Paul Johnson Q&A
Opening statement:
Anytime you lose, it’s certainly disappointing. I give Georgia a lot of credit. They’ve got a good football team. They showed up and they played very well. For us, the margin of error was small and we didn’t take advantage of a couple of opportunities we had early and when we didn’t do that, we got behind and we never could claw ourselves back into the game.
It was kind of a tale of two halves. The first half, we had a hard time getting them slowed down and the third quarter, we kind of self-destructed offensively, turning the ball over. But like I said, I give them credit. They came in here and they did what they had to do. I thought their kids played hard and they won the game.
On lack of pass rush:
They did a nice job of protecting their quarterback. We didn’t get to him much. We’ll have to look at the tape. Anytime guys get that open at times, we turned a couple guys loose in coverage, especially crossers. A couple times, they just beat us. They ran a post-corner (route) and beat us down on the goal line. … The play where the tight end caught the touchdown in the back of the end zone in the third quarter, we called the play. We knew the play and they still completed it. So you’ve got to give them credit for that. The bottom line is they made plays when they had to.
On Synjyn Days‘ play:
Tevin Washington has been our quarterback all year. I’m excited about Synjyn. I think he can bring something to the game. It’s not fair to evaluate him on the two series he got to play in that game.
On reverse pass play to open the game:
It’s a play we’ve worked on all year. It’s just a reverse pass. It went about as planned except we didn’t complete it. We had some guys open, I think. It’s something (that) you’ve got to execute those things. It was one play in the game. It certainly didn’t determine the outcome of the game.
On expecting so much passing:
Not really. We game planned for whatever. I was just trying to look (at the stats). I mean, they ran the ball 28 times out of 57 plays. That’s about half the time. It got a little heavy towards the end, but they were having much more success throwing it than running it. I don’t know that was so much by design. You kind of do what you’re having success with. I’m sure if they were gashing us running the ball, they would have run the ball, although they ran it pretty good on us that last drive at the end there when they were trying to run out the clock.
On Georgia’s special teams:
They’ve got a really good kicking game with both those kickers. They just kind of rotate and they both banged it six yards deep on kickoffs. The punter hit some great punts, pinned us down. They didn’t punt the first half but in the second half he pinned us inside the 10 twice. The field-position game was not as favorable as you would have liked. We actually started the game out getting a pretty good punt and pinning them back, but they kind of flipped the field on us. Even with the interception, we ended up back on our end.
On the timeout negating the missed field goal:
It just seems like sometimes that’s the way it goes. There’s nothing you can do about it. Sometimes it goes that way. Plenty of times I’ve seen where you call timeout and the guy makes the field goal and they have to kick it again. Trust me, if I’d have known they would have a bad snap, I wouldn’t have called timeout.
On play of David Sims:
I thought David Sims played really hard. He made some really nice runs. He had a nice run on the goal line on a touchdown, he had a nice run on a screen pass. I thought David played hard.
On the start to the second half:
It wasn’t good. It’’s not exactly the way you want to start the second half. The guy got outside our contain guy. Our guy couldn’t get off that block. It was a good one. (Johnson was being sarcastic about the block.)
On defense not being able to get a stop:
It’s deflating. I think it deflates the whole team. The other thing that’s deflating is giving up the score before halftime after you score. That’s probably the third or fourth time that’s happened this year, where you grind the thing out, you make a fourth down, you go down, you score with a minute left and – boom – they come back and score. And even thought it was a field goal, it changes the momentum and changes the way things go. We tightened up in the third quarter and played better defensively, and then the offense went helter kelter there with turnovers.
On if Washington’s first interception was a broken play:
It wasn’t a broken play. I don’t know till you look at the tape. We need to hit some of those plays. When we’re really successful, we hit some of those and stay on the field and get some big plays. I think there was another time – you were talking about the reverse – the first time we ran the play action off the toss, they turned the wheel route loose and we missed that, too, down the sideline. It could have been a huge play.
When you’re playing a good team and they’re a good football team, you’ve got to hit those. When you get a chance, you’ve got to take advantage of them.
