Give Tech 66 points and 768 yards. Give Tech’s coach 5 stars
This is how it began. There'd be much more. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
The first three touchdown drives required a total of 10 plays, which by Georgia Tech standards was positively ponderous. To score its next three touchdowns, the Jackets needed only six plays, and right about then you could hear the Jackets’ demanding coach grunting to himself: “That’s more like it.”
Six touchdowns. Sixteen plays, total. Think about that.
Think about the high-school offense that will never work in big-time college football — except when it stacks 66 points and 768 yards on a team from another BCS league, a team that not incidentally beat Tech a year ago. Think about what Paul Johnson has done with no Joshua Nesbitt, no Jonathan Dwyer, no Demaryius Thomas, no Anthony Allen. In three games, here’s what his spread option has wrought:
An average of 59.3 points and 675.3 yards. Think about that.
No, Tech hasn’t played the world’s most arduous schedule, but still … those numbers against air would be impressive. These have been compiled against opponents who come equipped with scholarship players and scouting reports, and it hasn’t mattered. When Tech takes the ball, it scores. Sometimes it scores so fast you’d swear you were watching a highlight tape and not a real game in real time.
Said Tevin Washington, the quarterback: “Sometimes we amaze ourselves.”
We’ve all seen Johnson and his offense at work. Even so, these three games have been astonishing. Three weeks running Tech has arrayed itself for the first snap, and three weeks running the first snap has yielded a touchdown: A 5-yard toss sweep against Western Carolina, a 59-yard pass against Middle Tennessee and now a 95-yard counter against Kansas. (Johnson: “We knew from last year that [the Jayhawks] would cheat to the motion.”)
In three games, Tech has scored 10 touchdowns on plays from beyond midfield. This is not the triple option as Darrell Royal and Barry Switzer knew the triple option. This is the triple option as reconstructed by a shrewd man who has taken a scheme and dragged it into the 21st century.
You can say what you will about Johnson, and much of it would be correct: He’s cocky, and he doesn’t care much about conventional wisdom or recruiting rankings, and he hasn’t yet won a bowl game at Tech, but … give the man his due. He’s a great play-designer, a great play-caller, a great play-tweaker. One PJ wrinkle, and somebody’s running for miles.
What transpired Saturday wasn’t quite perfection, but it was close. Tech had the ball 12 times. It allowed the clock to expire at game’s end. Of the 11 times it tried to score, it succeeded all but once. Of those 11 drives, the shortest netted 43 yards — and that was the one that ended with a punt.
Two backs broke 100 yards rushing. (Orwin Smith, who’d gone for 95 on the game’s first play, did it on his second carry, which represents the minimum number of attempts for breaking 100.) Two more went for 70-plus yards. Yet another had 68. Washington threw only seven passes, but averaged 41 yards per pass completion.
These were crazy numbers, and in the third quarter the whole thing got certifiably insane. Tech scored on its first snap of the second half, Embry Peeples swooping 63 yards. The Jackets needed four plays to go 74 yards the next time, Smith catching a play-action pass from Washington. Next possession: One play, one pass, one Roddy Jones touchdown. Up 24-17 at the half, Tech led 45-17 with barely half the quarter gone.
“As for us being a high-school offense … we just put up 700 yards,” Washington said. “If it works on this level, it works on any level.”
The 768 total yards? A school record. The 604 yards rushing? Ditto. But the goofiest number was this: Tech had the ball for 27 minutes and 37 seconds. It lost, if that’s the proper word, the time of possession and outgained its opponent by 406 yards.
Said Johnson, coming as close to gushing as he ever has or will: “We played fairly well the whole game on offense.”
Fairly well. Apt description.
I don’t know how good this Tech team is, and you don’t, either. (We’ll learn more when North Carolina arrives next weekend.) I don’t know if Johnson will win another ACC championship, and you don’t, either. But I do know this: The guy in charge can run an offense like nobody I’ve ever seen, and there’s not a five-star recruit in this mix. Just a five-star football coach.
