The meaning of Tech giving up 609 yards
Could Georgia Tech’s 609-yard meltdown have been an aberration? From one perspective (and probably many others), possibly, but most likely not.
In 2011, there were 22 games between BCS conference opponents in which one team gave up yardage within 25 yards either way of the 609 surrendered by the Yellow Jackets to Miami. Some defenses were torched multiple times, 16 teams in all.
Of those 16, 10 finished 81st or worse in total defense at the end of the 2011 season. The rest were Wisconsin (15th), Arkansas (47th), Oklahoma (55th), Missouri (61st), Clemson (71st) and Purdue (73rd). Tech finished 44th last season at 359.3 yards per game. Those six could be well explained by their opponents.
The opposing offenses, with 2011 rank in total offense, were No. 4 Oregon (vs. Wisconsin), No. 7 Texas A&M (Arkansas), No. 5 Baylor (Oklahoma), No. 12 Oklahoma (Missouri), No. 15 West Virginia (Clemson) and No. 14 Wisconsin (Purdue). It’s a lot of Big 12 offenses and defenses, though in some ways that makes Miami’s 609 number even more concerning. The Hurricanes hadn’t cracked 600 yards since 2000, and that was against McNeese State.
To provide a more apples-to-apples comparison, 10 ACC teams gave up 500 or more yards against in a league game last year – Boston College, Duke (twice), Maryland (four times) and Wake Forest (twice). They finished 70th, 92nd, 108th and 74th, respectively – all worse than Tech.
The point being, if a team gives up 500 yards or more, chances are pretty good that it’s not a fluke. A defense does not give up 609 yards (or 584 in regulation) by accident.
Further, there were few, if any, cheapies that Miami got against the Jackets. Besides the 65-yard pass play from Stephen Morris to Phillip Dorsett at the game’s outset, Miami’s longest play was 32 yards. And the 65-yarder was the product of excellent pass protection and an apparent mistake in the secondary, and not, for instance, a player tripping or running into an official.
(Speaking of which, in his Sunday teleconference, Miami coach Al Golden said that the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that was called against Miami after an incomplete pass to Jeff Greene on Tech’s first scoring drive was “a sideline infraction.” Golden said that a side judge ran into someone on the Hurricanes sideline. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. I digress.)
The tenth team to give up 500-plus yards last year in an ACC game may come as a surprise. Virginia Tech surrendered 519 yards to … Miami. The Hokies finished 10th in the country in total defense despite getting trampled by the Hurricanes in Blacksburg, Va., in a 38-35 Virginia Tech win last October. Two weeks later, Miami gained 262 yards against the Jackets. If you’re looking for a glimmer of hope (if the blog comments are any barometer, I think many of you are looking for something a little pointier than a glimmer), there you have it. That said, Virginia Tech has a wee bit more of a track record than the Jackets do.
Where does that leave Tech? Unless this game does turn out to be the crazy outlier, improving pass rush is the start of a long list. The protection afforded Morris gave Miami’s wide receivers considerable time to work free of pass coverage.
“Part of it was good design, certainly, with (offensive coordinator) Jedd (Fisch) and the offensive coaches,” Golden said Sunday, explaining how Dorsett repeatedly ran free in the secondary. “Part of it was the protection that we were getting up front. Throwing 52 passes and not having a sack is excellent by any measure.”
Thanks for reading.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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186 comments Add your comment
Silly Mutts
September 24th, 2012
3:17 pm
A New ACC- I recall Golden having one hell of a punt return! That has to be a first!
jj
September 24th, 2012
3:19 pm
No excuse for this sorry play..91 yards in two mins and everyone knowing they would throw to Johnson. What the hell was the defense doing?
Old Blind Dawg
September 24th, 2012
3:20 pm
Obvious UGA fan here so my comments may be taken wrong but here goes………..
Tech fans need to put the academic crutch down. Stanford is every bit as tough as GT and I am confident they would beat GT on any given Saturday. Vandy and Duke are equally tough schools but they attract some pretty good “student athletes”.
Tech fans need to stop with the – “we ran up and down the field” and “nobody can stop our offense” the bottom line is you are losing some winnable games.
