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
stiggywiggy
September 18th, 2011
1:03 am
atl xmen: So that was a “crushing?” No, but Clemson did crush the pretending national champions from that declining conference.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:03 am
FSU did NOT get crushed. They lost, but it was definitely not a crushing defeat. FSU will probably still be in the top 10. Interesting fact on the radio today, in 1981 in the 3rd game, Clemson beat defending NC Georgia. In 1991, in the 3rd game Clemson beat defending NC Tech. In 2011, in the 3rd game, Clemson beat defending NC Auburn. Pretty impressive.
Ol'JacketFan
September 18th, 2011
1:04 am
BTW on that Iowa team, 3 of the 4 d linemen are now in the NFL
Ol'JacketFan
September 18th, 2011
1:06 am
Good night all
stiggywiggy
September 18th, 2011
1:06 am
atl xmen: Tell us the details about all the glory, glory you saw in that big win over, what was it… East International Coastal A&I Atlantic, or something?
Larry Munson
September 18th, 2011
1:08 am
I see weedeaters falling out of the sky.
Uga stopping this? Bwahahahhaha
September 18th, 2011
1:08 am
When week 3 NUMB er’s come out, yes you will be Numb, then we’ll talk. We lead the WORLD in rushing, are top 10 in passing and top 5 in TOTAL yards. And UNC? Haha.
45-27
Larry Munson
September 18th, 2011
1:09 am
Loren, whattaya got?
cattle dawg
September 18th, 2011
1:10 am
Sept, there are actually several red nech tech fans. I know its spelled wrong. You just got to get out of the big city.
Loren Smith
September 18th, 2011
1:12 am
Well, Larrah, we suck. I miss Hershel.
Wow
September 18th, 2011
1:12 am
Really? I mean really. You’re going to trash a team that made the 4th most total yards in ncaa history and had NO 3rd downs in an entire half? Really? Get a life redneck losers. November now projects
GT 49
Ga 27
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:12 am
cattle, there are actually several intelligent UGA fans too, but xmen is not one of them. I think perhaps that you are, however.
Jim Donnan
September 18th, 2011
1:13 am
Miss me yet?
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:13 am
cattle, there are actually a few intelligent UGA fans, quite possibly you yourself. But xmen is definitely not in that number
Wow
September 18th, 2011
1:14 am
Just like the huskers all again in 95. That’s what I Sniff with this well coached tech team. What say you mb?
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:15 am
dang, blocked messages again. cattle, you seem to be an intelligent UGA fan, so there are apparently at least a few like you. But atl xmen is obviously not one
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:15 am
well, the filters are blocking responses again, so this time I AM going to bed.
Bobby Dodd
September 18th, 2011
1:16 am
He’s good this Paul Johnson, but I think he should try my “belly series.”
Supersize that order, mutt
September 18th, 2011
1:17 am
I will try one more time before calling it a night though. There are actually a few intelligent dawg fans. I see one here now who probably is, and one who is definitely not. I think it’s obvious which one is and which one isn’t. Good night, all
2BT
September 18th, 2011
1:28 am
for what it’s worth, I got FSU LOSING next week at Clemson!
I
September 18th, 2011
1:30 am
Enter your comments here
Gary
September 18th, 2011
1:31 am
Mark
I appreciate your coverage for GT but I watch when you cover uga and it pales in comparison. I want to read your thoughts. Please don’t stop posting!! And Ken S too. THis is what makes game day so exciting. Today was an amazing day for GT football and I want to soak in every minute I may miss. As a gt fan I love reading all your comments so please keep them coming, game day or not.
Gary
I Noticed
September 18th, 2011
1:36 am
and did you notice that the Navy team played USC much better and much harder that the bulldogs? Navy looked much more prepared and much better coached than the georgie boys. Let’s just say georgie ain’t that good of a team. You leg humpers are only wishful thinkers and dreams of a good team. Quite opposite of having the real thing.
CAN YOU SAY: YELLOW——JACKETS!!!!!
Austin F
September 18th, 2011
1:37 am
Tech had 1620 yards against Cumberland in that 222-0 win. All were rushing yards.
1-N-2
September 18th, 2011
1:50 am
“I Noticed” =============== Hammer, meet nail! Had USC(East) been here today, they not only would’ve LOST, but would’ve LOST with an exclamation point. Mutt fans don’t want to hear that.
