Georgia Tech shows its upside in win — and it’s impressive
Orwin Smith's 77-yard touchdown run was part of Tech's first-half assault. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)
The first play went for 70 yards and a touchdown. The third play went for 77 yards and a touchdown. The fourth play went for 60 yards. No touchdown. (Virginia’s defense celebrates this small victory, then two minutes later gives up a touchdown.)
Remember 2008, when Paul Johnson brought this scattering-fire-ants-looking offense to Georgia Tech, and the Jackets won games scoring 41, 38, 31, 41 and 45 points, the last coming in Athens?
Remember 2009, when the numbers just got more stupid (49, 49, 39 … 56?), and Tech fans tore down the goal posts after an upset of No. 4 Virginia Tech, and Johnson was viewed as some borderline deity on The Flats for winning the ACC title in only his second season?
That’s sort of what it looked like Saturday. Maybe the ramifications weren’t as great. Virginia, the afternoon sacrifice, wasn’t ranked. There was no title clinched. Tech isn’t even in first place today.
But the Jackets’ 56-20 body-slam of Virginia was significant in other ways. Most notably, it momentarily stuffed all whines and questions about whether the program is headed in the wrong direction. It also suggested something about this team’s high ceiling.
“I believe everything happens for a reason,” quarterback Tevin Washington said after rushing for three touchdowns and throwing for another. “When something goes wrong, just learn. We learned something when we lost at Virginia Tech. It just showed us how even when you have a team down late, you can’t let up. You have to keep playing like it’s 0-0. That’s what we did today. I have a really good feeling about this team. I feel like if we can play with that kind of attitude every week, we can be really good.”
Tech led 14-0 4:29 into the game and 35-7 at halftime. It was 49-7 in the fourth before the foot came off the pedal. It’s not likely going to be that easy against Miami next week, or certainly in a few weeks at Clemson. But if this was the Jackets’ upside, they’re going to be a player in the ACC this season.
Note: Pittsburgh 35, Virginia Tech 17. It’s an open race in the Coastal Division.
Players were motivated watching clips of last season’s 24-21 loss to Virginia in Charlottesville, when the Cavaliers rushed for 274 yards. Washington referenced the contrasting scenes of the two sidelines in the final seconds, and Johnson later: “I heard a long time ago: Revenge is a great motivator for those who care. We were embarrassed the way we played up there.”
The defense, looking more comfortable now in the 3-4, was physical. Virginia was stuffed on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter (when the blowout was only 28-7). Players were inspired in part by watching a tape of the 1985 Marvin Hagler-Thomas Hearns middleweight title fight the night before.
“That got me real excited,” cornerback Louis Young said. “We knocked them down and had them on the ropes a lot today. … We were going to stalk them the whole game. Last year, if you look the film, they threw a lot of punches at us early and we didn’t come back at them.”
There was no letup Saturday. It was an important response in the conference to the overtime loss at Virginia Tech two weeks ago. The Jackets scored touchdowns on their first four possessions. Three of their first four offensive plays from scrimmage covered 207 yards, approaching their entire output in Blacksburg (288).
Their first offensive play was a 70-yard touchdown pass fromWashington to Zack Laskey. Their third play was a 77-yard touchdown run by Orwin Smith. Their fourth play was a 60-yard run by Washington, setting up another score. By halftime, Tech had 386 yards in offense, give or take a furlong.
It was a difficult to tell exactly what Virginia’s defensive strategy was, but it appeared to center on their ability to tear the helmet off Washington’s head. They did it twice, forcing him to the sideline to sit out plays because of the NCAA’s inane new rule. (Didn’t matter. The Jackets scored touchdowns on both drives.)
Asked if he felt the helmet grabs were intentional, Washington: “Yeah, and I told the officials. I don’t like that rule.”
Johnson’s pointed observation: “Funny how that happened near the goal line.”
Not that it made a difference.
By Jeff Schultz
EARLIER: 3 thoughts on Georgia Tech’s win over Virginia
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215 comments Add your comment
JACKET
September 16th, 2012
9:27 am
What’s the good word……TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!! GO JACKETS!!!!!