Al Groh is a pretty damn good defensive coach – his major fault – insisting on staying with the 3 – 4 when he doesn’t have the personnel to run it. Speed, size and athleticism are paramount if you want to have success in the 3 – 4 and GT doesn’t have much along those lines.
CPJ is a pretty damn good offensive coordinator (notice I didn’t say HC) and his offense maximizes the limited talent he is able to recruit and sign. The problem – can he attract big time talent and continue using the T.O?
The fans need to express their dissatisfaction to the AD and hope he and CPJ can figure out why GT can’t get more good players. Is it the system – the limited curriculum (doubtful) – the coaching staff – lack of effort on the recruiting trail – whatever it is things will not get better without finding answers.
When you look around the ACC and see the talent being stockpiled at VT, Clemson, FSU, N.C. and Miami it should cause you concern.
Bottom line GT needs better players and they need to be more than two deep with talented players. Until then you will just another mid-pack ACC team.
GIVE ME A BREAK
September 24th, 2012
3:22 pm
Proud of these young men playing. My wife and I will be there for MTSU Saturday cheering the Jackets on.
Aberration...or Sign of Things to Come?
September 24th, 2012
3:24 pm
[...] to Come? Well, if history is a good indicator of the future, our defense is in trouble: The meaning of Tech giving up 609 yards | Georgia Tech Reply With Quote [...]
Tony
September 24th, 2012
3:24 pm
Tech always has a bone-headed penalty at the worst possible time. The penalty on Jabari-Hunt-Days was huge late in the game. That’s not why we lost, but remember what happened last year when Attachou hit Thomas in the head when we were up, only to lose the game. Tech’s 3-4 Defense is not getting it done! We don’t have the personnel to play that defense. Average Q-backs look like Montana when they get five seconds or more to pass. Miami threw 52 times without a sack should tell us something. Good luck Tech!
GTBob
September 24th, 2012
3:28 pm
Stanford is every bit as tough as GT and I am confident they would beat GT on any given Saturday.
I always love the Stanford argument. Stanford is still riding the Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh wave. It won’t last. Check their record before Luck became QB. They had 7 losing seasons in a row, including a 1 win season and a 2 win season. If anything they are a good example of how much one really great player can temporarily elevate a program.
JasperJacket
September 24th, 2012
3:28 pm
There is going to have to be a re-alignment in the D coaching staff and recruiting efforts, if Johnson wants to keep his job no doubt about it. McCollum is not the answer as either D Line coach or recruiting co-ordinator and after 5 years of Kelly being on CPJ’s staff the d backs are not progressing agains any significant level of competition. Enough is enough with the out of position, cannot tackle D backs, and absolutely no pass rush against any kind of decent OL from any school. There is not a single kid out there that does not want badly to compete at a much higher level, they deserve a better chance to win than this coaching staff is giving them.
Doug the Jacket
September 24th, 2012
3:30 pm
Our defense obviously does not work. After starting the 2011 season 6-0, GT has been on a slide. Over the last 11 games, the equivalent of an entire season, GT’s record is 4-7, as follows
2011
VA – L
MIAMI – L
CLEMSON – W
VT – L
DUKE – W
UGA – L
UTAH -L
VT – L
PRES – W
VA – W
MIA – L
That’s not a top tier ACC program. It’s bottom feeding, beating Clemson, Duke, Presbyterian and VA in a stretch of 11 games. After watching VA on TV @ TCU – I was amazed to see, again, that they cannot tackle and that is why we beat them so soundly last week. That leaves GT with one quality win in 11 games – Clemson last year and after I saw the way they played FSU Saturday night you can forget the game @ Clemson. It is not going to be pretty.
Other teams are scoring lots of points easily on GT. 2011: VA 24, Miami 24, Clemson 17 (aberration), VT 37, Duke 31 (we only won by 7), UGA 31, Utah 30, 2012: VT 20, Presbyterian 3 (doesn’t count) VA 20, Miami 42. This signals a real problem with out defense. Pull out Presbyterian and the average number of points scored on GT per game, over 10 games is 27.6 per games. That’s too many points on average to give up. Someone this season is going to hang a big one one us, I believe – something that will remind us of the Bill Curry era – say 50 points.
