Ball security still challenges Synjyn Days
Greetings-
Have a couple notes from a few interviews Tuesday.
1. Both Paul Johnson and assistant coach Brian Bohannon took questions about backup quarterback Synjyn Days and their answers provided enough evidence to conclude that his ball security problems still require considerable improvement.
“Synjyn has to take care of the football,” Bohannon said. “It has to be of the utmost urgency when he is in the game, to take care of the football.”
I think I included some of this answer in the post Tuesday following Johnson’s news conference, but Johnson said he put Days in late in the loss to Miami to see if he could provide a spark. He got a first down on a pass to wide receiver Tyler Melton and had a quarterback draw that could have been a gainer had it been blocked better and then fumbled.
“That’s been his thing,” Johnson said. “If he takes care of the ball, he’s going to play more. Synjyn, he’s a talented kid. He can do some things, but you’ve got to take care of the ball.”
2. Quote from Johnson about the offense: “You could say execution, you can say whatever you want. It doesn’t matter what you do on offense, if you’re not moving the ball and scoring, it usually comes back to (the fact that) you’ve got to do that better. We need to help ‘em, maybe, with a better plan. Maybe some of the stuff that we’re trying to ask them to do, they can’t do.”
Roddy Jones thinks the offense isn’t too far from re-gaining its form.
“When we go back and watch the film, it’s not like everything’s going wrong and we’re all falling apart,” he said. “You see a stop in the backfield or a play by [an opponent], what you don’t see is everyone else did their job. If we get that one guy, we’re out of the gate. It’s just the little things we need to correct, and I think we’ll do that.”
I imagine you get tired of the “we just need to execute better” answer as I do, but I’ve seen the offense work enough times to great effect (and you have done so even more, I suppose) to think that the problem isn’t that opponents have figured out the offense. It’s poor decision making, missed blocks, bad throws, dropped passes and faulty play calls. That leaves room to say that those failures are a result of a talent shortage and that the Jackets wouldn’t have those problems with better coaching. Perhaps the remainder of the season will determine that if you haven’t already drawn your own conclusion. But consider that as poorly as last season went, the offense, with a lot of the same pieces as this year’s team, led the nation in rushing. (Which is a different thing than leading the nation in scoring, or wins, for that matter, but is not an accomplishment to be taken lightly.)
Take Washington as an example. He’s shown the ability make the right reads, both this year and last, and has enough speed to make plays. I don’t know how you’ll receive this, but I’ve included a clip of the second half of last year’s Virginia Tech game. Watch from about the 4:30 point on. Washington has some clunker plays, but he hits downfield passes, makes a first-down run out of nothing, manages the clock and leads Tech nearly the length of the field in two late-game drives. The very last play, you’ll remember, was not one to remember, but everything to that point would indicate that when he’s right, he’s more than capable.
I think right now a lot of it’s between his ears. Perhaps the same might be said of his teammates. How do they escape this predicament? That’s for them and the coaching staff to figure out.
3. A few people asked me about the offsetting penalties that wiped out Jones’ long first-quarter run against Miami, specifically if Tech could have declined Miami’s penalty and taken the facemask penalty against Jones as a spot foul. I asked Doug Rhoads, the ACC officiating coordinator, and he said no, that they were automatically offsetting because both were live- ball fouls. So, there’s your answer.
4. This is sort of random, but I’m wondering if someone out there can do a former Tech player a favor. You might remember I wrote a story prior to the Virginia game about the 1990 team’s comeback win at Virginia. Anyway, Calvin Tiggle was one of the former players I talked to, and I asked him about watching replays, and he said he’d lost his copy of the game. (He was one of Tech’s biggest stars that day.) He asked me if I had any idea how to get a copy of the game and I said I’d look into it. My first step failed. You are the second step. Would any of you have a copy of that game you’d be willing to make a copy of? E-mail me if so. I imagine Calvin would be grateful. ksugiura@ajc.com.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech beat
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407 comments Add your comment
JD
October 26th, 2011
1:11 pm
@fanofshortpasses…..yes sir. Crossing routes, slants, maybe the occasional post. That would force the LB’s and safeties to stay at home a little more rather than play up on run support. Those should be higher % throws. I have seen Hill drop an easy post throw when he was wide open earlier this season tho
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:12 pm
Hey Jason: FYI, GT has more conference titles than UGA overall.
chump.
