How three points and one man changed football in Georgia
Paul Johnson exulted as UGA fell and the tides turned. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Three points on a rainy day when 87 were scored. Three points that halted a seven-year run of losing for one side and induced an abject reversal for the other. Three points that changed the state of college football in a state that lives for college football.
Georgia Tech beat Georgia 45-42 on Nov. 29, 2008, and never has one skinny victory assumed such heft. Tech is now the champion of the ACC Coastal Division and has been ensconced among the nation’s top 10 teams for a month. Georgia has had its worst season under Mark Richt and could be bound for Shreveport. You can argue that a different result 12 months ago wouldn’t have affected anything that has occurred in 2009, but you’d be wrong.
We stopped seeing Tech as hopeless during the first seven minutes of that famous third quarter. The Jackets went from 28-12 behind to 35-28 ahead in the time it took you to say, “There goes Dwyer!” And when it ended, Tech having won for the first time since George O’Leary was coaching against Jim Donnan, this much was clear: Mark Richt wasn’t coaching against Chan Gailey anymore.
Gailey tried six times against Richt, lost six times. In 2006 he even had the better team. Didn’t matter. There was something about Gailey that made you believe he could go 0-for-100 against the Bulldogs. Paul Johnson needed only one swing. Paul Johnson, as we now know, is different.
The Tech booster (and former co-captain under Bobby Dodd) Taz Anderson tells the story: Not long after Johnson was hired, he and Anderson were playing golf. The format was alternate shot. Johnson stood over the second shot on a par-5 hole. Anderson said, “Might want to lay up, Coach.” Johnson said, “Oh, I don’t know.” And knocked the darn thing on the green.
Just as faint heart never won fair maiden (really old saying), a timid Tech wasn’t going to unhorse Georgia. Tech stopped being timid the day Johnson strode — PJ doesn’t so much walk as he strides — through the door. Here’s a man secure enough to use an offense that supposedly ran its course decades ago, secure enough to run an actual play on any fourth-and-you-name-it. Johnson doesn’t care what you think of him. He’s so secure in himself and his methods that he needs no endorsement.
Nor, to hear him tell it, does he necessarily need to beat Georgia. “I’m not making it out to be the Super Bowl the way you guys are,” he said at his media briefing Tuesday. “I’m not going to let one game define our season.”
And then: “I don’t want to leave the impression that it’s not important. It is important. But I’m going to get Georgia Tech to the point where our program is bigger than one game.”
It helped that PJ won that one game on his first try. (”Been there, done that,” he said Tuesday.) Richt was no longer the scourge of the heated series but the guy who’d lost to the guy with the high school offense. Willie Martinez was the coordinator who couldn’t stop an offense that completed one pass (that on the game’s first snap). Georgia was no longer mighty, Tech no longer meek.
Had Georgia won on Nov. 29, 2008 — the 2009 Georgia media guide, perhaps inadvertently, lists the score of the game as 42-42 — the Bulldogs would have rounded off a disappointing season by at least reasserting their in-state dominance. Instead they laid themselves open to question, and in the succeeding Richt has seemed to have no answers. The guy who works at North and Techwood has hijacked every answer.
And now PJ and his program move from strength to strength, while Richt is under heavy pressure to change something, anything. Johnson’s team could play in the Orange Bowl. Richt’s just lost at home to Kentucky. Johnson’s team is the rising power, Richt’s the fading light. Three points did all that. Three points and one cocksure coach.
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577 comments Add your comment
son_sir
November 25th, 2009
3:44 am
Mark, I’d say you’re really enjoying stirring the pot. It’s not the most dignified form of journalism, but it is a welcome diversion in this era of uncertainty.
There is a lot of merit to your points, but that definitely doesn’t translate into overconfidence for this Tech fan. I’m cautiously optimistic about Saturday night. These Dawgs still possess some dangerous weapons and a break or two either way could make a huge difference. Last year, Tech got a few very pivotal ones at the most opportune times last year, i.e Samuel’s kick off fumble. To Tech’s credit they pounded away when they had the Dawgs on the ropes and that was the difference.
