Following Georgia Tech's 38-31 win over Duke Saturday, coach Paul Johnson offered the standard weekend protocol.
"We'll enjoy this tonight and tomorrow, we'll start to get ready for Georgia," Johnson said. "It's a big, big game."
One suspects that for both Yellow Jackets coaches and players, the process of putting the last game in the past -- flushing it, as they call it -- and looking forward will be easier than most weeks.
"We definitely want to go out on a good note," linebacker and team captain Steven Sylvester said of his fellow seniors. "Georgia's had our number the past couple years."
Since Tech's epochal 45-42 win over the Bulldogs in 2008 in Johnson's first season, the Jackets have dropped the last two, 30-24 in 2009 and 42-34 last season. In case anyone needs reminding, Tech is 1-9 against Georgia since coach Mark Richt's arrival in 2001.
Tech's punch list to avoid a three-game losing streak starts with figuring out a way to stop Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray. The Tech defense has had trouble both pressuring quarterbacks and covering receivers in recent weeks, not a promising combination against a quarterback with the highest passing efficiency rating in the SEC.
"Penalties and the short passing game kind of got us a little bit, things that could have been fixed with better technique," linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu said after Saturday's game. "We'll definitely go back during the week and watch and see exactly what went wrong."
Attaochu is a sophomore from Washington, but didn't require much indoctrination into the Tech-Georgia rivalry.
"We know what's going on in the state of Georgia, how people flock to UGA for whatever reason," he said. "I don't know [why]; I'm from D.C. But when I came, I just didn't like ‘em. It just came in my blood, too. I understand. We're going to put our best foot forward, for sure, next week."
A year ago, Tech lost three fumbles in the loss in Athens, all of which were turned into touchdowns in the eight-point defeat. Quarterback Tevin Washington, whose ill-timed pitch to A-back Roddy Jones caused one of the fumbles, didn't need a reminder.
"They capitalized off the [turnovers], so really our big emphasis this week is taking care of the ball, making sure we put ourselves in the best position to win this week," Washington said.
Sylvester and his senior classmates have the opportunity to leave Tech with a .500 against the Bulldogs. No Jackets class has been able to claim that since 2002. Sylvester, who counts Georgia cornerback Brandon Boykin and linebacker Christian Robinson among his friends, knows it won't be easy.
"They just keep rebuilding and reloading," he said. "Georgia's always going to be a good football team, so we're going to have to really be on our game when it comes to next Saturday."
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