I don’t think Groh can do it, given his record. It’s not the personnel, it’s the defense and inability of the personnel we have to fit into the defense. GT, even it lean years, has been able to play pretty good defense. Certainly, better than this. Something really needs to be done now to plug the hole. If I was CPJ, I’d be looking for a new coordinator right now. Hire him as a consultant and get him on the team now. Otherwise, this could be a very bad, even more disappointing year than it is so far.
ramblingbuzz
September 24th, 2012
3:33 pm
Is Vad Lee the answer? Could be worth a shot to generate some excietment & enthusiasm. Will CPJ give Lee more playing time? Doubtful. CPJ wants a game manager who understands his system and will minimize mistakes & turnovers. That is Tevin. Rember CPJ’s comment a few weeks ago? “The most popular player on every team is the back-up QB”. That should tell everyone advocating Lee at QB what CPJ’s intentions are.
Next question: Will this team leave it all on the field for CPJ and CAG? Based on what I have seen lately, I’d say no. Just as the fans are losing confidence in CPJ and his system, I’d say so are the players. Maybe even more so on the defensive side of the ball with CAG.
dawgfan
September 24th, 2012
3:33 pm
For those keeping score at home, Paul Johnson is now 3-15 vs. the Big 4 (UGA, VT, Miami and the bowl game). Keep your heads up Techies. Maybe one of these decades he’ll figure it out. He is, after all, “the smartest guy in the room.”
And the beat goes on….
mulk
September 24th, 2012
3:36 pm
Enter your comments here
collegeballfan
September 24th, 2012
3:37 pm
“Somebody needs to recruit some defensive players.”
328 – 266 – 10 That is the Georgia Tech “won-loss-tie” record since 1960 – 52 years. That is 62 games over .500 over a 52 year period. Average.
Georgia Tech is recruiting just as it has for the past 52 years. It is getting the same quality of players it has had for the past 50 years. Georgia Tech is not a Top 20 program. Georgia Tech is a Top 30 to Top 40 Program.
You are who you are.
HBTD
September 24th, 2012
3:37 pm
It’s those darn honeycombs!
Long Beach Jacket
September 24th, 2012
3:37 pm
I made the trip it from CA to see the game. My first time in the stadium since 2008.
I’m a solid supporter of our team and our players and always look for the positive.
That said – I give the team a C- for Saturday’s performance and the coaching staff an F.
I’ve seen plenty of games in 40+ yrs of following Tech.
You could tell we were in trouble even up 36-19 when we had ABSOLUTELY NO solution
on defense. ZERO pass rush.
I have to tip my cap to the Canes. They looked better prepared, and more motivated (sorry I have to say that but that’s what I saw). The Canes were rallying and jumping up and down the entire 4th Qtr as they rallied and our guys on our sideline looked a bit disinterested. How can you work that hard to get ready to play a college football game and not have some FIRE!
This season is now in the balance. I’ve always felt confident in CPJ but I now have to at least pull back and begin to re-evaluate. Hopefully, we’ll get it fixed and go on a nice run. I want them all to do well.
We also looked sluggish early…but after rallying to go up by 17 in the 3rd Qtr there is NO WAY Tech should lose that game. But they did. The better team won on Saturday and on Saturday the better team was definitely Miami. They earned it.
Even still.. GO JACKETS!
GTBob
September 24th, 2012
3:44 pm
For those keeping score at home, Paul Johnson is now 3-15 vs. the Big 4 (UGA, VT, Miami and the bowl game).
We know headley. You tell us often. I still wonder why Clemson is never good enough to get mentioned.
Teddy Roosevelt
September 24th, 2012
3:51 pm
At this point it is Vad Lee time because we need to start playing for next year. The initial goals for this season have changed, since the ACC title is out of reach. Play Lee, and any other young guys who might see considerable playing time next year, so we can work out any kinks. New goal for this year should be reevaluated to be making it to, and winning, a bowl game, and winning a game up in Athens(a boy can dream.)
HBTD
September 24th, 2012
3:54 pm
Anybody heard the over / under for this weekend’s game against mts??
George Stein
September 24th, 2012
3:56 pm
I don’t totally disagree, Teddy. Plus, the schedule gets tougher next year as FSU comes on. Unfortunately, you can make a compelling case to play for next year and it’s still September.
