Tech

First, before we get going I should point out that Coach Johnson, nor his assistants, players, etc. need for me to point out when they’re right.

Having said that, I hope you read the story on ajc.com right now about why no one tries to copy Paul Johnson’s spread-option offense.

The usual silly reasons are thrown out by Texas coach Mack Brown and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, both of whom are smart enough to know that rallying isn’t difficult when the offense can strike as quickly as it does, and that Demaryius Thomas is exhibit A why recruiting isn’t difficult for the offense. Perhaps the only position, the only one, that a player could play in Johnson’s offense that wouldn’t translate to the NFL, would be quarterback. Now, that doesn’t mean that Josh Nesbitt wouldnt’ get drafted, or couldn’t get on with a team. It’s just the particular body of work a quarterback has in the offense would make it hard for an NFL team to gauge whether his skills would work well in the NFL.

But …

Continue reading Why Paul Johnson is right »

The No. 10 Yellow Jackets have worn white jerseys for every one of their home games since Paul Johnson was hired, but Wake Forest declined Tech’s request to be allowed to wear white for this weekend’s game. (NCAA rules say that the visiting team is supposed to wear white, unless it grants the home team permission to do so.)

Deacons coach Jim Grobe said there were two reasons behind that decision:

No. 1, Grobe said he prefers his team not wear black because of the higher temperatures in the South. That’s carried over to this game. Temperature at kickoff is predicted to be 66 degrees.

No. 2, he said he usually leaves it up to the team to decide which jersey they will wear. The players wanted to wear white.

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The weekly records watch from colleague Matt Dempsey:

Things were a little tighter than people wanted against Vanderbilt but I think fans are pretty happy about a solid win against an SEC opponent. A huge game for Jonathan Dwyer on the ground led the way. Let’s see how …

Continue reading Why behind the whites, and records watch »

Courtesy of the fine folks in Georgia Tech’s sports information department, a transcript of portions of Paul Johnson’s press conference on Tuesday.

Opening Statement:

“We’re back into conference play this week against Wake Forest, who is a good football team. Anyone that had the chance to watch their last game with Miami saw that they kind of dominated the game. It was a tough way for them to lose. They’ve had a few games this year where the ballgame came down to similar situations. The Boston College game, they fought back and got the game into overtime, and then on first and goal from the two-yard line, they dropped the ball and ended up losing the ballgame. Against Navy, they played in a driving rainstorm and had some chances. Then last week, they probably should’ve been able to win the game. They’ve got a good team. The game is really important on both sides. Wake Forest is fighting to become bowl eligible and to get back in their race and we’re fighting to stay alive in …

Continue reading Paul Johnson transcript »

As was in today’s notebook, Georgia Tech may have to choose between its Old Gold jerseys or its blue ones for Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game against Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons have exercised their NCAA-given right to wear their white jerseys on Saturday. Every other team that’s visited Atlanta since Paul Johnson was hired has graciously agreed to let the Jackets wear white.

I would guess these are the choices that Tech has for Saturday:

Gold tops and white pants.

Blue tops, (slightly) gold pants

or

Blue tops, white pants

So there’s a few of the choices Tech has for the weekend. Personally, I like the blue tops and white pants. But I can understand why some may not, considering that blue isn’t one of the official school colors.

What say you?

Continue reading What would the dude from Project Runway say? »

Three teams in the BCS’ top 10 teams have one loss: No. 7 Oregon, No. 9 LSU and, of course, No. 10 Georgia Tech.

The Ducks got the nation’s attention at the beginning of the season for losing at Boise State.  That loss lingered after one of its players punched one of the Broncos after the loss.

Most recently, the Fightin’ Quackers defeated Southern California on Saturday, rather handily, to move up two spots this week in the BCS.

They average 398.8 yards and 35.6 points in offense. On defense, they give up a respectable 300.88 yards and 17.13 points per game.

Best win: No. 5 USC.

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LSU hasn’t really done anything to earn the nation’s attention, other than to get a win against Georgia when the refs locked up, and to play Florida close. They are benefitting from starting the season No. 9 in the coaches’ poll, and No. 4 in the Harris poll after the season’s third week.

Having said that, they’ve still won seven games.

They average 325.1 yards and 26.4 points per game. They …

Continue reading Who is No. 1 of the one-loss teams? »

From esteemed colleague Matt Dempsey:

[First, don't forget to join the AJC's Georgia Tech page on facebook at http://bit.ly/T16am for breaking news about the Yellow Jackets, and other observations]

A big win over Virginia keeps Tech in the race for the ACC Coastal Division title. Plus big numbers from the big guns keeps them on the march to the record books. Let’s see how they stand with four more games to go.

