Can Georgia Tech avoid a Dog hangover against Clemson?
Paul Johnson's next challenge is helping Josh Nesbitt and others get past the loss to Georgia. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)
Paul Johnson told everybody who would listen last week that the Georgia game would not define Georgia Tech’s season. Now all he has to do is convince his players.
The Jackets won eight straight games and had a chance to finish the season with a top-5 ranking. But they blew that by losing at home to Georgia Saturday, 30-24, creating the ACC’s worst nightmare: a championship game between two teams, Tech and Clemson, coming off losses to pedestrian SEC teams. The ACC title game now matches No. 12 (Tech, which fell from seventh) vs. No. 25 (Clemson, which fell from 15th).
But the bigger issue for Johnson is making sure his players get past what just happened. This easily is the biggest defeat the Jackets must bounce back from since he took over. It’s bigger than last year’s loss at North Carolina, and the even the early season defeat at Miami.
Three years ago under Chan Gailey, the Jackets were 9-2, then collapsed and lost consecutive games to Georgia, Wake Forest (ACC title) and West Virginia (Gator Bowl) to close the season.
Asked about a potential hangover, Johnson said Sunday: “It’s always a concern. When you have a big game like that one and you come out on the wrong end, and certainly it was a game we all wanted to win and we took seriously, you have to turn the page. We talked about that for eight straight weeks [during a winning streak]. We talked about it in the locker room [Saturday] night. We have to move on. The regular season is over. We finished 10-2, and that’s better than a lot of people probably thought we could do. Now we have a chance to play for the conference championship. We’ve earned it. Now let’s go play.”
Those were the right words. We’ll find out about the actions soon enough. I’m inclined to think Tech will bounce back. Question: Are you confident the Jackets can avoid a collapse similar to the one we saw in 2006?
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565 comments Add your comment
ESPN 2
November 29th, 2009
11:02 pm
Next week…..UGA..vs..South Carolina for the ACC title.
Louis Skolnick
November 29th, 2009
11:02 pm
uga vs usc for the swamp nc – oh thats right uf already did that
Wreckmaniac
November 29th, 2009
11:04 pm
SnoopDawg: You see the bigger picture. Richt beats Tech, gets a top 10 recuit class and signs a 5 year extension. How many years is it now ?
15 ? Richt is THE MASTER at how to keep the UGA job forever. You can lose to FL, TN, and or 5 other SEC teams if you know rules 1 and 2.
Dawg5
November 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
Spiller will go for over 300 by himself next week
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
Ga fans can you just use your minds a little.I realy don’t understand why you keep bloging about 30 to 24 win.In case you don’t this that is not a blow out at all. You won a game,treat yourself to a pizza!!
Metal Jacket
November 29th, 2009
11:06 pm
A mediocre GEORGIA team played it’s best game of the year and barely beat a GEORGIA TECH team that was looking forward to playing CLEMSON for the ACC championship. That’s what makes a rivalry. Good to see the dead dawgs come back to life.
BamaBoy
November 29th, 2009
11:07 pm
we will CRUSH the gaytors next week lololol
we OWN FU. 13 NC!!!
ESPN 2
November 29th, 2009
11:13 pm
We accept that Fla and Bama are the best teams in the SEC. An ACC championship ring will be a good consolation prize.
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:14 pm
Ga fans in case you did not know what is going on other than you won a 6 piont game last night.Tech is ranked 10 in the BCS and the last time I heard UGA was ranked at the South Pole. Go Tech!!!
Paul's Johnson
November 29th, 2009
11:15 pm
Tech fans have been drunk on the Kool-Aid for two years now, just like us Dawg fans were last year, as reality set in and we were knocked to earth during the course of the season and once we finally sobered, we knew that we were overhyped and overrated, but still a good team with ten wins to end the season.
Your matchup this weekend with Clemson will define your season, not a loss to UGA, not the outcome of your bowl game but this one. Clemson will be thinking the same thing. Good luck.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 29th, 2009
11:16 pm
Glad to see some fans still support UGA. I thought ya’ll had jumped off the ship. Hang in there, things are going to get better. Good win over the “BEST TEAM” in the state. THWG!!!!
Duke
November 29th, 2009
11:19 pm
Video to be shown next year at Bobby Dodd Stadium will be Paul Johnson singing, “all the way b*tch slapped….I got all the way b*tch slapped….Mark and Willie all the way b*tch slapped me.”….ripples flowing throw his turkey chin with each verse….suck on it Saint Simons…30-24.
Metal Jacket
November 29th, 2009
11:20 pm
When ya’ll go BOWLING don’t forget your SHOES and BALLS. GO JACKETS!!!! GREAT YEAR. 10-2. Going to do some real “BOWLING.”
