Bulldogs, Jackets seeking a boost from their defense
Todd Grantham's Georgia defense ranks among leaders nationally in several categories, but struggled last year against Tech. (Jason Getz/AJC)
Two years ago, the head coaches at Georgia and Georgia Tech, both with offensive backgrounds, fired their respective defensive coordinators.
So ended the frequent lampooning of Willie Martinez in Athens and the most often heard question at Tech, “What idiot is coaching Paul Johnson’s defense?” (His name was Dave Wommack.)
As Georgia and Georgia Tech prepare to face each other again Saturday, it’s easy to see that the biggest difference between the programs is defense.
The Bulldogs rank fourth nationally in total defense, 11th in scoring, ninth in takeaways and second in third-down percentage.
The Jackets, in those respective categories, rank 43rd, 56th, 52nd and 89th.
Now, it would be an oversimplification to say Todd Grantham is succeeding in his job and Al Groh isn’t. Grantham has better players. But after seeing some progress on defense, Tech has allowed 68 points and 827 yards in the past two weeks against Virginia Tech and Duke, which doesn’t equate to a gold star on Groh’s late-season resume.
Saturday’s game could go a long way toward affirming direction for both coordinators and, it follows, both programs.
It’s easy to diminish the Bulldogs’ defensive accomplishments because of a soft schedule. That won’t be an issue against Tech. The Dogs may have won two of three against the Jackets since Johnson’s arrival, but they really haven’t stopped his option offense.
Al Groh's Tech defense has looked solid at times, but allowed 68 points to Virginia Tech and Duke in the past two weeks. (AP photo)
Consider last season. Georgia won 42-34, but the Jackets rushed for 411 yards and had 512 total. They nearly doubled the Bulldogs in first downs (32-18) and offensive plays (92-48). They held the ball for over 38 minutes. The difference in the game: Tech’s three fumbles (all leading to touchdowns) and a missed extra-point attempt (allowing Georgia to hold a 35-34 lead until Washaun Ealey’s touchdown with 1:29 left.)
When Mark Richt left the field in Athens, you could hear him exhale in Bogart.
It follows that when Richt was asked if he expected Grantham’s defense to fare better the second time around against Tech’s option, he responded, “I don’t know. I just wouldn’t predict it. If you saw that offense week after week after week after week and not just once a year, I suppose we could get pretty good at it. But to think all of a sudden that we’re going to hook it up and be good at defending it, I wouldn’t bet on that.
“Their offense is just extremely difficult to stop. It makes every possession so much more precious than normal. … The quarterback is a runner, so everybody on our defense has a very strict responsibility. If you make a mistake against this team, that’s when the really big plays happen. Against other teams, you can make a mistake and have a free safety there to clean up the mess.”
The Dogs have held seven of their past nine opponents to 16 or fewer points. But Tech’s offense has averaged nearly 37 points and has been held under 21 just once (24-7 loss at Miami).
Groh has two problems: 1) His defense has been dented in two games since an upset of Clemson; 2) Even if Georgia plays without (or with a hobbled) Isaiah Crowell, quarterback Aaron Murray is playing his best football of the season and effectively spreading the ball around.
Groh signed a two-year contract. He hasn’t yet spoken publicly about whether he plans to come back next season.
Grantham signed a three-year contract. His agent already is pushing for an extension, earlier than athletic director Greg McGarity would like, and is making noises about other opportunities.
So in a sense, the futures of both are uncertain. Maybe one is looking for a sign and the other is looking for leverage. This game could provide either.
By Jeff Schultz
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560 comments Add your comment
5150 UOAD
November 25th, 2011
8:37 pm
48 yes on the sidelines……………..the other was the Interference call that was not interference.
the HIT happened but he tries to miss the guy I think.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:37 pm
Cheerleading recruiting…really?
Ol'JacketFan
November 25th, 2011
8:38 pm
One more time for the reading impaired…………….last 7 years, LARGEST margin of victory in the series is 8 POINTS, the game is very competitive.
Dawg48
November 25th, 2011
8:39 pm
OJF
I wish I still had the link on this kid from Georgia , he is 6′1″ right at 300lbs plays DT…..
In the 8th grade! Schools have already have offered him.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:39 pm
One thing that CPJ said on his show the other night that got forgotten in all the furor over his non-PC statement was that he thought we are headed towards 4 16-member super-conferences. That should solve a lot of problems and create some fantastic schedules in the future. What I think is going to be interesting is where Notre Dame goes. There have been rumors that they were interested in the ACC, as well as the more obvious choice of the Big 10. To go to any other conference except the Big 10 would mean ending their rivalries with Mich, Mich State, and Purdue. No matter what they do, they will probably have to end their rivalry with Southern Cal.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:39 pm
“Urinate on a Dog”
10th grade niece must be proud.
5150 UOAD
November 25th, 2011
8:40 pm
HedgesHaven yes Agnes Scott mostly.