On Roddy Jones playing his last game and setting the school record with 51 career starts:
Roddy’s just a great person besides a really good football player, and a model student-athlete. He’s got tons of character. He’s got tons of it. He’s going to be very successful at whatever he decides to do. He’s been a big part of a lot of real positives for Georgia Tech while he’s been here, both on the field and off the field. Personally, I’ll miss him a lot. He’s a great kid.
On if losing to Georgia hurts more:
It hurts every time. Anytime, if you’re a competitor and you lose, it hurts. I hurt myself, but I also hurt for those kids, because they wanted to win that game badly. They wanted to play well and win the game, and you hurt that you couldn’t help them find a way to do it.
On the problems covering crossing routes:
Usually if guys are running wide open it’s (a mistake in) coverage. I don’t know the specific one you’re talking about; they hit a couple of crossers. We’ll have to look and see. I think that and, again, with the calls I’d be just trying to guess without going back and looking at the specific defensive call and seeing what happened on the tape. But, yeah, we had trouble covering them, especially in the first half
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431 comments Add your comment
WnE
November 28th, 2011
2:12 pm
The GT fans are DELUSIONAL!
The youth and Academics excuses are BOGUS!
uga beat us Saturday with two T-Fr. WRs Malcolm Mitchell & Chris Conley both were offered by GT and were Academically qualified for GT, the 3rd WR that burned GT was a RS-Fr. Mike Bennett and he might have been offered by GT and was an Academic Qualifier for GT.
On Defense when Tyson went down uga/CTG brought in Garrison SMITH an Academic qualifier whose BROTHER GRADUATED from GT and was offered by GT.
All those guys that made the difference in the game were YOUNG uga players that were Academic qualifiers for GT and were offered by GT but instead spurned Coach Kung Fu Panda to play for a class guy like CMR (aka “The Reverend”).
Maybe if Coach Fish Fry weren’t such a effin’ JERK toward Greg Smith, Garrison Smith’s older brother than maybe he comes to GT and instead is wearing White & Gold on Sat.
For those that don’t know Greg Smith was a 6-3 200lb. WR for GT that CPJ tried to use as an A-Back and tried to get him to “dive at folks kneecaps” for 50 snaps per game.
WnE
November 28th, 2011
2:22 pm
1-3 vs VT
1-3 vs. uga
1-3 vs Miami
0-3 vs. in Bowl Games, and the best he can do thus far is 1-3 in Bowls IF we win this yr.
By Feb. on NSD the best that Coach Kung Fu Panda can do is 4-12 vs. the only “real competition” on a crappy, watered-down, ACC Schedule.
We could pay a HC $1.2 to $1.5 mil and get crappy results vs. the only real competition that WE play, to pay $2.3 to 2.5MM for 4-12 vs. the meat of the schedule is a effin’ RIP-OFF.
DRad needs to be fired, and then a real AD, that can come up with some real standards for our HC needs to be hired.
To be satisfied with 4-12 vs. the tough part of our Schedule is WHY GT FB is where it is.
To quote the fat HC; “it it what it is”
WnE
November 28th, 2011
2:23 pm
“it is what it is” should be the quote.
Al Bundy
November 28th, 2011
2:31 pm
WnE don’t forget “we just didn’t execute”.
Gorilla Biscuit
November 28th, 2011
2:44 pm
Has anybody seen Al Groh lately?
Al Bundy
November 28th, 2011
2:48 pm
I saw Al Groh in the checkout line at Barnes & Noble Sunday morning. He was picking up a copy of Defense for Dummies.
hy hyatt
November 28th, 2011
2:53 pm
Had lunch with some frog fans. What a bunch of moronic drunken colledge gradumates.
GT
November 28th, 2011
3:11 pm
Tech will be better next year, they were better this year. Georgia has gotten better too. With Georgia they have matured emotionally, but LSU will bring the real trash talking out of them. LSU can trash talk and still play, I am not sure Georgia can give two things that much concentration and still win. If Georgia can get LSU doing the stupid stuff and the dawgs concentrating Georgia has a great chance to win. I dealt Georgia has seen in two years the talent LSU has on defense, but Georgia has some too. Who knows who will show up in red, but this will be a bigger test than any Georgia team has had in years.
