Outmanned Tech fights to the end but can’t finish the drill
One guy coached a winning game. The other coach won. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Athens – Give Paul Johnson a couple of months and he could take the remaining Rolling Stones and have those geezers rushing for 300 yards a game. Say what you will about the man, but he can coach the heck out of what he has. At issue Saturday night was whether he had enough.
There aren’t many coaches who can outdraw Johnson with the X’s and O’s, but the game, as we’re constantly reminded, isn’t played on a whiteboard. It’s played by real-life players. And Johnson’s Jackets lost to Georgia here Saturday not because they didn’t play hard or well but because in the end they just weren’t as skilled. Try as they might, and they tried mightily, they could never take the lead.
If anything, Saturday’s game showed us how clever Johnson is. He bled 512 yards out of an offense missing its best player. Tech held the ball for 38 minutes and 14 seconds, ran 92 plays to Georgia’s 48. And even at the end, when the Bulldogs appeared to have scored the clinching touchdown, they looked up and realized the old fox on the far sideline had one-upped them again.
As Johnson said, allowing Georgia to score was “the only way we could win the game.” And rather than alert its players to the possibility and advise them to get a first down and then fall on the ball, the Bulldog staff was caught unawares.
“We didn’t coach very good there,” Mark Richt said, speaking of Washaun Ealey’s 20-yard touchdown run with 1:29 remaining that put Georgia up eight points. “We got outcoached right there. It was good strategy by Coach Johnson. I thought when it happened, ‘He got us there. He got me.’ ”
It was that kind of night. Georgia won the game but left the distinct impression that it had gotten away with one. Johnson’s Jackets messed up early and often and still were one drive from winning the thing. (And then, one possession later, one drive from forcing overtime.)
Tech fizzled twice early — getting stopped on fourth-and-2 at the Georgia 19 after recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff, fumbling inside the 10 not five minutes later. And here came the Bulldogs, seizing a 14-point lead that at the game’s outset seemed like twice that much. But back came Tech, back on the strength of those two Johnson staples: A running game and a sheer stubbornness.
Even the hardiest of Jacket backers were dreading this strange game, in which the team with the lesser record entered favored by two touchdowns. Georgia clearly has better players than Tech, and without quarterback Joshua Nesbitt there are moments when it seems Tech has nothing at all. And yet the visitors kept fighting after falling behind by those two touchdowns, and soon it was apparent that the team lacking its best player wasn’t lacking in guts.
It was 14-all with one minute left in the first half, 21-all with a minute left in the third quarter. And this wasn’t because Tech was playing letter-perfect football; on the contrary, it had taken three Georgia turnovers and gotten nothing from them. And still the game was tied, the underdog having become the aggressor, the Bulldogs looking as confused as they had all season. (Which, given how the season had gone for Georgia, was saying something.)
Late in the third quarter Tech was driving to take the lead when Roddy Jones fumbled. Georgia nosed ahead on Washaun Ealey’s touchdown burst on fourth-and-goal. Then Tech fumbled again, quarterback Tevin Washington pitching to Jones as the Tech back was about to get splattered, and the resulting loose ball was taken for a touchdown by Georgia linebacker Justin Houston.
Another two-TD lead for the home side, this with barely a quarter to go. Surely there was no responding from this, not with the redoubtable Nesbitt a spectator with his broken arm. But doggone — no pun intended — if the Jackets didn’t surge to one touchdown and then, beggaring belief, another. With 4:56 remaining, the Jackets were within a point of even.
And Scott Blair, who hadn’t missed an extra point all season, missed the extra point. And surely that was that. But no. Georgia didn’t lose six times by its ability to deliver under pressure. The Bulldogs moved within field-goal range, chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 and saw Aaron Murray fumble the snap. At last Tech had its chance to take the lead.
And it couldn’t manage a first down. Tevin Washington was dropped for losses on first and second down, threw incomplete on third and fourth, and the Jackets had to be done, didn’t they? But Johnson pulled his let-’em-score trick and still his Jackets kept coming, flying across midfield with 45 seconds left. And then finally it was done, Washington delivering an interception.
Georgia had won and rendered itself bowl-eligible, but the lasting memory of this game won’t be of the Bulldogs and their escape: It will be of Johnson and his Jackets and how close they’d come with all their fumbling and without their No. 1 quarterback. It will be of the coach with the lesser players forcing the Bulldogs to the brink. If Paul Johnson can ever recruit similar talent on a consistent basis — admittedly, it’s a big if — Tech won’t wind up 6-6 again anytime soon.
“I wish I could have found a way to help them win the game,” Johnson said, speaking of his players, but he’d done all any coach could do. He’d put them in position. His undermanned team just couldn’t finish the drill.
