Johnson, Tech in “new territory”
Though there’s still a chance that Georgia Tech can make it back to the ACC championship game, coach Paul Johnson thinks the odds are long.
He said if it doesn’t happen it will be a situation that he’s rarely experienced in 14 years as a coach: a year in which a major goal hasn’t been met.
Johnson led the Yellow Jackets to a tie for the ACC’s Coastal Division title in 2008, and they won the conference championship last season.
To get a chance to defend that title, Tech (5-4, 3-3) must win its remaining two ACC games, starting with Saturday’s matchup against Miami, and then hope for an unlikely combination of events from the rest of its division foes. Tech also needs one more win to reach bowl eligibility for the 14th consecutive season.
Because this is a “new territory”, Johnson said he’s doing his best to make sure that his players know there are still goals to meet.
“If you are competitive and you want to play, you are going to play no matter what,” Johnson said. “That is why you are out there if you are a competitor.”
Before coming to Tech in 2008, Johnson experienced a lot of success in previous head-coaching stops at Navy and Georgia Southern:
- He won or tied for the Southern Conference championship five times when he was at Georgia Southern and won back-to-back national championships.
- Though Navy is an independent school and therefore can’t win a conference championship, Johnson led the Midshipmen to an 11-1 record in games against Army and Air Force, taking the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy five out of his six years in Annapolis, Md.
“I am not worried about me getting ready to play because I am competitive and I know what it’s about, but I think you have to point out to the guys what you are still playing for,” Johnson said. “You are playing for bowl eligibility, you are playing for a winning season, you are playing for pride.”
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109 comments Add your comment
Rufus
November 10th, 2010
5:03 pm
“No talent?” Amazing that we hear that description after a loss but not after a win. A good coaching staff makes adjustments to accommodate the team’s available talent. I haven’t seen that happen on The Flats this year. You don’t have to scrap the system, but you’ve sure got to tweak it really good sometimes to make it work with the players you have……and GT has a whole gang of good-to-great players. If I, the coach, can’t get them to play well as a team, it’s my problem and not theirs. Seems to me that has been the problem this year. No real adjustments to the offensive system, and a defensive scheme that doesn’t suit the talent.
mtraininjax
November 10th, 2010
5:46 pm
Did any UGA players get arrested so far today? How about this week? Wasn’t UGAg ranked to start the year?
Did any Tech players sell their jerseys online then be DUMB enough to get caught?
mtraininjax
November 10th, 2010
5:52 pm
Rufus – Tech is talented, just young and they do have a brand new defense, 3-4 and it requires different speed than the 4-3 of last year. Losing last week was not talent related, we lost our QB, our team leader at the end of the first half, did nothing in Q3, and had a talented QB lead us to almost win the game. We beat the spread and did better than most Tech people thought we would, and had we not thrown an INT at the end of Q2, we probably go up even more to the locker room.
We have good players, our GREAT players left last year and are being paid now, as GREAT players are these days. CPJ is the same, we changed some coaches, Monken went to GA Southern and is doing well there, perhaps that and other chemistry are an issue, or perhaps its hard to repeat every year when you lose GREAT players early.
bgdawg
November 10th, 2010
6:31 pm
mtraininjax wasn’t tech ranked this year? were they ranked higher than”ugag”? did any tech players assault a woman? did tech just get denied by another 3 star player?
ewilsgt
November 10th, 2010
10:25 pm
delusion – I confirmed with my girlfriend, who has an English degree from that university in Athens and is a writer/editor, so pretty sure she can be considered an expert. You’re=you are, everytime. Your expresses possession. So, when you say, “Y*&@ team lost…” it should always be YOUR. Also, Your can be used as a singular or plural when addressing possession. Finally, as Ross told Rachel about her letter (18 pages, front and back). Y-O-U-’-R-E is you are, Y-O-U-R is your. then they were soooo over, fine by me.
For the record, as long as we beat the puppies in Athens, season will be a success. I bet they are thinking the same thing at this point…because, they probably won’t beat anyone else.
GoGTJackets
November 11th, 2010
1:05 am
Am I the only one that thinks our problem is really offense or defense but SPECIAL TEAMS?? I am pretty sure we get killed there every game. If you look at all of our losses SPECIAL TEAMS had a huge impact. CPJ needs to fire the ST coach and take it over himself. We can not afford to give up touchdowns and stupid penaltys that come back to kill us every game. On a side note, I think Tevin throws a more catchable ball than Nesbitt, but Nesbitt had a stronger arm. Overall though I think our passing game will be better which should open up our great rushing attack.
GO JACKETS!!
CJGaTech
November 11th, 2010
12:52 pm
I am a Tech grad of ‘73. Being 1st in the nation for rushing offense is an asset, but no passing is the liability. So what does the net worth equal to after the liabilities are subtracted from the assets? About zero. I recall the pass happy team of ‘90 that will be honored Saturday. Hamilton loved to pass, and to run the cube draws. I don’t see Tech winning the ACC championship. They do not have a replacement for Demarius Thomas this year, and Allen is not very productive at 98 yards per game and one or two tds for the entire season.
CJGaTech
November 11th, 2010
12:59 pm
Is it just me, or does Anthony Allen remind you of how unproductive Greg Horn, the fumblebee, used to be for Tech in ‘72?
GTgrad
November 12th, 2010
11:44 am
Dawgfan doesn’t know what calculus is. He’s probably a UGA grad. Go figure.