Going into the season, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson hoped to count on a defense with eight returning starters. Saturday’s 43-24 loss to Clemson was one more demonstration of the inconsistent play that the unit has given this season.
“We’ve got to find a way to play better,” Johnson said Monday at his weekly news conference. “We’ll play pretty good defense for a couple series and then all of the sudden, we’ll give up a 65-yard run or a long pass.”
Pittsburgh, Tech’s opponent on Saturday, is stronger on defense, but has a run-heavy offense with a dynamic wide receiver in Tyler Boyd. Johnson called him probably the equal or better of any wide receiver in the ACC.
In the Yellow Jackets’ four-game losing streak, the defensive lapses have been overshadowed to a degree by the drop-off of the offense. Against Clemson, for instance, the Jackets rushed for 71 yards, the lowest total in Johnson’s 100-game tenure. But the defense has been similarly complicit in the slide.
Clemson’s 537 yards of total offense was its highest production against an FBS opponent going back to the 2014 season. The Tigers buried Tech with a 19-3 first quarter, the same deficit that the Jackets faced after 15 minutes at Duke. North Carolina punted on its first two possessions as the Jackets shot to a 21-0 lead, but then scored five touchdowns and a field goal the next seven times it had the ball.
Assignment errors have contributed. On the third play of the game at Clemson, the defense misplayed its assignment when linebacker Tyler Marcordes filled the wrong gap. On the line, defensive end KeShun Freeman and defensive tackle Adam Gotsis both slanted in, closing down the center of the line. Safety Demond Smith blitzed outside of Freeman, setting the edge.
Marcordes was supposed to be in the gap between Freeman and Smith, but instead was behind Freeman and Gotsis. Running back Wayne Gallman ran right through it on his way to a 66-yard touchdown that sent Memorial Stadium into a frenzy.
“Elementary day one football,” Johnson said. “Two guys go in, you come out.”
It was one of nine plays of 20 yards or more that the Jackets gave up Saturday. They now have surrendered 29 such plays, which is tied for 92nd in FBS.
Even incomplete passes revealed flaws. On a third-and-goal play from the Tech 4-yard line in the first quarter, the Tigers’ pre-snap motion led safety Jamal Golden and cornerback Chris Milton to momentarily defend the same wide receiver, Artavis Scott. It gave Clemson wide receiver Charone Peake enough of an opening to slip to the back of the end zone, where he was open but dropped a would-be touchdown pass from quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Johnson said that coaches are taking a “back to the basics” approach this week on both offense and defense and have to do a better job.
“If the (darn) kid doesn’t understand when the guard’s covered or uncovered, you’ve got to coach him to where he understands,” he said. “Ultimately, that comes back to me. It comes back to assistants, but it comes back to me. We’ve got to coach better.”
At times, the defense has functioned effectively. Against Duke, the Jackets allowed touchdowns on three of Duke’s first four possessions (one was a one-yard drive after a 69-yard punt return) but then forced punts or turnovers over the next nine Blue Devils drives. Tech’s defensive third-down conversion rate is 36.59 percent, which is 58th in the country. It might not be material for defensive coordinator Ted Roof’s Christmas letter, but Tech’s rate last year was 46.11 percent, 114th in FBS.
But the inconsistency showed up in the run defense against Clemson. The Jackets held the Tigers to 100 yards on 39 of their 41 carries. The other two traveled 35 and 66 yards for touchdowns. Near the end of the game, Johnson said, “they’re trying to run. We stop the run. And then every time it’s third down, they either back (throw a) back-shoulder fade or whatever. So we’ve got to play it better and we’ve got to put somebody underneath the guy and quit letting ’em back-shoulder fade all the time.”
Tech’s defensive shortcomings take place amidst a year of defensive might in the conference. Boston College, N.C. State and Duke are in the top four in the country in total defense, and Pittsburgh (No. 7), Clemson (No. 13) and Wake Forest (No. 15) are also in the top 15.
“If you look at the scores in the games, most of them have been 17-13, 9-7,” Johnson said. “Except for ours.”
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