John
November 25th, 2011
8:41 pm
Ga Tech? Well they suck all the way around the yard!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:41 pm
HedgesHeaven, before Tech went co-ed in the early 50s, and for a few years afterwards, Tech had to recruit female cheerleaders from other schools in the area, and probably from high schools also.
5150 UOAD
November 25th, 2011
8:41 pm
hedgesHaven………….It is part of a CHEER!
What’s the good word………………Pi$$ On Them.
Dawg48
November 25th, 2011
8:41 pm
I hate it for those kids at a&m how many close games have they lost this year?
That’s gotta hurt.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:42 pm
5150, if you would simply post “I am a loser and live vicariously through a crappy newspaper blog, I will not judge you” It’s He/She/It like you that keeps me coming back daily
Hater
November 25th, 2011
8:43 pm
Ol Jacket Fan … 2007….31-14…but yes, close most years.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:43 pm
Snoop and John, we are actually trying to have an intelligent conversation here, and that includes some classy dawg fans who are on here. The two of you need to get a life or get out of here.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:44 pm
Considering your username I guess a pissing contest is your cup of tea
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:44 pm
I guess I should have included HedgesHeaven in that list of losers. I THOUGHT he was actually contributing to the conversation. Obviously not.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:44 pm
The only way to engage anybody on the AJC blogs is to use cliches over and over and over and over again.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:46 pm
We were doing fine until you and Snoop and John decided to chip in with your worthless opinions
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:46 pm
Cupcake schedule
Any acronym for ACC
SEC Least
Ugay
Ugag
Nerds
Any post about what a 22 year old adult is taking at school
Delbert D.
November 25th, 2011
8:47 pm
The backup NT for Tech is TJ Barnes is 6′7 347. Depending on the opponent, he has rotated with Logan Walls and has played situationally. Walls has 37 tackles, 2 TFL. Barnes has 11 tackles, 2 TFL and 1 sack for -16 yards.
The Georgia and Tech 3-4 defenses are different in the DL alignment and responsibilities as well as LB responsibilities. Georgia plays primarily a 1-gap, and Tech plays a 2-gap, meaning that each defensive lineman is responsible for gaps to his left and right. In a 1-gap, the D-linemen line up in a gap vs. lining up head-to-head opposite the C and OTs. This is a very simplified description, but the 2 schemes are different. Georgia’s NT are ideally suited to the 2-gap that Tech runs, but CTG installed it last year when the available NTs were considerably lighter, if 295 to 300+ can be considered light.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:47 pm
How can you attribute when all the conversation involves is insulting one another about walmart, nerds, or how smart your posts make you look
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:49 pm
I would guess that you don’t give a rip about what a kid does the rest of his life after he finishes playing football in Athens. Not all of them make it in the pros, and if they don’t, then they need some kind of quality education in order to find a decent job with some kind of security. They should be STUDENTS FIRST and athletes second, and that means they need to be taking courses (and passing) that will keep them off the streets and off welfare.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:50 pm
I will be perfectly honest….on nights when nothing much is going on I like to drink a couple beers to gain enough courage to engage with such intellectuals as yourself.
Snoop Dawg
November 25th, 2011
8:50 pm
Supersize, you are delusional. Your name tells me that. You need a tweezer to find it.
Tech is by its own admission a wreck. None of the high school athletes want to go to Tech. The academic stuff is folklore.
Tech can’t even fill it’s 50,000 stadium for any game. So the Red and Black will dominate in your high school stadium. I believe that Woodward Academy’s Colquitt Stadium is actually bigger than Ulysses Grant Field.
Paul Johnson only dominance is at the dinner table. I’d like to see a one-on-one between him and Charlie Weis!
If that UGA cheerleader is going out with a GT kicker, she must be gay.
Supersize, I’ve got two GT grads who work in my environmental division and I have given them an earful this week. They were so meek they just agreed that they would be embarrassed again just like every year.
If the refereees hadn’t given GT that game where they stood Jasper Sanks up for half a minute and didn’t acknowledge his touchdown, then GT would only have one win over UGA in the last twenty years….
GT and Paul Johnson are so one dimensional. No passing attack, just the triple option run. The defense is like swiss cheese.
It’s gonna be ugly for the bumble bees tomorrow…
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:51 pm
Hedges, Dawg48 is a dawg, and nobody has insulted him. We only insult the idiot trolls who never contribute to the conversation to begin with……like you, apparently.
Delbert D.
November 25th, 2011
8:51 pm
“The only way to engage anybody on the AJC blogs is to use cliches over and over and over and over again.”
Now discuss how to engage in intelligent discussion. Cliches are tiresome.