Eddie Lee
September 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
Previous poster said “GT should concentrate on academics and dump athletics. They don’t really care.” Respectfully, I could not agree less….we have a new basketball center, new tennis center in the works, new indoor football practice facility, top teams in golf, baseball, softball, etc…..GT cares and DRad cares. The fans care too, although some of their posts today are (IMO) have too much misplaced anger. This was a painful loss no doubt. Long list of things to work on and some changes need to be made. Playing Vad Lee would be a good start. Also, no defensive back can defend for 8-9 seconds…we need some defensive pressure. Plenty more…
RambleOn84
September 24th, 2012
4:09 pm
The academic argument is a valid one. Yes, Stanford is a good school as well. Big difference between it and GT is that at Tech every student has to take Calculus II.
And THAT is a MAJOR difference, whether you choose to see it or not. Kids HATE math, because it is very difficult.
At Stanford, kids can hide in a joke of a major (AAS, some other liberal arts crap). Same for all the other top schools in 1A. Heck, UNC makes up classes that players don’t even have to take.
The academics aren’t the ONLY reason we’re losing these games; Johnson has to take credit for the losses as well as the wins.
BUT, the academics is a BIG reason we can’t bring in top talent. Our defensive starting 11 has talent…it’s the depth that separates us from the state schools.
Rob
September 24th, 2012
4:10 pm
The scary part is the hurricanes are mostly made up of freshman and sophomores. They only had 4 seniors playing last game and there best linebacker was out of the game and they still found a way to win that game. Watch out for the canes in a few years cause as those kids develop there gonna be scary good. There recruiting class had 33 players in it. And it was a top ten class.
Pitbull
September 24th, 2012
4:14 pm
Thanks for the post, Doug the Jacket.
Lets face it though. If Tech is 4-7 in its last 11 games and 3 of those 4 wins are against Duke, Presbyterian,and Virginia then Tech really has won only 1 game in the past 11 games. The other 3 do not even qualify as competition.
The Tech program is going down hill and if I were a Tech fan I would be rethinking if Tech should have fired Chan Gailey. Paul Johnson has gone down hill since Chan’s players left.
I do not see what Tech fans see in Johnson. He cannot recruit, his offense does not work unless Tech is playing obvious inferior opposition like Duke or Presbyternian (or Virginia this year), and he is hateful towards his own players.
As a UGA fan I hope he stays at Tech for decades.
Always a Jacket
September 24th, 2012
4:15 pm
Miami is average team with better athletes. Anyone at the game saw Miami defenders beat the blocks. Miami’s OL handled the GT pass rush with ease. GT has a system that gives it a better than even chance of beating teams with similar athletes. But, CPJ’s athletes cannot compete consistantly with LSU, Iowa, UGA, Miami, FSU, and VT. Never will under CPJ. Now that Dabo hired some real coordinators, we can add Clemson to the list.
It appeared that the GT players gave it 100%. So, unfair to blame them.
I will always support GT, but not CPJ. He is paid way too much for the results in last few years.
HBTD
September 24th, 2012
4:16 pm
RambleOn84
September 24th, 2012
4:09 pm
“Kids HATE math, because it is very difficult.”
Hahahahaha! I just fell out of my chair. I’m guessing you did not attend the trade school?
GT Fan
September 24th, 2012
4:19 pm
Old Blind Dawg
September 24th, 2012
3:20 pm
Tech fans need to put the academic crutch down. Stanford is every bit as tough as GT and I am confident they would beat GT on any given Saturday. Vandy and Duke are equally tough schools but they attract some pretty good “student athletes”.
————————————–
OBD,
GT is 2-0 vs Stanford the past 2 games they played (both bowl wins). In fact, one W was over an impressive Stanford team that was 9-2 in (2nd, I think, in Pac 10) in the Emerald Bowl in …. San Francisco!
Hasn’t GT beaten Vandy under PJ, and isn’t Duke 0-4 vs. GT under PJ?
Not a crutch, just a FACT:
b/c of academic restrictions (i.e. less schools of study/majors) GT will NEVER be able to recruit/sign the depth of talent like UGA, Bama, AU, Clem, SC, UF, FSU, or UT on a year-in and year-out basis. It just can’t happen. Yeah, there will be the occassional 2007 recruiting class, but those will come, what, every 10-15 years or so?
