On Sept. 19, Georgia Tech entered Notre Dame Stadium as a road favorite. Tech lost that day and has lost every Saturday since. Over the 100 games Paul Johnson has worked at the Institute, it’s the first time his team has lost four in succession.
The team that exited the 2014 season as the Orange Bowl champ; the team that entered September as the pick to repeat as the Coastal Division winner; the team that was, after its first two games, regarded by some if not many as the class of the ACC … that team holds last place in its division and is in peril of seeing its run of consecutive bowl appearances halted at 18. Even if you were of the opinion (and I was) that Tech wouldn’t be quite as good this time around, you didn’t expect this.
The Yellow Jackets have played half their season and haven’t beaten anybody of consequence. Tech’s path to 11-3 last season included a closing burst of victories over Clemson, Georgia and Mississippi State, interspersed with a near-miss against Florida State. A case could be made that only Ohio State (and maybe TCU) was playing better than the Jackets as the 2014 season wound down. But that was then. This is now. Now is grim.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said it after his Tigers toyed with Tech in Death Valley on Saturday: If you’re an option team and you can’t run the option, you’re in a world of hurt. Georgia Tech — this just in — is an option team. Georgia Tech — this is a surprise — can’t run the option. Its 71 yards rushing against Clemson marked the 100-game low under Johnson.
Whenever Tech has a lesser game running the ball, it’s fashionable to say opponents have cracked the code. That’s always incorrect. It’s always matter of personnel. This offense wrought havoc against Georgia (399 yards rushing) and Mississippi State (452) last year. This year’s Jackets are running the same option, just with different players. As successful as Johnson has been at Tech, his bigger seasons have come when he has, duh, better players.
Yes, Tech has had a slew of injuries at A-back; yes, the guy ticketed as the starting B-back — C.J. Leggett — was hurt in spring practice. But the offensive line returned four of five starters, leading some to believe that the skill-position drain from last season could be minimized. And wasn’t Justin Thomas the best Tech quarterback Johnson has had? Wouldn’t he make everything work?
Well, no. Thomas hasn’t been very good. The O-line looks less than ordinary. No B-back has run rampant the way Zach Laskey and Synjyn Days did last season. No A-back has stayed healthy long enough to do much of anything. After the Clemson game, Johnson lamented how many young players he has deployed, but then he indicted the suddenly flimsy offensive line, saying, “And those are older guys.” Meaning: Everybody’s messing up.
Johnson has vowed to Go Back To Basics, to teach his men the error of their ways. But here’s what gets me when this coach fumes, as he does periodically, over his team’s inability to run the option: He designed this offense and recruited these players, presumably to specification. If they’re not talented enough to run it, that’s his fault. If they’re not capable of learning it, that’s his fault, too.
All things considered, Johnson is Tech’s second-best coach of the past 70 years. His work last season brought him an extension through 2020, and his job status won’t be in question even if this team finishes 4-8. (It probably won’t; 6-6 is more likely.) Winning big at Tech isn’t easy — only under Bobby Dodd have the Jackets strung together 10-win seasons — and Johnson has won 10-plus games twice in his first seven years. He knows what he’s doing. That said, this team shouldn’t have been this bad.
Were Tech 4-2 with losses to Notre Dame and Clemson, we’d be saying, “That’s about right.” But Tech is 2-4 with losses to everybody any good, and that’s wrong. The Jackets showed last year they could run with the big dogs (and two sets of Bulldogs); they’ve spent the first half of this season resembling a Pekingese — cute but harmless.
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