The issues Georgia Tech’s offensive line had blocking against Notre Dame last week carried over into Saturday’s 34-20 loss to Duke.
A week after rushing for what was then a season-low 216 yards, the Yellow Jackets eclipsed that with just 173 on 60 carries against Duke. It snapped a streak of 17 consecutive games in which Tech had rushed for at least 200 yards, the longest stretch in FBS.
“When you rush for 173 yards in this offense you aren’t going to win,” coach Paul Johnson said.
The offense also failed to create at least one rushing play of at least 25 yards, something that has happened in four of Tech’s last five losses.
“You’ve got to have some big plays,” Johnson said. “They are a good defensive team and you aren’t going to make any money when everything’s four yards, five yards, four yards.”
Just as in last week’s 30-22 loss in South Bend, Ind., the Yellow Jackets couldn’t sustain drives on Saturday against the Blue Devils. Tech failed to convert 14 of its 19 third downs. The Jackets were converting 40 percent coming into the game. They led FBS in converting 58 percent of third downs last season.
“Third down we’ve been good forever, today we were awful again,” Johnson said.
Tech also failed on four of its five fourth downs, including a critical failure on fourth and 1 at Duke’s 26-yard line and the Jackets trailing 26-20 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. Johnson said the center and left guard were “blown up” on the play.
Offensive lineman Freddie Burden said his his group takes the blame for the loss.
“We are the people that make the team go, make the offense go and we didn’t handle our business,” he said.
Johnson said you would think that a line that features three seniors and a redshirt junior would play better.
Creating rushing line wasn’t the only problem. The line also had trouble protecting Justin Thomas when he dropped back to pass. He was sacked twice and hurried numerous times.
“We can’t get behind the chains second and 10, third and 10, we have to keep moving forward,” Thomas said.
Duke has won its past two games against Tech. The Devils held the Jackets to 282 rushing yards in last year’s 31-26 win in Atlanta.
“The defensive line was amazing today,” Duke linebacker Dwayne Norman said. “We depended on them to keep their offensive line off our linebackers and safeties. They allowed us to fill gaps and make unmolested tackles.”