By Mark Bradley
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381 comments Add your comment
Dr. Morpheus
September 17th, 2011
10:19 pm
Just a lifelong, old school Dawg dropping in to say “Congrats, Jackets, outstanding show of offense.” Here’s hoping you keep rolling all the way through to our annual showdown for state bragging rights.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:33 pm
Is the transmission of the FSU – OU game coming through in Atlanta? It’s been out in Augusta for at least an hour, and it’s not coming through on satellite here either. Surprised that no mention of any problems has been made on the Miami – OSU game on ESPN, since ABC does own ESPN.
Miss Bee
September 17th, 2011
10:34 pm
@THE DAWG POUND
Paul Johnson is a great play-designer, a great play-caller, a great play-tweaker.
Coach Mark Richt said today “All right. We got a victory”. It was the first time Richt could use those words in a postgame news conference in nine and a half months.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:36 pm
threetrone you are a disgrace as a Tech fan, if indeed you are one. If you had been at the WC game you would know that nobody in the stadium could read the numbers on a single Tech jersey. So why is changing to a jersey with legible numbers caving in to anything or anybody? I guess according to you the fans in the stands don’t matter; it’s only about you and your computer. Why don’t you get off your lazy, cheap azz and go to a game sometime?
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:45 pm
dawg s**t, it’s not the alums, it’s the fact that other than alums and students, Tech lately doesn’t have a following. I have no idea what happened, because we used to have one of the strongest fan bases in the southeast. Leaving the SEC obviously hurt, joining the ACC didn’t help much (because of generally uninteresting opponents in the past—FSU and Miami and VT have changed that), and too many years with unfulfilled expectations. Well, that’s changed now, aside from last year’s anomaly, and Tech deserves much better support from the non-committed fans of college football in the state. HOPEFULLY consistency will increase recognition, reputation, and support, and I predict incredibly consistent teams under CPJ now that he has his players. And if Cuse and Pitt do join the ACC, that will necessitate a conference realignment which hopefully will put Tech, Clemson, FSU, and Miami all in the same division…..which is the way it should have been from the start.
Stinger 1
September 17th, 2011
10:48 pm
Can we say “high -powered” offense yet ? Like in the Switzer Oklahoma days? I feel very confident in this teams ABILITY to score alot. DEFENSE is still a different story. We have to stop the good teams later on. We cannot keep on trying to outscore our opponents. Just sayin………….
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:53 pm
dawg s**t, I can assure you that those of us who go to the games are not happy about attendance either. I don’t know what the problem is with football fans in this state. You won’t find a more exciting offense than what Tech is running now anywhere in this state, and probably not anywhere in the country. Regardless of the quality of the opponent, Tech has been DOMINATING in the first 3 games, and anybody not there seeing these games is missing a fantastic opportunity. All the Jackets can do is keep playing like this and keep winning. Hopefully eventually the people in Atlanta and the state of Georgia will wake up.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:54 pm
@ ds @ 10:39 apparently even though you can use that name, I can’t use it in responding to you
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:55 pm
ds, I can assure you that those of us in attendance are not pleased with the turnout either. The only thing the Jackets can do is keep playing like this and keep winning, and sooner or later, hopefully, the football fans in Atlanta and throughout the state will wake up and see what they are missing.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:57 pm
and ds, the problem is not with the alums; there really aren’t that many alums who stay in state anyway. What Tech needs is a base of fans who just love good exciting college football game, and I don’t care what anybody says, this offense IS EXCITING !!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
10:58 pm
Stinger 1, the D was pretty much ineffectual in the first half, certainly no better than in the last 3 years. But whatever Al said to them at half-time must have awakened them, because they definitely turned it up several notches in the second half.
WayneJacket
September 17th, 2011
11:07 pm
To football fans in the state of Georgia: You are missing some fun football. Paul Johnson put on a clinic of how to play the game.
cattle dawg
September 17th, 2011
11:07 pm
Kansas football is like watching paint dry. Im sure dodd will fill up once acc play starts. Washington being forced to play last year looks like a blessing in disguise now does it not?
UGA = Yawn
September 17th, 2011
11:09 pm
Thanks Mark for a great article. Made me proud to be a GT Bee!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:11 pm
cattle dawg, you’re right, but who would have thought that last year when he had to take over?
Old Gold and White Fan
September 17th, 2011
11:13 pm
Love the “lost fan” reference. Can’t decide if the half dozen or so “lost fans” on here are more entertaining or more annoying. They remind me of my sons when they were 6 years old.
