UPDATE: Tech handles Maryland, 33-13
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – In search of a full, four-quarter effort, Georgia Tech left Byrd Stadium Saturday still looking for it. But the Yellow Jackets did regain their offensive footing and located the right opponent for confidence-building purposes.
In what may go down in the annals as “The game when Tech played against the quarterback who was a linebacker,” the Yellow Jackets pushed aside Maryland 33-13 in their attempt to reclaim the season and finish on an upward trajectory.
“I know they’re on, like, their fifth quarterback,” said A-back Orwin Smith, his tone void of sympathy. “It has to be tough. We’re moving on to North Carolina.”
A week after BYU body-slammed the Jackets in all phases of the game, Tech offered a performance that was rugged and energetic, though not free of flaws. The Tech defense didn’t permit a first down until midway through the second quarter and shut out the Terrapins through the first 44 minutes of the game. Quarterbacks Tevin Washington and Vad Lee directed Tech to 370 rushing yards against the No. 4 rushing defense in the country, more than three times what Tech gained against BYU last Saturday and 202 yards more than the Terrapins’ previous season high.
However, Tech lost two fumbles and again encountered turbulence on kickoff coverage and extra points, as kicker David Scully bounced one try off an upright and then failed to clear the line of scrimmage on another. The defense, given an opportunity to close down a Maryland offense that was eminently capable of cooperating, gave up 161 yards and two touchdowns on the Terrapins’ final three possessions.
That said, in a season in which Tech has lost three games in which it led in the fourth quarter and this week compelled coach Paul Johnson to stick up for the state of the program, a victory was more than enough. On a chilly and overcast afternoon, Tech improved to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. Maryland fell to 4-5 and 2-3.
“As I told our guys, we keep alive what we’re playing for this season,” Johnson said. “We still have a chance mathematically (to win) the league, still have a chance to have a winning season and go to a bowl game. That’s what we’re playing for right now. It makes next week’s game against North Carolina the biggest game of the year for us.”
Maryland quarterback Shawn Petty, a true freshman recruited to College Park as a linebacker but forced to switch positions after the Terrapins’ first four quarterbacks suffered season-ending injuries, was largely ineffective. As Tech coaches expected, Maryland mostly kept the game on the ground, trying zone-option plays and also using a Wildcat package with running back Wes Brown.
Crowding the tackle box with as many as seven players, Tech held Maryland to 144 rushing yards and a 3.3 yards-per-carry average. On Maryland’s final three possessions of the game, Petty led the Terrapins to a pair of touchdowns, both on passes. The second was on the final play of the game.
“The speed of the game was something that it took him a little bit of time to get used to,” Maryland coach Randy Edsall said of Petty. “You can’t go out there and line up at this level after only seven practices and think that everything is going to happen the way you hope it will.”
Interim defensive coordinator Charles Kelly “was, like, Stay inside the box and let him prove that he can pass and then we’ll widen things out,” said inside linebacker Quayshawn Nealy.
Nealy led Tech with a career-high 12 tackles, including a jarring point-of-attack stop on a 3rd-and-1 play in the second quarter when he knocked tailback Albert Reid back for a 1-yard loss. After the punt, Lee drove the Jackets 49 yards for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead with 8:47 to play in the second quarter. It went a great length to doom Maryland, which has scored more than 21 points just twice this season.
Johnson rotated Washington and Lee, giving Washington two series to begin the game and then Lee the final three of the half. In the second half, Washington had the first two possessions and Lee had the final two. Washington led Tech to two touchdowns in his four series. Lee was 3-for-5.
It was the A-backs’ day, as Johnson called a number of tosses and option plays that often ended with the ball in their hands. They gained 220 of Tech’s 370 rushing yards. Smith ran with speed and force and led Tech with 89 yards on 10 carries. He scored the second touchdown of the game, a second-quarter 5-yard run to the corner freed up by a block by B-back David Sims.
“Coach found a couple of plays that were very successful,” Lee said. “We just took advantage of it and kept running it and it was working. We just kept grinding.”
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375 comments Add your comment
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
6:07 pm
GTBob
So what that you have to compete; UGA has to compete as well with those schools
You have academic prestige that you can sell to these kids to keep them at home
Thing is they dont want to play for a program who plays in a high school stadium whose fans cant even fill that
At least those schools you mentioned play in bigtime stadiums and bigtime games
Now thats reality
David S.
