Georgia Tech doesn’t look ACC ready, starting with defense
Coach Paul Johnson's offense, led by Joshua Nesbitt, managed just one touchdown in the last nine possessions, but the Jackets struggled big-time on defense. (AP photo)
LAWRENCE, Kan. – In the final game before opening the defense of its ACC championship, Georgia Tech missed tackles, missed assignments, dropped passes, roughed the kicker, roughed the quarterback, certainly roughed its own fan base, shanked a punt 13 yards, seem to float in and out of consciousness against a team that a week ago was dropped by North Dakota State and looked so bad on defense that one was tempted to ask, “So, anybody have Dave Wommack’s phone number?”
Forget the question of whether the Yellow Jackets are ready for next Saturday’s ACC opener against North Carolina. They’re not. The only question is: How deep is the hole?
“There’s nothing magic I can say, like, ‘Abracadabra, kazaam,’ and it’s going to be fixed,” coach Paul Johnson said. “You just have to get better.”
The Jackets just suffered the worst loss of the Johnson era. Projected to win by two touchdowns, they lost 28-25 on Saturday to a Kansas team that a week before was dropped by North Dakota State 6-3.
Fortunately, North Dakota State isn’t also on Tech’s schedule.
Kansas receiver Daymond Patterson spins away from Tech's Kyle Jackson. He finished with seven catches, including a touchdown.
Humiliation was well represented on both sides of the ball. Even Johnson’s vaunted offense struggled. The Jackets scored one touchdown in their last nine possessions.
But the problems really start with the one area on Tech’s team that figured to improve this season, and the one area that absolutely had to: defense.
When Johnson fired Wommack and hired Al Groh, he had no illusions that Tech suddenly would morph into Alabama. He just figured the Jackets would be better than Alabama-Birmingham. Hasn’t happened.
Tech continues to miss tackles and blow assignments. The middle of the defense looks soft against the run, even going back to last week’s game against South Carolina State (178 yards rushing) . When Kansas went to a no-huddle early in the game, watching Tech’s players was like looking at a kicked fire ant hill.
The Jayhawks scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions. They converted four of their first five third-down situations. It would have been five out of six, if not for a dropped pass. They had a freshman running back, James Sims, rush for 101 yards. They had a receiver, Daymond Patterson, with seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.
So much for the Groh effect.
To what extent this can be attributed to a slow transition to Groh’s 3-4 and how much of it is simply bad play can’t be certain.
“You’ve got to get off blocks,” Johnson said. “Sooner or later, it can’t all be the scheme.”
True enough. But who takes the fall for players coming out flat (linebacker Kyle Jackson: “We didn’t look like we were ready to play. We came out kind of dull.”)? Or failing in basics like making a tackle?
“I’m in charge of it,” Groh said. “If there’s any finger to be pointed, it’s at me.”
Groh said the Jackets have practiced enough against the no-huddle, so “to say that was the issue would be a cop-out.”
He said of the 3-4 scheme: “It is what it is. We’ve made the transition. We’re playing the defense. We just have to play it well enough. You’re not going to be competitively tough if you just start making excuses.”
When asked if Kansas — who managed only a field goal in 12 possessions against North Dakota State — is a team that should score four touchdowns against the Jackets, Groh got a little testy.
“That’s fantasy football. I just deal with what happened today,” he said.
But it’s not fantasy — Kansas really did score only three points.
Groh: “That was then. This is now. That’s not the game coaches play. Coaches play the game that’s played today. The rest is talk radio, those guys who have all the answers.”
If Groh has the answers, it doesn’t show. The Jackets go to Chapel Hill next week to start things for real, and as Jackson said when asked if he felt like the team was ready: “You know — I feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
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248 comments Add your comment
cattle dawg
September 11th, 2010
11:38 pm
I tried to tell some of you tech folks you would miss Bay Bay.
GTJeff
September 11th, 2010
11:41 pm
Jacket2010, how can you honestly DREAM that a team that was humiliated by a horrible Kansas team today has any SHOT at a decent season? Did you not watch the game??????? Fat chance we’re able to keep within 2 tds of UNC next week.
REALIST
September 12th, 2010
12:17 am
I’ve been saying it from day 1…Johnson is going to completely decimate our program of bonafide Div 1 athletes. We were not a legit top 20 team last year and we dang sure aren’t going to be there this year either… turning into Annapolis South. Take a hard look at recruiting…ouch. We are one high ankle sprain from a meltdown.
cattle dawg
September 12th, 2010
12:20 am
How cute is cpj’s comments now? Hes such a tough guy, right?
