Johnson on UNC, Oregon, Saban, Lee
Notes from coach Paul Johnson’s Tuesday news conference
1. Johnson called Saturday’s game with North Carolina “a huge game for both teams” given that Tech is trying to keep its bowl hopes alive and get back to .500. North Carolina will try to beat a team that it’s lost to three years in a row.
2. Johnson has talked with the team about the possibilities for Tech to reach the ACC championship game, which most likely will require the Yellow Jackets to beat North Carolina Saturday and Duke next week just to have a chance.
3. Regarding Miami and its possible self-imposed bowl ban due to its NCAA investigation, the Miami Herald reported that there is sentiment among high-level school officials to pass on the bowl ban if the Hurricanes make the ACC championship game.
4. Johnson said that the results in the ACC this season indicate that the teams, particularly in the Coastal Division, are evenly matched.
“All of the games have been fairly close,” he said. “Some of the things, you can’t explain. You look at Virginia. N.C. State beats Florida State in Raleigh and then Virginia goes in there and hasn’t won a game and thumps them.”
5. Stopping UNC running back Giovani Bernard will require multiple players converging on him when he has the ball.
“He’s got great speed,” he said. “You’ve got to try to hem him in and rally around him. The first guy’s not going to get him down every time, so you’ve got to have more guys coming. Clearly, he’s the key to their success.”
6. To prepare for UNC’s high-tempo offense, Johnson is altering the Tech scout-team offense.
“I think what you can do is you run two groups, and as soon as one’s finished, the next one’s up there running it again,” he said. “It’d be impossible to go any faster than that. You replicate it the best you can.”
Tech will obviously try to bend the pace of play towards its slower tempo. He noted that in the North Carolina-N.C. State game, each team had 20 possessions, whereas in Tech’s win over Maryland, Tech had nine possessions.
“It’s going to fall somewhere in the middle,” he said. “I would doubt there’s going to be 20 possessions. If we can get off to a good start and get that thing slowed down, maybe they don’t want to go as fast.”
7. Johnson talked at length about up-tempo teams like North Carolina and Oregon. He pointed out that an up-tempo offense will have more possessions in a game, thus giving it more opportunities for scoring, but at the same time, it’s also putting its own defense on the field more often, giving the opposing offense more chances to score. (”kicks at the can,” as he terms it)
To Johnson, what is more telling about an offense isn’t necessarily points and yards, but efficiency or points per possession. He pointed out that there are other teams besides those two that run up-tempo but aren’t nearly as successful, and there are teams like Notre Dame and Alabama that play a power game that has proven potent for both.
“There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat,” he said.
8. Line of the day: “Clearly, Alabama’s not going to play like Oregon. Coach (Nick) Saban would have a hissy if he won 63-55. He’s not going to play that way where both teams get 20 possessions and it becomes that way, where, if you play that way, you don’t sweat it.”
9. Against Maryland, he said the Tech defense “had some issues with our eyes and doing some of the things, especially in the second half, but for the most part, we probably played as well in the first half defensively as we’ve played in a while. You also take into consideration who they were playing with, too.”
He also thought the offensive line came off the ball hard, playing with intensity and playing well against a highly-ranked defense. He mentioned that the number of Maryland players blocked to the ground, 80, was the most this season, “I mean, not even close. It was guys getting after it, playing with some urgency. That’s the way you’ve got to play if you’re going to have a chance to be any good.”
10. Johnson’s evaluation of quarterback Vad Lee: “I think he’s getting better every week. I think that it’s been good the way it’s happened for him. He hasn’t been thrown out there. I think as quarterback, it’s also good to be able to stand over there and watch the other team play for a series or two and get a feel for it and know where they are and know what the checks are and know what’s happening as opposed to just kind of getting thrown out there and not knowing it. I think both quarterbacks bring something thing to the game. Tevin has a lot of experience. He’s played a lot of football. You’re not going to line up too many ways that he’s not seen or doesn’t know what to do. Vad brings a lot of athleticism and a lot of energy when he comes out there. You kind of get two different things out of both those guys. As he progresses, as I’ve said all along, the more he gets accustomed to doing what we’re doing, the better he gets at it, the more he’s going to play because, clearly, he does bring some athleticism to the position.”
