Middle Tennessee 49, Georgia Tech 28: What’s left to say?
These are the Blue Raiders. They won. By 21 points. On the road. (AP photo by Rich Addicks)
Were Georgia Tech outrageously lucky, all its fans would be as circumspect as Dave Miller of Atlanta. Miller, a 1977 Tech grad, sat above the South end zone as Middle Tennessee was driving to Points No. 43-49 on Saturday, whereupon he rose without ceremony and moved toward the exit.
“We’re just young,” Miller said. “We had some injuries on defense. And Middle Tennessee is a good team.”
Miller’s summation: “We’ll get better.”
Not 20 feet away, another Tech fan watched the same game end and drew a different conclusion. “This was ugly,” said Jerry Kenney, also of Atlanta. “No pass rush, no tackling. I’m sure Clemson [Tech's next opponent] will be licking its chops.”
Kenney was asked if this had just been a bad day for the home team. “It’s not one bad day,” he said. “It’s two bad days in the week [the first being the overtime loss to Miami], and hope is going out the window.”
Here we offer the boilerplate disclaimer: In sports, things are rarely as bad (or as good, for that matter) as they seem. Indeed, that’s a pet phrase of Paul Johnson’s. That said …
Favored by 27 points, Paul Johnson’s team lost to Middle Tennessee. By 21. At home.
“Probably the worst,” Johnson said, speaking of losses his teams have suffered. But this coach only arrived in December 2007, and this was the worst defeat Georgia Tech has known since Sept. 17, 1983, when Bill Curry’s Jackets lost to Furman 17-14. (Three years later, another Curry team would be tied by the Paladins.)
Yes, Middle Tennessee is a Sun Belt team, and yes, the Sun Belt is an FBS conference. But still: On Aug. 30, the Blue Raiders opened their season by losing at home to McNeese State.
“Embarrassing,” Johnson said. “I don’t think there’s any other way to describe it.”
Chan Gailey’s teams were infamous for alternating stunning victories and stump-the-band losses, but Gailey never lost to Middle Tennessee. (Did lose to Duke, though.) Heck, even Bill Lewis — known around Tech as He Whose Name Must Never Be Mentioned — never lost one like this. (Did lose to Duke, though.)
It would have been bad enough to lose to Middle by a point on a 65-yard field goal that glanced off a pigeon and bounced through the uprights. But Tech lost to Middle on a day when it led the 27-point underdog for all of five minutes, nine seconds. A week after yielding 42 points and 609 yards to Miami, the Jackets were gashed for 49 and 510 by the Blue Raiders.
Said Johnson: “As bad a game tackling as I’ve ever seen.”
Said linebacker Quayshawn Nealy: “In the first half we missed 25 tackles.”
Johnson again: “It was like we were running in mud.”
Tech has played five games, losing three. It already has lost twice at home, marking the first time the Jackets have lost on consecutive weekends at historic Grant Field/Bobby Dodd Stadium since 1988, which was Bobby Ross’ second season. And now we have to ask What This All Means for this abashed coach and this humbled program.
Check the schedule, and you’ll see more than a handful of winnable games remaining. But Miami looked winnable, and Middle Tennessee was deemed a given. By losing both, Tech has fallen to 2-3 with games at Clemson and Georgia to come. By losing both and looking helpless on defense, it makes us wonder if Tech has either the scheme or the personnel necessary to prosper in the ACC, a conference it ruled not so long ago.
Will defensive coordinator Al Groh be in place tomorrow? (For this game, he was moved upstairs to the press box, and those 49 points and 510 yards suggest that perspective isn’t the issue.) Middle’s first five touchdown drives spanned 75, 78, 88, 68 and 75 yards, and here we have to pause to ponder the first part of the sentence.
Middle’s first five touchdown drives. The first five of seven. On the road. On a day when it was a four-touchdown underdog. Against an opponent from a Big Six conference that has graced a bowl for 16 seasons running and was the ACC champ (since vacated) in 2009.
Whatever was working for this program works no longer. Johnson’s prized offense can’t score enough to override his defense, which looked stout at Virginia Tech on Labor Day night but has fallen to pieces. And the excuse made after the Miami game — that Georgia Tech was two plays from being 4-0 — no longer holds currency. There are no excuses when you lose by 21 points at home to Middle Tennessee.
Said Jerry Kenney, the Tech fan: “There was a basketball player named Micheal Ray Richardson, and he once said, ‘The ship be sinking.’ ” He nodded toward the field.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
561 comments Add your comment
Toe outlook is bleak...
