With the Georgia Tech offense faltering when nearing the goal line, interim coach Brent Key faces two options for the Yellow Jackets’ red-zone offense.
Change it or fix it.
“That’s really the two options,” Key said Tuesday. “That’s really where you have to look at it and say, ‘OK, now this is who we’re going to be, this is what we’re going to do. This is the plan once we get down there.’”
Regardless of the direction that Key and offensive coordinator Chip Long take, attention clearly is needed. The Jackets have reached the red zone 31 times this season and scored nine touchdowns, a rate of 29%. Since Key assumed command of the team, Tech is 5-for-20 (25%).
The red-zone touchdown rate ranks second to last in FBS, according to cfbstats, and that ranking probably doesn’t explain clearly enough the level at which the offense has struggled near the goal line compared with its peers. The 50th percentile rate in red-zone touchdown rate is 63%. The 25th percentile rate is 55%. Between 2017 and 2021, no FBS team finished below 30%, and only seven were under 40%.
To Tech’s credit, kicker Gavin Stewart’s trusty right leg has vastly improved overall red-zone scoring. The Jackets scored once in seven red-zone trips in their first three FBS games before the firing of coach Geoff Collins in September. In the five games since, they’re 17-for-20. However, 12 of the 17 scores are field goals. The Jackets are one of six FBS teams that have scored more field goals than touchdowns in red-zone possessions.
Tech’s difficulties were on display again Saturday against Virginia Tech, as the Jackets had to settle for field goals on one drive that reached the Hokies’ 2-yard line and on another that made it to the 4.
On one drive, the Jackets had a first-and-goal from the Hokies’ 4 after a highlight catch by receiver E.J. Jenkins but couldn’t get into the end zone. On third-and-goal from the 2, a pass from quarterback Zach Pyron to tight end PeJé Harris behind the line could have worked, but it was not blocked effectively.
In the third quarter, the Jackets covered 50 yards, from their 38 to the Hokies’ 12, in six plays. On third-and-2 from the 4, Long went with a heavy grouping – six linemen and two tight ends. The left side got push for running back Hassan Hall, but a defensive back on that side of the line was not blocked, and he stopped Hall short of the first-down marker.
“The thing we do,” Key said, “is say, ‘OK, what has to be better this week? Why did we stall out here? What was the deficiency within the play that occurred?’ And then you look at it over the course of the last three, four games and say, ‘OK, which ones are coming up the most? Which ones are the common occurrences?’”
It is a methodical approach that surely will resonate with the many engineers among the Tech fan base. It likely also is one that is under the scrutiny of athletic director J Batt as he considers the candidacy of Key as a possible full-time coach.
With the aid of newly appointed special-teams coordinator Jason Semore, Key immediately was able to fix Tech’s problems with getting punts blocked by changing the scheme and personnel. However, the Jackets now have had difficulty covering punts.
Being able to produce touchdowns over field goals, whether it leads to wins, is a measure of Key’s ability to effect needed change over the course of a game or a stretch of games.
Long hasn’t overseen this sort of lack of production before, at least not to this level. In five seasons as an offensive coordinator – at Memphis, Notre Dame and Tulane – his offenses finished no lower than 65th in FBS in red-zone touchdown rate. The lowest rate was 61%, last season with Tulane.
At Notre Dame, his offenses twice ranked in the top 10, both at 76%.
An offensive line that has struggled to consistently clear paths for Jackets running backs is part of the difficulty in an area of the field where space is reduced. Tech’s run blocking is rated 120th in FBS by Pro Football Focus. Against the Hokies, the Jackets had to play short-handed, as two guards being unavailable required Key to move right tackle Jordan Williams to right guard (where he had never started before) and insert Jakiah Leftwich at right tackle into the starting lineup for his first career start.
Also, as interim head coach, Key hasn’t been able to give the line his full attention. Graduate assistant Nathan Brock continues to work with the line.
“In the red zone, we’ve got to be able to execute plays to give us chances to run certain plays,” Williams said. “We’ve got to be able to have the defense moving side to side and executing plays.”
Against the Hokies, the line did do the work to help generate 210 rushing yards and produce a season-high 463 yards of offense. But it perhaps wasn’t the ideal group to drive the opposing defensive line off the ball.
“There’s really two ways to create running lanes,” Key said last week. “You either move somebody vertically or you move them horizontally. To move people vertically, sometimes it’s not always the best matchup. So then some of the horizontal ways to do it or with tempo is kind of the next thing.”
As problems go, not scoring touchdowns in the red zone is far preferable to those that the Jackets faced at the time of Collins’ dismissal. At that point, red-zone scoring wasn’t the issue as much as scoring from any part of the field was.
In three games against FBS competition, the Jackets averaged 296 yards and 6.7 points per game before the coaching change. In the five games under Key’s leadership, the averages are 335 and 20.4. Tech probably doesn’t need to worry about being accused of running up the score, but it’s obvious improvement.
On Tuesday, Key said the offensive coaches were to meet that afternoon to go over a plan for third downs and the red zone, and the team was scheduled to work on those areas at practice Wednesday morning.
“You can bet we’ll be doing a really good job of putting a plan together, so when it gets down there, we’re at least in position to get seven (points) instead of three,” he said.
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