11. On play-calling for Lee: “We’re to the point now with Vad where he’s going to run the same stuff that everybody else runs. Early in the year, that was not the case. He just couldn’t do it. Thus when he went into the game, it was a different set of plays. It was stuff that I felt like he could do better and handle and that played to his strengths.”
12. With North Carolina using three wide receivers and a tight end, Johnson acknowledged “it may dictate some of the things we do.” Tech has been using its base defense even in nickel situations since the firing of defensive coordinator Al Groh, matching up a linebacker against slot receivers. Having Brandon Watts back would help, as he played nickel back for Groh.
“What it may enable us to do is play some different people at that outside linebacker position in certain situations for cover or whatever,” he said. “We don’t have any plans to wholesale change what we’re doing.”
Thanks for reading.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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103 comments Add your comment
Ken Sugiura
November 7th, 2012
2:39 pm
Joe – i’m a little unclear on how calling someone “nameless idiot” or telling someone they’re blind because they disagree with you is not name calling.
Cecil34
November 7th, 2012
2:43 pm
For a Tech fan, I would suspect at this point in the year, the real treat is to daydream about how many points Bama is going to beat Georgia by in the SEC championship game.
It is going to be ugly……
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
2:55 pm
Ken, after your 1:42 post, I have decided not to name call anyone. Further, I have decided to help you evangelize your message (see message to Monty).
As for my blind man comment, I was just making a factual statement. I can’t help a blind man see. Wasn’t calling him blind, just stating a fact. But now that I know the standards that we are all held to on the blogs, I’ll help you police to blogs.
BTW, Monty’s handle is deeply disturbing to me.
Montylick&ass
November 7th, 2012
3:02 pm
Hey, I am offended…I got my name off the back of the phone book from a prominent local law firm! I came up with it when I first posted my offer to represent the drunkards falling out of the stadium! And I didn’t call any individual any name at all, just a general class of posters for whom Ken was havng to spend time moderating p!$$!ng contests!
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
3:18 pm
Monty: are you calling me a pi$$3r? I’m offended, stop the name calling.
Montylick&ass
November 7th, 2012
3:21 pm
GT Joe: Touche! Glad SOMEBODY around here has a sense of humor!
1 4 GT
November 7th, 2012
3:22 pm
Some of you carry on much like 3 & 4 year old little boys. Very childish in other words. Selah.
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
3:24 pm
1 4: don’t call me childish. namecalling will get you nowhere.
What part of #11 above, GT Joe...
November 7th, 2012
3:38 pm
- “11. On play-calling for Lee: “We’re to the point now with Vad where he’s going to run the same stuff that everybody else runs. Early in the year, that was not the case. He just couldn’t do it. Thus when he went into the game, it was a different set of plays. It was stuff that I felt like he could do better and handle and that played to his strengths.”…do you not understand to mean that Vad was NOT trusted by CPJ to run the whole offense because he did NOT KNOW the whole O – CPJ says it in plain coachspeak?
Are having difficulty understanding the English language/coachspeak?
Geeze, GT Joe...
November 7th, 2012
3:38 pm
…even Ken is calling you out on this blogfor not understanding about which you write – that is embarrassing…
ibidGT
November 7th, 2012
3:39 pm
GTPhenom
November 7th, 2012
1:04 pm
So we should have zero hope in our team ibidGT? Nothing wrong with thinking this team has a chance, because it really does. Miami is quite capable of losing both of those games, and GT is quite capable of winning every game left on the schedule (and yes, I include the UGA game in that list). We’ve been close in most of our losses this year, and aren’t lacking for talent like so many here on this site like to try and say. The talent is there; the execution hasn’t been.
Am I saying we WILL win our remaining games? Who knows? I’m simply saying don’t be a debbie downer as a fan, and continue to support this team, particularly when there is still a chance for good things to happen.
_____________________
Um did I say be a downer or keep it real? I root for my team but I am not delusional. I was simply stating win one game, then look to the next game. If we can’t beat UNC all the hype and hope will be for naught. Then you will become angry and start blaming CPJ and everyone else on this team.
