Georgia Tech’s passing stats were good in last week’s win over Boston College.
Justin Thomas completed 8-of-15 passes for 119 yards, including the 22-yard completion to Qua Searcy on fourth-and-19 to preserve the game-winning drive. For an offense built to run, completing more than 50 percent of the passes, including six on third- or fourth-and long, is a good start.
It’s even better when compared to the 41.7 percent completion percentage for 112.1 yards per game Thomas averaged last season.
But coach Paul Johnson expects to see a better performance in Saturday’s home-opening game against Mercer.
“I don’t know if it was all that good on Saturday,” Johnson said. “We missed a ton in the passing game. Not so much throwing the ball but on route adjustments. Chances are it wasn’t much better than the other (rushing).”
As much criticism as the offensive line has received for its run blocking against the Eagles, its pass protection was mostly solid. The notable exception came on the first, first down on the game-winning drive when Thomas, using his athleticism, escaped a certain sack and threw the ball away to avoid losing valuable yardage. The Eagles were able to sack him on second down, the only time they were able to bring him down.
Mostly, Thomas said he rarely had to scramble when he dropped back, which was especially noticeable considering he completed passes on third and fourth down in lengths of 14, 36, 0, 14, 22 and 26 yards.
It takes a long time to complete routes and get the time to find the receivers, especially when a defense knows that a pass is coming.
The success that the Jackets had comes from the work the receivers and Thomas put in this summer, according to Brad Stewart, who caught two passes for 14 yards. He said they spent a lot of time watching film of opponents’ tendencies on third down and what Tech could do with its route concepts on certain plays.
“As a receivers group this year, we have to make plays when we were called on,” he said.
The biggest play in the game didn’t involve a receiver, but illustrated what Tech learned and has been working on.
On fourth and 19 at Tech’s 32, Johnson sent the receivers and A-backs on vertical routes. Thomas dropped back, settled into a nice pocket as he went through his progressions. Searcy settled into a pocket in Boston College’s defense, where Thomas spotted him and zipped a pass that Searcy caught for 22 yards and the game-continuing first down. Had the pass fallen incomplete, Boston College most certainly would have won the game.
There was actually one more big pass in the game, one that was overlooked because of Thomas-to-Searcy completion. Facing third-and-10 at Boston College’s 46-yard line, Thomas hit Jeune on a back-shoulder throw for 26 yards to move the Jackets to the 20.
“I feel like we can do that even better,” Stewart said.
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