With BYU next, no-huddle issues loom for Tech
The scoreboard granted Georgia Tech a 20-point win Saturday and an end to its three-game losing streak. But for their own mistakes, the Yellow Jackets could well have won by at least 10 more.
As it prepares for BYU this coming Saturday after a 37-17 win over Boston College, Tech has to also wrestle with the reality that, save for the Eagles’ mistakes, the margin could well have been tighter, too.
“We did some good things,” coach Paul Johnson said of his defense. “We’ll take it and build on it.”
There was indeed much to build on, particularly better tackling. Still, the Jackets owe the Eagles some amount of gratitude for highlighting areas that still need attention.
Tech continued to have trouble with the no-huddle offense, a problem that hardly makes the Jackets unique. Regardless, the Eagles experienced their most ease of advancement when they went to no-huddle for much of their two touchdown drives in the second half. On the two possessions, quarterback Chase Rettig drove Boston College 138 yards in just 13 plays. The yardage made up 46 percent of the Eagles’ entire game output. On the two drives, Rettig completed seven of 10 passes for 127 yards and touchdowns of 40 and 12 yards. One of his incompletions was a dropped pass in the end zone.
Part of the problem was that the pass rush had trouble disrupting Rettig. In the game, he was sacked twice in 31 attempts, but one of those stops came on Boston College’s final possession of the game with the game’s fate sealed. The Jackets used blitz pressure, and at least once tried dropping nose tackle T.J. Barnes into pass coverage in a “fire zone” scheme. But, particularly on those two scoring drives, Rettig had comfortable space and time in the pocket.
“We played some more basic coverages and defensively, I thought that everyone was more on the same page,” Johnson said. “We still need to work on it, and we have got to get better pressure on the quarterback, especially.”
Boston College’s success on the two drives created cause for concern when Tech punted away on its first possession of the fourth quarter with the score 31-17. The punt was wiped out by a needless roughing-the-kicker penalty, a play Boston College coach Frank Spaziani called “inexcusable.” Rather than Boston College getting the ball back on its own 40-yard line with 9:38 to play, the flag gave the ball back to Tech. With new life, Tech drove for a game-sealing touchdown.
Given Tech’s fourth-quarter struggles this season – it’s the only quarter in which the Jackets have been outscored this season – what might have happened had the penalty not occurred is not a question Tech fans likely don’t want to ponder too deeply. Tech safety Jemea Thomas did intercept Rettig out of the no-huddle after the Jackets went up 37-17, but the game was in hand by that point, also.
Whatever the solution, Tech will need to figure out some answers to combat no-huddle offenses. Miami, Middle Tennessee State and Clemson all used it with success against the Jackets. With the compressed time between snaps, Tech players sometimes got the play calls just as the snap was being made, a factor in defensive coordinator Al Groh’s dismissal. That didn’t seem to be an issue Saturday.
However, they are certain to see more of it. All five of Tech’s remaining opponents – BYU, Maryland, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia – use it to some degree or another.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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81 comments Add your comment
BigTimeTECHFans
October 22nd, 2012
1:54 pm
“The Vad Lee boosters are showing their lack of football knowledge. Sure- he ran some pretty decent plays, but he has yet to show good understanding of the TO offense and reads. Like it or not, (and I like it!) that is our offense. If you can’t make the reads, you won’t be effective. ”
That’s TW’s problem, he kills to many drives, at less if VL make wrong read he can still make a play on his own.
GT Joe
October 22nd, 2012
1:59 pm
A-mazed: welcome to the blogs, are you new here? Or were you “take the wheel” and decided to change your handle because Vad’s performance basically debunked everything you ever said?
GTBluto
October 22nd, 2012
2:04 pm
Look, you saw the good things Vad can do against a pretty weak defense with little pressure. You also saw the bad on the last to series, including a fumble and a fall down. CPJ sees him every day. Why would he not play Vad if he is the best guy to win with. Or don’t you trust the coach?
GT Joe
October 22nd, 2012
2:37 pm
GTBluto: never seen you around, welcome to the blogs!
Vad played the same type of defense that TW played ALL SEASON LONG. Our strength of schedule is #99 out of 124. And we are 3-4.
Also, did YOU trust the coach when he kept Al Groh about 2 years too long? LOL.
GT Fan
October 22nd, 2012
3:02 pm
37 pts was the most GT has scored in the past 4 games (31, 28, 36). But it still wasn’t enough to beat Clemson (47), MTSU (49) or Miami (42).
Nice job, defense! I think BC’s 5 punts were more than Clemson, MTSU, and Miami had, combined?