I will agree with your basic premises. CPJ has changed the mindset at Tech. Some interpret that as “cocksure” or even arrogance, but CPJ is just a very confident competitor, who absolutely hates the idea of losing. Tech’s previous HC (and AD I might add) seemed resigned to it to a certain degree.
CPJ places a lot of stock in common sense, execution, the value of TEAM, and what Erk used to call “a bad case of the wants”. He won’t excuse failure, especially when lack of concentration or execution is the problem. At Tech, oldschool is cool….and winning !
GO JACKETS ! THWG !
What it means when you choose Tech
November 25th, 2009
5:34 am
Shane,
In response to the dumbest post of the year.
What you fail to understand is the following:
Someone chooses to attend Tech they choose to become adults. Mommy and Daddy thoughts on the coach or the Institute do not matter.
Mark,
Great article. Tech may still lose this weekend, upsets do happen. But the die has been cast.
About georgia tech coach paul johnson, tech game, green | Find me About
November 25th, 2009
6:35 am
[...] Paul Johnson exulted as UGA fell and the tides turned. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford) Three points on a rainy day when 87 were scored. Three points that halted a seven-year run of losing for one side and induced an abject reversal for the other. …Read Original Story: How three points and one man changed football in Georgia – Atlanta Journa… [...]
georgia a drunk ghetto?
November 25th, 2009
7:44 am
too funny , and grunt field is simply in between regular ghettos, see ya saturday nerdos, and dont fumble early or georgia wins in a waltz with that weak passing nesbitt 2 or 3 td’s behind
grunt field or grunt stadium?
November 25th, 2009
7:45 am
did the tech athletic department finally experience a sellout, lmfao!!!!!!!
Techie
November 25th, 2009
8:05 am
I work at Georgia Tech. I vividly remember the end of one of CPJ’s spring practices. About a dozen players were emerging from behind the baseball stadium where the practice field is located. The only sound I heard was their cleats on the concrete as they made their walk back to the locker room. They were whipped–dragging a$$ is more like it. Fast forward to today, where they are dominating the time of possession and the other team is sucking wind. I knew that day there was a new sheriff in town.
Rick H
November 25th, 2009
8:37 am
You UGAG posters are a lot better at toughing it out on a blog than you are at toughing it out in a stadium and staying until the end of a game when it isn’t going well. Heck, you give up when you still have a chance to win.
Buzzed
November 25th, 2009
9:45 am
Shane is the product of a breast-feeding fem-a-nazi.
#1 GT fan
November 25th, 2009
10:13 am
You know what would be funny, If richit were to be fired from Georgia, THEN GO TO NOTER DAME.
To me, that would be the funniest thing ever.
GO JACKETS!!!!!!!
North Ave. Trade School fan
November 25th, 2009
10:16 am
PonPJ sounds like a one hundred percent UGA redneck. I sure hope he lives below the “nat line”. He’s the type to shoot a spike while deer hunting.
North Ave. Trade School fan
November 25th, 2009
10:27 am
By the way dog nation, I don’t think Tech will loose to UGA on Saturday, but if they do life WILL go on. It’s fun to win, and MORE fun to see UGA fans in a sweat about one bad season. This is a UGA state, but don’t think the last seven years will predicate the next few. Mark Richt is a very good coach, but CPJ is going to be a thorn in your side for a while. Buzz, Sting, Pesky Yellow Jackets!
SOUTHGADAWG88
November 25th, 2009
10:28 am
Well the game is in 3 days…..everybody will soon find out what’s what.
Smokewagon
November 25th, 2009
10:38 am
This Dawg has to admit that Tech has a great football team now but they sold their soul for it. Tech is tied w/ Texas for the lowest graduation rate for football players (49%) while UGA graduated 57% of their players. Welcome to the big leagues guys.
ohmy
November 25th, 2009
11:09 am
one thing is for sure. the uga tailgaters will leave a mess.