Not Disappointed
September 16th, 2012
9:48 am
Great win for Georgia Tech and UGA!
The only big difference is that Paul Johnson pumped the brakes 4 minutes into the 3rd quarter! Mark Richt waited until the 4th.
Great win regardles!
RobinVa
September 16th, 2012
9:49 am
Unlike most of the folks who post here I am not an expert. I’m just an old guy who has watched a lot of football in his life and has some common sense. So..I really don;t know how good Virginia is or is capable of being so I can’t really use the game to assess how good Tech is. It was a a win and a fun game to watch. I was impressed by Washington’s steady performance. I was impressed by the defense. In short, I was impressed.
Now I will use this thread to continue my one man crusade against college footballs overtime scheme. Louisiana-Monroe battled Auburn to a tie and then lost a field goal contest, The record books show a lost game. What I saw was one tie football game and one lost field goal derby. The game should go down in the record books as a tie.
Born2Buzz
September 16th, 2012
9:49 am
If you’ve been watching the Jackets with any knowledge of the game you would know that the difference in our O from the VT game vs UVA was the blocking of the AB’s and WR’s. Did you see CPJ after Orwin’s TD run? The perimeter blocking is the difference between this O producing short run and TD’s.
TW looked good today. Vad looked OK – he’s obviously the #2 QB now. D looked good again. UVA looked horrible.
Let’s get a little revenge next week against the Canes.
Lamont
September 16th, 2012
9:58 am
As a longstanding jacket fan-since the mid fifties-it was disturbing to see the stands emptying out at the beginning of the fourth quarter. I did it myself. it is so discourteous to the team who had played their asses off-and to the subs who finally get a chance to show their stuff to bail out like that. i make this pledge that i will never leave a game before it is over-no matter if Tech is winning or losing. Please join me in this. the team and coaches deserve this as much as they do a full house. Tech m,anagement and team are doing all they can to build a solid and full fan base. Do your part in this effort. It must be so demoralizing to the team to see so many empty seats-many occupied by freebie tickets and the high school bands there saturday.
Birmingham Jacket
September 16th, 2012
10:07 am
@Lamont
Go get yourself an “A” sticker to put on your car, so to identify yourself as a winner.
Jorge O'leary
September 16th, 2012
10:41 am
Get off Groh’s back. The upside on the D gives the O more touches!! If the D is good the offense will wear down most opponents! Go Jackets
Hmmmmmmm
September 16th, 2012
10:45 am
@Lamont
When they beat somebody that is good with consistency, you will find that the seats will be full at the beginning and the end of the game… So for now, we are still less than average in college football. Irrelevant to the University’s that field competitive teams…
Steve
September 16th, 2012
11:48 am
HA HA. Look at the excitement over beating a team who has won against Richmond and Penn State (by 1). I know you dorks get excited about 7-8 wins a year but calm down. You know you will end up maybe 7-5 before your annual bowl loss.
Steve
September 16th, 2012
11:50 am
Lamont, I am surprised people stayed that long. Plus, you dorks were 8,000 short of a sellout in a little 55,000 seat stadium. Pathetic.
Steve
September 16th, 2012
11:51 am
Check that, 11,000 short. My bad.
Burgess
September 16th, 2012
12:26 pm
Bill O’Brien is the complete opposite of Paul Johnson. When Penn State loses, he takes all the blame. When they win, he deflects the credit to his players. CPJ-just the opposite. On a loss, throws players under the bus……when they win (which has become less and less as he plays with guys he recruits, instead of Gailey’s recruits)he takes all the credit. He’s really a piece of work.
Buddy Landel
September 16th, 2012
12:43 pm
When does CPJ take all the credit? I hear Dwag trolls say this all the time, but when does he do this?
Paul in NH
September 16th, 2012
12:52 pm
Steve
September 16th, 2012
11:48 am
HA HA. Look at the excitement over beating a team who has won against Richmond and Penn State (by 1). I know you dorks get excited about 7-8 wins a year but calm down. You know you will end up maybe 7-5 before your annual bowl loss.