GT71
October 22nd, 2012
3:56 pm
One of these days – and SOON – we are going to NEED a FG to win or tie a game. If CPJ can get out of his own way and recruit a KICKER from the thousands of HS soccer players in GA, he’d be doing himself, Tech and the fans a big favor.
The kicking game still sucks and it’s been that way since…well, when did PJ take over?
Regarding 3 more wins – hard to see it now, but we need a big surprise outing from BOTH the offense and defense plus playing the 4th qtr. like we play the 1st.
GT Joe
October 22nd, 2012
4:22 pm
GT71: we have an ABSOLUTE STUD kicker coming in next year from Westminster. Harrison Butker. National Kicker of the year as a junior. no. 1 ranked kicker for class of 2013. 1st team all american kicker. We may never get a kicker this good again.
http://247sports.com/Player/Harrison-Butker-17582
GT Joe
October 22nd, 2012
4:22 pm
Ask, and you shall receive.
Veteran Fan
October 22nd, 2012
5:04 pm
Very pleased with the game Saturday! Defensive coordinators in the ACC and in Athens will be staying up late trying to figure out how to stop this two-headed monster of an offense with Washington and Lee! I believe everyone would agree that if we can run and throw like Saturday, we are good for 40 points a game minimum on any college defense, with the exception of that professional franchise in Tuscaloosa! If we can avoid injuries, we should run the table and finish 8-4 which would be good for such a young team! Before the season started, we all said next year would be the year that our team would mature into something special and I believe we are right on track! Go Jackets!
Old Dog
October 22nd, 2012
5:16 pm
To Hell with Tek, today,tomorrow and every other day!
Old with a Stinger
October 22nd, 2012
5:42 pm
Go back to sleep Old Dog; you’ve done enough licking today. My solution for CPJ is check with Wade Phillips and see if we can afford one of his assistants. If we can’t penetrate the OL or shed the blocks, we need to go vertical and block some passes. The Houston Texans are very effective with this. The pros do this all the time; it’s called adjusting to changing realities.
Clyde
October 22nd, 2012
6:19 pm
The offense is evolving as well as the defense. We saw Zenon and Autry being utilized along with Lee. I don’t know what Kelly’s DC background is but I’m sure he has a different mindset than Al Groh. I view Boston College as a live scrimmage with a team that showed looks similar to the mainstream teams and I think it was a success, with a lot that will be gained from it.
Yep, GT Fan...
October 22nd, 2012
7:42 pm
…Vad and all his “potential” is worth about as much as Jasper Sanks and all of his “potential”…
4Jacks
October 22nd, 2012
9:11 pm
Lee should be the starter if for the only reason to look to the future and look at it in a positive way. The only thing that could salvage and save this season is to beat uga, and folks that ain’t happening. We have alot coming back next year and it is time to get Vad ready. TW is a great kid and does his best but CPJ needs to win what we can, but get Vad ready for maybe a great 2013 with a good home schedule and come back strong. Go JACKETS!!!!!
SteveC
October 22nd, 2012
9:11 pm
GT Fan & A-Mazed…. Nope, not a youngster or overly optimistic about this team. Class of ‘70. Have seen mood swings before on teams, but this group may top most GT ones I’ve watched in terms of inconsistency and lackluster play. BYU played Notre Dame to the wire and has played a really tough schedule. We play an improving Maryland team at their placee, and both UNC and Duke are really playing well – both have strong passing attacks, which always spells Trouble for Tech’s secondary and pass “rush”. Sorry. If I were you, I’d plan on wacthing other teams in bowl games this year, but not GT. After the UGA game, if I’m wrong, I’ll come back and say I was wrong….if I am.
GT Fan
October 22nd, 2012
10:08 pm
Yep, GT Fan…
Something tells me Vad Lee isn’t anything CLOSE to F’up loser that Sanks was/is.
Are you really that stupid, or were you just trying to humor yourself?
GT Fan
October 22nd, 2012
10:16 pm
SteveC ….
Let me spell it out for you ….
Did you, or anyone else on the planet who know anything about football think, before this past Saturday, that Florida would beat South Carolina as bad as they did? Didn’t think so.
But 44-11 later is…why they play the games!
Same goes for K-State playing AT West Virginia. West Virginia, favored by 3 LOST, at home, by 41 points! B/c that’s…why they play the games.
yellow britches
October 22nd, 2012
10:38 pm
Let’s see; the defense is porous and we can’t get defensive schemes in on time. The kicking game is back to square one and we don’t know who will handled field goals if anyone. Special teams are inconsistent and vulnerable and we are toying with getting Vad Lee more touches. What in the heck did this coaching staff do during spring practice and leading up to the first game? Is this a “pick up”, street ball approach to college football? What were they looking at?
tired from all the frustrations of being a yellow jacket
October 23rd, 2012
7:17 am
Good comments about the game. Tech could win them all or lose them all. It depends on thebreaks and whether the team gives it 100%. On another vein, if I were the coach of any type competition-NO PLAYER WOULD EVER WEAR NUMBER ONE On HIS JERSEY_EVER!!!