In your clueless rant about how Miami is capable of losing the last two games you ever take into consideration our own GT team is capable of losing the last 3 as well? You state we have failed executing all year but now all of a sudden we will be able to execute during the last 3 games?
I hope we win the last 3, but I am not expecting them to do so based on this years performance so far. I am not content with their performance but it’s not like anything can be done at this point. It is what it is.
BS Patrol
November 7th, 2012
3:41 pm
Hundreds of comedians out of work!
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
3:50 pm
nameless fried of mine: again, you didn’t read my response to you fully. Let me help, old buddy:
Yes, I agree that Vad didn’t have the full playbook ALL SEASON. But he has not said WHEN Vad had the whole playbook. My guess is that in the MD game, he was not limited in any way. Do you have proof to the contrary? If so, please enlighten me, oh wise one.
Now, please, nameless buddy, let me know if the above English language response is in any way obtuse to you.
www
November 7th, 2012
3:51 pm
some of you guys spend WAAAAYYYYYY too much time arguing on here.
try going for a walk outside every so often.
GTfan2012
November 7th, 2012
4:00 pm
GTJoe, you seem like a knowledgable football fan, but you are definitely coming across as an arrogant A-hole. I read all of yesterday’s comments with UOAD and to me it seems like you were taking semantical differences and trying to show that you were smarter. You never once stopped ask UOAD to explain what he was trying to say or see if some of the confusion might have been between the terms being used (I have definitely heard both our offense and base play referred to as the triple option.)
I also don’t know why you act as if you are smarter and better able to judge personnel from your couch than the coach of this football team. If you want to question a coaches tactics or decision making in a game, I think that is perfectly fine. But it seems foolish to question the personnel decisions of a coach when you aren’t in practice everyday and you don’t get to talk to and assess the mental make-up of each of these guys on a daily basis nor do you have 20 years of experience doing so.
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
4:08 pm
GTfan2012: First, i don’t appreciate the name calling. arrogant, a-hole, foolish, etc., these are offensive terms. as of 1:42 today, I have decided to refrain from any such name calling. I would ask that we all do the same, for a kinder, gentler world.
Now, I yesterday, I was merely trying to educate UOAD (an offensive handle if you ask me, but i digress) on the triple option. He said the 3rd option was a pass. This is not the case. I had to educate him on that, because I wouldn’t want him to mispeak at one of the many games he attends (and lets us know he attends).
Finally, again, CPJ sees them in practice. But we all see them on game days. I don’t know (or care) about their mental make up or practice day performance. It’s game day performance that matters. Some coaches think practice and experience trump game day performance. I disagree.
And by the way, a lot of coaches get fired every year for poor decision making.
GTfan2012
November 7th, 2012
4:19 pm
GT Joe,
A couple of points. You are confused. I wasn’t calling YOU an arrogant A-hole, I said you were acting like an arrogant A-hole. If you are an arrogant A-hole, you can’t change, if you are acting like one, you can change you behavior. I guess we will see which is the case.
As far as the decision-making goes, I agree. Coaches decision making can get them fired, but coaches don’t get fired for playing the “wrong” player. No AD has ever told a coach he was letting him go because he wasn’t playing the back-up QB enough. Even the AD, who is paid a lot of money, isn’t questioning the personnel decisions of the coach.
I dropped my fried twinkie
November 7th, 2012
4:23 pm
And I thought TECH players were smart……….Players posting this crap on FB just are not smart.
Fred Holton
People can post statuses about alcohol and how “turned up” they gettin and its okay but its negative to post about mary jane. Weed chill not kill but bc the govt say its illegal we cnt deal wit it. Like hell i do it from time to time. And?????? Nothing wrong with smoking marijuana….
big gt fan
November 7th, 2012
4:24 pm
jacket detective you cannot compare Tevin Washington to a Sean Jones or Joe Hamilton or even G. Godsey theyre the only QBs Tech has had last 22 years. Also J. Nesbit was better qb also.
Uh, "fried twinkie"...
