In its first ACC test, Georgia Tech plays like … Georgia Tech
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The team that got overrun at the end by Kansas last week in Lawrence? Those weren’t these Yellow Jackets as driven by this coach. Those were impostors. Here on Saturday we saw … well, let’s let the coach express it.
“The encouraging thing,” Paul Johnson said, “was that we played like Georgia Tech.”
A Georgia Tech game doesn’t have so much a rhythm as a heartbeat, and at the end it’s usually Johnson’s men who have the bigger heart. There will be palpitations en route, most of the due to Tech’s defense or the lack thereof. But these Jackets are accustomed to that by now. They don’t get antsy when they fall behind. They didn’t get antsy here, where they trailed three times in the first half and again in the second.
They just kept fighting, and for once the fight wasn’t all about Johnson’s stylized offense. Though the offense did muster 448 yards, and Joshua Nesbitt did complete three of four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown, and the Tech offense did essentially run North Carolina’s offense off the field. Said Johnson: “I really didn’t feel like they could stop us if we ran the ball three times. Or four times.”
That said, the Tech D — yes, the Tech D — did its bit. It limited North Carolina to seven points over the final 40-plus minutes. Granted, the offense did its bit, hogging the ball for 32 of those 4o-plus minutes, but on its final five possessions Carolina managed four first downs (one of those by penalty).
In sum, this wasn’t the Dave Wommack-coached defense that ould start badly and get worse. This one improved as it went. Said Al Groh, the new coordinator: “When players had to make plays, they made ‘em.”
It would be wrong to say Groh’s group figured it all out Saturday. There were enough defensive howlers to stamp this as a vintage Tech game. Said Johnson: “The first half it looked like nobody was going to stop anybody.” But the Jackets had a chance to lose this vital game after Nesbitt sailed a pitchout past Roddy Jones late in the third quarter, and Brad Jefferson’s recovery of T.J. Yates’ fumble on Carolina’s first snap saved the day.
Said Groh: “Our personality, our identity, our brand is to play with energy , toughness and passion on every play.”
Yes, it’s a brand in progress. But there’s no question that the overall Tech persona — starting with Johnson and trickling down through the indomitable Nesbitt — isn’t so much skill (though there’s much of that on hand) as stubbornness. Said Nesbitt: “We go into every game with the mindset that it’s going to be a dogfight.”
That Tech team that lost to Kansas? Those weren’t the real Jackets. We saw the real Jackets here for the first time this season, and they looked pretty much the way they did a year ago. And in 2009 they were ACC champs.
By winning here, the 2010 team has given itself a chance to repeat after itself. The schedule remains difficult — the Jackets still must travel to Clemson and Virginia Tech — but this date at Kenan Stadium always loomed as the key early test. It didn’t matter how many Tar Heels were missing due to suspension; to be taken seriously again, Tech had to win this game. It did.
“It’s too early to write an ending for this season,” Johnson said, but the ending now has a chance to be brighter than if Tech went 1-2 over its first three games. This was a conference game, a division game, a statement game. And the Jackets’ statement was: “We might not have Derrick Morgan or Demaryius Thomas or Jonathan Dwyer or Morgan Burnett anymore, but we’re still Georgia Tech.”
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223 comments Add your comment
Luke
September 19th, 2010
1:30 am
All I’m hearing from people is that Tech beat a depleted UNC team missing 12 starters. Time to clear a few things up. Out of the 12 players held out, none of them are being held out by the NCAA. They’re being held out by UNC. Sucks to suck. Don’t play with agents. Out of those 12 players, 6 actually play. 4 actually start (Austin Marvin, Robert Quinn, and Greg Little being the 3 big names). Second, if Tech doesn’t turn the ball over by careless pitches in the middle of the 3rd Q, you can count on 14 more points up on the board (one was a terrible pitch by Nesbitt, the other a terrible miscue by Wright). I’m not sold on the defense yet. I’m loving that Cross is creating havoc at the line (Great sack late) and we need to see more of that. However, our around routes to the A-Backs is great to see and I’d love to see more of that as well. It was a solid win over a fairly solid team in their stadium. This was a completely different team that we saw from a week ago and it just goes to show that we let the rankings and everything else get into our heads. We need to stay focused and punch N.C. State in the mouth before Russell Wilson lays the hammer down. I think we can pull out a win due to a terrible N.C. State defense, but our secondary is going to have their hands full if we can put some pressure on them. Unfortunate loss for the Dawgs this afternoon, but hopefully they can tweak the O-Line, get Murray some more time, and Richt turns things around in a loud Davis Wade Stadium next week. Need them with a good record for when we play them in November. Go Jackets!