ESPN 2
November 29th, 2009
11:24 pm
tech man you make an excelent point. Both Clemson and Tech are still ranked after being beaten by unranked teams. Could it be that the ACC championship game would suffer if the teams were not ranked. Im sure your smart enough to know that money drives this sport. Dont worry both teams will plumett in the polls after the game.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 29th, 2009
11:24 pm
You UGA fans sound like 10 yr. old “PUNKS.” Try to expand your vocabulary.
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:27 pm
Paul’s Jhonson blog hit it on the money. The lost Sat will not define our season.Two more wins and a 12 and 2 season WILL!!!!
Thanks for being a true sports fan!!
Get Real
November 29th, 2009
11:27 pm
What will be the excuse next week when nerds are handed their azzes again? “We played for the A-She-She championship when nobody expected us to so I consider it a great season”…………Well no Sh!t Coach Johnson, no one ever expects you to play for anything. This is why you are ranked below a team you beat and that same team (Va Tech) has one more loss than you.
Spurrier
November 29th, 2009
11:27 pm
Tell me again, where is GEORGIA ranked? You guys need some discipline.
Athens Police
November 29th, 2009
11:30 pm
UGA fans are bragging because they didn’t get locked up in Athens, Saturday night. Stay in Atlanta. Our city looks so clean this weekend.
El Gato
November 29th, 2009
11:32 pm
Well it looks like you geeks let the acc down with that egg you lade yesterday. We rue the day we joined the weak acc. Now we have guilt by association with you retards. The U would be better off playing again in the Big East.
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:32 pm
ESPN 2 Thanks for your honesty.One thing you are not thinking about. One team will win and go to the orange bowl and if Tech wins we can end in very a good postion. WE are Ranked 10 in BCS.
ESPN 2
November 29th, 2009
11:36 pm
Enter your comments here
GTbill
November 29th, 2009
11:40 pm
Man it feels good that the Tech program has progressed so much that the mighty bulldog nation explodes with pride and glee when they beat us. The better team can be upset by a mediocre team(as Ga fans frequently have described their team this year), just as the National Champion Florida team lost last year to Ole Miss. I think it says a lot about how far Tech has come in the last two years (10-2) and how Ga has fallen(7-5) that they are so excited just to be able to eke out a win over us this year. The 45-42 loss that their Pre-season number 1 ranked dogs suffered at our hands last year obviously hurt their feelings really bad or was it because we mean Tech fans raged them about it all year; as if they have not ever done that to every other team’s fans. Ga fans can dish it out but they cry like little girls when they lose and other team’s fans rightfully have their chance to rib them. Ga won this year so they get to rag us, but I am not gonna be hiding from them. So see you Ga pups next year and oh by the way GO TECH THE HELL WITH GEORGIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Top Dawg
November 29th, 2009
11:42 pm
I am confident the Dawgs put a whuppin’ on Tech Saturday night.
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:43 pm
I am staying up and I want a UGA fan to give me a well thougt comment about something over than your 6 piont win.PLEASE!!
Get Real
November 29th, 2009
11:44 pm
Congratulations are in order to the once in a generation yech team that has their fans as excited as a Star Wars premier……now go and tell your parents about your new found love of football (even if you have no idea of what really happens during a game).
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:47 pm
Top Dawg how is a 6 piont win a whuppin plase give me answer!
Get Real
November 29th, 2009
11:47 pm
Here it is tech man…………..the acc is now the laughing stock of the BCS system. If Clemson wins you will have a non top 20 team representing your conference as an automatic qualifier when many, many other more deserving teams are left out. If yech manages to win you will have a non top 10 team representing your conference over many other more deserving teams. Glad I could help you out………..
ESPN 2
November 29th, 2009
11:48 pm
Everyone imagine if you will that you are the president of the ACC. Your championship game is decided and you have spent all week promoting it as well as trying to get your other teams into good bowl games. Your top two teams come out and get beat by 6 and 5 SEC teams. Your glass of whisky sits on your desk next to your .45 as you contemplate suicide. You realize that you control 12 votes in the coaches poll and who knows how many in the other. You start making calls.
Tech man I will root for you against Clemson but if you don’t find it fishy that Tech only dropped to number 10 and Clemson is still ranked you’re not the football fan I give you credit for.
Duke
November 29th, 2009
11:51 pm
Tech Man….all da way b*tch slapped….all da way b*tch slapped….Suck it Saint Simons…30-24….by the way, how would a “hard nosed, disciplinarian” like Paul “Turkey Chin”, “Man Boobs” Johnson allow his players to be shown in a rap video with a couple of dorky white guys pretending to be rappers??? Saint Simons…30-24…eat it.
