To end Georgia Tech’s first four-game losing streak since 1996, coach Paul Johnson went straight to video.
“I watched that Clemson tape probably 40 times,” Johnson said.
It’s his standard routine. He watches the offensive plays from the Yellow Jackets’ most recent game, then defense, then special teams. As the week progresses, some days he might watch the defense four times and not the offense. Other days it might be the opposite.
“I figure that Pittsburgh’s watching that tape, so I’m watching that tape,” Johnson said. “I’m trying to put myself in their shoes and say, ‘What would they do watching this tape?’ That’s how you formulate a game plan. That’s how you get ready to play.”
The Jackets are dug in to end a perplexing and disappointing slide that began on a sunny Indiana September afternoon that was full of hope and has extended across three dreary Saturdays in Atlanta and the Carolinas. Each defeat has dropped the season’s ceiling to the point that walking with a slight crouch may soon become necessary. The next opportunity to push back arrives Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium, an ACC Coastal Division matchup with Pittsburgh.
Johnson’s response has been a return to the basics, ensuring that the principles of both his and defensive coordinator Ted Roof’s schemes are understood and can be executed.
“Stay consistent,” Johnson said. “What we do works.”
Safety Jamal Golden finds motivation in the fellow seniors whose careers are down to possibly the final six games.
“I was just looking at this as, this is my last go-round,” he said. “But it’s not only my last go-round. It’s Adam (Gotsis’) last go-round, it’s Errin Joe’s last go-round, Bryan Chamberlain, Demond Smith’s. It’s all those guys’ last go-round. So I’m playing for them, too, because I don’t want them to feel bad because we’re losing just because I didn’t do my assignment or anything. I want to do what I can do to help those guys enjoy their last season also.”
After his defense was strafed Saturday by Clemson for nine plays of 20 yards or more a week after North Carolina chewed into the Jackets for seven such plays, Roof has dug deeply for answers. On Saturday, he’ll need to provide a solution to Pittsburgh wide receiver Tyler Boyd, a potential first-round draft pick.
“Nobody puts any more pressure on us than we put on ourselves because we have a responsibility to our players to do as much as we possibly can,” Roof said.
“That takes time. It takes time and a lot of effort, and we put in that. The bottom line is, we’ve got to improve the product we’re putting on the field. If staying till 2 in the morning would do it, we’d do it.”
To wide receiver Micheal Summers, the answer lies in keeping focused. Consistency has been a hobgoblin for the Jackets — they fell behind 19-3 in the first quarter of their losses to Duke and Clemson and surrendered a 21-0 lead to North Carolina, the largest advantage Tech has ever given back in a loss in the team’s modern history.
“You’ve just got to go out there and do your job and just lock in for 60 minutes across the board,” he said.
To guard Shamire Devine, the problem on the offensive line has not necessarily been focus, but an inability to stay on the same page when clarifying blocking assignments before the snap.
“We’ll communicate, say something. Something happens that one half (of the line) can’t see, the other half sees,” Devine said. “They say something to change it, the other half doesn’t get it and then you just get a big split.”
The ineffective play has been a weight to bear.
“I just feel like I should do more,” Devine said. “Like, say if you have a car and it’s got four wheels and one wheel goes out and you want to change it and fix it and get it up and running and get the car moving.”
In that, Devine has a locker room full of company.
Said Golden, “I’m just thinking about Pitt on Saturday and trying to get one more point than them.”