September 30th, 2012
12:33 pm
Who would want to be you @Supersize that order, mutt???? Now that’s a pitiful life.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
12:36 pm
@ Toe outlook…….I know your comment was directed at me, but there is truth in what you say, nonetheless…..why would ANYBODY want to be anybody else??? Whoever resorts to such things DOES have a pitiful life. If someone posted under your name, the same would be true of them
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
12:36 pm
12:33 was fake also; 12:36 was not
brick
September 30th, 2012
12:37 pm
Not going to pile on the Tech fans today, I think they have endured enough this weekend. But I do have some comments I would like to make. First off CPJ’s offensive scheme isn’t attractive to top athletes, as much as I hate to say this most of the top kids attend a school that has the best chance of getting them to the NFL and CPS’s offense just doesn’t do that. I know Tech has had a couple of WR selected early, but the truth is CPJ’s offense waste their tallent in college. It works for a little while, then DC’s learn or remember why no one uses it anymore and it become ineffective. Its even disappearing from HS now. Tech has had some WR drafted very high, but their tallent was basically wasted in college and the combines pushed them to the top.
Thats one reason I think Tech is having a hard time attracting top athletes, this is completely subjective and could be wrong, but CPJ comes off as an arrogant individual and tends to turn people against him, I can respect him for not coddling these HS drama queens but without them you just can’t compete. Groh was a questionable hire at the time and there is even more questions now, I think he has just fallen behind times.
DRad
September 30th, 2012
12:39 pm
Ok guys, enough negative talk. You are supposed to support us win or lose. I like Al Groh and his scheme. We just ran into a Buzz saw yesterday ( cute pun eh) . Anyway If we can lock down Al and Paul for a long term deal we will be better off and if you will give us enough time, we will show you. Didn’t you like the new sign we hold up in the end zone? We had a great crowd. Pushed 37,000. And how bout the new McCamish Center. Did you guys check it out yesterday.. If not you can still do so before the next home game. Don’t remember when it is but soon. We will rebound against Clemson. They always choke against us.
bobby
September 30th, 2012
12:43 pm
Tech defense just freakin stinks.
bobby
September 30th, 2012
12:45 pm
how in the heck you let middle tennessee dominate you in the trenches mean their o-line manhandling tech front 7 that sad. tech has no front 7.
bill
September 30th, 2012
12:46 pm
I HONESTLY CAN’T RECALL A TECH FOOTBALL GAME SINCE THE EARLY 90′S WHEN I SAW A TECH TEAM QUIT IN THE 4TH QUARTER. EVEN WHEN GA WAS BLASTING US AT THE END OF CHAN’S REIGN,THEY PLAYED HARD.
That being said, if this team has any character, they will at least play hard at Clemson…..still don’t get why Groh is still the DC.Hasn’t improved the quality or the morale of the defense since he’s been here.Perhaps we thought too much of this team after VT.
BTW, Va Tech has already lost twice OOC.Perhaps we are not that good right now…..period. We were so swept up with that tough loss to VT that we have probably just now realized that we aren’t that good. Neither are the Hokies this year.
Burgess
September 30th, 2012
12:49 pm
Johnson blames the players. Most of ya’ll blame Groh. There should be a sign on Johnson’s desk (knowing Johnson, I’m sure there isn’t) that says the “buck stops here”.
That quote after the Miami game is the worst of all time by a D1 coach (and I use that term loosely). “It just wasn’t meant to be”. LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
12:50 pm
The last two posts attributed to me were fakes, and now ….Obama shows up having already been warned, and possibly banned by Ken, for using other bloggers’ names. Mark needs to get with the program here.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
12:51 pm
@ Burgess……WHEN has Johnson blamed a player? That’s BS
Burgess
September 30th, 2012
12:53 pm
Johnson blames the players. Most of ya’ll blame Groh. Isn’t Johnson in charge ? There should be, but knowing Johnson…I’m sure there isn’t, a sign on Johnson’s desk saying that the buck stops here.
Burgess
September 30th, 2012
12:54 pm
Where have you been the last 5 years, Supersize ? He’s always throwing the players under the bus.
WTH
September 30th, 2012
12:55 pm
Can’t wait to see what excuses the Aspire guy will use when he tries to convince me to buy season tickets for 2013.
It’s going to be pretty bleak next year for the salespeople in the GTAA office working on commission.