Sting Man
November 28th, 2011
3:18 pm
I hate UGA and all it stands for…
UGA1974
November 28th, 2011
3:21 pm
Beautiful afternoon. Two great universities. Good football game. No need for animosity.
Dunwoody Jacket
November 28th, 2011
3:23 pm
I am a second generation graduate of Georgia Tech. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are fans of both Georgia Tech and Georgia except for that one game. Then my father-in-law pulls for Georgia, and my mother-in-law pulls for Tech. We manage to keep it civil. Honestly, I get tired of all the trash talking in these blogs. I think that Georgia is a great liberal arts university, and to borrow one other post’s description, Tech is the MIT of the South. Both are good schools with good programs, and I would send my daughter to either school without hesitation. I hate it when fans trash-talk to each other in blogs or after games. When I was walking back to the MARTA station after the Clemson game, I hated to see Georgia Tech fans heckling Clemson fans, even though their fans were heckling us until the game got going.
In reality, it will be difficult for Georgia Tech to compete with Georgia the way we did in the Bobby Dodd Era (no I was not alive then, but my dad has told me many a story, including the famous 7-6 upset of Alabama in Atalanta in 1962 I believe). Honestly, and my own peps will boo me for this, I agree with what Schultz or Bradley one said that most Tech fans would be happy if we beat Georgia every 3 years. The SEC is a tougher football conference than the ACC, just like the ACC is a better basketball conference (although we don’t have much to brag about here lately, hopefully Gregory will change that). Because of that, Tech will not ever be able to recruit the athletes that an SEC school can, but that does not mean that we cannot compete with UGA better than we have the last 20 years.
CPJ is the right man for Georgia Tech. I am not 100% sure that Al Groh is the best defensive coordinator we could have found. Our defense is young and will be supposedly better next year. I think Groh deserves another year to prove that, but if it still looks this way next year he may need to go. Another Bulldog fan was telling me today that the biggest problem with Tech’s defense is that they practice against our TO offense, which is fine if we are playing Air Force, Navy, or a run-oriented offense, but is troublesmome against a pass-oriented opponent (Aaron Murray is a good QB). I don’t really know how you work around this.
I wish we could have played better against Georgia, but 8-4 is good compared to how the pundits said we would do.
To the Bulldog Nation, I hope that was not true about people booing during a tribute to Larry Munson. He was a good announcer, a good man, and a famous sportscaster. The way I see it, he and Al Ciraldo called this game from the same pressbox together this year. God bless and keep both of them.
Hopefully, this season ends the discussion about Mark Richts job security. He is a good coach, and a good Christian.
The Georgia – LSU game will be interesting. I think LSU will win, but Georgia is capable of upsetting them. As for Tech, we really need to prove that we can win a bowl game with the TO against an opponent that has more than a week to prepare for us.
WnE
November 28th, 2011
3:23 pm
Tech will not be better next, our DL will be worse than they are this yr.
This will allow other teams to run the ball down our gullets while chewing up clock and keeping our Off. off the field.
CPJ has recruited very poorly and many GT fans don’t want to admit that, our WRs will still be suspect, leading to a poor passing game, and our A-backs are still not enough of a threat in the passing game to keep defenses honest.
Our DBs/LBs never see top-rated TEs or passers in practice, and then on game day we get shocked. CPJ ’s triple-SLOPtion Offense hurts the Defense because our Def. players don’t see in practice what they’ll see on game day.
Coach Kung Fu Panda and gimmicky, crappy, triple-SLOPtion offense, the “gift” that keep on giving.
Not a DA
November 28th, 2011
4:03 pm
Georgia Tech has 4 national championships, UGA has two. GT is #36 ranked school in country, UGA is #62. GT is #4 engineering school in nation. GT grads have a higher average starting salary than UGA grads by over $10,000. All of these are facts. I think I’m just fine losing the UGA game, because in real life, UGA fans are calling GT fans things like “boss” and GT fans are the real winners in life.