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859 comments Add your comment
heeldawg
November 28th, 2010
6:28 am
Can’t argue with this. Johnson out-coached our coaching staff all night.
Jacket Dad
November 28th, 2010
6:42 am
I’m proud of my Jackets for making a game of this – thought it would be a blowout. We just couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities. Congrats to UGA for winning the game. However, enough of your comments about our “high school offense” – take a look at the yardage fellas. What does that say about your defense?
I wasn’t thrilled about us going to a bowl game, but our guys played with a lot of heart.
Go Jackets!
Buckeye
November 28th, 2010
7:03 am
thUGA…..Congratulations for a gentlemanly 6 and 6 season.
c.q.
November 28th, 2010
7:04 am
Hey – how ’bout a little credit to that beleaguered UGA defense… “At last Tech had its chance to take the lead. And it couldn’t manage a first down.” enough said. GO DAWGS!!
Buckeye
November 28th, 2010
7:06 am
Hey Suckeye,
Way to go buddy. A fine .500 season. Good luck in B I R M I N G H A M
Best Regards,
Buckeye
ugaalumn81
November 28th, 2010
7:09 am
As a UGA grad and lifelong fan, I can honestly say this was one of UGA’s ugliest wins. I’ll take it, but my heart goes out to Tech. They fought until the end, and almost pulled off a win with lesser players overall. They have heart! But I still say when is Georgia gonna wake up and realize our coaching staff really sucks?
cwm
November 28th, 2010
7:09 am
look out dawgs here from miami herald Potential candidates to replace Shannon include former UM quarterback and Georgia coach Mark Richt, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach and Oklahoma associate head coach/defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who played at Kansas State, where Hocutt also played. Before the game, a plane flew over Sun Life Stadium with a giant banner flapping behind it that read: “4 YEARS 0 ACC TITLES LOTS OF EXCUSES FIRE SHANNON.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/28/1946337/shannons-status-is-unknown.html#ixzz16ZuIF2FE
elliemae
November 28th, 2010
7:11 am
Pretty good column by Bradley. McGarity better wise up real quick. As ugly as last night was, next season will be uglier around with Mark Richt. He cannot recover from his downhill slide in Athens.
Travis McGee
November 28th, 2010
7:11 am
The UGA sidelines displaying the “We Still Run the State” sign is embarrassing for a 6 and 6 team.
If they don’t do better next year, they’ll be displaying a “Richt Is Run Out of the State” sign.
layinlow
November 28th, 2010
7:12 am
It’s not that johnson is a great coach, look at the miami game. The problem is UGA has the dumbest coaches in america. Any coach looks like a genuis when going against the dumbest coaching staff in the land. uga wins come because of sheer talent.
Travis McGee
November 28th, 2010
7:20 am
“We Still Run the State” when UGA is tied in the SEC standings with Tennessee and Kentucky and ahead of only Vanderbilt and Mississippi is embarrassing for any diehard Georgia fan. Hang down your heads you muzzled and toothless Junkyard Dawgs!
fair and Balanced
November 28th, 2010
7:23 am
Anybody knowing anything about football would have known that the only way for Tech to win the game was to let GA score at the end and give Tech the ball. The fact is that I “watched” this game on Gamecast in Africa and said immediately, after getting up at 3:30 AM to “watch” this, “Why didn’t he just get the first down and then we could run out the clock?” Proof is clear that Johnson is twice the coach CMR is. He gets more with less and Richt gets less with more.
St. Simons is my be-och!!!
November 28th, 2010
7:24 am
It was ugly, but sometimes, you gotta learn to win ugly. Go Dawgs!
Buckeye
November 28th, 2010
7:24 am
Suckeye,
Are you up yet?
10 out of 11
November 28th, 2010
7:26 am
91% winning percentage…and I didn’t even go to Tech to figure that out!
$750000
November 28th, 2010
7:30 am
Grantham’s brilliant 3-4 D—he’s worth every penny of that $750,000 salary—highest in the SEC!!!!!!!!!!
Lifelong Dawg
November 28th, 2010
7:36 am
You seriously believe GT was going to be able to drive down the field in 1:29 with their run-oriented offense, Mark? Give me a break. Johnson might have done the only thing possible in allowing UGA to score, but it was hardly a matter of outcoaching. GT is a TOP team,not a quick strike offense. And, inevitably, they did what everyone expected with them trying to score with the forward pass – they threw an INT.