HBTD
September 24th, 2012
4:19 pm
Pitbull
September 24th, 2012
4:14 pm
As a UGA fan I hope he stays at Tech for decades
I’m with you on that Pitbull.
RambleOn84
September 24th, 2012
4:20 pm
Pitbull,
Johnson is hateful towards his own players? Totally disagree. He gets on to them when they mess up. He should. Do you have children, or teach, or coach? When they mess up, do you say “Aw shucks, it’s okay…” I certainly hope not. Football being the physical, emotional sport that it is, when he corrects his players, it is intense.
As for the recruiting, he is doing just fine when compared to other coaches recently at Tech. Until Tech decides to add joke majors, I don’t think you’ll see this improve much if at all.
Honestly, if you were a guy whose only aspiration is to play in the NFL, would you rather major in business management and have to take a math-heavy courseload, or would you rather major in hotel management?
RambleOn84
September 24th, 2012
4:21 pm
HBTD,
???????
TheUnknownTechFan (Formerly-Old SchoolTechFanatic)
September 24th, 2012
4:22 pm
That was bush league Deffense. If you got to rush 6 people to have a pass rush well then rush 6 people. I’ve lived through the June Jones prevent D’s the falcons had, and this past Saturday was a prime example of that. Not only that even the anouncers said GT was slowing down it’s offense with about 7 minutes left in the game. How much longer are we gonna have to put up with bush leauge coachin.CPJ is getting out coached in just about every game that a team has major college talent. Then we go play a team without much talent and whip up on them and hear how good a job CPJ is doing. You need to beat some top 25 teams more often there coach !!!
Ted
September 24th, 2012
4:24 pm
I think a couple of things are the reason Miami came back in this game. First, Miami’s offensive line handled all of GT’s attempts to get to the quarterback but the main reason is Al Golden was amazed at Miami’s lack of conditioning last year and made that a priority to get the players in better shape. Tech’s 1 – 22 players are better than Miami’s but Tech ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. Are the Canes back, not yet but now the players believe in the system.
Mark
September 24th, 2012
4:25 pm
Ramble is dead on in his assessment. Create a management program in athletics managemnet and drop the calculus and the physics requirement. This would enable CPJ and CAG to recruit some talent. It only takes one or two solid future NFL type players to turn a team into a champion. Look at Auburn minus Cam Newton for example. We need a solid defensive player or two. I don’t think UGA beats Missouri without Jarvis Jones. The coaching staff is solid, just need a quality player or two. BTW I would love to get Giff Smith back at Tech.
Always a Jacket
September 24th, 2012
4:30 pm
All anyone needs to know about the state of GT football is to go to the GT bookstore and see that the jersey numbers for sale are 13 & 17.
Next year maybe the punter’s number will be available. (No offense intended toward kickers)
old dog
September 24th, 2012
4:35 pm
I’ve tried to be supportive of y’all, and we have our problems, too. But whether it is attributed to athletes (or lack thereof,) coaching, 3-4, or whatever y’all’s defense just is not very good. It is not about how long they are on the field, blah blah blah. They just ain’t that good. I hate to say it, because I do pull for y’all except against us. I know about acedemics, etc. But you could bring in a few better defensive players……..
WnE
September 24th, 2012
4:37 pm
re:
Mark
September 24th, 2012
4:25 pm
Ramble is dead on in his assessment. Create a management program in athletics managemnet and drop the calculus and the physics requirement. This would enable CPJ and CAG to recruit some talent. It only takes one or two solid future NFL type players to turn a team into a champion. Look at Auburn minus Cam Newton for example. We need a solid defensive player or two. I don’t think UGA beats Missouri without Jarvis Jones. The coaching staff is solid, just need a quality player or two. BTW I would love to get Giff Smith back at Tech.
__________
More Lies & Propaganda to prop up CPJ.
Here’s the TRUTH:
most of our players major in BUSINESS ADIMN, the Math requirements are:
SURVEY of Calculus, this course is NOT accepted for Credit for Engr. or Sci majors at GT.
Finite Math, this course is NOT accepted for Credit for Engr. or Sci majors at GT.
The Science requirement that most of the Business Admin majors that also play FB take is EARTH & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE , not Physics.