HugoStiglitz
September 12th, 2010
12:21 am
How did Kansas humiliate us? Because they won a close game? Its not the end of the world. They played well, we didnt, it happens. We dont really know how good they will end up being. We also looked pretty terrible for the first three games last season and then caught fire after that. Writing the team off for one game seems a little too crazy panic driven for me.
cattle dawg
September 12th, 2010
12:23 am
Its not about Tech, its about paul johnson. Its never how good tech is, its how good his offense is.
cattle dawg
September 12th, 2010
12:26 am
Hugo, if a cmr led Georgia team lost this type of game , what would you say?
TGT
September 12th, 2010
12:42 am
Tech not ACC ready?! The ENTIRE ACC does not look ready!!! VT, GT, and FSU all with embarrassing loses!! (Miami as well, but more respectably of course.) How much lower can this conference go?!
GO JACKETS
September 12th, 2010
12:54 am
Remember the highs are never as high and the lows are never as low as they seem. It was a bad weekend for the ACC, it was a bad weekend for Tech. I do think that we are missing a couple of guys on D and quite frankly probably some speed and size in general. This isnt the end of the world. We will show up to play against UNC. Heck, we may not win that one either. But yall have to put things in perspective. Its one game! Keep a little faith. Things can and will turnaround. UGA fans really dont have a whole lot to talk smack about today. Although of course they are going to. This happened last year. Remember Miami?? What happened after that? UGA, they can kiss my as*. So what? We still get to play the games. I got a feelin we will be ready for them this year too.
GO JACKETS
September 12th, 2010
1:00 am
It must feel good to lose to South Carolina with a bunch of 5* thugs UGA. Congrats, you lost to a better team than we did. Who gives a damn. Your 1-1 and we are 1-1. There is alot of football left to be played. We have a chance to forget about this one while UGA fans cant cause they are going be looking up at Spurrier the rest of the year. So Im glad you guys feel good enough about your loss to talk so much crap.
HugoStiglitz
September 12th, 2010
1:04 am
cattle dawg, I would say they played a bad game and probably laugh at them. We deserve some trash talk for losing but the doom and gloom talk over one game is a little ridiculous. Im pretty sure Kansas, Va Tech, Minnesota, and Ole Miss arent all going to pack it in for the season and fire their coaches and their losses were way worse then ours.
cattle dawg
September 12th, 2010
1:08 am
I dont feel good about the dawgs loss.. I will borrow a line from tech. The dawgs are on the way up, tech is on the way down. Dawgs will win the next 57 hundy vs tech..
HugoStiglitz
September 12th, 2010
1:10 am
cattle dawg, I would say they played a bad game and laugh at them. We deserve some ragging for todays game but the doom and gloom talk is a little over the top. Ole Miss, Kansas, Minnesota, and Va Tech have all had losses way worse then ours today but im sure they arent going to pack it in and fire all their coaches. We have played bad before and came back strong. We can do it again.
cattle dawg
September 12th, 2010
1:49 am
Not sure who yall got next week, but I guess we will both learn alot from how well we rebound.
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September 12th, 2010
3:19 am
[...] Georgia Tech doesn't look ACC ready, starting with defense | Jeff … [...]
Terry J. Walraven
September 12th, 2010
3:51 am
“A kicked fire ant hill” — Good analogiy. Great line. Terry
Conyers GT Fan
September 12th, 2010
4:44 am
GT will never be able to pass (no matter who plays QB) with PJ coaching. Its reality. GT fans may as well accept this and be thankful
for any wins we get. I am now thinking that 7-5 will be the best
we can hope for and not be surprised if its 6-6.
GT75
September 12th, 2010
6:00 am
Jackets2010
September 11th, 2010
10:10 pm
Tech fans will not turn on Paul Johnson.
Did you check the Dawg blog today?
Richt has a much unhappier fan base than CPJ.
Not even close.
Could that be because their expectations are higher, and rightfully so. It is starting to really look ike GT football is what is always has been. Mediocre. Hiring Pau Johnson was absolutely the worst long range hire in college football history. Drad traded our future for short term success that really, at this level is nothing more than gimmick ball. The gigs up. The monumental flaws of Paul Johnson football are front and center now. Get rid of his fat, arrogant butt today before he can recruit us another #50 class. What quality recruit in his right mind wants to come here and abandon all hope of an NFL career, QBs..forget it. WRs..LMAO! Even RBs don’t want to come here that have NFL aspirations and leave with no preparation whatsoever for the nuances required at the next level. And what coach in his right mind would be stupid enough to follow a Paul Johnson team devoid of anything resembling real offensive football talent.
Dan F.
September 12th, 2010
6:08 am
You have to admit it guys. GT75 has a point. GT’s talent level continues to regress under PJ. It’s obvious on both sides of the ball. Furthermore he needs to shut his mouth. He has done absolutely nothing yet to justify all the man love some of you guys show him. Winning last years ACC Championship against a 7-5 Clemson team and then getting his butt handed to him in embarrassing fashion proved what guys? When is he going to consistently beat even moderately good OOC teams? The way it looks now that may be never. Face it. trying to portray the ACC as anything but mediocrity is like putting lipstick and a pretty dress on a pig.
