Before it takes the field Oct. 5 against Miami, Georgia Tech has some problems to solve. Following the Yellow Jackets’ 17-10 loss to Virginia Tech on Thursday night, coach Paul Johnson seemed at a loss to explain his team’s mistake-filled play.
“They played better than we did,” Johnson said of the Hokies. “They probably coached better than we did. I’ve never seen so many mistakes. It seemed like every series that we had the ball on offense, we either jumped offside or had some sort of penalty.”
Georgia Tech committed nine penalties, tied for the most in a game under Johnson, and three turnovers. Those errors ushered the Jackets down a path toward their fourth consecutive loss to Virginia Tech.
“For whatever reason, it seems like we self-destruct (against Virginia Tech),” Johnson said.
Johnson attributed the six false starts to changes in the snap count to throw off the timing of Virginia Tech’s line, but more so to lapses in concentration.
“We’ve got to do a better job coaching,” he said.
Fourth-down call: Johnson questioned his own decision to go for a first down with about 8:30 to go in the fourth quarter and Tech facing a fourth-and-2 on its 33-yard line and the score 17-10 in the Hokies' favor. A punt might have pinned the Hokies deep whereas a failed fourth-down try would give Virginia Tech advantageous field position.
Johnson called for a handoff to B-back David Sims to the right side, but he was stopped short. Virginia Tech ended up missing a field-goal try on the next possession, but the Jackets could not gain a first down on the next possession, starting on their own 20-yard line.
“That was probably not the smartest decision in hindsight,” Johnson said. “It was pretty dumb, in hindsight.”
Option outage: Johnson was critical of his team's ability to run the option after the win over North Carolina and then said before the Hokies game that "we've got too much stuff going on" in the offense and that the team would work more on the option. Johnson was even more displeased with how the Jackets ran option plays against Virginia Tech.
“I told you all along, we’re not very good with the option,” Johnson said. “We’re terrible, in fact, and it showed. We’re not going to throw the ball 25 or 30 times and win very many games. … That’s not us. We’ve got to be able to run the ball, hit play action, to beat those kinds of teams, and we didn’t do it.”
Because of difficulties running, quarterback Vad Lee threw 24 passes, completing seven for 144 yards.
“We’re either going to get better at (the option), or we’re going to have other people playing,” Johnson said.
Tech ran 42 times for 129 yards and was held without a rushing attempt of 20 yards or more for the first time since last year’s Duke game, although the Jackets ran for 330 yards in that game. It probably was the poorest rushing game since last season’s BYU game, when the Jackets ran for 117 yards on 35 carries, a 3.3 yards-per-carry average. The last time Tech had a lower yards-per-carry average in a game than its 3.1 on Thursday was the 2011 Miami game, when the Jackets averaged 2.8 yards.
Tech plays at Miami and BYU in the next two weeks.
Conversely, the Tech defense held Virginia Tech to 55 rushing yards on 27 carries, its best performance in that department since limiting Boston College to 32 rushing yards on 16 carries last season.
Thomas valiant: Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas entered the game completing 48.5 percent of his passes, the second lowest rate among qualifying passers in BCS conferences. He connected on his first nine and finished 19-for-25 for 221 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 58 yards and a touchdown, the only Hokies rusher to finish with more than 2 yards.
He did so, remarkably, with what he told reporters was “the worst pain I’ve ever been in.” An abdominal strain that kept him from practicing at all before the Georgia Tech game acted up in the second half.
Said Thomas, “I knew I was going to have to grind this out.”
In three starts against the Jackets — all victories — Thomas completed 47 of 76 passes for 660 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions along with 49 rushes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
Reaction: After the game, Jackets players were muted, stunned and frustrated.
“I know I came off the field, I was just, like, shaking my head in disbelief,” Sims said. “Anytime our defense can hold people to 17 points, we should be able to win, and seven of them, we gave with the turnover early in the game.”
“It’s frustrating, but it’s just one game in a big season,” defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu said. “We can’t let it bring us down. We have a lot of things in front of us that we can accomplish. That includes an ACC championship.”
“If we have offensive struggles, I put it on me,” quarterback Vad Lee said. “I’ve got to command the huddle better and maybe those offside penalties won’t happen.”
About the Author