James Carville
November 28th, 2011
4:08 pm
Not a DA . . .whatever it takes to make you feel better. Hugs and kisses, wimp.
William Casey
November 28th, 2011
4:49 pm
@WnE: some of your points are valid. You detract from them with the childish “Coach Kung Fu Panda” and “gimmicky, crappy offense” slurs. Time to grow up.
GTFAN#1
November 28th, 2011
4:53 pm
Fire Mark! I love how the UGA fans sure are fair weather fans. After USC they hated him and now they think he is the best thing to happen to UGA. Make your mind up UGA fans
William Casey
November 28th, 2011
5:07 pm
Dear Headley: Georgia Tech is an excellent school with a very narrow mission and curriculum. I attended GT for a year (2.7) GPA and learned that I would never be an excellent engineer. Transferred and went on to a nice career in another field. I don’t know what your academic or career attainments are but I seriously doubt that you are qualified to make judgements about GT’s programs. Think I’ll stick with U.S. News & World Report’s opinion. I apologize, folks, for feeding a troll. It’s just annoying. Congrats to the many fine UGA fans for their team’s well-earned win.
SoCal_GT_Fan
November 28th, 2011
5:07 pm
For all Techies thinking that the school should fire CPJ, you are out of your mind! Johnson has won an average of 8 games a year and has won the ACC championship (albeit, the dog fans will note that it was relinquished due to NCAA sanctions). At GT, that’s pretty good. Do we want to keep winning ACC title year in year out? Sure. Do we want to be in the hunt for a national championship? Sure. But in today’s world of college football, that’s likely not going to happen. See all the teams that make the Top 5 ranking this decade; they all have nicer facilities, bigger budgets, and just bigger and nicer things that Tech just can’t offer. We have decent facilities, a decent stadium, and a decent budget but it’s nothing like some of our ACC counterparts and nothing like what is available at UGA. So you all expect GT football to recruit 5* and 4* players and be in the hunt for a national championship? Then I would say we need to donate to our athletic department to build better and modern facilities and have the resources to bring in a high profile coach who can do all of that and bring in a dream team staff. OR, perhaps bring in an up-and-coming coach who’ll use GT as a stepping block to the next coaching gig (i.e. Mack Brown at UNC in the mid-90’s) but will be bringing in better recruits and will have us winning perhaps 9 to 10 games per year.
The reality is that coach Johnson is perfect for us. Fits our budget, brings in decent recruits (mostly 3-star recruits with 4-star recruits sprinkled in there). He brings an offensive scheme which allows us to recruit guys that might not get looks by other schools and “fall through the cracks.”
By the same token, I think Mark Richt is perfect for UGA. Might get ya to the SEC championship every 4 years but in order to win it, he will have to battle the likes of bama, LSU, and Florida. He won’t be able to do that unless he is able to get an impact player on the team (a.l.a. Auburn with Cam Newton and Nick Fairley) because the likes of Bama, LSU and Florida will likely be able to bring in much better recruits across the board compared to UGA.
Good luck to UGA against LSU and hopefully GT can win their bowl game to go to 9-4.
Steven
November 28th, 2011
6:30 pm
I thought it was really classy that Tech honored Munson on the scoreboard before the game. Nice to see some class in this rivalry. Go Dawgs.
Charleston Jacket
November 28th, 2011
7:11 pm
I absolutely loathe UGA for a number of reasons most notably their fan base, including some of my relatives. UGA will typically be able to recruit better players year in and year out so they do put better players on the field every year. That being said I will never accept losing to them and will always believe we can beat them. They have had a good run, but our day will return like it did in the 80’s and 90’s. Hang in there guys because it will be sweet when it comes. Perhaps next year? Hope springs eternal
Go Tigers – THWG
holloman
November 28th, 2011
8:02 pm
boy them dogs sure can run their mouths…….. how many Championship rings do you guys have?…………..the way you talk trash it sounds like you win the NC every year…….
run your mouth all you want neither team has had a Nat champ ring in a long time
holla
November 28th, 2011
8:10 pm
Wne ……..who have the pups beat this year …….talk about a weak Schedule
i cant wait to hear the Dogs chant SEC SEC after the loss next week
WnE
November 28th, 2011
10:01 pm
8-4 is goo only if you start the season 1-4 or 0-3, 8-4 is a crappy record if you start out 6-0.