November 7th, 2012
4:28 pm
…could it be that “Fred” on twitter is a hoax, akin to the deal that happened out west between USCw and UCLA (although the stuff for which Jim Mora got upset did not involve “stuff”)…
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
4:33 pm
GTfan2012: coaches get fired, usually, for losing. Losing is caused by a lot of things, including poor decision making. Personnel choices are part of a coach’s decision making.
Coaches have never been perfect. They all have their “pet” players. They also can be inflexible, and fixed in their ways. To think that CPJ makes every personnel decision correctly is questionable at best. Especially when, on game day, everyone is exposed for the world to see.
Uh, GT Joe...
November 7th, 2012
4:33 pm
…all I can do is go by what CPJ said above, and if “early in the year” and “we’re NOW (emphasis added) to the point with Vad” was up to the MD game, then so be it.. I did not say you were right or wrong, just that you seemed to have trouble understanding the printed word…
And according to others, knowing the difference between being an “A-hole” (their word, Ken, not mine) and acting like one…
I dropped my fried twinkie
November 7th, 2012
4:36 pm
No it is him. He is facebook friend and should know better.
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
4:36 pm
nameless buddy: you specifically posted that I was wrong about something I posted yesterday. Now you deny saying I was wrong.
I’ll take that as an apology.
Your friend,
GT Joe
GT TN
November 7th, 2012
4:44 pm
@ GT Joe..you said my question was silly..I went back and looked at your answer..I think it is pretty silly that you think you know what is better for CPJ team than he does..by the way..you dont see them on gameday..you see them on the tv..that is like me telling Mora at UCLA his problems because I watch everyone of his games..you cant even see the DB coverages on the tv more less tell who could play better..you are also silly for thinking CPJ just put Vad in because he heard boo birds..I promise you CPJ makes no changes because of what fans think..if you have ever listen to his coaches show you would know that he doesnt care what the fans think..you dont go to games, dont give money and dont listen to his talk show (if you did you would know he cares less what a fan thinks) but you are a GT fan…based on what it takes to be in a fan in your eyes Im a fan of about 10 different schools
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2012
4:45 pm
GT Joe grow up and get a life so you can afford a ticket to a game……………………….
Freddie Blassie
November 7th, 2012
4:48 pm
I like the hell out of Paul Johnson as a coach at Georgia Tech. Tech has let some good head football coaches get away and Tech has fired a good coach or two. I remember how down Bobby Ross was his first couple of years: he was ready to quit, but he hung in there. Tech’s AD and president should have never let him leave. Both AD and president should have been begging him to stay.
Paul Johnson has never been fired from a job and he has found out what Tech football coaches have experienced over the last fifty years. Tech is not an easy place to coach football and the hill is luke warm at best toward athletics. I will guarantee that if Johnson is let go at Tech he will continue as a head football coach and will be so successful that the fools who want(ed) him gone will be exposed as the short sighted know littles they are.
Wow, GT Joe, jsut wow...
November 7th, 2012
4:49 pm
…but, thanks for being my friend…
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
4:49 pm
GT TN: I watch on TV… better angles, more replays, better commentary. Ask UOAD about watching games at BDS; he’s just now learning the triple option after 5 years of season tix. I don’t mind educating people. LOL.
And i GUARANTEE you CPJ listens to fans. You believe his tough guy talk, not me. He caved on hiring an ST coach after being a tough guy about it. He caved on throwing the ball more (adding the pistol) after being a tough guy about it.
And he MOST CERTAINLY caved when the boo birds came out. What, you think it was just perfect timing that Vad came out after the boo birds came out?
Don’t believe everything you read.
Wow, GT Joe, just wow...
November 7th, 2012
4:52 pm
..and, oh, yeah, you WERE wrong yesterday (see my earlier post that points out where) – and my “apology” for today was for something you said today, but I do not remember what, nor do I really care…
Carry on…
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
4:52 pm
UOAD: please don’t denigrate me because of my financial status.
Btw, do you have a full understanding of the triple option now? If not, come by my house and we can watch the UNC game on my TV so you can get a better understanding. The replays and multiple angles will help.
tooltime432
November 7th, 2012
4:53 pm
UOAD he really doesn’t have to or for that matter no one has to. They can have one of the thousands of empty ones in my section.