GTNuke
November 25th, 2009
12:26 pm
CFB Fan – I’m not sure if Tech’s schedule is number 12, but it is pretty easy to see that there is not a big difference between Tech’s and Georgia’s. Just sort both schedules by strength of the teams.
VT-UF – UF is better
Clemson-LSU – push, both are 8-3, both are top 20
Miami-Ok St – push, both are in top 20
UNC-Arkansas – UNC is better, one more win and UNC is top 25
The next five on each schedule (FSU, MSU, Wake, UVA, Duke for Tech and Auburn, Kentucky, Tenn, USCe, Ariz St for Georgia) is a push. All teams are sitting around 4-7 wins, none are ranked, all are around 30-70 in the Sagarin ratings, the definition of mediocre
Vandy-Vandy – push
Jacksonville St-Tenn Tech – JSU is much better, 8-3 vs. 6-5 and 60+ spots higher in the Sagarin.
Georgia played a top 5 team and 2 other BCS ranked teams.
Tech played 4 BCS ranked teams, none in the top 5, but one more than Georgia.
Both played 3 in the top 20.
Both played 5 mediocre teams.
Both played 2 bad teams.
Georgia’s cupcake is much worse than Tech’s.
All in all, pretty even strength of schedule.
GTNuke
November 25th, 2009
12:32 pm
CFB Fan – The big difference this year, even with an even SOS?
Both beat their cupcake.
Both beat Vandy.
Tech was 5-0 against their mediocre teams,
Georgia was 3-2 against their mediocre teams.
Tech has 3 wins against ranked teams,
Georgia has 0.
GTSteve
November 25th, 2009
1:10 pm
SOUTHGADAWG88
Well the game is in 3 days…..everybody will soon find out what’s what.
Amen to that one…one thing about Tech having the week off, is that the crap talking started a week early. UGA is very talented, and if they can quit making stupid errors, we will have a game, if they have stupid turnovers and stupid penalties, it could get ugly
Patrick
November 25th, 2009
1:32 pm
Its interesting how those UGA fans don’t count the losses during WWII but do count their wins from those seasons in their total statistics….
Bill Alexander)
November 25th, 2009
2:22 pm
Is the Tech game big to Georgia? How big. Let’s see–I believe there are four retired Jerseys in the Bulldog trophy case, Three of them are Frankie Sinkwich, Charlie Trippi and Herschel Walker. Almost any fan knows about these three although it has been a long time since the first two were were active.
Who is the fourth. What did he do to earn such recognition? How about Theron Sapp, a nice player but probably not in the same class as the others. What did he do? Why he was the “Man who broke the Drought.”
The facts stated here have not been authenticated, but I believe they are accurate. If not a correction would be appreciated.
Corn
November 26th, 2009
12:02 pm
Cuz says – “What has truly changed? To be sure, Coach Johnson seems to have changed an abject mindset of failure at Georgia Tech. To imply that Georgia’s poor season this year (and, by unspoken implication, future seasons) is directly related to one GT victory requires a leap in logic too large to contemplate seriously”
Are you trying to sound smart using as many fancy words you can think of or did you just discover the “synonyms” function on Word? This ramble is pretty awkward…
LizDawg
November 29th, 2009
12:58 am
30-24! Take that Saint Simons the maggot!
Pikedawg
November 29th, 2009
1:22 am
State Champs again…you bore me Tech….you really bore me.
bulldawg supremacy
November 29th, 2009
2:11 am
8 out of 9…Thorough dominance by the Dawgs, Tech was lucky to be that close…Bye Bye Jackets…You have been revealed…
Habib Mujahashijabbaslurpee
November 29th, 2009
2:22 am
I very sad the Jellow Jacket lose to Russ the Bulldog. Why do the Coach Johnson try to throw the ball when running working? I so angry I could punch a camel.
SEC Rules!
December 1st, 2009
12:53 pm
Bwahhahahaha. A great day for America. 30-24
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