On huge stage, Tech gives good account

“I feel like we showed the country that we do have a good team, we do have good players here,” cornerback D.J. White said. “Not the result we wanted, but we did fight hard.”

The Jackets’ relentlessness earned the admiration of ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, an influential voice in the game. After Tech had driven 97 yards in six plays to draw to within 37-35 with 1:47 to play, Herbstreit remarked, “This team never gives up.”

In the Atlanta market, the numbers were even better – a 22.3, a huge number particularly considering the low rank that Tech typically assumes on the sports totem pole. By comparison, in the Falcons’ 13-3 season in 2012, the average rating in Atlanta for the 16 regular-season games was 25.2.

Tech’s rating represents about 530,000 households in metro Atlanta. Most likely that included Georgia fans eager to see the hated Jackets lose, but there were certainly plenty of others interested in supporting the local team. It’s not a place the Jackets have frequented in recent years.

Tech has plenty to offer, but has faced a continuing challenge to build an appealing identity, both to fans and prospects. They are perhaps most recognized for coach Paul Johnson’s spread-option offense, a scheme that has often been derided as antiquated. Further, Tech has not always seized the opportunity provided by its biggest platforms to tell its story well. The Jackets have lost their past six weeknight ESPN games, including two duds against Virginia Tech and Clemson last year.

Those watching Tech Saturday, perhaps some for the first time, saw an offense that was capable of befuddling the defending national champion, that spread the ball around and featured an exciting quarterback in Justin Thomas with daring, toughness and a pretty good arm.

On the last-ditch touchdown drive, in which Thomas accounted for 82 of the yards through the air, Herbstreit observed that it was an “option-oriented attack moving the ball down the field like that.”

Tech’s five-game winning streak to end the regular season, punctuated by the overtime win over Georgia to end the five-game losing streak to the Bulldogs, captured the imagination of Jackets fans and likely won back the interest and hearts of fence-sitters and the disenchanted.

Presumably, among the thousands of fans who drove up I-85 from Atlanta to Charlotte Saturday, their Tech car flags flapping in the breeze, were some who had grown frustrated with recent results. The season-ticket base has slowly dwindled for a variety of reasons having nothing to do with the product, but certainly the team’s inability to beat rivals such as Georgia and Virginia Tech and its 28-25 record since the 2009 ACC championship season and prior to his year have been factors.

With wins over Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson and Georgia, with a strong home schedule next season that includes Florida State, Georgia and Virginia Tech and several key players expected to return, Tech can capture momentum and bring fans back into the fold.

One game does not solve all marketing challenges, particularly a loss. But Tech will have another chance on New Year’s Eve, when the Jackets will play Mississippi State in an unopposed primetime slot, one that had served the Chick-fil-A Bowl well in recent years. Last year’s Chick-fil-A Bowl between Duke and Texas A&M (featuring star quarterback Johnny Manziel) drew a 5.3 overnight rating, the best ever for ESPN bowl for a non-BCS game.

“We’ve won some quality games this year and I feel like coming up on the bowl game, we will probably have another quality opponent here,” A-back Charles Perkins said following the game. “It will be another chance to keep on building the reputation of Georgia Tech football.”