Georgia Tech’s issues on offense in its past two games can be traced to experience.
Those who have it — the offensive line, one B-back and quarterback — aren’t using it as much as coach Paul Johnson expects.
Those who don’t have it — the wide receivers and A-backs – can’t develop it overnight.
Johnson referenced both following Saturday’s loss to Duke, Tech’s second consecutive defeat, the second consecutive game in which they set a season-low for rushing yards and the second consecutive game in which an offense known for big plays failed to post a running play of at least 25 yards. Tech (2-2, 0-1 ACC) can get a chance to show if it has fixed its problems against North Carolina on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“There’s no secret formula,” Johnson said. “There isn’t anything you can do if you cannot block people and you cannot execute and go to the right people. And sometimes the young guys aren’t always going to go to the right people. They’re going to be perfect. So the guys that have played have got to be better.”
Tech’s offensive line starts three seniors, a junior and a third-year sophomore who combined for 64 starts as part of 117 games played before this season. Most of those starts and games are on the line’s left side, where tackle Bryan Chamberlain, guard Trey Braun and center Freddie Burden play.
That group seems to be the one Johnson referred to Monday when he said that sometimes guys who have played a lot can overthink what they are supposed to do instead of just following the rules that have been honed and perfected over 30 years of Johnson running this type of triple-option offense.
“The older guys should not make the mistakes they are making,” offensive line coach Mike Sewak said. “If they are doing it they are over-evaluating and seeing a scenario. … They still have to do their assignment.”
Burden, who started 14 games last season, agreed with coach Johnson, saying the group needs to relax and use what they were taught when they first enrolled.
There’s no better example of the overthinking than the critical series that ended with Tech’s inability to convert on fourth-and-1 late against Duke. Trailing 26-20, the Jackets were handed a lifeline following an interception by cornerback Lawrence Austin to set up the Jackets on the Devils’ 35-yard line.
After quarterback Justin Thomas rushed for seven yards on first down, Tech couldn’t pick up three yards on the next three downs, ending with the stop on fourth-and-1 when B-back Patrick Skov, running behind the experienced side of the line, was hammered by several Duke defenders for no gain.
“It got confusing in there, kind of cloudy,” Burden said. “It’s fourth down, everybody’s biting their mouthpiece a little harder, getting anxious. We just have to relax and play our game.”
While disappointed in that play, Johnson pointed out that on three plays in that series a Duke defender was left unblocked, something that shouldn’t happen that frequently against a veteran line.
“I don’t care who you are you aren’t going to win many games doing that,” Johnson said.
Johnson also was mildly critical of the experienced players in the backfield. He said Thomas is trying to do too much because he wants to make a play, but said that his desire and effort is a very small part of the myriad issues. He wasn’t as forgiving of Skov, who is a fifth-year senior but in his first season as the featured running back in Tech’s offense after spending the previous four seasons as mostly a blocking back at Stanford.
Skov rushed for 75 yards on 19 carries against Duke, but didn’t have a run longer than 11 yards, something Johnson noted perhaps sarcastically after the game. That lack of impactful running isn’t something that Johnson expects or is used to. Of course, if the inexperienced A-backs and wide receivers aren’t blocking well, and the linemen aren’t getting to the second and third levels, it’s hard for the B-back to break those long runs.
“We have just got to execute better,” Johnson said. “We have got to coach better, but we have got to execute better.
“We just have to get some continuity and clean it up. I thought that we had it really simplified last week, but clearly we did not do a very good job getting them ready because we had a lot of mistakes.”
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