A pet phrase of Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson’s is that “it’s never as good or as bad as it seems.” He applied it again Monday when discussing the performance of his defense in the Yellow Jackets’ 48-43 loss to North Carolina Saturday.
So what was better than it looked as Tech gave up 579 yards, permitted the Tar Heels to convert 10 of 15 third downs and at one point score six touchdowns in seven possessions on drives averaging 69 yards?
“You saw the game,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t pretty. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, but it was bad. But I do think a lot of the stuff’s correctable.”
Johnson said the defensive effort “wasn’t very good.” He also said the Jackets missed 10 or 11 tackles. He also noted that North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams was playing hot and that the Tar Heels had scored 43 on then-No. 6 Notre Dame the week prior.
“We just need to play better,” he said. “That’s the bottom line. I think we can and I feel confident that we will this week.”
Pittsburgh averages 29.1 points per game compared to North Carolina’s 38.7. The teams both average 5.69 yards per play.
“Sometimes, we’ve got to make plays,” Johnson said. “Third down, you’ve got to get off the field, and fourth down. We’ve got to look at everything we can do to help ’em get off the field. And we’ve got to tackle better and play better.”
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