Ol'JacketFan
September 17th, 2011
11:16 pm
My son and I will be making the drive from Nashville for the VT, Clemson and GA games. We enjoy ourselves at the MTSU game last week!
cattle dawg
September 17th, 2011
11:21 pm
As a dawg fan I always respected Nesbitt but he had a terrible arm. Bay Bay bailed him out time and again.
FJ10
September 17th, 2011
11:22 pm
JayHawk
September 17th, 2011
6:31 pm
See you on the court.
After that *** whipping you need to see us in court – charged with destroying your team.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:23 pm
Good for you, Ol’JacketFan. You definitely picked 3 great games to drive down for.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:24 pm
cattle, the funny thing is that in HS, Nesbitt was supposedly a good passer.
stiggywiggy
September 17th, 2011
11:25 pm
Get over the attendance crap. Tech is not that big a school, and thus there are not as many fans. So what? I have a small family. Not many attend my family reunions. And my country is smaller than China. Should I feel inferior to a Chinaman? Only a dawgbrained idiot would think in such terms. Fortunately, they don’t mind being one small element assimilated into a hunkering mass of nosepicking rednecks.
Ol'JacketFan
September 17th, 2011
11:27 pm
Supersize, I’ve had the same seats for several years now, I usually let my realtives in the metro area use them but I always retain the right to select the games I need to attend
We went to the Vandy gane here last year and the MTSU game last week. We appreciate CPJ scheduling the local teams!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:30 pm
stiggywiggy, you are right of course, but it would still be nice to fill up the stadium. It’s been done in the past; there’s no reason why it can’t be done again. What the mutts fail (or refuse) to remember is that Sanford Stadium used to be smaller than Grant Field, and they even played an occasional double-header with Tech at Grant Field — Tech played in the afternoon, and UGA at night. I think the last time that happened was in 1961, but regardless of when it ended, it did happen, because they couldn’t fill up Sanford Stadium.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:32 pm
stiggywiggy, you are of course right, but it WOULD be nice to fill up the stadium for more than just the UGA and FSU games. What the dawg fans fail or refuse to remember is that Grant Field once had the largest stadium in the SEC outside of New Orleans, and it was jam packed every for every game. Also until 1960 or 1961, Georgia would occasionally play a night game at Grant Field (after Tech played in the afternoon) because they couldn’t fill up tiny Sanford Stadium.
Boyz From N. Ave.
September 17th, 2011
11:33 pm
Go Jackets!……..MB is from KY and he needs to take his jelly and GTFO of Ga.
Stinger
September 17th, 2011
11:35 pm
Iexpect us to break our all time scoring record of 222 pts. against UGA this year. Kansas has a much better defense than UGA. I also look for Vandy to beat the dawgs by 2-3 touchdowns. The Dream Team will be the biggest under achiever in the history of college football. LMAO. Our high school offense could score 30 pts. on any NFL defense.
Boyz From N. Ave.
September 17th, 2011
11:36 pm
my neigbor is a big Dawg fan……his last name is Tew…..
frist name is Yuanan…………LOL
Ol'JacketFan
September 17th, 2011
11:40 pm
Well dang, my response to Supersize must have gotten lost in the filters for some unknown reason!
As I typed, I’ve have the same seats for several years and usually let my Marietta relatives use them but I ALWAYS reserve the right to prempt on games I want to see in person LOL!
We went to the Vandy game here last year and the MTSU game last weekend. It is very much appreciated when GT schedules local teams
Getting to Atlanta for games is tough for us as my son’s high school games are on Friday night so we are selective in the games we make the trip down for.
cattle dawg
September 17th, 2011
11:42 pm
I dont really get all the backlash against “the dream team”. It was silly ploy cmr used in recruiting that worked pretty good for him at a time when he really needed some momentum. No one expected them to come in and be world beaters as true freshman, and just in case you havent watched crowell and Mitchell look pretty dang good.
Ol'JacketFan
September 17th, 2011
11:45 pm
Mark, why are my comments not getting through?????
