Observations from Georgia Tech's 34-10 loss to Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl Wednesday night in Detroit.
Better than its record
Prior to the bowl game, Johnson made an observation about Minnesota that didn’t rate as a jaw-dropper, but has some pertinence in light of the result. As a 6-6 team, the Gophers played some games well and others not as much. In the final six games of the regular season, Minnesota lost, won, lost, won, lost and won.
The first loss and last win might encapsulate its variance – the Gophers lost at Nebraska 53-28, falling behind 28-0 and surrendering 383 rushing yards to a winless Cornhuskers team. In the final game, Minnesota hammered Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium 37-15, ending a 14-game losing streak in one of its two biggest rivalry games. The Gophers held the Badgers to 170 rushing yards, more than 100 yards under its season average to that point.
This was clearly a team capable of playing well (particularly after firing defensive coordinator Robb Smith) and that has an emerging talent in running back Mohamed Ibrahim. The redshirt freshman began the season third on the depth chart but finished the season on a roll, even before his career day against the Jackets, averaging 118 yards in his final four games, the last three against bowl teams.
Tech played a team that was capable of playing well and clearly ready to play. The Jackets were not at their best, made mistakes early to fall behind and suffered critical lapses. The result was a 34-10 defeat.
"Obviously, they were more physical than us at the point of attack," safety Malik Rivera said. "I think that's just what it was. We needed to be more physical. We needed to be more tough and we weren't."
No punts by Minnesota
A failing of defensive coordinator Nate Woody’s unit in his first and only season came back to haunt the Jackets one last time, its play on third downs. The Gophers were 7-for-10 on third downs. Not only were they five of them third-and-5 or longer, but each seemed to factor.
On Minnesota’s second drive, the Gophers converted a third-and-9 when slot receiver Rashod Bateman took advantage of soft man coverage to pull in a 13-yard pass as quarterback Tanner Morgan got rid of the ball just before nose tackle Brandon Adams could affect him.
Four plays later on a third-and-5 from the Tech 18-yard line, All-Big Ten wide receiver Tyler Johnson sold a route to the middle against cornerback Jaytlin Askew before slipping outside to catch a perfectly placed pass in the end zone for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead.
On a third-and-8 on the next drive, Morgan escaped the pocket to scramble and lowered his shoulder to reach the first-down marker on a drive that resulted in a field goal.
Tech was down 13-3 in the third quarter on Minnesota’s opening possession and faced another third-and-8. Wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell exploited what looked like a miscommunication in coverage to get well clear of the secondary for a 41-yard pass play, leading to a touchdown and a 20-3 lead that pushed the Jackets to the edge of the cliff.
“It was frustrating,” linebacker Brant Mitchell said. “What we wanted to do as a defense is get off the field when we can. It’s just that it didn’t go our way (Wednesday).”
What was further problematic was that the defense failed to come up with any turnovers, a knack that had often bailed out the Jackets and were a salve against their inconsistent play. Minnesota did not fumble the ball once and the pressure on Morgan was not enough to make him feel uncomfortable in the pocket. Tech had one sack and no quarterback hurries.
It was the first game of the season in which the Jackets did not procure a single turnover after finishing the regular season as one of just eight teams with a takeaway in each game, 25 in total.
Minnesota didn’t punt the ball once in eight possessions – four touchdowns, two field goals, a missed field goal and the final clock-killing drive of the game. It was only the fourth time in Johnson’s tenure that the Jackets’ opponent did not punt. (The other four were in the 2009 season – Mississippi State, Georgia and Clemson in the ACC championship game. Tech, rather remarkably, was 2-1 in those games.)
“We didn’t bring it,” defensive end Desmond Branch said. “That’s plain and simple.”
Effort level
The position that Tech looked like it didn’t want to be there is understandable, but not one I’m not sure I buy. On the defense’s final drive, players were rallying to the ball, penetrating the backfield and fighting to get off blocks. Cornerback Lamont Simmons, who had the left game in the first half with an injury, came back to finish out the game. On the drive, the Jackets were killed by two plays of 63 yards. But on the other four plays of that series, Minnesota gained 10 yards. Players who were coasting wouldn’t have beaten blocks to make two tackles for loss when the game was clearly out of hand.