Harry
September 19th, 2010
3:06 am
NC State kickoff is at noon…ANYONE ELSE SICK OF NOON GAMES??
A Hopeful GT Fan
September 19th, 2010
5:51 am
A glimer fo hope from the UNC game albiet against a team missing
10 or so starters. Next GT has to play a better than expected NC State
team. If they do pull of a win at home, I will raise my hopes for this team
a little more. I would like to see GT win at least 7 regular season games.
The Debate is Over
September 19th, 2010
7:49 am
To put this high school stadium stuff to bed a long last, from Listafterlist.com
Largest High School Football Stadiums in Texas Aboslutley Huge TGB
INFORMATIVE
Tags: football, texas, high school, sports, texas
During a dinner conversation the other day someone mentioned they played high school football in Texas. I asked if “Friday Night Lights” was realistic. He said, it was and that he played high school ball in a stadium that sat over 20,000.. According to TexasBob at Texasbob.com (no relations to Trailer Guy Bob ), there are 3 high school stadiums in Texas that seat over 20,000. Here are the ten largest
1. Alamo Stadium – Capacity: 23000 – San Antonio
2. Pizza Hut Park – Capacity: 21193 – Frisco
3. Mesquite Memorial Stadium – Capacity: 20000 – Mesquite
4. Ratliff Stadium – Capacity: 19302 – Odessa
5. Farrington Field – Capacity: 18500 – Fort Worth
6. Buccaneer Stadium – Capacity: 18000 – Corpus Christi
7. San Angelo Stadium – Capacity: 17500 – San Angelo
8. Memorial Stadium – Capacity: 17000 – Wichita Falls
9. Veteran’s Memorial Stadium – Capacity: 16800 – Pasadena
10. Stallworth Stadium – Capacity: 16500 – Baytown
Tech Buzz
September 19th, 2010
8:55 am
Tech will not lose an ACC game—mark it down.
TechFromTaTa
September 19th, 2010
9:07 am
Tech Buzz
September 19th, 2010
8:55 am
Tech will not lose an ACC game—mark it down.
Which means they will not beat a ranked team all year.
GT Fan...
September 19th, 2010
9:26 am
And your point “TechFromTaTa”???
If the Jackets were to win all of their remaining ACC games (ranked opponents or not) that would mean they’ll be playing in the ORANGE Bowl again. Not a bad outcome I’d say.
GT Fan...
September 19th, 2010
9:43 am
Yeah Harry, NOON games are frigin B-S!!
NCSt is 3-0 and has a very good QB. GT has been in or just around the rankings the past three seasons and runs an intriguing offense with a Heisman hopeful at the helm. But this ain’t good enough for the $$-network-$$ “suits”. They have their beloved FSU (vs. Wake) in one 3:30pm slot, and the other 3:30 slot is Butch Davis and his band of merry men vs…….RUTGERS, yep UNC (0-2) vs. RUTGERS (2-0)! I guess the “$uits” feel that UNC’s dirty program is better TV?? Hell, Duke gets a 3pm start vs. Army. VA gets a 1:30pm start vs. VMI, and VT – BC is still TBD.
But back to my original statement … NOON games SUCK!!!
Tech Man
September 19th, 2010
5:33 pm
I would like to know this!! I know the Jackets got beat by Kansas; but Tech played the same team that Ranked LSU played at the dome and with same score!! Why doesn’t Tech move up instead of going back in the ranks. Stupid Stupid!!!!
GOLD PANTS
September 19th, 2010
6:24 pm
The great thing about this weekend’s games are: (1) can watch the Tech vs. North Carolina game replay without fear of losing (once will do) and (2) can watch the Georgia vs. Arkansas game replay knowing Georgia will lose. I will watch that as many times as I can. ha!
