At a speed that would make Oregon envious, Georgia Tech is disabusing another of the beliefs about its option offense: Its scoring drives are slower than I-285 traffic on a Friday at 5 p.m.
In its 2-0 start, Tech’s 19 scoring drives are averaging 2 minutes, 23 seconds — less than it would take for you to wage a battle playing Clash of Clans. Nine of the touchdowns have come in two minutes or less.
“A lot of people on the outside see us as a slow, methodical offense,” quarterback Justin Thomas said. “But we can be quick-hitting, quick-striking as long as everybody is doing what they are supposed to do.
“It’s not a surprise to us. We play to make big plays. It’s what we set out to do.”
It’s true that Tech’s first opponents, Alcorn State and Tulane, haven’t been the biggest of speed bumps on the Ramblin’ Wreck’s superhighway. But scoring quickly isn’t a two-game trend. Of the Yellow Jackets’ touchdown drives since the start of the 2014 season, 29 of the 85 have taken two minutes or less. While the Jackets didn’t consistently break the two-minute mark against a few of the elites last season, they also weren’t glacial: Florida State (quickest by the offense that day was 1:09), Clemson (2:15) and Georgia (2:56).
Ground and pound?
Smash and slash.
“It’s (a myth) to toss away,” offensive lineman Freddie Burden said. “We just have to focus on what we do, and if we score quickly, so what? I just want to score points.”
The reasons for the scoring speed are intertwined: The defense, particularly in the last half of last season, is giving the offense good field position. Thomas has proven intuitive in running the offense. The offensive line was able to play together without a lot of injuries last season. The A-backs and wide receivers are proving big-play threats.
This season’s scoring drives by the offense are averaging five plays and 53.6 yards. Last season’s averaged 7.6 plays, 62.9 yards and 3:30, which was roughly the same as in 2013 and more than a minute slower than this season’s 2:23.
The Jackets’ offense will face their first significant challenge this season at Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish are 2-0 with wins against a Texas team whose offensive efficiency is the antithesis of Tech’s, and Virginia, another team who usually finds points as hard to come by as a leprechaun’s pot of gold.
Still, Notre Dame’s defense gave up 27 points and 127 rushing yards to the Cavaliers.
Irish coach Brian Kelly is aware of the challenge of trying to slow the Yellow Jackets.
“This offense is going to score points,” he said. “We know it. It’s in the history of what they do.
“They’re a difficult offense because of the players as well as coach has been doing it and seeing it and knows what it looks like. Their efficiency and execution is outstanding.”
Though Notre Dame has an annual game against Navy, which runs the option coach Paul Johnson installed when he was coach there before accepting the Tech job, Kelly said the experience will help his team some, but not as much as some might expect.
“Each and every year certainly helps you, but the ACC sees Georgia Tech each year, and that doesn’t seem to help them very much,” he said.
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