The Urban Myths about impossible academics at GT are just that Urban Myths.
The academics card that GT fans play is lame and overused.
blackandwhitestripes
September 24th, 2012
4:38 pm
Mutts lose one game and its fire MR. Give me a break.
Rooty Tooty
September 24th, 2012
4:39 pm
We either learn from the loss and get better or it’s going to be a long long long season. It’s really hard to watch this team play, They take u to the mountain top and then they throw u under the bus…
Chris
September 24th, 2012
4:40 pm
Ken, actually the statistic is much worse. When you consider that GT eats alot of clock with the running game and rarely stopping the clock with passing it blows the mind. I bet this may be an NCAA record for yards per play if you did the research. Also, this was not the result of a 70-0 game. GT had the ball alot.
Dawgfan
September 24th, 2012
4:44 pm
Tech’s problem can be resolved by showing CPJ the door. He is not able to recruit the players he needs to run this offense at GT. Top quality talent wants to go to school to improve their draft status and play in the big bowl games…Neither of these will happen will happen with the current staff.
GT Joe
September 24th, 2012
4:45 pm
Why does no one mention the fact that our OFFENSE only got 4 1st downs in the last 25 minutes of the game? Talk about putting the defense in a bad spot. By OT, the defense was dead because Tevin can get a 1st down.
Name the new DC
September 24th, 2012
4:51 pm
Its only fair if you are going to keep posting that Groh must go, do this with a name for a logical replacement. Who do you give the job to and why?? Do you really think Tech can land a high profile DC?? This isn’t Bama, USC(west), or Florida… Its Georgia Tech!!
HBTD
September 24th, 2012
4:54 pm
Sounds like the honeymoon is over with PJ and some of you techsters. Y’all need to hang on to that old boy for at least another 20 years.
dawgfan
September 24th, 2012
4:56 pm
“I still wonder why Clemson is never good enough to get mentioned.”
Because they gave up 70 points in a bowl game Bob. Take Advil for headaches.
Ken Sugiura
September 24th, 2012
5:23 pm
fuzzybee78 – i didn’t get a post-game update on injuries. i will have something after practice. 8:30-ish.
billybuzz
September 24th, 2012
5:25 pm
All the talk about CPJ hurting us is just crap. Tevin should have had the touchdown in OT. The OL (no 69, I think) did not block a soul. Miami’s #44 went right by him for the stop. One block and we continue to play. It was all day long on offense. The OL is not doing the job.
Item 2 – Missed tackles. We must have missed 30 plus in this game. Miami running backs are world class.
Our team is not fundamentally sound. That fact is obvious to me.
Old Blind Dawg
September 24th, 2012
5:27 pm
Ah GT Fan – GT played Stanford in what 2001 and 1991 – come on man – that was before Stanford became relevant and CPJ was still at GSU. Do you actually think GT could stay on the field with the current Stanford team?
With your “math” and other limitations perhaps GT should just pack it in and join Georgia Sate in the Sun Belt Conference – you will never win the ACC again – NEVER. Oh yeah I’m giving you the one you won that was later vacated – pitiful. You guys keep on making excuses and tallying your yards on the ground.
Guess I wasted bandwidth trying to point out what I see as problems – never mind – enjoy your season.
TheUnknownTechFan (Formerly-Old SchoolTechFanatic)
September 24th, 2012
5:31 pm
billybuzz im sorry there old boy but if we are missing tackles and not fundamenatally sound, is that not the coaches fault. We have an arrogant coach. He finally gave in and got a special team coach.
And what a special team coach he is
September 24th, 2012
5:34 pm
A freaking safety on a kickoff return. I have watched 1,000’s of football games and never ever seen a freaking safety LMAO GO Techsters
IM Major
September 24th, 2012
5:37 pm
Old Blind Dog,
I am a Tech Grad and I totally agree with you. Most of the Tech fans are in denial.
Atlanta Mafia
September 24th, 2012
5:41 pm
Dear Georgia Tech – please take Coach Bill Curry back to your program and get him out of the Georgia Dome. He is KILLING our start-up program at GSU. Sincerely, Your loving neighbor downtown.
P.S. Did I mention that you can have Bill Curry back? What a LOSER he was and is!