HardHat
October 23rd, 2012
7:41 am
Both sides of the ball and special teams need to show up and play at a high level otherwise the TV crews will be using the Varisty filler film early and often.
dry dirt road
October 23rd, 2012
9:00 am
I really dug the swing pass BC used to one of their backs that gained yards. It was like a screen pass. Tech needs to try that one. I did not dig the missed opportunity of passing to a wide open Waller by the Tech back who tried to pass it on a fake run play. On tv they replayed the play and showed a wide open Waller running post. I wonder if the Tech back doesn’t like Waller that much and likes the other receiver more, even if the other receiver had a defender right by him, as opposed to Waller with no defender anywhere near him. I’m sure Tech will look at the game replay and see that Waller was wide open.
dry dirt road
October 23rd, 2012
9:07 am
An issue Tech will have against BYU is playing a caucasiasn founded religion Mormon team with probably some weird Samoan named big giant strong guys on the line who have nothing to do with caucasians and are at BYU solely to play football at Lavell Edwards Stadium and date all the caucasian coeds in hopes of finding a wife. It’s gonna be pretty rough playing BYU because they are a football school.
Brock
October 23rd, 2012
9:16 am
BYU lost their star senior center and leader for 2-4 weeks along with already losing 2 other offensive lineman. Defense needs to get some pressure on the QB this week for that reason alone. BYU is moving a defensive guy to offense to give them more depth along with a receiver as a backup QB simulating the option. This is all good news for Tech. Hope we don’t blow it.
Ben
October 23rd, 2012
11:43 am
Hey guys coming up from florida to the BYU game. Need some suggestions for a spot to tailgate. Visitor or GT section doesnt matter to me. The way I see it we are all college football fans so you guys are all good in my book. Any help would be appreciated. Pay for parking okay just not to pricey. Let me know. Thanks!!!!
MGT
October 23rd, 2012
12:50 pm
While giving Vad Lee playing time is important, an injury could be devastating for VL of course, but also next season.
Two sides to every coin.
Tech looked better, but hardly a quality product. This will not fill seats at BD stadium, too many alternatives for the entertainment $. The students don’t even fill their sections, and they get in free!
Think about it D-Rad, after this many years, this is the product? That indoor practice facility really helped.
First you build a quality team, fill the seats, then build the buildings. But this is a Bureaucracy so it is of course done backwards, with no success, (i.e. quality team with quality coaches) or accountability, regret, remorse for the AD violating NCAA instructions – yes you D-rad. Thanks for less scholarships and ACC championship vacated. Really supports the team which violated no rule.
We should change our mascot to a Golden Parachute (for sub par AD and coaching). Enjoy the worry free retirement on us!
Just stay arrogant, it is working for you. Not working for Tech.
GT Joe
October 23rd, 2012
1:29 pm
MGT: injury risk? Seriously? Even a worst case scenario ACL tear, VL would still be ready for Game 1 of 2013.
If we’re worried about injuries, no one should play. Let’s just end the football program.
Born2Buzz
October 23rd, 2012
3:41 pm
MGT, when the donations come in to build the facilities, you build them. The Brocks gave a large donation for the indoor facility, just like the McCamishs did for the Thrillerdome. Are you going to tell them “thanks for the offer of the money, but we will keep playing in our crappy facility until we get a good product”. Get real.
And you never hold someone out for fear of an injury. Get real again.
MGT
October 23rd, 2012
8:22 pm
So none of the funds could have been used to hire decent DC.
OK No worries, everything is dandy and the product is fine.
I stand corrected.
MGT
October 23rd, 2012
8:30 pm
You must be high up in the AD to know the details of the conversations re: donations. I see it went “Do not use any of this to hire a good DC”.
And of course the pay off is obvious.
Who will back Vad up if he is injured worse than injuries named. I know it’s smash mouth football, very much so in pj’s O, my point is to one more of depth at qb, or center, or kicker, or …… if Vad doesn’t know the O yet, his backup does?
See the empty seats?
MGT
October 23rd, 2012
10:02 pm
@ GT Joe Or build a program with depth?
Tech trying to keep focus, edge | Georgia Tech
October 26th, 2012
3:45 pm
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