How many BCS bowls has your “pro style offense” netted you in the last 3 years? We’ve been to one…
Fields
October 26th, 2011
1:13 pm
Yech fans are either too stupid or too proud to admit Johnson duped them! He sold his high school offense to a bunch of fools like selling ice to eskimos!!! Lol!!! Love it!!
Fields
October 26th, 2011
1:15 pm
Gt Joe –
UGA has as many total BCS wins as the entire ACC combined!!! What an idiot!! Lol!!!
Fields
October 26th, 2011
1:16 pm
I like how you worded though; “been to.” what will this year make; 6 bowl losses in a row? Lol!!!
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:17 pm
GT: more national titles, more conference titles. Period. Good night, fields.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:20 pm
high school offense: 32-16 since 2008. 1 BCS bowl.
vaunted pro style offense: 29-15 since 2008. 0 BCS bowls.
Any more questions, fool? I mean, fields?
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:23 pm
clarification:
high school offense: 32-16, 1 BCS bowl, 2 division championships
pro style offense: 29-17, 0 BCS Bowls, 0 division championships
5150 UOAD
October 26th, 2011
1:27 pm
SUPERSIZE………………………SUPERSIZE………….MACRO>>>>>>MACRO…………………….Guys dad isn’t going to the Clem&Son’s game. He is feeling better but he has to sign at Church Sunday and the game will be late.
I have a Ticket if you guys know a deserving fan that wants a seat with a Stadium seat already there.
5150 UOAD
October 26th, 2011
1:27 pm
Sing in the Choir on Sunday.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:30 pm
Looks like fun can’t be made of UGA’s players – after all, GT IS BEHIND Miami and FSU in graduation rates…. BWUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:31 pm
Fields, that’s a STUPID response…how national titles has uga’s ‘gimmicky’ offense won them? That DARN play-action pass! Haha…wipe your chin…you just dribbled stupid all over the blog!
VA's and Miami's Love Bug
October 26th, 2011
1:33 pm
@ GT Joe
And yet UGA OWNS the technerds… how does it feel to be their whipping boy? Funny thing, GT may not even be second best in the state – good thing they don’t play Georgia Southern… HAHA
Fields
October 26th, 2011
1:33 pm
we’s practice the play action post pattern. I have bessie the cow go out deep witha double move to get past the chickens. Then i hit er deep with a small watermelon. MAN that cow can catch.
Jacket Man
October 26th, 2011
1:34 pm
Synjyn’s fumble against Miami was more due to a vicious hit whereby he was injured rather than sloppy play. In fact, if you review the play, there could have very easily have been called a personal foul against Miami; there sure would have been one against GA Tech if that was Tyrod Taylor. People also tend to forget that when Tevin Washington came in after Joshua Nesbitt was injured, he had quite a few fumbles, yet he stayed in the game and those fumbles were taken care of through repetitions. Given the same opportunity, I have no doubt that Mr. days would be just as successful. I would also suggest that the passing game couldn’t get any worse putting Synjyn in either. Besides not completing passes, Tevin has also been throwing interceptions recently.
I would finally add that Synjyn would be getting snaps against a team in a real competitive environment while we have an experienced QB available to sub for him in the event he falls flat on his face. This is a luxury the team hasn’t had since Jaybo Shaw transferred.
VA's and Miami's Love Bug
October 26th, 2011
1:34 pm
@ macrotech
Your comment deserves my answer above. It is nice when the technerds live vicariously through another team! HAHAHAHAHA
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:34 pm
For the record…we’ve beaten a FEW of those might sec teams…I think we’re 1-2 against the mutts. They way you pups talk about our team…ONE win should’ve NEVER happened.
STILL waiting for the person that can give me a GOOD reason the TO offense is ‘gimmicky’….anyone?
5150 UOAD
October 26th, 2011
1:34 pm
GT Joe what is the comparison between ALL Tech Students to Athlete Students? That is a better comparison.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:35 pm
UGA’s whipping boy? CPJ is 1-2 vs. you mutts. Hardly a whipping boy.