Sick & Tired Of Being Sick & Tired
November 28th, 2010
7:40 am
Neither team was really that good this year so why all the hate????? Six wins for UGA and Tech is NOT VERY GOOD people…..some of y’all are acting like you just won the National Championship….it really isn’t that deep so get a grip….
option smoption
November 28th, 2010
7:44 am
Hey tech, I have an idea. Schedule all of your games next year where your opponent has a bye the previous week. Then you’ll lose em all and won’t be lulled into any false sense of security about the hight school offense you run. The only reason you have any success with it is because nobody ever sees it. With ONE extra week to prepare, EVERYBODY BEATS TECH!
Just another tech win for us, anyway.
son_sir
November 28th, 2010
7:45 am
All I heard for the first few weeks of the season, was …. well if AJ was out there this would all be a different story. You know what, you were right. Now all I have to say to the Dawg fans is…..if you haven’t already, hit your knees and thank the good Lord above that Joshua Nesbitt was not on the field
Booger!
November 28th, 2010
7:47 am
Did the coach who invented foortball really lose 5 games this year? How did he do it with all those 5 star players and number #1 recruiting classes? Maybe Tebow was that good.
GT Won This Game
November 28th, 2010
7:50 am
Georgia fans, the only placer you won is on the scoreboard. Big deal. Tech won by any objective measure.
In Georgia, Smart Football, and Not - NYTimes.com
November 28th, 2010
7:53 am
[...] Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: If anything, Saturday’s game showed us how clever Johnson is. He bled 512 yards out of an offense missing its best player. Tech held the ball for 38 minutes and 14 seconds, ran 92 plays to Georgia’s 48. And even at the end, when the Bulldogs appeared to have scored the clinching touchdown, they looked up and realized the old fox on the far sideline had one-upped them again. [...]
Jupiter
November 28th, 2010
7:54 am
The only pride a UGA fan has after a win is just that, a win. UGA got throttled all game. UGA lost every stat category (even penalties). NO! UGA Fans can’t acknowledge that their team sucked tonight and it was a hard fought win… they can’t give Tech credit for beating their butts off. How about this little forecast (and you can take it to the bank). U of Miami will be calling Athens within days to interview CMR (Since that is his Alma Mater). Speculation will swirl with regards to his move. Recruits will begin to back out of commitments. AJ and every other playmaker will decide to declare for the draft. CMR will accept the Miami job and there UGA will be sitting clueless once again. What matters to me more than Tech winning is seeing Georgia suffer. I joyfully experienced that 6 times this year. I can’t wait to experience it 6 more times next year. Great effort Tech, we’ll try again next year.
Ted M
November 28th, 2010
7:56 am
Hey Mark,
It seems you went head to head with Jeff Schultz on your Georgia blogs and you had twice as many posts. Are you going to rib Jeff about your sheer dominance? What’s the talk back at HQ about this?
option smoption
November 28th, 2010
7:59 am
The only thing that matters is the scoreboard.
Genius Johnson?
November 28th, 2010
8:01 am
Couldn’t a genious figure out how to throw the ball just a little? Johnson’s “genius” move to allow UGA to score would have only been brilliant if there was a chance that his offense could actually execute a 2 minute passing drill. The reason GT is said to have a high school offense is not because they can’t move the ball. All of Johnson’s teams at GA Southern, Navy, GT, etc have put up great total yardage performances, the reason it is a high school offense is because there is virutally no passing game when you absolutely have to pass it.
Sav
November 28th, 2010
8:02 am
You would think that ga. won the national championship last night. The fact is they beat a 6-5 team that out coached them and a team that rushed for 400 yards against them and now they get to go to a bowl that none of their fans will go to like when they were religated to Shreveport.
option smoption
November 28th, 2010
8:02 am
It’s a high school offense.
ReidsvilleDawg
November 28th, 2010
8:03 am
Why no mention of our fumble in the redzone and the crappy spot on the 3 yard line? Mistakes on both sides of the ball. We won. 9-1.
SGT FIVE0
November 28th, 2010
8:03 am
Yep, UGA won, I seriously thought Tech would lose by 30, but UGA showed us what they truly are, a mid-level ACC team…
Charleston Jacket
November 28th, 2010
8:07 am
Hey PJ next time kick the field goal. Never take points off the board when you have a gimmie field goal. Tech gave this one away with multiple turnovers in the red zone – can’t overcome that even though we came close. The mutts won ( they should with all that talent), only because we gave it away. Anyhow great effort by the jackets. Perhaps we can get a better defense next year. Feel good about Washington at QB – at least he can throw the ball. The mutts are still classless bottom tier SEC team.
THWG
ReidsvilleDawg
November 28th, 2010
8:08 am
So, in there worst year, they are still better than most of the ACC? I will agree with that Five0.