Big Steve
September 12th, 2010
7:50 am
A pop gun, high school offense that is incapable of playing catch-up or incapable of throwing the football will only beat the weak sisters of football…..NotreDamus
BUZZ ME
September 12th, 2010
8:09 am
we’ll be lucky to win 6 games
Matt
September 12th, 2010
8:29 am
The offense was bad too. What have they been doing all Summer? This looked like a lost clueless team. Nice job coaches. You get a F and should all take a paycut for obv not doing your job.
chris
September 12th, 2010
8:38 am
the way this team looked, we will be lucky to get 5 wins. middle tenn won’t be a cakewalk. and who knows with nc state. next week is a sure loss. i think 5 wins is likely. at least that way we won’t have to lose another bowl game.
GTJeff
September 12th, 2010
8:47 am
GT75 at this point I would have to agree with you. I was talking to my brother last night & he & I agree that this offense & the hiring of Groh are going to be the downfall of Tech football for years to come. Someone made a comment earlier “great teams sometimes fall hard”. Maybe so but we are not a great or even good team. Great teams like Alabama, Florida Ohio State don’t lose to vastly inferior competion. Great teams don’t choke in bowls. Great teams play win week in & week out. This is probably going to be a 6-6 year & a loss to Utah State in the Humanitarian bowl IF we get there.
GT #1 Fan
September 12th, 2010
8:57 am
It is sad that all Tech fans are claiming victory cause UGA lost. I am just glad WE don’t play an SEC schedule. We might could beat Vandy! Abowl game this year looks iffy at best, and next year looks very scary.
Jayhawk Fan
September 12th, 2010
9:02 am
I pulled up the sports section to read this from Kansas City. Believe me GT fans, we are as stunned as you are. After last week, we felt our year would be longer than yours. Now we are saying… “Who are those guys?”. We still do not know which team will show up each week. You have to understand a lot of our offense today was based on a yellow flag. Can’t live on that forever, but it sure boosted the effort today. Clearly Tech is better than they played Saturday. Keep the head up and the Buzz On.
JSS
September 12th, 2010
9:12 am
GTJeff…
Alabama lost to LOUISIANA MONROE three years ago! It was a turning point. Florida lost to a vastly inferior (on paper) Mississippi team. Southern California lost to a meddling Stanford when they hadn’t lost to the likes of Auburn or Ohio State. Sir, that argument does not stand the test. There’s not one team in the staged atmosphere of what is D-1 college football that can not have their butt handed to them by anyone if they don’t play the game correctly, smartly, and with respect that your opponent might just beat you…
Doc Holliday
September 12th, 2010
9:15 am
Willie Martinez is ready when you are.
ACC, it must suck to be you. « Get The Picture
September 12th, 2010
9:15 am
[...] I have to say that Schultz’ headline isn’t exactly fair to Georgia Tech. The Jackets didn’t look particularly worse than [...]
GT
September 12th, 2010
9:20 am
Have these pro coaches every worked out for Tech. This defense looked exactly like the stuff Gailey use to put on the field. Maybe Paul bought into what we all buy into now days the hype. Groh’s resume looks impressive, but you start to see a pattern of a man going though the motions. His press conference sounded a lot like a Gailey press conference too. Johnson has been pretty good at cutting through the crap and I think he will figure this one out. This is the kind of stuff that make coaches like Spurrier legends, they see beyond the resumes and press clippings. They have their own minds. Even over at Alabama they don’t hire a resume they go out find a promising young assistant right out from under Georgia’s nose and make him into the resume. Both teams in this state need to find a dc on the raise not the back end of his career. Johnson will adjust.
footlong Dawg
September 12th, 2010
9:22 am
you could see it coming…. Groh’s been around.. but never a good coach… now he’s just old and tired… Dawgs need help to get the offense going.. Richt needs to take over .. much more aggressive play calling for sure !!
footlong Dawg
September 12th, 2010
9:25 am
Nesbit “s completion rate would be about 50% if NO defense on field at all….
Real Tech Fan
September 12th, 2010
9:27 am
You guys are idiots about the talent level. Johnson has really only had one full class, and this year’s class for 2011 is looking really good. Chill out on that nonsense. This year’s team simply lacks leadership and true playmakers. These guys got used to Bay Bay, Dwyer, and Morgan making all of the big plays. Someone is going to have to step and start making plays.
hahahahaahahaa!!!!!
September 12th, 2010
9:29 am
Schultz are you blind!?!?! The entire ACC doesn’t look ACC ready!! James f’n Madison….ON THE ROAD!!?!?! It’s time to strip the ACC from their automatic bowl bid. This is a disgrace and highway robbery for other conferences that can actually compete.
go GAYhawks!!!!!!!
