A year after tying an NCAA record for highest third-down conversion rate, Georgia Tech finished the 2015 season in the same manner that it had handled third downs in the previous nine games – ineffectively.
The Yellow Jackets had no shortage of factors that contributed to their 13-7 defeat to Georgia Saturday, dropping their record against the Bulldogs in the post-Bobby Dodd era to 13-36. But their failure to extend possessions on third down played a significant part again. Tech converted 2 of 13 third downs against the Bulldogs, helping short circuit eight of the Jackets’ 10 possessions. (The final last-ditch possession didn’t get past second down.)
“Third downs were atrocious, as they have been all year,” coach Paul Johnson said.
Tech committed two of its three turnovers on third down. On a third-and-8 in the second quarter, quarterback Justin Thomas’ pass from the Georgia 14-yard line was intercepted by safety Dominick Sanders. It was hard to tell whom Thomas was throwing to; Johnson said that he was trying to hit A-back Clinton Lynch, but the ball sailed on him.
It was Tech’s best scoring chance of the game until the late touchdown drive. On the opening possession of the third quarter, Thomas found wide receiver Ricky Jeune for an apparent conversion, but Jeune had the ball stripped and Tech lost possession. It killed another promising drive in which a touchdown would have tied the score at 7.
Said Johnson, “We have a hard time valuing the ball.”
Tech finished the season with 24 turnovers, which is tied for third most in a season in Johnson’s eight-season tenure.
Part of the problem was that, again, Tech was in third-and-long too often for an offense that is built to reach and convert third-and-short situations. Of 13 third-down plays, 10 were third-and-5 or longer. The Jackets converted one of them, a third-and-5.
On Thomas’ red-zone interception, for instance, the first-down play preceding it was an option play in which A-back Isiah Willis ran the wrong way, so Thomas was unable to pitch the ball and was stopped for no gain.
On the 10 plays of third-and-5 or longer, Tech tried to pass on seven of them, entrusting the possession to an offensive line that has pass protected poorly all season. The seven dropbacks turned into a sack, an interception, four incompletions and one completed pass. The completion, though, was the Jeune fumble.
“The pass protection was bad, like it has been all year,” Johnson said. “The kid didn’t have a chance to set his feet. I think we had some guys open.”
Tech finishes the season with a 34.9 percent conversion rate on third down. The Jackets’ record-tying rate last season was 57.9.
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