The guy is averaging 30+ against UGA with those gimmicks (you know, the toss, pitch, handoff, pass, the “exotic” stuff).
gtne80
October 26th, 2011
1:36 pm
Regarding the statistics on graduation rates, I work in an industry that uses performance indicators to measure every aspect of performance from every conceivable angle. I can tell you from years of experience, it is absolute lunacy to attempt to draw conclusions purely from the numbers, regardless of how well the indicator is designed. Rates and percentages are an indication, but to understand the performance, you ALWAYS have to dig deeper to understand WHY the numbers are what they are. Simply telling me that GT’s grad rate among athletes is 77% and UGA’s is 79% is MEANINGLESS by itself. It’s a STARTING POINT for understanding the performance of the student athletes and the athletic departments’ performance in this area. You have to ask a number of other questions, such as “how do the graduation rates compare with non-athletes in the same majors?,” “What majors are they taking?”
In the article, it said that if an athlete leaves the program and goes into the NBA or the NFL, it doesn’t count against the graduation rate AS LONG AS THE STUDENT IS IN GOOD STANDING WHEN HE LEAVES. So, if a kid is a junior and he knows that he’s going to declare for the draft, and he blows off his last semester and leaves on academic probation, is that a valid hit against the program?
Then, it doesn’t help when (to sell papers or to sensationalize the story to get attention), the media features a headline that says something to the effect that UGA is in the middle of the pack of the SEC and GT is last in the ACC and when you read it you find that they’re actually 2 percent points (probably within the accuracy range of the rate) of each other. I don’t think it’s stretching the term to call that “yellow journalism.”
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:36 pm
GT: 4-3 vs. the “vaunted” SEC with the gimmick offense.
5150 UOAD
October 26th, 2011
1:37 pm
VA’s and Miami’s Love Bug………………..if UGA doesn’t FEAR tech why did the mutts schedule Ga Southern the week before Tech next year? Bye for the mutts before the gators and Auburn but a Triple Option team to get 2 weeks practice for TECH.
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:37 pm
VA’s and Miami, WHO is on another teams’ blog? Hypocrisy is an ugly thing! I haven’t said anything about another team…let me know when you’ve scratched all the white-out off your screen
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:37 pm
Ah, but it is not, 5150. Funny that the GT fans talk about other school’s (UGA for example)…guess that if you can’t beat them on the field, then trying to make some asinine argument works – hey if it makes you feel better…
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:39 pm
Any ‘lawyer’ that ends a post with “BUAHAHAHAHAHA” is the same goob that closes their ‘argument’ with a “WHATEVER” and considers it a valid statement!
VA's and Miami's Love Bug
October 26th, 2011
1:39 pm
So your team is 1-2 agains the Dogs? And who is your team?
Harvard
October 26th, 2011
1:40 pm
UGA’s Law School is a joke.
Law Degree???
October 26th, 2011
1:41 pm
You are right, you win. After all, I am just a “nothing” in the Navy…
Kb
October 26th, 2011
1:43 pm
GT Joe, To have more conference titles for Tech you have to go back before the SEC. Facts GT since Dodd left winning percenage .539 , conference titles 1 , top ten finishes 2 , major bowls 2, same number of 1 win seasons as 10 win seasons. UGa has more top 10 finishes in the past 10 years than tech has since dodd left, Tech football tradition is ancient history. georia 2 bcs bowl wins ties the entire ACC . 12 wins vs UGa since dodd left. 15 since 1957. Dodd was 3-7 vs UGA in his last 10. Gt and georgia have played football for 11 decades tech has won more games in 2 of those the latest being the 50’s.
GT Jones
October 26th, 2011
1:44 pm
Things are so off track. Back to Synjyn. He was hit hard in the miami game which caused the fumble. I don’t think that has anything to do with ball security.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:44 pm
On average, about 78% of ALL Tech students graduate in 6 years (the criteria for the NCAA GSR). So really, 55% for football players aint that bad.
http://factbook.gatech.edu/content/graduationretention-rates
Law Degree???
October 26th, 2011
1:45 pm
@ Jason
Am referring to your remark. Just whom are you talking to? Not a lawyer, but since your tone seems to say others aren’t then we must be sh!t. I graduated from a university in the great state of GA, but am just a lowly officer in the Navy and not a great lawyer as you say…
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:46 pm
I don’t troll on OTHER teams blogs…I’ll let you figure that one out. Let me know if you need any more hints
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:47 pm
Ah I see Kb: selective history. I get it. Whatever makes your argument stick.