Same players, same mistakes
September 19th, 2010
9:30 pm
Tech Man
September 19th, 2010
5:33 pm
I would like to know this!! I know the Jackets got beat by Kansas; but Tech played the same team that Ranked LSU played at the dome and with same score!! Why doesn’t Tech move up instead of going back in the ranks. Stupid Stupid!!!!
EHHH. See Kansas. The team that was blown out at Southern Miss this past week. HAHAHA. idiot.
CJramblinrecluse
September 20th, 2010
6:17 am
That pic there shows those side pants stripes with the hip area gold diagonals in them that look like an English knighthood look. I can’t stand them. I liked Tech’s uniforms for the past two years, but these pants look like Maryland’s style with the checkerboard flag. Additionally, I don’t like the way the side stripes carry over to the back of the calves in a V shape. The V was The Varsity. They might be trying for a mod look, but I preferred the old gold stripes and light gold, tannish vegas gold stripes, with old gold preferred the most from two years ago. Maybe Tech just couldn’t get a manufacturer to make old gold for them. I wouldn’t be surprised as a Tech grad. But Tech did play on par with the past two years, thanks to turnovers(Varsity fried pies, yeah V!).
O.P. Dorksweller
September 20th, 2010
8:55 am
Observation on STEVE (MR. BULLDAWG):
Explain to me how you should have been underdogs to SC or ARK ?
I thought all you Dawg fans believe in you top 10 recruiting classes
each year. If so how could you ever be underdogs in those games…
Oh wait, I forgot you might have been outcoached.
Accept the fact there is a disconnect in Athens that is reflected
in your team conduct and integrity.
GT Sux
September 20th, 2010
9:00 am
Hey Tech, congrats on beating UNC’s JV team.
Now go play another football powerhouse -
NC State. What a brutal schedule.
Tired Tired TIRED!
September 20th, 2010
9:45 am
Yes, I am TIRED of hearing about who did not / could not play for UNC.
Those guys cheated academically. If they had not been suspended, they would have flunked out. Or, more probably, the best would be playing on Sunday.
I mean, who forgoes the NFL to stay in Chapel Hill?????????
Just for he record: Butch Davis is sleaze.
wesleywhatwhat
September 20th, 2010
2:56 pm
best case scenario:
georgia tech wins out and wins the ACC championship over clemson. again. then goes to the orange bowl and wins it.
miami has only the two losses to ohio state and georgia tech and is extended a bcs bowl offer and wins it.
Jared
September 20th, 2010
4:53 pm
who cares about Kansas… would I have loved to win that game? Yes. And we are better than them and should have beaten them. But if I had to pick a game to lose this year, its that one. Our goals, except going undefeated and winning a NC, are all still intact. and those goals weren’t realistic anyways with the guys we lost to the draft.
now we just have to keep growing, keep improving, and keep playing like the underdog. make it a physical game and exhaust the other team. right now there are some upperclassmen playing who are not as talented or athletic as the guy behind them on the depth chart. they’re playing because of experience. well, those younger guys are getting experience and it wont be long, mid season maybe, before their lack of experience will no longer be holding them back and we’ll have an all-around more talented defense on the field. you saw some of it saturday with tj barnes at NG and jeremiah attachou at OLB instead of Egbuniwe. they’re not 100% on assignments yet, but the talent and ability is there.
swd311
September 20th, 2010
5:36 pm
GT SUX….UNC’s JV team put up more yardage against LSU than Tech!!! I guess LSU sucks too? Only one good team in SEC that is Bama! Drown in your own tears!!!!
GT Sux
September 20th, 2010
9:37 pm
swd311 – We’ll see which conference is playing for the national championship in January,
for the 5th YEAR IN A ROW
Dave fromGT
September 21st, 2010
8:00 am
I though Steve got put in jail for drunk driving.
James. T. Kirk
September 21st, 2010
8:02 am
Mark,
Not even you can deny our greatness. We should be in the top 10 after this victory yet we are not. Can you explain to me why this is? We have a surefire Heisman winner on our team, one of the greatest defensive minds running our D and the best coach in the nation. Why are the voters still dissing us?
Smart like a fox
September 21st, 2010
8:04 am
it only took till week 3 for the cheers to change from “GO DOGS” to “GO SEC”………Dolly Madison is ranked higher than UGA. now I ask you….Is that rich or what?
GTFan
September 22nd, 2010
2:37 pm
I hate noon games!!!!