Bad decisions. Negative plays. Dropped passes. Poor blocking.
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson rattled off mistake after mistake after the Yellow Jackets defeated Virginia 31-17 on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“All those things we can play a lot better than that, we’ll have to if we want a chance next week,” he said.
Next week being the game against rival Georgia in Athens.
Coming off last week’s upset of Virginia Tech, the struggling Cavaliers seemed to be a perfect tune-up ahead of the Bulldogs. Instead of building on the victory over the Hokies that included third-down stops, sacks, takeaways and a bulldozing offense, the Yellow Jackets reverted to having third-down defense issues in the first half and an offense that ran hot and cold.
The first play of the game almost resulted in a turnover when quarterback Justin Thomas pitched to a blocking back, who wasn’t looking for the ball. Tech recovered.
The errors continued when three key blocks were missed on a failed fourth-down conversion on the Tech 29-yard line in the third quarter.
Tech continued to dial up home-run plays, scoring from 67, 54 and 60 yards. The Jackets are third nationally in 50-yard plays, and the two teams ahead of them – Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky – have run 99 and 96 more plays than Tech, respectively.
However, Tech averaged 3.7 yards per play on its other 38 plays. The Jackets were either running a long way to the end zone or quickly getting off the field. None of their 12 possessions lasted longer than six plays. For a stretch, center Freddie Burden was replaced by freshman Kenny Cooper in hopes of getting more from the position.
“I kept trying to find something we could hang our hat on running the ball, and we never really could,” Johnson said.
It was not unlike Tech’s performance against Virginia Tech. Without quarterback Matthew Jordan’s 53-yard touchdown run and B-back Marcus Marshall’s 56-yard scoring dash, the Jackets averaged 3.7 yards per play. The Jackets were 4-for-14 on third downs against the Hokies and 2-for-10 against the Cavaliers, a combined 6-for-24. Johnson used the word “abysmal” to describe the Jackets’ third-down play on Saturday.
Against Virginia, “if we block the guy inside, the A-backs would whiff on the linebacker or the safeties,” Johnson said. “So it was kind of a mixed bag.”
To succeed against Georgia, Tech likely needs to consistently churn out third-down conversions to stay on the field and thereby increase its odds of hitting a big play. Converting on 25 percent of its third downs will probably not produce a favorable result. The possibility of not having wide receiver Brad Stewart in the lineup – he left the Virginia game with an apparent ankle injury – would only raise the level of difficulty.
In the same vein, the Jackets have been fairly ineffective in red-zone play. Tech averaged 5.7 points per red-zone trip through the first eight games. Against North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Virginia, Tech came away with 2.9 points per red-zone possession.
Johnson was incensed that a possession that started inside the Virginia 20 was stalled by a clipping penalty and produced only a field goal. It followed a similar situation against North Carolina, when a holding penalty inside the 5-yard line fouled up that drive, as well.
“It was unbelievable,” Johnson said.
Given that six of the eight Tech-Georgia games in Johnson’s tenure have been decided by one possession and two of the past three have gone to overtime, poor stewardship of red-zone opportunities could well be costly.
It bears mention, though, that Georgia is ranked 125th in FBS in red-zone defense, having given up 26 touchdowns and six field goals in 34 opponent red-zone possessions.
Defensively, Tech’s takeaway drought has evidently ended. After forcing nine turnovers in the first nine games, the Jackets scored four takeaways against Virginia Tech and three more against Virginia. (The Bulldogs have lost six in the past three games.)
However, Virginia advanced the ball with little resistance in the first half and overall was 7-for-17 on third downs (41.2 percent). A Cavaliers offense that hadn’t cleared 110 rushing yards in the previous six games gashed the Jackets for 189 yards on the ground. Tech’s defense has had its moments defending the run, but have surrendered 200 or more rushing yards three times this season. Bulldogs running back Nick Chubb appears to be finding his stride as the season closes.
“I was disappointed the way we played,” Johnson said. “Clearly as coaches, we need to do a better job getting ready to play.”
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