Nearing the end of his fourth season at Georgia Tech, coach Paul Johnson is 34-18, which gives him the third-highest winning percentage all-time at Tech behind John Heisman and Bobby Dodd.
The Yellow Jackets are headed to their 15th consecutive bowl game, facing Utah on Dec. 31 in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. Over the course of multiple media sessions during bowl practice, Johnson answered questions about the season.
Q: Tech has lost six straight bowl games. How much would it mean to you and the program to end the bowl losing streak?
A: I think any time you play, you want to win. If you're competitive, you want to win. Me personally, that's something that we've got to do here to put an end on the season. I think I was 2-2 in bowl games at Navy. That wasn't great either, but you want to win every time you play. We've drawn a couple really good teams. We should have won the game last year (against Air Force) and didn't. The first two years (against LSU and Iowa), I'm not sure the better team didn't win.
Q: Will one game from this season eat at you more than the others?
A: They all eat at you. I don't think there's one in particular, but they all eat at you. Virginia Tech game here, we were a couple plays from being in Charlotte (for the ACC title game). But they all eat at you, anytime you lose.
Q: Has the success that Tim Tebow has had with the Denver Broncos been at all satisfying or gratifying for you, given that he's running a lot of option?
A: I hadn't really thought much about it. Come on, you know he can't last, right? He's going to get killed. (Johnson spoke tongue in cheek.)
Q: The team did better than most people thought, but didn't do as well as you would want. How satisfied are you with the team this season?
A: I don't know. I hadn't even thought about it. I think you think about the games you lost and what could have been. Maybe when the bowl game's over and the season's over, you'll reflect on it. Right now, we're still playing. I'm disappointed we lost a game. Every time you lose, you're disappointed.
Q: You've said more than once that this is a fun group to coach. Would it be fair to say that this has been one of your favorite teams?
A: It's been a good group. I think they've been, for the most part, they've been very coachable and, knock on wood, they've stayed out of trouble. I think it's a good group.
Q: You said you wanted to take a look at B-back production. Have you seen anything yet?
A: I've looked some. It's not as good as it needs to be, no question. We've got to do better.
Q: How did B-back David Sims play?
A: I thought he did O.K. He was hot and cold. Certainly, the production was not what we would hope, but I don't think that's all on David, either. We'll sit down and take a long look at it when we're finished and evaluate everything and go from there.
Q: Has there been anything else since the end of the season that you've looked at in particular?
A: I've evaluated everything. It's not anything new. It's the same stuff that happened all year. Third downs (on defense), more efficient throwing in the end (of the season). We started out pretty good, but didn't finish very good. Just consistency in a lot of areas.
Q: Did you see the improvement that you wanted out of the defense?
A: I think it was in spots. It was good and bad. It's like everything else. There were some positives and some not so positive.
Q: Did anything or anyone surprise you this year?
A: I don't know. I think some guys certainly played well, but I don't know that I was surprised by anybody in particular.
Q: How good is (guard) Omoregie Uzzi?
A: I think he's played well. He's played a lot of games for us, he's been resilient. He's played banged up and anybody that's started as many games as he has has done good.
Q: You had 45 plays of 20 yards or more in the first six games and 28 in the last six. Is that all because of the level of competition or execution?
A: It's probably some of both. We weren't as efficient throwing, we missed a lot of throws in the second half that we made in the first half. Competition level certainly has something to do with it.
Q: Miami and Georgia have now both beaten Tech three times in a row. They're both good teams, but do matchups have something to do with it?
A: Let's see. We go back the three games, gosh, I can't hardly remember Miami. We laid an egg against Miami this year, no question, although the game got away from us. The game should have been 10-7 at half. This year, the Georgia game got away from us in the third quarter. I think they had a good team.
I don't know. I guess you could look at matchups. You could say the same thing about North Carolina. We've beaten them three years in a row. Is that a matchup? Or Clemson. The Virginia Tech game, they've come down to the last series almost every year. I don't know if it's a matchup. I think it's just making plays.
I think we've kind of had [Virginia Tech] on the ropes a little bit and we couldn’t finish. If we don’t lose our quarterback up there a year ago in Blacksburg, (Tech probably wins). And this year, we couldn’t finish. We got ahead in the third quarter, couldn’t stop them and couldn’t score when we had to.
Q: What's a Johnson family Christmas tradition?
A: It usually just depends. We've had Christmas all over the place because of bowl games and football, so normally we wait until we can all get together and do something. We'll have a Christmas dinner at some time with most of the family. It might not always be on Christmas.
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