OldDawg
November 29th, 2009
11:54 pm
LMAO….the funny thing is UGA fans have not pretented to have a good team this year! We suc!
BUT…even on an off year we are still better than the techies…..funny how in the years (happens every 10 years or so…check the records) The polls and the BCS rankings are the GOSPEL….unlike last year when the techies beat a better team when they beat UGA by 3 points…remember…we ended up RANKED #10…BUT…then according to the techies the rankings meant NOTHING…Ya’ll won..thus techies were the best team!
Now which is it…cant have it both ways!!!
The ONLY reason techies are ranked in the top ten is BECAUSE they play in a joke of a conference! What the hell is it about the fact that the 2 teams playing for the ACC championship….or lip stick on a hog championship..are 2 teams that were both beat yesterday by middle of the pack 6-5 SEC teams!!!
Like I said…tech has not played in a MAJOR bowl in 43 years! Have not WON one in 53 years…and if clempsum watches the film of last nights game and realizes how soft and undersized your front 7 are on defense….spiller will have a field day next Sat. and your 43 and 53 year streaks will continue!!!!
Did I say…..30-24!!!
Duke
November 29th, 2009
11:55 pm
Dungeons and Dragons is all da way turnt up….all da way turnt up…Willie owns Paul Johnson…Triple option or Triple Chin…all da way turnt up…all da way turnt up…..Dwyer, Thomas, Morgan, Burnett will enter the draft and not play next year….all da way turnt up….all da way turnt up…..your A-Back Coach is leaving….all da way turnt up…all da way turnt up….suck on it Saint Simons…30-24
tech man
November 29th, 2009
11:57 pm
Espn 2 I am so glad I can talked to UGA fan that wants to talk about over things over than our lost.Thank you for you support and uga will beat Florida next year. And could you please tell your fans that another great back was shut down in Auburn not just Tech.
Duke
November 30th, 2009
12:02 am
Paul Johnson has a turkey chin and man boobs…Boom…roasted…Dave Wommack looks like The Thing…Boom Roasted…Wes Durham has a rear end the size of South Dakota…Boom Roasted…Chan Galiey’s recruits Dwyer, Thomas, Morgan and Burnett will enter the draft and not be back next year…boom…roasted….your field goal kicker sucks….Boom…roasted….Saint Simons is a gutless coward…suck it 30-24…boom roasted.
macrotech
November 30th, 2009
12:06 am
When Ben Anderson got hurt early in the game….we got SO soft in the middle….do we get him back by next week? If not, then we need an answer to his loss FAST! Our linebackers looked lost early and our DBs were missing ‘arm tackles’ left and right! Looked like uga in the second half of last years game! STILL don’t know why we got away from the option on that last drive…I trust CPJ and his strategic skills, but I was confounded on the second long ball….and then the third one….In his defense, had bay bay caught that ball on the side line…who knows how that thing would have played out! Tough loss for the Jackets! We move on and face an equally pissed Tiger team….let’s get it together and win out the season! GO TECH!!!
GTbill
November 30th, 2009
12:06 am
It means the same thing as it meant for the last 2 National Champs from the SEC. They both lost to inferior teams. It happens all the time in sports, that’s why they play the games. That’s how the New York Giants beat the 16-0 Patriots. On any given day a lesser team such as Ga can beat a superior team like Tech. While Ga typically has a better team, that is not the case this year. 10-2 and 7-5
GO TECH THE HELL WITH GA
macrotech
November 30th, 2009
12:08 am
OldDawg, certainly at your age, you know that a blind dawg can find a bone from time to time….enjoy our bone!
tech man
November 30th, 2009
12:11 am
Macrotech I was realy upset with the play call at the end of the game also We had agood shot to win and we blew it.
Duke
November 30th, 2009
12:13 am
Macro and Tech Man…you do not question a coaching genius like Paul Johnson….all da way b*tch slapped…all da way b*tch slapped…Mark and Willie all da way b*tch slapped me…..Saint Simons…30-24…bite the big one.
macrotech
November 30th, 2009
12:14 am
tech man, agreed! I still contend that CPJ was thinking into the future….he wanted the pups to be stuck with Martinez AND Bobo for another year…..the man is a GENIUS!
CGATECHfan
November 30th, 2009
12:15 am
I ‘ve been to enough GT-UGA games in my lifetime to know that this particular game is never a given. Anything can happen. Clearly, the Georgia came out more bound and determined to prove themselves than TECH did.Though I would have preferred a TECH win last night, I take comfort in knowing these few things:
The loss did not hurt TECH that much in the rankings. While the BCS poll has GT currently ranked at #10, I didn’t see the Dawgs anywhere in that poll. I see the Coaches’ poll gave UGA an 8 – not #8 ranking, but 8 total points!!! I guess they weren’t that impressed with UGA’s 7-5 record!
