MIAMI — The game could not have started much worse for the Georgia Tech offense. On the Yellow Jackets’ first play from scrimmage, quarterback Tevin Washington overthrew A-back Orwin Smith and center Jay Finch suffered a game-ending injury.
The interception on the play gave Miami the ball at the Tech 46-yard line, giving the Hurricanes a head start to their first score of the game. Coach Paul Johnson called the play after seeing on video that it could go for a big gain.
“We had Orwin wide open,” Washington said. “I made a bad pass.”
Finch, who has played effectively in his first season as a starter, was replaced by Nick McRae, who played the rest of the way. Finch, who appeared to injure his right leg, was on crutches afterward. Johnson did not have a prognosis on his return.
Washington had a tough game, running 20 times for 36 yards with a touchdown and completing six of 12 passes for 63 yards with no touchdowns and the interception.
“It’s not fair to put all this on Tevin because there’s a lot of us that have got to do better,” Johnson said.
Positives
Miami coach Al Golden gave praise to the Tech defense, which held the Hurricanes to 122 rushing yards, their second lowest total of the season.
“They showed a lot of things that they did not last week,” Golden said. “They pressured in a variety of ways out of the 3-4.”
After shredding Virginia Tech and North Carolina for 550 passing yards in the past two games, the Hurricanes managed 140 yards in the air.
“It was not pretty on offense [Saturday],” Golden said. “They zone blitzed a lot.”
Inside linebacker Julian Burnett led Tech with six tackles, including 1 1/2 for losses. Defensive back Jemea Thomas played another strong game, making an open-field tackle on a punt and executing a pass break-up on a deep ball in the third quarter to wide receiver Travis Benjamin.
Fake fails
For the second time in the past four games, Tech took a gamble with a first-quarter fake punt. Unlike the first try, when Thomas gained a first down with a 27-yard run against N.C. State, the Jackets got burned. Thomas took the snap and was tackled about a foot short on a fourth-and-3 play and gave the Hurricanes the ball at the Tech 40-yard line. Thomas said that Johnson called the play from the sideline. Johnson said it was “an automatic call” based on Miami’s alignment.
“Either we made the bad automatic call or we had to turn [a Miami player] loose,” Johnson said. “I don’t know which.”
Tech’s defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession.
Days plays
In the fourth quarter, Johnson sent in backup quarterback Synjyn Days to relieve Washington. The redshirt freshman gained a first down on a pass to wide receiver Tyler Melton, but then turned the ball over on a fumble two plays later. Ball security has been a trouble spot for Days, who was hurt on the play and did not return. Johnson did not know the severity of Days’ injury.
Up in the air
Zach Laskey earned the punt-returner job in preseason practice based on his knack for cleanly catching punts. While he has largely done so, he has had a few close calls trying to field bouncing punts, which was the case on the mishandled punt in the second quarter.
“After the first one, it looked like he didn’t want to come up and catch it,” Johnson said.
Coaches will evaluate the punt-return job this week, Johnson said.
“We’ll take a look at everything,” he said. “You have to.”