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:49 pm
Ol’JacketFan, same problem here. I finally gave up trying to respond to stiggywiggy
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:50 pm
Ol’JacketFan, same problem here. I finally gave up trying to respond to the 11:25 poster, whose name is apparently not acceptable for responses
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:51 pm
Same problem here, Ol”jacketFan
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:52 pm
OJF, I’m having the same problem here
Supersize that order, mutt
September 17th, 2011
11:52 pm
My comments aren’t getting through either
we steal ruin this state
September 17th, 2011
11:53 pm
I saw team discipline today. I saw a ton of downfield blocking. I saw a very disciplined offensive line. This team is well coached. I saw players score and hand the ball to a ref and trot back to the bench instead of bobbing their heads and pounding their chests. (AKA as “act like you’ve been there before”)
Furthermore, I love to see 2nd, 3rd string guys getting reps. When their time comes to step up, the learning curve will be flatter rather than steep.
There will be stumbles this season, but thus far…. an average of 575 yds/game… I can’t wait for next week.
Go Jackets!
Ol'JacketFan
September 18th, 2011
12:00 am
Listening to Orwin Smith’s comments after the game was refreshing in light of today’s athlete me first attitude. Seems as if this team has a great sense of identity and it shows on and off the field.
vcki
September 18th, 2011
12:00 am
Go Jackets! Looked great today!!
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
12:01 am
What did Orwin Smith say? I didn’t get back to the car in time to here much at all of the post-game show.
Ol'JacketFan
September 18th, 2011
12:04 am
No so much what he said as much as the courtesy (Yes Ma’am) to the interviewer. He spoke of his team mates efforts in the downfield blocking on his long touchdown run, watching Stephen Hill and Tyler Melton make sure that run went for 95 yards.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
12:05 am
Thanks, OJF. That’s awesome
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
12:07 am
Assuming Pitt and Cuse both do get the go ahead to join the ACC, I sure wish it would start next year so hopefully we might have a good home schedule next year, instead of the one we are facing…..which is not interesting at all.
GT
September 18th, 2011
12:09 am
Roll Jackets, Roll!
Ol'JacketFan
September 18th, 2011
12:13 am
Like the earlier poster stated it’s nice to see young men act like they been there before. Not that I am opposed to emotion when a player makes an outstanding play but like I’ve tried to teach my son, celebrate but don’t make a spectacle of yourself
I’m ot trying to say the young men are perfect but I definitely see a Team First attitude with this team.
George Godsey
September 18th, 2011
12:14 am
from what I see, this GT team can put up 30 (at least) against EVERYBODY (and I do include you poodles) that they play. The true question is how much better can that defense get ‘up front’? you have talented ‘hitters’ and ’speed’ guys roaming in the backfield of Al Groh’s defense but who exactly are your ‘game changers’ up front in the DL and LB position? I think Groh would scheme circles around Grantham but Todd has some ’studs’ out there at the key positions and I’d give them the edge because of that if I had to bet my paycheck as of right now. That said, if these two teams were on the STOCK MARKET, I’d invest in GT until late November. Uga will lose at LEAST 2 MORE before they meet. GT could easily run their table.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
12:16 am
OJF, the players look like they’re having fun playing TOGETHER. That counts for a lot.
we steal ruin this state
September 18th, 2011
12:18 am
Two thumbs up to Ol’ JacketFan
IllinoisRed
September 18th, 2011
12:21 am
Great win today for the Jacket–8 or 9 more to follow this season.
And it’s good to see some of the Georgia fans are able to post comments (even if most of them, like Dickie Albert, have to borrow one of the neighbor’s kids from the double-wide two lots down to do it for them….dang these new-fangled computer thingies…..). Next up for the Dawgs: The Tuskegee Institute for the Blind. How ’bout them Dawgs!
atl xmen
September 18th, 2011
12:23 am
this offense works great when the guys on the offense are way better than the defense. kansas is a joke and is no where near the defense it was last year. you only passed 7 times today and look for tech to maybe throw that many next game. unc will be a much better game to see where your offense is. but right now tech has played 3 nobody teams in which they were favored in all 3 games. tech could easly lose the next 4 games and lose them bad. the teams your playing next are so much better than the last 3. look what happen when navy was down 3 points late in the 4th..the game was over with 6 min left to play and they were only down 3 at that point..must suck to know you cant win a game with 6 min left only down by 3 because it takes 10 min to score 7 pointys when you play team with a top 10 def line.