The good and bad in Tech’s loss
Reviewing Tech’s 42-34 loss to Georgia:
The game that was
Georgia Tech looked sharper for 80-plus plays on offense than it has all season, but losing three fumbles and an interception were too much to overcome. The Bulldogs converted those miscues into 28 points. As focused as the offense was, the defense is still learning on the job, a kind way of saying it’s just not working yet. With the exception of half against Wake Forest and and a game against Virginia, it hasn’t worked consistently all season.
What we learned
1. The team can get up for big games, why not the rest? The Yellow Jackets’ three best performances this season occurred against three of its biggest rivals: Georgia, Virginia Tech and North Carolina. Where was that emotion against N.C. State, Duke or Kansas?
2. The defense is a pick your poison. When Tech loads up to stop the run, which it did frequently against Georgia, it gives up the pass. Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray completed 15 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. The Bulldogs averaged 8.9 yards per play. And then the Bulldogs were able to run, accumulating 154 yards. Like Tech, Georgia averaged 5.3 yards per rushing attempt.
3. Tech’s offensive line can come off the ball. The front five have been much-maligned this season, but they looked sharp against the Bulldogs. Not only were they not called for a penalty all night (with the exception of two point-after attempts), they pushed around Georgia’s front seven. Johnson complimented his line after the game, something he hasn’t done this season. It was their best performance this season.
Injury report
There were no significant injuries to report.
Numbers game
92
Plays run by Tech against Georgia. It was the most plays the Yellow Jackets have run since 2000, when they ran 94 against Virginia.
Sound bite
“I think you make your own breaks. You have to give them credit, they made plays. I’m just more disappointed for the kids because they played so hard. I just wish I could have found a way to help them win the game.”
– Tech coach Paul Johnson
Loose ends
Tech finished with a .500 record in the regular season for the first time since 2000. … Tech is 39-61-5 in its series against Georgia. … Its 512 yards of offense were its most since the game 1999 game against Georgia. … Its 77 rushing attempts were its most in the last 30 years. … Tech trailed in nine of 12 games this season. … Anthony Allen surpassed 1,800 yards rushing in two seasons. … Freshman outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu had his second sack in as many games. He has three this season. He’s one off the team’s leader, Brad Jefferson.
What’s next
Tech must wait to find out which bowl wants it. Seven teams in the ACC are up for seven bowls, starting with the Champs Sports Bowl, which picks third. The conference championship winner will play in the Orange Bowl and the loser will play in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Tech is being slotted by bowl forecasters into the Independence Bowl. Its performance against Georgia, coupled with the poor performances of other conference teams this weekend, may give it a bump to a more prestigious bowl.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
165 comments Add your comment
beeswax
November 29th, 2010
5:13 pm
PJ is scary. That guy has crossed the line from being super aggressive to being stupid. PJ, sometimes you gotta kick short field goals and take your points and sometimes you gotta punt. Can’t we get us a real coach with a real offense and quit this gimmic offense?
We own you
November 29th, 2010
5:14 pm
The Dawgs won the game, why are you Tech fans still whinning?
If you won the game, you would have the bragging rights, but you blew it.
We won, you lost, it’s that simple really
Ramblin Man
November 29th, 2010
5:15 pm
Worst part about this loss is having to skim past all of dawgfan’s stupid comments. Dawgfan are you really going to brag and boast on a team that just got run all over by a “high school team”? Are you going to boast that your teams best run came from a ref getting in the way of the LBs? Are you going to boast that once again your top recruiting class got you to 6-6? Are you going to boast about 2-3 stars once again hanging with your 4-5 stars? Oh and like your dawgs this is GTs first year in the 3-4 so the no defense remark lands right with the rest of your dumb posts.
mtraininjax
November 29th, 2010
5:17 pm
Randy Shannon needs a job, his D at Miami was better than what Groh could do this year. I say we put them in a ring and let them duke it out for the DC job at Tech.
Ramblin Man
November 29th, 2010
5:21 pm
atlxman,
Um those undersized OL at GT pushed your defense around all night. What undersized QB are you taking about? The only valid point I have read from any of the haters is the passing game needs to improve. It may or may not, but I promise you that CPJ is well aware of that and is looking for ways to fix the problem.