——–
Steve is correct. Fans should really get excited about beating a team that went 0-8 in the Sunbelt Conference in 2011 – a team that LOST to MTSU by 2 TDs
Steve
September 16th, 2012
12:54 pm
And fans should get excited about beating Presbyterian as well! Paul, moron, EVERY school plays cupcakes. Go take a look.
Paul in NH
September 16th, 2012
1:00 pm
Steve – Why the attitude? Too much Middle School homework this weekend?
Only a child would equate a blow out victory over an FBS school that played in a bowl last year as being equal to a victory over a team that was winless in the Sunbelt.
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:03 pm
No not middle school. Grade school. It sucks to be in the 5th grade still. Oh, and please show me where I said Virginia and Presbyterian are the same. I’ll wait. You see, you made a comment about UGA playing a cupcake, FAU, and I simply said all teams play cupcakes 2-3 times a year, including Tech. I thought you dorks were supposed to be smart?!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:18 pm
Steve……the difference, bubba, is that UGA plays 3 OOC cupcakes, while Tech plays only 1. I know you’re going to say that MTSU is a cupcake, but they are a couple of notches higher than either Buffalo or Fl Atlantic, and quite a few notches higher than GA Southern.
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
1:21 pm
I see the trolls have awakened as usual, after noon. Must be tough to stay up all night TRYING to think of something witty to say and then be an epic failure! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:29 pm
@ Burgess…..to echo what Buddy Landel posted, when does CPJ take all the credit, and when has he ever thrown a player under the bus. Yelling at a player when he comes off the field is definitely not throwing him under the bus. And jumping up and down going crazy after a big play by the Jackets is certainly not him taking credit for it either.
GTBob
September 16th, 2012
1:33 pm
HA HA. Look at the excitement over beating a team who has won against Richmond and Penn State (by 1).
So we should be upset that we played well and blew out a conference opponent that beats us frequently?
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:33 pm
“Supersize” are you kidding? The entire ACC is a cupcake except for VA Tech, Clemson, and FSU. Getting excited about the upcoming losses to Miami, Clemson, NC, and UGA? Oh, and your bowl game if you make it.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:36 pm
@ Steve…..and the entire SEC is a cupcake except for Bama and LSU and USC. So what’s your point?
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:37 pm
And I can guarantee you right now that there is no way the Jackets lose to Miami. Put your money where your mouth is
Buzz Limpstinger
September 16th, 2012
1:37 pm
Did I hear correctly? Bees lost to a team that lost to Pitt? Now that’s funny.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:39 pm
The trolls are so excited because they are 3-0 versus nobodies.
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
1:39 pm
Wow we have someone on here who can see and know the future! Steve, oh Steve, please let us know what next weeks lottery numbers are going to be since you are the see all, know all!!!!!
Steve=yet another troll who doesn’t have the wit bring enough game to be taken seriously LOL!!!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:40 pm
The dwags better look out for Vandy. Vandy will obviously be undermanned, but they are better coached and play better football than the dwags do.
Buzz Limpstinger
September 16th, 2012
1:42 pm
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:18 pm
Steve……the difference, bubba, is that UGA plays 3 OOC cupcakes, while Tech plays only 1. I know you’re going to say that MTSU is a cupcake, but they are a couple of notches higher than either Buffalo or Fl Atlantic, and quite a few notches higher than GA Southern.—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
No that’s wrong UGA plays 4 cupcakes. GT is the 4th.
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:42 pm
The whole SEC is a cupcake except for LSU, Bama, and USC??? Hmmm I believe UF, UT, and UGA #6, are all ranked. Way to go by the facts loser.
Ol’JacketFan, I simply go by the facts. Are you not man enough to admit that you nerds usually end up with around 8 wins a year? Can you not admit you can’t beat UGA or win bowl games? I recall most nerds on here “predicting the future” saying Tech was going to win at VA Tech. What happened?
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:44 pm
Nice spelling by “Supersize.” dwags? Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Vandy is better coached? Hilarious. Really worried about Vandy in Athens at night. 35-17 final.
dawgfan
September 16th, 2012
1:44 pm
Oh here we go again. The nerds beat UVA and are back on top of the world. Nobody can stop the triple option express!!! Everyone better watch out!!!