Yes, there are 2, MAYBE 3 ELITE teams down south (after FSU’s loss to OK) and they are BAMA, LSU, and for the time being, FLA. Does VT qualify as a 4th? I got them losing 2 conference games including that Thurs night at Tech but still, Georgia is NOT relevent. They’ll lose AT LEAST 3 more games this season and it is what it is.
hmmmm
September 18th, 2011
2:02 am
5 stars for beating the snot out of one of the worst FBS programs in the nation? Hey Bradley, what exactly does CPJ’s colon look like 3 feet in?
Saint Simons
September 18th, 2011
2:51 am
The way I see it. Hershel Walker would likely chose Tech over Georgia if he were a high school senior today.
yearofthedawg
September 18th, 2011
2:54 am
Two smart aleck comments:
- You can’t win “another” ACC championship until you’ve won your first one, and last time I checked Johnson has zero.
- To the guy who says he’d like to see Tech do that against a real team like Coastal Carolina… you’ve already seen them do it three times against a team like that. Congrats on the victories over Larry, Moe, and Curly. Shemp is on deck to complete the grand slam.
And one serious comment:
The offense is no doubt fun to watch when its working. I don’t think a team can win a national championship with it because there are going to be 2-3 games every year of a potential title run where you are going to have to come from behind. And a run-focused offense is not going to get you there.
U
September 18th, 2011
3:02 am
I’m sorry, but the mere fact that there’s not a 5-star player on the team verifies that he’s not a 5-star coach. Recruiting is part of the job description, and Johnson has thus far failed to deliver.
slobberknock
September 18th, 2011
6:50 am
Good game mutts. Yall beat the Coastal Carolina Technical School’s Cosmetology department real good.
stiggywiggy
September 18th, 2011
7:16 am
Hey U: You say you’re sorry for your comment. You should be since you missed Mark Bradley’s point entirely. Let me simplify it by way of analogy. We KNOW that Lee Marvin was a great general in “The Dirty Dozen,” since we saw the excellent results he achieved with what he had. If he had been given Sergeant York and Audie Murphy, the results wouldn’t have been that big a deal.
Hope that helps.
Reality
September 18th, 2011
7:18 am
For all of you Mutt fans with your stupid comments……UGA has better athletes with better talent, but they don’t have the heart and coaching that GT has….here’s to a beatdown by the Jackets in the ATL in November.
Stinger
September 18th, 2011
7:32 am
Hell, we had over 600 yds. total offense last year on the dogs and couldn’t pass. I’m serious, we could easily post 800 yds. and 50 pts. on the dawgs this year. I’m soooooo happy we run a high school offense.
chief oseola
September 18th, 2011
7:37 am
For all you young jackets, the offense that is called the triple option is essentially the same offense that bobby dodd ran, eccept it was called the belly option, the qb bellied the fullback and either gave it to him or pulled it and ran or tossed it to a halfback.
big hoss
September 18th, 2011
7:54 am
mark Bradley is right on the mark with his assessment of Coach johnson. In the kansas game every play he called was perfect for the situaton. And the team executed to perfection. I hope his stay with GT ;lasts a long time. That this style of play is high schoolish is so ridiculous- the games we have lost in the last 3 years were due tom poor execution and poor defense.
Ed Pilcher
September 18th, 2011
8:11 am
Bradley……..Stop slobbering all over yourself. It was KANSAS, for God’s sake. My TCC teams from the 90s could have beaten this bunch.
Ed Pilcher
September 18th, 2011
8:14 am
@ Slobberknock……..Thanks for the congrats on UGA beating a nobody. Isn’t that exactly what GT did for 2 weeks……well, 3 weeks now…. while UGA played and lost to 2 legit top-10 teams?
yellow britches
September 18th, 2011
8:16 am
Something very special is building at North Avenue and Bobby Dodd Avenue. Get on board Jacket Fans and show up!! I know parking is a bitch and they gauge the heck out of you to park somewhere where you don’t get the boot or the tow. Still, ante up and show up. Yesterday was amazing. Get this: All this yardage and no turnovers. None. Nada. Oh baby.
Charlie Rymer
September 18th, 2011
8:18 am
I can’t believe Bradley said something positive about a GT coach. That must have hurt. Go Yellow Jackets!
Knowshon5dollafootlong
September 18th, 2011
8:31 am
Tech has so many pastries on their schedule they should be called Pillsbury University.
Numbers Don't Lie
September 18th, 2011
8:37 am
How can there possibly be any naysayers left when it comes to the spread option offense at “this level” ? When executed properly, this scheme is simply explosive. Yesterday, it was explosive from start to finish. There are times in the past when we saw snipets of that explosiveness, i.e. behind by 16 at the start of the 3rd in Athens in ‘08 and leaving the 3rd with the lead (and GT couldn’t throw it a lick then). I’ve said all along, if Tech will ever get the A-backs involved in the passing game, this thing goes turbo. That’s what we saw yesteday. You get defenders thinking run and pass and it get’s ridiculous.