Ramblin Man
November 29th, 2010
5:22 pm
Shannon is a cancer and will never get near a GT coaching job.
dawgfan
November 29th, 2010
5:54 pm
Ramble Man, are you really going to boast about UGA’s 6-6 record when your half azzed panty waste team is in the L column and not the W column? Are you really this stupid? Do you think we somehow care what crybaby sore loser Techies like yourself think of us? All you do is whine, cry, whine some more, make excuses, and then cry some more. I have never seen a more pathetic sight in my life. Its hilarious. YOU LOST. Maybe if you pinheads could handle it with even a shred of dignity people like me wouldn’t be here. Ever think of that genius? Its not like I go rubbing it in a Vandy (same record as Tech vs. UGA in past 10 years LMAO) fan’s face when we beat them. They give me no reason to. They don’t go popping off at the mouth like a punk sore loser like Techies do. Class dismissed.
macrotech
November 29th, 2010
6:08 pm
Somebody give dawgfan a bisquit….you REALLY shouldn’t let another person effect your happiness so much! There is NOONE on these blogs about Tech that doesn’t recognize your obsession with Tech…it’s cool! Do what you do. Bless your little heart.
juvenal
November 29th, 2010
8:10 pm
84, kick that FG & it changes the whole tone…..just another “play hard but screw up enough to lose a close game”……..maybe if the players get as sick of it as i am,8/9 by one score………..for the daug that said this was worse than their gator-possession, 4/13 is a lot better than 3/21, ignoring the fact that few of the latter L’s weren’t blow-outs…….
James Caldwell
November 29th, 2010
9:37 pm
Good grief. A bunch of grown men somehow taking credit for the efforts of a bunch of teenage and underage boys.
Want to know why UGA and Tech bite lately at defense? Or why Notre Dame and even UF aren’t so dominant? Could it be as academic standards rise (and they have at UGA) defense falls since it’s harder to recruit that sort of player?
Average Wonderlic scores in the NFL
From Wikipedia.org
This assessment roughly corresponds to examples from Paul Zimmerman’s The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football. According to Zimmerman, examples of average scores include for each position,
Offensive Tackle – 26
Center – 25
Quarterback – 24
Guard – 23
Tight End – 22
Safety – 19
Linebacker – 19
Cornerback – 18
Wide receiver – 17
Fullback – 17
Halfback – 16
Perfect scores
Pat McInally is the only football player to record a confirmed perfect score of 50. Ryan Fitzpatrick, a Harvard University graduate like McInally, has also been rumored to have scored a perfect score of 50 [1]. However, he later claimed to have left at least one of the 50 answer spaces blank [2], leading the media to question his perfect score.[2]. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fitzpatrick’s actual score was 38 (still considered excellent), but that the figure of nine minutes is accurate.
Average scores for ordinary people
While an average football player usually scores around 20 points, The Wonderlic, Inc claims a score of at least 10 points suggests a person is literate [3]. Furthermore, when the test was given to miscellaneous people of various professions, it was observed that the average participant scored a 24. Examples of scores from everyday professions included,
Chemist – 31
Programmer – 29
News writer – 26
Sales – 24
Bank teller – 22
Clerical Worker – 21
Security Guard – 17
Warehouse – 15
References
[1] http://www.nfl.com/draft/story/8235750
[2] http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/news.asp?id=213
[3] Wonderlic Test History
Ball or Blair for president
November 30th, 2010
10:46 am
Extra point or not… UGA had a great run back, drove the field (again), and would have scored whether you like it or not with even less time on the clock. Even though you didn’t have your starting quarter you got beat by a freshman quarterback who is only going to get better…
GOJACKETS
November 30th, 2010
11:14 am
How about all of you UGAG morons head over to a UGAG blog and talk about the “dominant” game you guys had against an undermanned GT team. Yes if you don’t believe the geme would’ve been different if #9 had played then you are as dumb as Ealey celebrating after getting handed a TD. CPJ will out coach Richt everytime. Richt is like the players he recruits…dumb as a box of rocks. We had 500+ yards of total offense, we held the ball for nearly a complete quarter over Georgia and with 4 turnovers turned into points for UGAG and 3 take aways turned into zero points for the Jackets and oh yeah a sure footed Blair misses an extra point. So, in conclusion you guys were outplayed, outcoached and as always outclassed. Enjoy the W you bunch of uneducated hillbillies because I hope Murray can carry the team next year because there is no other real talent on the UGAG sideline after AJ(Sell My Jersey) Green flees to the NFL where he will surely be out of the league in 3 years for some king of felony conviction!
Yellow Britches
November 30th, 2010
9:54 pm
If this keeps up this so called rivalry will look like Vanderbilt and Tennessee. You can’t build a program on moral victories. We got beat–again. We have a better head coach but we don’t have better players. This bleeding has to stop soon or we will be lucky to have 35 thousand show up on home games. Gosh, this hurts.
dude
December 1st, 2010
8:39 am
TO ALL TECH FANS….RELAX
Even Texas had a bad year this year. It happens. All I’m saying is look at what we have coming back next year versus what UGA has coming back. Who the hell is Murray going to throw to? I like our odds.
Tech 1949
December 2nd, 2010
11:51 am
As I recall, late in the game, one point behind, Tech went for a tying extra point and missed. If I called the plays, we may not have won, but we would not have missed the extra point. Instead, I would have tried a two point play. I yelled for that when we lined up for the extra point, but the coach couldn’t hear me.