You do know, don't you, GT Joe...
November 7th, 2012
5:06 pm
..that POAD still lives with his dad, and that it is his dad who provides his game tickets…
GT TN
November 7th, 2012
5:17 pm
@ GT Joe…the boo birds came out after TW made a bad pass that was a int..not before that..and he made the cahnge after a bad throw not because of boo’s..I dont think he hired a ST coach because coach coach yelled about our ST..by the way the pistol was added to give another wrinkle..not to just throw the ball more..TW has throw less this year than last..10.3 pass a game this year and 11.5 pass a game last year..so explain again how he caved in to the fans and add the pistol to throw more..so no he doesnt do what fans say..
GT JOE FINALLY SAID SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE..he stays home to watch game on tv so he gets better commentary..I understand now that you have to have them explain to you what is going in game..those guys are ESPN Regional guys..they are the lowest game commentaries at ESPN
White&Gold
November 7th, 2012
5:19 pm
Just randomly came across highights of our ‘09 season on youtube. Man, that was a fun season.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2012
5:20 pm
Yes My dad is a TECH Grad and he has had season tickets since 1961. So what? He and I split the tickets and go to the games now. Mom stopped going to games years ago unless it was a roadtrip she liked.
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
5:24 pm
GT TN: Okay, so i guess these are just coincidences:
Fans say throw more, then in year 5 he intros the pistol out of the blue.
Fans say ST is bad and clamoring for a coach, in year 5 he gets an ST coach.
Fans boo Tevin, next drive, Vad comes out, and has since played more minutes than Tevin.
LOL. Okay, well I’ll take one more “coincidence”. Fans calling for Vad to start, and Vad starts!
Also, your stats for TW don’t include Vad’s passing. We pass more this year than last year (13.4 vs. 12.6 att/game).
GT Joe
November 7th, 2012
5:26 pm
5150: LOL, so you go because you get free tix. Now that’s funny. What about all your talk about “if you don’t pay, you have no say” LOL.
GT Man
November 7th, 2012
5:29 pm
Its comical for PJ to criticize Oregons offense. He needs to go out to Oregon and learn their playbook—looks like its working for them. Also, if UNC has 3 wide receivers and a tight end, then look like they’ll have a field day passing against us.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2012
5:30 pm
I said I split the tickets with dad…………damn you don’t read to well.
GT TN
November 7th, 2012
5:55 pm
@ GT Joe..I didnt include Vad stats because we didnt have a BACKUP that would throw last year..also you are correct..Vad has played a few more minutes that TW did..that is what happens when you a big lead in the 4th quarter..the backup stays in and plays..if you take Vad’s drive away that he played because we were up 24 pts with 8 mins left in the game..he did play more because the STARTER doesnt play when the game is out of hand
TVFan
November 7th, 2012
6:03 pm
Thank you Ken for another great article, Please always cover GT.
beezit
November 7th, 2012
6:33 pm
“”about the possibilities for Tech to reach the ACC championship game, which most likely will require the Yellow Jackets to beat North Carolina Saturday and Duke next week”"….
Ya think..??..
Reformed Toady
November 7th, 2012
6:37 pm
“Obtuse” LOL
Now some people have passive aggressive tendencies…
beezit
November 7th, 2012
6:38 pm
“”Against Maryland, he said the Tech defense “had some issues with our eyes”"….
That’s always a problem for me as well…..hate it when it happens…
beezit
November 7th, 2012
6:42 pm
“”It was guys getting after it, playing with some urgency. That’s the way you’ve got to play if you’re going to have a chance to be any good.””
Sure would be nice if they did more than once a year…
Old Dog
November 7th, 2012
7:37 pm
To Hell with Tek, today, tomorrow and every other day!
Reformed Toady
November 7th, 2012
8:48 pm
What about Easter and Christmas “Old Dog”?
Reformed Toady
November 7th, 2012
8:50 pm
Let’s not forget Leap Year “Old Dog”.
5150 UOAD
November 7th, 2012
9:07 pm
Mike “Bull” Cox is back with the Atlanta Falcons………..That is 3 Jackets playing for the Birds.