Rushing Records

Most rushes in a season
Name Rushes Year
1. Tashard Choice 297 2006
2. P.J. Daniels 283 2003
3. Joe Burns 282 2001
4. Robert Lavette 280 1982
5. Eddie Lee Ivery 267 1978
6. Tashard Choice 261 2007
7. Robert Lavette 260 1984
8. Jerry Mays 249 1989
9. C.J. Williams 245 1995
10. Lenny Snow 202 1966
NR Josh Nesbitt 172 2009

With four games left to go, it’s hard to see how Nesbitt won’t end up in the top 10 for most rushes in a season. If he averages 24 carries a game the rest of the way, he’ll end up in the top five.

Most …

Continue reading Weekly records watch »

Courtesy of Georgia Tech’s sports information department, a transcript of Paul Johnson’s press conference on Tuesday:

Opening Statement:

“I was proud of our guys after the Virginia game. It’s another streak that people liked to talk about that our team put an end to. I don’t know if we played our best game of the year. You have to give the kids from Virginia a lot of credit, they played hard. But, we did enough to find a way to win the game. Once we got deep into the third quarter, we felt good about where we were. It was a concern that for the second week in a row we started out committing penalties on offense and hurting ourselves by stopping drives. On the first drive, we had a fourth and short that we were getting ready to go for and we jumped offside’s. Then, we take it into the end zone and have a chop block that wiped four points off the scoreboard. That’s a concern. On the flip side, I thought we did a good job defensively, especially in the first half. We held them …

Continue reading Paul Johnson transcript »

Since there has been much ado about the blocks made by Georgia Tech against Virginia Tech in their game two weeks ago, I thought I’d let you see a couple of clips that a Hokies fan posted on youtube.com
The first:
Chop block?

As you can see, at first it appears that the Virginia Tech defensive lineman is being chop blocked, an illegal block in which one player engages a defender high while another defender engages him low.
But, if you watch closely, Georgia Tech’s guard actually doesn’t engage the defender, he simply runs by and he two players briefly collide. It is then that Georgia Tech’s tackle goes low and hits him. It’s a fine line, but it is the line.
I have no idea if I’m correct, but that’s what it looks like to me.

The second:
Crackback block?

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said this was one of several plays in which safety Kam Chancellor was illegally blocked.
I’m sorry, but I don’t see it. Chancellor is cleanly blocked.
So, there are likely other plays, but at …

Continue reading You be the judge »

First, I think Georgia Tech is still on that never-ending drive that started against Virginia on Saturday. Last I heard they were at the Eastern Shore. A little tired, but still moving the ball.

I wrote yesterday, and have thought (as I’m sure y’all have, as well) that Tech is pretty close to being guaranteed a spot in the ACC championship game now that Miami lost again.
Switching to my Al Groh manner of speaking: to quote someone who works at a multi-faceted, multi-platformed sports and entertainment network, that circumstance may not be necessarily true.
Yes, the Jackets need to beat Wake Forest and Duke, which wouldn’t seem to be that difficult a thing to do considering past history and recent results.
But, the Deacons and the Devils have something in common that has given the Jackets some issues this season.
You know what I’m talking about.
Good quarterbacks.
Duke’s Thaddeus Lewis and Wake’s Riley Skinner are arguably two of the top four passing QBs in the ACC, behind …

Continue reading The remaining games »

Earlier in the day, I posted a bunch of game-after quotes, the lazy-man’s blog.

However, that was before Clemson defeated Miami in Miami. Now,  Georgia Tech needs to only win its two remaining ACC games, against Wake Forest and Duke, no less, and it’s headed to Tampa to play for the ACC title.

Who would they play, you ask? Right now, it would be a rematch against the Tigers. Clemson and BC are tied atop the Atlantic, but the Tigers have the tie-breaker thanks to the beatdown they administered to the Eagles earlier this year. Remember that one? BC had 54 yards, I think, in the game.

I think of all the teams from the Atlantic that Tech would not want to play, Clemson would be at the top of that list. The Tigers seem to have gotten things figured out on offense now, and freshman quarterback Kyle Parker, for all the mistakes he made against Miami, still led the the Tigers to the win in a tough place to play.

Plus, the Tigers have the experience of already playing Tech’s offense …

Continue reading GT’s path to the ACC title game wide open »