaining its form. Tech’s defense made progress in the loss to Miami.
To retain any hope of reaching the ACC championship game, the Jackets almost certainly will have to deliver the upset in a familiar setting — a high-ranked opponent in the Jackets’ stadium and a path lined by doubters.
“This’ll be the young guys’ first one, so it should be fun,” Jones said. “Hopefully they’ll embrace the challenge like we have in the past.”
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