On the opening play of Tech’s penultimate drive, quarterback TaQuon Marshall hung in the pocket with a blitzer bearing down on him to release a deep ball to A-back Qua Searcy. He absorbed a vicious hit and Searcy won the ball for a 51-yard reception. When quarterback Tobias Oliver came in for the final offensive possession, linemen were firing off the ball and blocking downfield. Oliver himself was playing with seemingly as much competitive spirit as he had against Virginia Tech. B-back Jerry Howard pounded his fist to the turf after slipping while making a cut, apparently out of frustration. The game was lost for a lot of reasons, but disinterest wouldn’t seem to be one of them.
How that conflates with not bringing it (Branch) and not being as physical at the point of attack (Rivera) is difficult to tease out. Minnesota was just the much better team in the same way the Jackets were the much better team in their rout of Virginia Tech.
Gophers prepared well
There was plenty of reason to believe that the Jackets could grind out a 400-yard rushing game against Minnesota. One, the Gophers had not faced Tech and its option scheme previously. Two, Minnesota was without its leading tackler, linebacker Blake Cashman, who chose to not play in the game to prepare for the draft. Three, Minnesota was giving up an average of 171 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry.
However, Minnesota was ready, thanks to interim defensive coordinator Joseph Rossi, under whom the Gophers defense made significant strides in its final four games of the season.
“We kind of figured that it might takes us a couple drives to get settled,” Minnesota linebacker Thomas Barber said. “They might get a couple plays on us with the first few drives. And we’re like, Wow, this is kind of like practice. It just slowed down a lot faster than we thought, so we were really excited to keep going out there and keep stopping the run.”
The Gophers were adept at avoiding cut-block attempts on the perimeter, tackled well and hit hard. Tech didn’t execute well, missing blocks and missing opportunities to pitch the ball to the A-backs.
“I felt like they were pretty hard (to block to the ground),” Searcy said. “It was just hit or miss. I don’t know; they were just flying around.”
Until Tech’s final drive, the Jackets had rushed for only 137 yards and the longest run play had gone for 20 yards, A-back Nathan Cottrell’s 20-yard scoring run.
“What was happening was we just weren’t blocking ’em,” coach Paul Johnson said. “They lined up exactly like we practiced and played exactly like we thought they would. So it was just a question of us not being able to execute, and maybe we needed a better plan.”
The Minnesota pass rush was also problematic, particularly on delayed blitzes. Protection was often not sufficient in giving quarterback TaQuon Marshall time to throw.
The final chapter
It was an unfortunate way for Johnson and the team's seniors to go out, with one of the most lopsided games of his tenure. Given the overall success of his tenure and the team's strong finish, a more competitive game would have been far more fitting, but there's no denying the outcome.
It’s a game Tech could clearly have coached better and played better. Johnson second guessed his decision to not scrimmage the first-team offense and first-team defense during bowl practice in order to avoid injuries.
“Clearly, the way we started the game offensively, we needed some of that,” Johnson said.
Regardless, it brings the Johnson tenure to a close after 11 seasons, 83 wins and 60 losses, a winning percentage of .580, the fourth most wins and fourth highest winning percentage in school history. (82-60 and .577 with the 2009 ACC championship game vacated) His career record (including ACC title win) at Georgia Southern, Navy and Tech is 190-99, a .657 winning percentage. Interestingly, Johnson knew his precise record (the NCAA version – 189-99) after the game.
“I’ve played a lot of games,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of games go our way and some that didn’t go our way. That’s part of it.”
If Johnson stays out of coaching, it won’t be a surprise if he’s inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame after the three-year waiting period on the strength of two FCS (then Division I-AA) national championships, a profile of achievement at Navy and Georgia Tech and recognition for his development of an iconic offense.
His opening statement at his news conference said it all.
“Well, certainly, that’s not the way you would have scripted to end the season. But we don’t get to write our own endings sometimes.”
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