Different year. Same crap.
Georgia Tech=JOKE
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:48 pm
@ Steve…..why don’t you tell us about the FACT you posted yesterday about UGA’s SOS being so much higher than Tech’s, and then posting a link that proved you were wrong. As far as my spelling of “dwags”, apparently you weren’t watching the bowl game last year when a UGA fan sitting near the band held up a sign saying “GO DWAGS”. That was shown on National TV, proving for all just how illiterate some of your fans are. Tech bloggers now always refer to UGA as the “dwags.” We figure if it’s good enough for one of your own fans, then it’s good enough for us too. NEXT !!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:49 pm
@ dwagfan…..obsessing over the Jackets again today, huh? Poor baby doesn’t have a life.
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
1:51 pm
Steve, I don’t claim to predict the future(unlike you) so i’m quite content to see how the season plays out. As to your facts, that assumes you know what a fact is. you might want to look it up before spouting off what hasn’t occured in 2012 since Tech has yet to play GA, Miami, NC, Clemson or a bowl game Let me ask you something, since you KNOW the future why don’t you go ahead and bet everything you own on your predictions with your bookie and let us know how that works out. Deal?
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:52 pm
HA HA HA. The link I posted proved I was wrong? Are you that stupid? I posted that YESTERDAY. It was updated TODAY. Poor little man. As UGA plays UT, SC, UF, etc their SOS ranking will end up around 25.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:53 pm
@ Steve……here you go. Here is the famous picture from last year —-
http://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/p/30893609/Go-Dwags.aspx
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:53 pm
Supersize, that “fan” who spelled it wrong was not a UGA fan. Grow up. I know a dude who knows him. The spelling was not a mistake. He did it to make UGA look bad. Get a life if that’s all you have.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:54 pm
Steve, I was at the Tech game, so I didn’t see your post. But it’s been widely reported that you posted a link that DISPROVED your earlier claim. At the point when you apparently made your original post, your “facts” were (AT THAT TIME) incorrect.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:55 pm
@ Steve……of course you would try to claim that. Do you really thing a non-UGA fan could possibly be sitting next to the UGA band in the stands. Not likely at all. You just have stupid fans…….just like yourself.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:57 pm
sorry, “Do you really THINK….” not “Do you really THING…..”
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
1:57 pm
dwagfan=drunk, out of work, pathetic imbecile
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:58 pm
You really are stupid, that’s funny! I went to the site and posted the SOS right away so it was accurate. Go look, it was updated TODAY. Outta here. Enjoy having no life, woman, friends, or a good football team : )
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
1:59 pm
@ Steve……the person who “reported” you said the link you posted yesterday PROVED YESTERDAY that you were wrong. I have no idea how it has been updated today.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 16th, 2012
2:01 pm
Check that photo link, Stevie. The man holding the sign is even wearing a red shirt. And that photo was lifted directly from the TV transmission. It definitely was a dwag fan holding the sign, and (since I am sure this will be your next argument), it clearly wasn’t photoshopped either.
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
2:02 pm
One troll running away like the child he is since he can’t b.s. his way around the FACTS! LOL!!!! So typical!!!!!!!!!
JustinSyder
September 16th, 2012
2:14 pm
The over-under on Steve’s age is 14. Take your pick.
GTBob
September 16th, 2012
2:21 pm
Hmmm I believe UF, UT, and UGA #6
Sorry, but no one actually thinks anyone of those three teams are any good.
Paul in NH
September 16th, 2012
2:21 pm
Steve
September 16th, 2012
1:03 pm
No not middle school. Grade school. It sucks to be in the 5th grade still. Oh, and please show me where I said Virginia and Presbyterian are the same. I’ll wait. You see, you made a comment about UGA playing a cupcake, FAU
———
Actually Steve, you do appear to be in Grade School – since you obviously haven’t learned how to read yet.
I challenge you to find the word “cupcake” in any of the posts I have made.
Ol'JacketFan
September 16th, 2012
2:24 pm
@Justin, I was going to say 12 so I reckon I’d take the under