Georgia Tech continued its troubling trend of committing death by penalty Saturday night against BYU. The Yellow Jackets’ 10 penalties were the most they have been flagged in the Paul Johnson era.
False start and offside penalties accounted for more half those calls, leaving even the Yellow Jackets to wonder what they were doing.
“I don’t feel like some of those were penalties,” guard Shaq Mason said. “A lot of referees have trouble picking up our snap count. We were moving as a unit, they saw it as an individual moving.”
“We were killing ourselves,” quarterback Vad Lee said. “They’re a good defense, and you can’t kill yourselves against a good defense.
Johnson was not interested in any explanations, concluding that if the offensive line as constituted could not stop drawing the penalties, he would have to put people in there who could break the cycle.
In defense of Vad: Lee completed only 7 of 20 passes for 133 yards and a back-breaking pick-six interception in the second half. The option stalled with him at the controls over the crucial finishing stretch. Johnson lifted him for Justin Thomas with a little more than 11 minutes to play.
Thomas completed all three of his passes, including a mop-up 5-yard scoring pass to A-back Deon Hill.
The coach was slow to put too much blame on his starting quarterback.
“I think sometime (Vad) gets frustrated and tries to make plays himself rather than go with the flow. He wasn’t getting a lot of help in the running game, OK? It wasn’t Vad Lee,” Johnson said.
“The quarterback is not the issue, that is not the problem.
“Did Vad do everything correctly? No. But Vad is not the problem. They didn’t help him out much.”
“I’ve never been in this situation (losing three consecutive, struggling along the way) before,” Lee said. “All I can do is learn as I go and try to get better.”
On Thomas’ play, Johnson said, “Justin went in and did a pretty good job. He got the team down there a couple times. Made a nice throw to Deon for the touchdown.”
Double bagging: Two sacks for sophomore nose tackle Adam Gotsis was a career high.
“It was just us closing down the pocket as a defensive unit. I see sacks as a unit-wide thing, not an individual thing.”
The Tech defense has established something of a habit in struggling early in the game and then playing fairly stout late — definitely the track that Saturday took.
In fact, the Jackets have allowed only seven third-quarter points this season and have outscored opponents 42-7 in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the offense could put up no points Saturday in the second half until late in the fourth quarter.
“I think we came out a bit flat. We can’t afford to do that anymore. We’ve done it the last five weeks, and we can’t do it any more,” Gotsis said.
Shifting in the secondary: The Jackets moved the ever-interchangeable defensive back Jemea Thomas from cornerback to safety Saturday. That was a position he manned most of last season, and one the Jackets hoped he was well suited for Saturday in the face of BYU's attack.
He was the fifth different player to start at safety this year for Tech. Sliding into his cornerback position was sophomore D.J. White.
Thomas was back at cornerback for part of the second quarter, and seemed to injure himself defending a pass later in the first half.
Cornerback Louis Young had a tough evening, beaten on BYU’s first touchdown while being called for interference at the same time. His interference penalty in the end zone also set up BYU’s second touchdown.
Etc.: Tech is now 1-3 all-time against BYU (and 1-5 vs. teams from Utah). … The Yellow Jackets are 16-14 on the road under Johnson. … BYU's 26 first downs were the most accomplished against Georgia Tech this season. … Offensive lineman Ray Beno's streak of 22 consecutive starts was broken Saturday. … Junior B-back Matt Connors' 55-yard run near the end of the game was the longest of his career.
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