Georgia Tech's excursion through the wilderness of the ACC has turned out to be more nettlesome than expected.
For the second week in a row, against a weaker league opponent, the Yellow Jackets failed to generate a full team effort and tread close to their first loss of the season. Saturday afternoon, No. 13 Tech defeated Maryland 21-16 at Bobby Dodd Stadium on a day when the defense made improvement (one play excepted), the offense got scrambled and the special teams was resolutely so-so.
Said coach Paul Johnson, "It just wasn't a clean game."
Without injured starting linebackers Jeremiah Attaochu and Daniel Drummond and backup linebacker Brandon Watts, Tech was forced to shuffle. Defensive coordinator Al Groh inserted Malcolm Munroe and Quayshawn Nealy into the first string and gave more snaps than usual to linebackers Christopher Crenshaw and Nick Menocal.
And it worked. Through three quarters, Tech had given up 176 yards. Eight Maryland possessions, not including a kneel-down at the end of the first half, had produced three points and led coach Randy Edsall to pull starting quarterback Danny O'Brien for backup C.J. Brown.
It got a little hairy after that. Brown used his speed and a blown defensive assignment to jet 77 yards for a touchdown. After Tech went 3-and-out on the next possession, the Terrapins drove 53 yards for another touchdown. The failed two-point conversion attempt left the score 21-16 in Tech's favor.
Starting on its 20-yard line with 7:33 to play, Tech had the opportunity to close out the Terrapins with a quintessential Johnson possession. The march went all of 18 yards before the Jackets were forced to punt, returning the ball to Maryland at its 19 with 4:11 to play. Tech only extinguished the Terrapins with a fourth-down stop at the Maryland 46 with 2:31 to play.
Tech won with season-low outputs in points, rushing, passing and total offense yards to go with season-highs in penalties and rushing yards allowed. Quarterback Tevin Washington was errant for a second consecutive week, finishing 6-for-19 and having difficulty making the right read on option plays. On its home field and with Johnson hoping for a rebound from a sloppy performance last week against N.C. State, the No. 2 scoring offense in FBS managed fewer points against an injury-saddled Maryland team than any of its FBS opponents this season.
The win left the Jackets 6-0 and bowl-eligible, off to their best start since 1966. But for the 45,905 in attendance, it was also an unpleasant re-creation of Tech's 2010 offense, a medley of dropped and off-target passes, penalties, missed blocks and points left scattered about the field.
"We didn't do a very good job coaching this week," Johnson said. "Pretty evident to me."
Of course, the most crucial matter was that Jackets' tally still exceeded Maryland's. The Terrapins' 16 points were the fewest Tech has allowed this season and ended a pattern in which the Jackets allowed as many or more points than it had the previous game in the last four weeks. The Jackets escaped unscathed with Virginia coming up next week, followed by the anticipated Oct. 29 showdown with Clemson.
"We're happy to be 6-0," said B-back David Sims. "Hopefully, the guys realize we can play better than that."