GT FB will never rise to the levels that we want it to because too many of our fans love CPJ more than they love GT FB, and what this does is lead to LOW STANDARDS.
If Chan started out 6-0 and finished 8-4 & lost to uga at home we’d run his behind out of town, but when CPJ does it, he’s hailed as some sort of hero.
WnE
November 28th, 2011
10:06 pm
re:
holla
November 28th, 2011
8:10 pm
_____________
According to Sagarin that has done the Computer Rankings for the longest, uga has had the 39th toughest schedule that will go up much higher after they play #1 LSU and in a good Bowl while GT has played the 66th toughest schedule that will probably stay the same since we’ll be playing in another crappy bowl game.
Even in a down yr. for the SEC-East their schedule has still been much more difficult than ours has.
I wonder do GT fans even follow CFB at all?
Had enough
November 29th, 2011
1:22 am
To define a Retard.See Paul Johnson
Stinger
November 29th, 2011
3:01 am
Fire PJ. This experiment is over…PJ is not the guy. Get ready to be terrible for 2 years when he goes..we will have to go get some guys that can pass block and run block..Tech administration..let’s get on with it..please don’t waste another 3 years.
WinderDawg
November 29th, 2011
7:34 am
UGA will always get more overall talent than GT. GT has a good offensive plan, if the QB hits a couple of those pass plays when guys were open it’s a lot closer ball game. GT has issues on the defensive side of the ball. This defense in the SEC wouldn’t hold any team under 25 points. GT will have to score points and alot of points to win games. The right QB with just enough of a arm and that offense is dangerous. I do agree that GT needs to stop using this excuse that GT education is way above UGA. both schools have excellent schools for most kids to choose a career path. UGA just has more to offer in the different degrees than GT.
I’m hoping for the Dawgs to come out and play well Saturday night, stay in the game until the fourth quarter and see what happens. LSU is loaded so this will be a major test.
GO DAWGS!
FootballNut
November 29th, 2011
9:52 am
I’ve been saying this all season. For 2.7 million we can do lots better. Lets get another coach that will lead these boys in a way that they need. CPJ is pompous and an elitist. CPJ will not ever admit he picked or scholarshiped a kid that needs to be replaced by the second stringer, just look at the kickers.
We need a coach that runs a system that is from this century that will bring recurits in dreaming about the NFL (which they all do). Maybe a littler younger and cooler would help too.
Still you don’t get it…. I got to the stadium early I watched as every single UGA player take that warm up time seriously. Most of the GT guys just went through the motions. UGA warmed up 2 long snapper and 2 holders for every second they could. This effort comes from the coaching not the players, CPJ does not even know if he has a second holder and why bother training them.
WT??
November 29th, 2011
7:35 pm
Go Dawgs,
CPJ’s offense does not work against bigger, more talented teams, and to make it worse he tries to force it and makes it work. He is clearly above his head and needs to be fired. This is not Navy or Ga Southern!!! Go back to D2 with that coaching style!!
Joe Roberts
November 29th, 2011
10:20 pm
As a GT fan, I readily admit that the better team won. But expectations to start the season were low and even though this was a disappointing game, I will consider a 9-win season a success and something to build on. I think the triple-option can be a PART of a championship team, but GT obviously has deficiencies that it will need to address. The defense just didn’t do their part this year.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ycn-10532163
ghost rider
December 1st, 2011
8:02 am
For whatever reason there are a couple other seniors on the this TECH team that shows a lot of class and character….that seem to have gotten snubbed by PJ….what about them??????