Georgia Tech’s defense on third downs proved fairly effective in its victory against Tulane on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets (2-0) held the Green Wave to 6 of 15 on the decisive down a week after limiting Alcorn State to 2 of 16. It’s a pleasant reversal of last season, when Tech’s defense was one of the FBS’ worst on third down with opponents converting 46 percent of their chances to put the Yellow Jackets 114th out of 125 teams.
Tech safety Jamal Golden said there’s not one reason the Jackets are better on third down this year. But they are determined to keep improving.
“All 11 guys are focused on getting off the field on third down,” he said.
Tech was successful against Tulane because the Green Wave rarely had third and short to try to convert when the game was still in doubt. On its first four possessions, Tulane faced third downs of 7, 8, 10 and 14 yards and didn’t convert any of them.
“Get people in third and long, you have a better chance of stopping them,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said.
Because Tulane faced such long distances, Tech was able to blitz frequently. The Jackets finished with three sacks.
The Yellow Jackets’ offense took advantage of the resulting good field position race to a 21-0 lead with 10:29 left in the first half.
Tulane finally converted its first third down on third and 15 at the 18 with 8:35 left in the first half.
Johnson said the level of competition has also helped Tech defense against third downs. He said it will get tougher as the competition increases. Tech will play at Notre Dame next week.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Johnson said.
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