ATL
November 28th, 2010
8:09 am
Another impressive outing marked by pregame violence, sloppy turnovers, and no defense whatsoever. Congratulations souljaboys, you can keep on talking loud and acting proud because you beat GT. Where is the no-class-whining-about-losing bowl being played this year?
Terry
November 28th, 2010
8:11 am
Mark: I have been a Tech fan more years than I care to remember. Got an A once on a term paper I did in high school about the Ga. Tech vs Tenn. Vols back in the 50’s when the teams were like one and two I think. Tech lost on Grant Field that day.
Your caption in the ajc Sports this morning: Jacket’s season has been a yawner’ was just about the nicest thing anyone could possibly say about my yellowjackets this past year. Thanks, Terry
option smoption
November 28th, 2010
8:11 am
shreveport.
61-39-5
November 28th, 2010
8:11 am
Just updating screen name
61-39-5
November 28th, 2010
8:13 am
Yesterday it was 60-39-5, today yup thats right 61-39-5
Andy in Blairsville
November 28th, 2010
8:13 am
Wow. UGA beat the Tri-Lambs and finally became Tampax Bowl eligible in the last game of the season.
I would be so proud.
just facts
November 28th, 2010
8:15 am
come on you idiotic uga fans, yall are an embarrassment to the rest of us uga fans who have some sense. why bother to type that richt is going to miami? why bother to type that grantham will be fired? why bother to type that bobo will no longer call the plays? none of those things are going to happen. i dont care if we won by 8 or 80 last night, we still have some major problems to address. we barely beat a team that as far as talent has no business competing with us.
Johnny FuPa
November 28th, 2010
8:16 am
Stop giving Paul Johnson all these excuses. He’s responsible for us having less talent because he can’t recruit! Let’s not forget how he panics at the end of games! Tech had the ball with 230 left and STOPPED GIVING THE BALL TO ANTHONY ALLEN! ANTHONY ALLEN WAS GETTING 7 YARDS A CARRY AND YOU GO AWAY FROM HIM WHEN IT MATTERS MOST! I’M A GEORGIA TECH FAN AND I HAVE TO ADMIT PAUL JOHNSON IS AN IDIOT AND ALWAYS PANICS IN THE TWO MINUTE DRILL!
superDawg
November 28th, 2010
8:16 am
CPJ is a brilliant loser.
poultryguy
November 28th, 2010
8:16 am
I read about how close GT was with all their mistakes. What about all the mistakes UGA made, two to’s inside the 10 yd line and a turnover on downs inside redzone. This was a miserable year to be a dawg fan, but I will take our future over gt’s anyday.
UGA ALUMS
November 28th, 2010
8:18 am
We’re not giving our student football athletics what they deserve — we need a new coaching staff at UGA. Our budget should produce a top 10 BCS team every year. We have hired the wrong people to try and do that — Richt and Bobo! They should not even be coaching little league — they’re clowns. Please fire them.
Andy in Blairsville
November 28th, 2010
8:20 am
ESPN is reporting Mark Richt called Jimbo Fisher this morning asking for Jimbo’s advice on how to not only throttle Florida but on how to hold them to 7 points as well.
GT Won This Game
November 28th, 2010
8:21 am
Some of you delusional dog fans saw a different game than everyone else. Go ahead and pat yourselves on the back even though everyone knows you lost. Again! Go Tech!
Coach Hewitt
November 28th, 2010
8:23 am
Wow….
1-9 in our last 10 vs ga.
1-2 CPJ vs cmr.
7-8 our last 15 games.
Tech fans, we’re going in tthe wrong direction. CPJ must go.
Dawg H8R
November 28th, 2010
8:24 am
Maybe dem dawgs will play Oregon for the Nat’l Crown! Tech was really shorthanded, and they were
a legitimate defense away from a big win over the toothless mutts. Hope you folks enjoy SC/AU
next week. As far as the photo that jawja owns the state, I disagree! Alabama/Carolina/Auburn have something to say about that.
option smoption
November 28th, 2010
8:25 am
Again, the only thiing that matters is the scoreboard.
Duluth Dawg
November 28th, 2010
8:27 am
THERE ARE NO MORAL VICTORIES. BEFORE YOU TECH FANS MOUTH OFF ABOUT UGA SHOULD NOT BE SO PROUD OF THIS WIN, THE REALITY IS UGA WON. HERE ARE THE FACTS.
UGA has won 9 of the last 10. Johnson is 1-2 versus Richt and the Dawgs. Tech is going bowling in Shreveport where they might sell 1,000 tickets because the whinos at the Varsity cannot be there. Have fun. One more thing, try to win a bowl game rather than be a continual embarrassment to the great State of Georgia.