November 3rd, 2012
6:08 pm
Eric B. shut the HELL up!!!! Been going to games all my life… I’ll pull for the Red Army before I pull for Bama
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
6:11 pm
Eric B
Its good to see coach Johnson is going to be at Tech for many years to come
It will just keep adding to our victory margin over Tech
marty james
November 3rd, 2012
6:11 pm
yes yes the king will be live on 680the fan Monday!!!!!
David S.
November 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
go LSU!!!!!!!!! then maybe the DAWGS might have a chance at the SEC game… yep.. the end of time must be near…. I want a scenerio to play out that may benefit the Dawgs…. I’m sick now….
David S.
November 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
go LSU!!!!!!!!! then maybe the DAWGS might have a chance at the SEC game… yep.. the end of time must be near…. I want a scenerio to play out that may benefit the Dawgs…. I’m sick now….
GTBob
November 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
You have academic prestige that you can sell to these kids to keep them at home
Sorry, but im not sure the Isiah Crowell’s and Bacarri Rambo’s of the world are all that concerned with our academic prestige. They want to play football, smoke pot, get drunk, and occasionally attend class if they have to. GT isn’t a good fit for these types of guys.
Tech Fan For Life
November 3rd, 2012
6:18 pm
I can believe mutt the moron and the other
fools think Johnson is okay
Johnson is the problem, was the problem
and will be the problem until he is gone.
Don’t falter seeing fools gold – Tech beat a terrible opponent
Tech will not recover until the overhaul is complete
Go Tarheels! Go Johnson!!!
Flowery Branch Yellow Jacket
November 3rd, 2012
6:21 pm
I’m probably in the minority, but I hated to see D.Rad leave (especially for Clemson), and I fully support CPJ. Obviously, this season hasn’t turned out the way any of us would have wanted, but I believe our current coaching staff has recruited some very good athletes and that this same staff has the ability to mold these athletes into a winning team. If you look at the scores of our games this year, there were two games when we didn’t score 28 points of more. Clearly, we’ve scored enough points to have a 7-2 record right now. Unfortunately, our defense has given up 41 points or more in four of our losses. CAG was an experienced defensive coaching specialist (who has even coached a Super Bowl-winning defense), so I don’t fault CPJ for giving him an opportunity to turn things around. When it became evident that Groh couldn’t achieve the goals of the team, he was replaced … just as he should have been. Whether the team can make enough changes to win out for the rest of the season is questionable, but I have no doubt that we have enough talent to do just that. And hey … regardless of how the football team performs over the next couple of months, I’m excited about the new basketball seasons that will begin at McCamish Pavilion over the next eight days. I hope many of you will join me in supporting both the men’s and women’s teams.
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
6:54 pm
Bob
You seem to forget about your thug ball players yea I remember one being caught recently with 100 lbs of dope in his car
So since thats Tech’s excuse that players dont care about Academics then its time for Tech to drop the athletic program cause it will never relive the 50’s and 60’s
Woodstockgt
November 3rd, 2012
6:58 pm
Will all you haters out there shut up and quit complaining. They won easily which is what they had to and needed to do. CPJ isn’t going anywhere for at least two more years. Nor should he be fired right now. They are having a tough year but that can happen. He is a good coach. Get behind this team or get out!
Woodstockgt
November 3rd, 2012
7:02 pm
Btw… If he were to win the next 2 games, Tech might find themselves in the ACC championship still. In addition , if they were to pull off a miracle in Athens, you clowns probably want a statue made of CPJ you fair weather losers!
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
7:14 pm
Woodstockgt
Thats right Tech fans get behind coach fish fry and watch your program go down the losing drain
you fair whether fans
Randy from Macon
November 3rd, 2012
7:18 pm
That’s what I’m talking about Woodstockgt! The Jackets played a great game today. Give them credit. There are 3 more games left and they can win all 3. This is a young team – not many seniors. And we will have a great recruiting class coming in next year. Coach Johnson knows what he is doing and I believe we will see improvement. Go Jackets!
Woodstockgt
November 3rd, 2012
7:21 pm
Wasn’t going down the drain three years ago when he was coach of the year.