I see TECH has another game on their schedule – the ACC Championship game. Where will the DAWGS be? Sitting in front of the TV watching the REAL teams of the SEC – Florida and Alabama, play for the SEC Championship game and a spot in the BCS National Championship game . They will probably watch the ACC Championship game as well, taking pride in the fact they beat one of those teams playing for the ACC Championship. Let them gloat. That’s about the only shining moment of the season they have had.
For the fans that claimed this game did not mean as much to the Dawgs as it does to Tech, you sure did act as if it matters to you last night. In fact, many of you have stated that it made your season this year. I clearly remember UGA fans laughing at Tech fans for having the same feeling.
I liked the fact that it will be harder for the DAWG Nation to scream for coaching changes now. How can Richt fire his assistants that so brilliantly put together last night’s game plan? That surely got Martinez and Bobo another year’s worth of employment.
Bowl Games: Hmmm…. which would you prefer Dawgs? – Oranges or Chick-fil-a’s? Yes, TECH has to win next week to get to the Orange Bowl, but, they do have the chance to play in the Orange. Are those Chicken Nuggets I see falling from the sky? Or is it Waffles Fries?
I’m still very proud to be a TECH fan… regardless of whether they win or lose against UGA.
macrotech
November 30th, 2009
12:15 am
Duke, refer to my last post….
Duke
November 30th, 2009
12:15 am
All time best coaching double chins….Paul Johnson…Mark Mangino…Frank Beamer….suck on it Saint Simons….30-24…all da way turnt up…all da way turnt up….come out Saint Simons….30-24
macrotech
November 30th, 2009
12:16 am
CGATECHfan, INDEED!
Get Real
November 30th, 2009
12:18 am
Easy boys on the critiquing of Saint Paul Johnson……it is blasphemous to even think impure thoughts such as Saint Paul Johnson might have made a bad decision on play calling.
tech man
November 30th, 2009
12:19 am
Duke please speak English & I can’t get a ga fan to tell me how a 6 PIONT GAME IS BLOW OUT.Please tell me in a logic way.
TXDawg3
November 30th, 2009
12:19 am
Jeff Schultz is concerned with GT having a hangover after losing to UGA…how can GT have a hangover when they really aren’t that good to begin with? They remind us of those teams out west (Boise, BYU, Utah, etc) that gripe because they cannot get into the BCS Championship Game…face the truth, you’ve got to play the best and win to be the best.
UGA struggled all year and shot themselves in both feet through giving the ball away and penalties…UGA’s defense allowed a lot of points due to being on short fields and numerous mistakes by the offense. If UGA’s defense didn’t start on such short field so frequently, they do not give up many points & are a top ten defense. If one of the media darling teams (USC, ND, Ohio State, UF) came close to doing what UGA did to themselves this year, the media would have been all over it making excuses for their little darlings…the truth is UGA still has a top ten team, but no one can win games when they give the game away through endless and meaningless mistakes like we did this year. We are a team that has suffered the consequences of our own actions and we will continue to suffer these same consequences until we overcome our mental letdowns. When we overcome, we will be awesome on the field, but we will never be a media darling although we will win without their support!
The Truth
November 30th, 2009
12:19 am
Early Christmas gifts to uga from GT:
1.) Saved uga from humiliating trip to Shreveport
2.) Saved Willy’s job for another season
3.) Allowed Richt’s prayer to be answered
4.) Helped Calib “it’s all about me” King show what a team player he is
5.) Yielded bragging rights until 1/5/10
Duke
November 30th, 2009
12:20 am
Chan Gailey’s recruits Thomas, Morgan, Burnett and Dwyer are gone….all da way turnt up…all da way turnt up…..suck on it Saint Simons….30-24….ok….I am done….it’s been fun, but I will not be like Saint Simons and do this all year….in all sincerity, Johnson is a great coach and will continue to do well at Tech.
All part of the plan!!!!!
November 30th, 2009
12:26 am
The loss was all part of Tech’s brilliant and diabolical plan to help Bobo and Martinez keep their job for another few years, even if we have to lose GA to accomplish it! Now, you’ll continue to lose 5+ games every year. Priceless.
And by the way, this Saint Simons dude has really gotten under your collective skin… sounds like he runs your life – how sad. And, let me ask, are you really laughing when you type “HAHAHAHAHAHA” or are you just trying to copy Saint Simons? And does everybody have to type (((((( ))))))) with parentheses like Saint Simons? This guy must really keep you up at night. Again, how sad. Bitterness only hurts the person holding it. Let go …. just let it go.