If this offensive machine keeps humming and protects the ball, and the defense can get a few stops … there isn’t a game on the schedule Tech can’t win. Games against the tougher competition will likely be high scoring affairs regardless of who wins. If the defense can force the neccesary 3-4 punts a game, look out !
GR82BAG8R
September 18th, 2011
8:45 am
U, remember that Tech’s ability to recruit is limited by not only what degrees it can offer, but also its academic requirements for those that it does. Tech is not big time football and never will be until the State of Georgia allows it offer “Turfgrass Management” degrees to attract more academically challenged blue chip athletes. Even the brightest kids – - recent Stanford recruit – - that may want go to Tech have to choose Stanford because Tech does not offer a Communications major.
UGA has unparalleled advantage with recruiting. Tech is no competition for the best in-state athletes. Florida (UF, Miami, FSU), South Carolina (USCe, Clems(paw)n), Alabama (Bama, AU) all have comparable academics and programs to offer potential athletes. Tech and UGA do not.
Tech is also a public university and operates under the thumb of the Georgia Board of Regents that is dominated by UGA grads.
Tech will never have a top-10 recruiting class. Perhaps that is by design so that when UGA gets waxed again against SEC competition they can look forward to at least beating Tech…..
ATL XMAN
September 18th, 2011
8:48 am
stinger and the rest of the tech folks in la la land..please wake up. your team has played nooone and you would think you have beaten world beaters. the fact is you played 3 teams who has worse players than you guys have. your team is full of div 1aa talent and pretty much will be underdogs from here on out. everybody expected tech to be 3-0 after 3 games its the last 9 games you have to worry about..your team coud easly lose all but 2 and even virg and duke could give you guys a beaten if you lay it on the ground like your team does. congrats on the 3 wins but will be more impressed if you win 3 our of the next 4. just dont see it with the players you have on offense and defense.
ATL XMAN
September 18th, 2011
9:04 am
stinger..tech put up 512 yards last year on 92 plays for crying out lound..thats like 5.6 yards a play…nothing to get all excited about. uga on the other ran only 48 plays and gained a total of 425 yards. that almost 9 yards a pop. uga was not worried about losing to tech because once tech was down 10 points in the 4th qt it was over. even if tech would have tied the game uga was moving the ball at will and would have scored again anyway. tech just simply doesnt have the players to deal with the bigger and better college teams in football. they can only hope to keep it it close and only lose by 3-10 points. no way tech wins a national championship with this offense and with these players they might not even win an acc championship.
Bulldogs Rule This State
September 18th, 2011
9:09 am
Good game GT High School…..you have looked pretty good against 3 other high school teams and your high school offense is ok. But wait until the big boys start coming…..you will be pathethic again. Now the Dogs finally got the kinks out and rolled yesterday….now that is real college football.
ATL XMAN
September 18th, 2011
9:11 am
so funny how techs record setting day is getting no pub from espn and other sports writers. just how the acc best team lost to okl, fsu offense is pretty weak..i like how fsu defense played though. fsu got a big pass play on offense..other than that, that was it.
dawghater1
September 18th, 2011
9:12 am
thats really interesting mr. bradley, go back and read your first article, when cpj came here, its the one as every other writter said , his system will not work in fbs,
lewisbuzzard
September 18th, 2011
9:24 am
All you dawg fans haven’t bothered looking at our passing stats have you? Most yds per attempt in the country. And you don’t have to use the “look at the competition argument” we haven’t had a difficult time against all your 5 star defensive players over the past 3 years. It’s all about playing assignment football and you guys don’t have that concept down. Bunch of undiciplined players…geez PJ eats those kind of defenses up.
Doug the Jacket
September 18th, 2011
9:29 am
Mark, you should know by now that 5 star recruits are “recruits” and nothing more. It takes great coaching to take them to the next level. I’d rather watch a 5 star coach like Johnson coach his players up to the next level, than watch a team of 5 star athletes struggle. Someone said earlier that Georgia “has been wasting talent”. It is true, thus CMR may not survive even if UGA struggles to 6-5, 7-4. In thinking back to 1990 when GT won the National Championship, I recall a 5 star coach and team, not a team of 5 star athletes. You article was well written, and enjoyed. Go Jackets!
Double Zero Eight
September 18th, 2011
9:29 am
I am jumping on the GT bandwagon. I always
thought Johnson was a good motivator.
The only time I root against Tech is when
they play Georgia.