Ol'JacketFan
November 25th, 2011
8:52 pm
Dawg48, I’ve seen a lot of kids over the last 3 years while watching my son’s team play that are 280-310 pounds but they are not in football shape as high school players. Trying to find HS senior who can come in and play as sophmores on the D line at that size ain’t easy!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:52 pm
Heges, just take a look at what Snoop (A DAWG fan, I might add) just posted. You call that an attempt to contribute to a conversation???
Delbert D.
November 25th, 2011
8:52 pm
The perfect model of cliched posting has appeared.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:53 pm
Yeah but supersize you judge kids before they even graduate and label them dumbass thugs because of their major…dude these kids play in the NFL if their lucky (Not For Long League) and most try to make an honest living and raise a family after they’re done.
Ol'JacketFan
November 25th, 2011
8:55 pm
Hater, you’re right about ‘07, my error.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:55 pm
Hedges, how many athletes with a degree in Magazine Management are ever going to make much of a living? Actually, it’s not so much that we judge the kids; we judge the system and any school who doesn’t demand excellence off the field as well as on it. Of course even schools (very few) who make such demands don’t always get what they want, but at least they make an attempt. I don’t see many schools in the southeast making such demands.
Dawg48
November 25th, 2011
8:56 pm
OJF
It’s hard to find a big guy that can run….
We got lucky with big John and geathers .
Bama got real lucky finding big ole mnt Cody!
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
8:57 pm
Hedges, I might add that we label players as thugs when they continue the practice of getting in trouble. Not all UGA players are thugs, but there sure seem to be a lot of them
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
8:59 pm
But I can’t hate too much, these blogs are entertainment. Much more than the dumbass’s on CFB Live, The Herd, Brando, or DP
SeenThisB4
November 25th, 2011
9:00 pm
The only question left to be decided in the SEC Championship, is whether LSU scores 60 on Georgia…..or 70?
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
9:00 pm
Than take a step back and realize that just because a kid gets in trouble doesn’t mean he’s a thug….
Ol'JacketFan
November 25th, 2011
9:02 pm
Dawg48, no doubt, What I have seen, for the most part, are coached putting their biggest kids on the O line at that level. Shaq Mason, as a HS senior, played both ways but was recruited solely for the O line. He was about 310-315 as a senior at Columbia Central, TN high school.
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
9:02 pm
Joe Hamilton was as clean cut a guy as a program could ask for….whose the last Bulldog to get a ticket to NY for the Heisman ceremony? But the dude gets busted for leaving the scene of an accident with possession of bud and I believe but not certain under the influence right after landing a sweet ass job at his alma mater
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
9:04 pm
Would you call him a thug? Probably not? But IC and co. fail a drug test and they’re thug, gangsta mongrants from the hood? Get a life people
Ol'JacketFan
November 25th, 2011
9:05 pm
“coaches”
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
9:07 pm
Supersize, what is your self righteous definition of making a living???? Hmmmmm, most of the country would probably agree that raising a couple kids right and being a good husband could give anybody happiness in this world
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
9:07 pm
Hedges, in the same light, quite calling all Tech people nerds, although I’m not so sure that being a nerd is a bad thing. But it IS used in a derogatory manner on these blogs.
Yes, I was VERY disappointed in Hamilton’s behavior too; I offer no excuses. Apparently he has cleaned up his act; Curry gave him a chance to redeem himself. But remember, I said we call players thugs who CONTINUE to get into trouble. How many multiple offenses, no matter how minor, have some UGA athletes had in the past few years?
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
9:08 pm
sorry, that should have been “quit calling” not “quite calling”
HedgesHaven
November 25th, 2011
9:09 pm
The only thing sadder than college football and people’s so called “concern” over their school’s athletes is high school football….and I’m not about to go there
Dawg48
November 25th, 2011
9:09 pm
Did any one here from cuz about his daughter?
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
9:10 pm
Hedges, my point about “making a living” was that how many kids who graduate from college with what I would refer to as a bogus degree really earn enough to adequately support a family? I’m not just talking about athletes now. There are some worthless degree programs in most colleges, and there are a lot of college graduates walking the streets because their degrees are worthless.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 25th, 2011
9:11 pm
Dawg48, is there something new about Cuz’s daughter? I haven’t chatted with him in almost 2 years, and I only saw him online the other night for the first time in those 2 years. Has his daughter taken a turn for the worse? Don’t know if you know this, but he and I both live in Augusta
Snoop Dawg
November 25th, 2011
9:11 pm
Supersize, you have the right to remain silent. Every time you post a blog, you lose sand from the credibility hourglass.. Your time will be up around noon tomorrow.
Don’t the nerdly bees have a blog of their own?
5150 UOAD
November 25th, 2011
9:12 pm
What did I miss making my Snack.
I was talking about football games and rivalries and now we are back to sling IT.
Oh Well
Yes TJ Barnes was supposed to be MUCH MUCH better. he has nver Cranked up his MOTOR to be really good.
A big part of the game will be Walls on Jones and Gates
Finch/McRae and Uzzi on Jenkins