CloudmanJacket
November 3rd, 2012
7:31 pm
Great win against a team playing their backup LB as their 5th string QB. LOL. FIRE cpj.
GT-UT
November 3rd, 2012
7:31 pm
Wow! Great post woodstockgt. I’m sitting here in the airport after arriving from overseas and was about to stand up and yell Go Jackets! I think we evaluate CPJ after two more years. I think he the right man for the job. I’m believing and cheering the Jackets on! Great win. Lets go get the next one! Come on Vad! We need you to execute better and you’ve got a shot at the heisman next year!! Work hard. Be smart! Get strong! GO JACKETS!
CloudmanJacket
November 3rd, 2012
7:35 pm
@Woodstock. ACC coach of the year with someone else’s players. Horrible at hiring assistants, horrible recruiting, horrible motivation…equals horrible coach
CloudmanJacket
November 3rd, 2012
7:40 pm
I love the idiots on here now supporting cpj who just beat the worst team in ACC with their 5th string QB. How quickly u forget BYU, mid TN st., n Virginia.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:41 pm
I wasn’t planning on coming back, but since I am watching the Notre Dame game, I figured I would respond to Cloudman…..You DO realize, don’t you that, CPJ did with Gailey’s players what Gailey DIDN’T and COULDN’T do. As far as recruiting, overall since Gailey’s first year, CPJ has the virtually same AVERAGE in recruiting class rankings as Gailey did. Gailey had ONE good recruiting year, and, like I said, it took CPJ to do anything with them.
tech fan
November 3rd, 2012
7:41 pm
Y do they call CPJ fish fry?
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:43 pm
Because prior to the UGA game in 2009, he made the mistake of saying that because of the upcoming ACC championship game, Tech had bigger fish to fry. Leave it to the mutts to capitalize on something as trivial as that.
JetBuzz
November 3rd, 2012
7:45 pm
The Jackets executed better today, granted against a weaker and injury-ridden Terrapin team. You gotta like CPJ’s straight talk analysis after the game, “Our Special Teams were horrible…”
The D showed more life and promise, but the DBs will get carved-up by better QBs – a longstanding weakness.
Most important change today: a Jacket team with more energy, intensity, and focus. We’ll need it all plus more next Saturday against the Tarheels. Go Jackets!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:46 pm
@ JetBuzz……you are right. They seemed to play with enthusiasm today, something we haven’t been seeing.
Techster
November 3rd, 2012
7:47 pm
Good thing that Maryland didn’t have the services of their 4th string QB…
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:48 pm
Notre Dame just eeked one out in the 3rd OT to prevent the overrated mutts from moving up in the rankings. WAY TO GO IRISH !!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:49 pm
@ Techster…….last time I looked there were no MD QB’s on defense, and they couldn’t stop us all day.
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
7:53 pm
Supersize
and
Woodstock gt
Keep dreaming and keep CPJ please I love those big time victories over middle tenn and beat downs at the hands of UGA
cant wait to see the Tech fans in Athens with all their tanks filled with kool-aid thinking CPJ is going to coach a victory over the dawgs then watch as reality sinks in after 5 mins in the 2nd qtr is on the score board
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
7:54 pm
I don’t think Tech will beat NC, Duke or Georgia. NC played Duke in a high scoring game, and Duke had a much better record than Tech. The yellow jacket offense is ineffective against most schools, and needs to be used occasionally only. The defense cannot blitz or cover like Morgan Burnett did, and Scully cannot kick. PJ has uni problems that he just got around to adjusting this year since the Chick-Fil-A Bowl game. Tech is not entertaining with the triple option at all if they play major schools, and they consider themselves to be a major school. A coaching change should be made, and an entire coaching staff should be made as well. Glanville said he wanted to get back into coaching. Contact him. But who would contact? Tech has no AD.
Skeptic
November 3rd, 2012
7:57 pm
Hell, yeah, go Jackets. Johnson saves his job another week. So glad they won; no one sees fit to let the flyovers know what the hell’s going on.. Too busy grinding deer into sausage today. The electricity goes out Wednesday.
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
7:57 pm
That’s another thing wrong with Tech. If Glanville was to be contacted, there’s no AD to contact him. Only a sucker would fall for PJ’s trriple option as being competitive against most major schools.