FACT: GT has more conference titles, more national titles, more wins with the high school offense in the past 3+ years, more RELEVANCE in football the last 3+ years.
5150 UOAD
October 26th, 2011
1:48 pm
MacroTech…………I am Emailing Supersize. Dad isn’t going to the game I have a Ticket available with a Stadium Seat in place too. SEC.224L do you know anybody that could use it?
macrotech
October 26th, 2011
1:51 pm
5150…I’ll let Super know if I hear of anyone looking! Thanks for the heads up!
Ken Sugiura
October 26th, 2011
1:53 pm
Jeff Greene doesn’t have a catch yet. I confess I’m a little surprised by that. lately, there haven’t been a lot of catches to spread around, though.
I don’t know what to say about Chris Jackson. I think he’s just got better players ahead of him.
GSR is graduation rate after six years of athletes who entered college between 2001 and 2004. Tech’s rates for men’s basketball and football are embarrassingly low. This sounds like it comes from the PR folks, but I’m pretty confident that when Brian Gregory and Paul Johnson’s recruits are accounted for in a few years, the rates will be highly competitive.
Jacket Man – As I understand it, I think the problem is that Days has trouble holding onto it during practice, not just in games.
Shorter passes – Days is still the backup. I think coaches want to give him more of a shot but feel like it’s too big a risk.
Kb
October 26th, 2011
1:53 pm
Joe Tech plays in a weak conference, I believe the conference tiltle you claim has been returned. 1-2 vs uga. Another as whipping coming your way in November. Tech is in a conference will zero. relevance. Richt 13-1 vs ACC.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:58 pm
Kb, you crack me up. Another whipping? When was the first “whipping”? Was it last year or the year before, because I missed the whipping.
don’t kid yourself. GT is NOT ole miss or vandy or msu or tennessee or coastal carolina. You’ve beaten no one. Your wins are against teams that are 1-15 in SEC play.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
1:59 pm
Kb: you DO realize that the best team ya’ll beat was candy VANDY, don’t you?
NWGA DAWG
October 26th, 2011
1:59 pm
GT Joe,
Even on your Techie blog you are still can get over UGA! Maybe you will let it go in November after you realize that UGA still runs this state. GO DAWGS!!!!!!
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
2:01 pm
NWGA: i’m obsessed with UGA? I’m on the GT blog buddy.
IF you’re on this blog, maybe YOU are obsessed with Tech?
Kb
October 26th, 2011
2:03 pm
Vandy, Miss state , tenn, ole miss miss State all have more talent than tech, don’t kid yourself Joe. Georgia had 14 point leads for most of the past 2 season throughout the game, let up and let GT back in.How many minutes has Tech had a lead the past 2 games , Zero.
NWGA DAWG
October 26th, 2011
2:05 pm
GT Joe, I am not downing GT. Your still hating on UGA on your team’s blog.
Just sayin!!!!!
Still@theKool-aidBAR
October 26th, 2011
2:05 pm
I am OBESE on the Richt and Bobo Thanksgiving stuffing. It is good enough to keep them both for 10 more years.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
October 26th, 2011
2:08 pm
Kb try again or admit Tech has beat Miss St and Vandy every time they have played since 1990. Ole Miss and Tech canceled the game about 3 years ago.
Still@theKool-aidBAR
October 26th, 2011
2:09 pm
TECH also beat AUBURN every time they have played since 1990. Reggie Ball beat Auburn. LOL REGGIE BALL.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
2:11 pm
NWGA: only reason i talk about UGA is because of UGA folks talking about UGA on a blog about synjyn days.
GT Joe
October 26th, 2011
2:14 pm
Kb: don’t kid yourself.
2008: GT wins.
2009: GT HEAVILY favored, gets upset, driving for the winning score on the last drive of the game.
2010: GT plays with a backup QB and still has a chance on the last drive of the game.
The writing is on the wall. GT has been better than UGA since CPJ came to town. Overall records, bowl quality, division titles, conference title games, etc.
But hey, that Vandy win was great! Your best win of the season! How low has UGA fallen…
NWGA DAWG
October 26th, 2011
2:18 pm
GT, I am a Georgia boy 100 percent. Even pull for GT except that one weekend in November. Just don’t understand all of the hating by others. Let the players battle it on the field. Both of our teams have a lot to work at lately. Wouldn’t you agree? To much talent in this state going outside!