September 12th, 2010
9:30 am
So much for that Johnson experiment, ehh tools? LOL!!!!
Robby
September 12th, 2010
9:31 am
Hey bug nation. Your HEISMAN contender couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat in the middle of the Atlantic!! He is the worst passing QB I have ever seen at the D-IA level.
Brad
September 12th, 2010
9:31 am
Now we know why they closed the practices to the media and public.
Bee Lover
September 12th, 2010
9:36 am
Yellow Jackets have been reading their press clippings……coach has got to put an end to that. Bees did not come to play nor did the coaches do a good job. Some of the worst calls by Johnson I’ve seen from him
Nativebird
September 12th, 2010
10:00 am
Once again…it “aint” defense. Love the jackets, long time fan. But unitl this brilliant CPJ (not!) can get his head out of his @#$% and develop SOME (any) level of passing attack and recruit a QB that can throw a football without looking like he’s “flickin poo”, this football program will do “okay”, maybe even win an ACC every now and then, but will alway, always, always underperform compared to what real TOP 20 college football programs do. It’s locked in.
Vick=Dog killing Thug
September 12th, 2010
10:00 am
I had decided I wasn’t going to bash the bugs on their loss to a basketball school until I saw how many GT fans were posting garbage on the dawgs blogs. Bunch of punks.
At least we lost to a ranked SEC team with a legendary coach. I wouldn’t trade our freshman QB for your senior QB that’s for sure.
eaassyy
September 12th, 2010
10:03 am
Better start preparing for a solid UNC team. If Tech has another letdown next week it could get ugly, FAST.
86Dawg
September 12th, 2010
10:05 am
Glad to see at least a few of you Tech fans (Stiglitz notably, among others) get it…one week does not a season make. CPJ is a heckuva coach and motivator and will put a better team on the field in the coming weeks.
Looking back now, can anyone be surprised Tech was overconfident and ripe for upset? Had this years players really done anything to earn that ranking in the teens?
Much as it hurts today, this game will make your team better, just like yesterday’s loss at SC will make mine better.
GTman
September 12th, 2010
10:15 am
The good (or at least hopeful)
We lost our first road game last year at Miami (an ACC game) and still won the ACC. Since the rest of the ACC sucks (has to be the worst BCS conference after yesterday’s debacles), I think we still have a chance.
1. CPJ really choked with the play calling. He panicked and went to the pass. We had plenty of time to run the ball and grind it out and score the last touchdown. In Nesbitt’s legs I trust, In Nesbitt’s arm I do not.
2. A new defensive scheme is going to take time to learn, but please teach the guys how to tackle. Way to many guys trying to make the highlight film “blow up” hit instead of wrapping your arms around the ball carrier and bringing him to the ground.
3. Move AA back to A back. He is not a B back, but he is a very good A back. Rotate in Lyons and Cox at B-back – they don’t mind getting beat up and they run hard.
4. Can we find someone that kick a ball into the endzone? I see high school guys kick it through the endzone every Friday night. I know the college kickoff is at the 30 (10 yards further back), but we can’t seem to even kick it past the 10 yd line.
5. We are in our 3rd year of CPJ recruits. Anyone wowed by any of his recruits?
6. Where is the speed option? That was one of our best plays the last two years and I have not seen it run this year.
Brock
September 12th, 2010
10:16 am
all you dumbass so called fans jumping off, go ahead and jump. We don’t need or want you. Chill the F out. The season is not over. We haven’t even played a conf game yet. JFC, it’s always what have you done for me today. You guys need to get a grip.When we win next week the same guys on here bashing will be praising again. STFU and watch some football. It is just a game afterall.
TazzDawg
September 12th, 2010
10:27 am
Nesbitt for Heisman, I’m still rotflmao on that one.
Trade school nerds are more retarded than even I thought possible!
groundfog
September 12th, 2010
10:28 am
Simply amazing,Nesbitt in his third year, has gotten worse throwing the ball. I’m starting to miss Reggie Ball
JSS
September 12th, 2010
10:34 am
@ Doc Holliday…
Willie Martinez has a good job already…
LOL
September 12th, 2010
10:39 am
Ah, at least the dawgs lost to a real team!
LOL
September 12th, 2010
10:41 am
Enjoy Shreveport!
GTman
September 12th, 2010
10:45 am
LOL – the problem is you have to play many more “real teams”, you will not even get a sniff at your conference championship. You will not even be close to winning your division. You will be lucky if you guys even get to Shreveport again. Sad day in muttland.
GT still has all of our goals ahead – win the ACC (yes I know it is a terrible football conference) and win the Orange Bowl game and beat UGA.
THWG!