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
7:58 pm
I dont know what would be worse Tech losing to Middle Tennesse High or Duke
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
7:59 pm
@ dry dirt road…..aside from the meltdowns we had in a couple of games since 2008, other than BYU this year and Iowa and LSU in the past, what major school has stopped the Tech offense. The offense has overall been fine; it’s the defense and ST’s that have lost games, certainly not the offense, except in those games I mentioned.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:00 pm
@ Reality……I guess you enjoy your games with Buffalo, Fl Atlantic, and your usual group of OOC patsies. And I bet you were squirming when even lowly Kentucky almost beat ya’ll this year. Yes, Tech’s loss to MTSU was a total embarrassment, but s*it happens.
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
8:01 pm
Tech loses to MT who loses to McNeese State, so Tech loses big time to McNeese, wherever they are, probably up in the sticks of WV.
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
8:03 pm
Supersize, every gd one of them, primarily Middle Tennessee.
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
8:06 pm
Might as well cover your faces and not look when Tech plays the rest of the teams. The Georgia game will be much more than the MT game. Georgia might put 70 points on us.
dry dirt road
November 3rd, 2012
8:09 pm
If Georgia does put 70 on us, that’s it for PJ. We’ll need to talk to Glanville, see if he can get Maxie back as DC, see if he can recommend Carson as AD.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:11 pm
@ dry dirt road……NONE of them STOPPED the Tech offense, except BYU, Iowa, and LSU. We had meltdowns on offense against MTSU, Kansas, UGA last year (in the 2nd half at least), and twice against Miami, but those were meltdowns on our part, not beatdowns by the other teams’ defenses. The offense has played good enough to win in most of our losses; it was our defense and ST’s that lost the games.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:12 pm
Frankly, I don’t think UGA is capable of putting up 70 points on anybody.
steve brown
November 3rd, 2012
8:17 pm
4 passes – Johnson just doesn’t get it. I can’t watch this “style” any longer.
Skeptic
November 3rd, 2012
8:18 pm
Dry Dirt Road–Glanville? Good Lord al’Mighty, NO. Isn’t that midget gone yet? He already rurn’t the Falcons. Is that the one you’re referring to?
White&Gold
November 3rd, 2012
8:23 pm
Georgia is not as good as everyone thinks they are. I’m not saying we’ll beat them, but I’ll be surprised if they put a beat down on us. They seem to play down to the level of their opponents for at least a half (Buffalo, Tennessee, Vandy, Kentucky, Ole Miss). Watch them the next two weeks. They’ll have some trouble with Auburn or Georgia Southern. Maybe both.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:23 pm
@ steve brown…..why pass when you don’t need to? The running game was working just fine.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:26 pm
@ steve brown……in case you didn’t notice, Notre Dame didn’t pass all that much today either.
White&Gold
November 3rd, 2012
8:27 pm
@steve brown: Did you not watch the game? We ran the ball well in every drive, minus the first (which we still got a first down). What would be the point of throwing the ball? We weren’t backed into a corner and didn’t have many long yardage situations.
Ramblnwrek
November 3rd, 2012
8:27 pm
Special teams has gone to hell since they fired Groh and moved the ST coach to a defensive position coach. Though I have a hard time figuring out how we go from decent to retarded in such a short time. I mean are key players hurt on ST or what?
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:28 pm
@ Ramblinwrek……you sure have to wonder about that, don’t you?
Reality Stinks
November 3rd, 2012
8:33 pm
Supersize
Seriously please dont talk about UGA’s schedule compared to Tech
Im mean you do realize ESPN every week makes fun of the ACC with their lousy play with the Wheel of Destiny
then when you add your high school teams you lose too Tech is basically an FCS program
Supersize that order, mutt
November 3rd, 2012
8:36 pm
@ Reality…..say what you want, UGA’s OOC schedule is WAY WEAKER than Tech’s OOC schedule. Tech played Presbyterian (only substituted in because of the Labor Day night game at VT), MTSU (embarrassing loss), BUY, and UGA. UGA played Buffalo, Fl Atlantic, and is yet to play Ga Southern and Tech. If y’all played the equivalent of a BYU, then you might have a claim. Tech nor UGA has any control over the conference games on the schedules, nor the quality of those opponents.