Jorge O'leary
September 30th, 2012
1:00 pm
They suck. Who want’s to watch this boring a$$ style of football anyway? Tech is fighting for recruits from this team and Central Florida…. what can they accomplish? This is Johnson’s best O line ever? This is Hewitt part 2. I’m embarrassed and hate watching this boring offense…
1 4 GT
September 30th, 2012
1:05 pm
To the blog nation….FYI….y’all can believe this or not….the guy blogging under the name of Supersize…………………. & I think George S….. (some of the time) is a phony name thief. I can promise you that about Supersize last night not being the real Supersize. I think some of the George S…… posts were the name thief also. This jerk even replied to himself a few times. Believe it or not. It is true. Your choice to believe or not.
Jones
September 30th, 2012
1:26 pm
Here is what is left to say. The only folks taking responsibility were the players. Radakovich- “I support my coaches” Johnson “I support Groh” Players “we missed too many tackles”
Johnson some time in the past “Al- I am an offensive mastermind you are a defensive mastermind- we are going to win a national championship together. Well, welcome to big boy football in a football city. Recruit some 4 starts. Run some spread. Fire Groh now. Take responsibility.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
1:29 pm
@ Burgess……you are totally FOS. Johnson has NEVER thrown a player under the bus. You want an example of a coach throwing a player under the bus? Try George O’Leary publicly berating Joe Burns for a mistake he made in the 2000 Tech – Maryland game. Even though Tech won the game, O’Leary still called Burns out on a mistake he made and did it on television for the entire country to see. Johnson has NEVER done anything anywhere close to that.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
1:30 pm
@ 1 4 GT…….thanks, and you are correct, but a few of the ones made since about 12:20PM today ARE actually me. And to prove, at least to you, that I am the real Supersize, Chris went with us yesterday.
Supersize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
1:35 pm
Of course, having related that piece of info to you, I am sure the faker will use that in the future too. But I have many other “proofs” that he had no knowledge of.
Dawgs
September 30th, 2012
1:46 pm
I wish the GTU gme was in Atlanta this year…I would like to have a Red Out there.
Buzzzz
September 30th, 2012
1:52 pm
good game
SSLO
September 30th, 2012
1:53 pm
@Jones…I agree. It all starts with recruiting.
SSLO
September 30th, 2012
1:55 pm
@Dawgs….unfortunatley you are probably right.
Ray
September 30th, 2012
2:05 pm
Why would anyone in their right mind pay to see this Pop Warner team? CPJ is an arrogant fool but the only one’s with allusions of great expectations under this administration are the Alumni and the fans. We are the only one’s that can promote change on the flats. STOP GOING TO THE GAMES! When you finally run CPJ and Groh out of here take the AD with you.
Upsize that order, mutt
September 30th, 2012
2:15 pm
@Ray, some kids fit better in this system, ie Tebow.
Another Tech fan falls over Bobby Dodd railing | Midtown Atlanta
September 30th, 2012
2:43 pm
[...] According to WSB Channel 2, a Tech freshman fell 15 feet in the northwest bleacher section at Grant Field during Middle Tennessee State’s 49-28 win over Tech. [...]
DawgNole
September 30th, 2012
3:02 pm
Puzzling that my last two comments are “awaiting moderation.” Both are pretty innocuous, although one pokes at the AJC for continuing to allow imposters on their blogs.
Dustin Blythe
September 30th, 2012
3:24 pm
Casual observer here. I live in Indiana, but I like the Jackets and Paul Johnson. I can understand the gnashing of teeth after this loss. I think Al Groh’s seat is a lot hotter than Johnson’s, if only because firing Johnson would set GT back even further. PJ has recruited option players; hard to plug into any other offensive scheme. Tech’s troubles began when John Tenuta left for Notre Dame. Bring in a good, solid defensive coach, and rededicate the team to the basics and the ship can be righted. The question is: Stick with Groh or make a move during the season?
Another Tech fan falls over Bobby Dodd railing
September 30th, 2012
3:27 pm
[...] According to WSB Channel 2, a Tech freshman fell 15 feet in the northwest bleacher section at Grant Field during Middle Tennessee State’s 49-28 win over Tech. [...]
Hank Stram
September 30th, 2012
3:48 pm
What was the attendance at BDS yesterday?
Dawgs
September 30th, 2012
4:24 pm
Honey Boo Boo is a tech fan.
Mark Bradley
September 30th, 2012
4:25 pm
There’s you sack. Over and done
dawgfan
September 30th, 2012
4:48 pm
mmmaannn, i am sho drunk….i jist drank 3 wine coooolers and i is blitzed….time to call my girl Sasha for a quickie…my dawgs almost blowed it….ha ha techies
Rock_Eagle
September 30th, 2012
6:23 pm
Are you disenchanted with the state of Georgia Tech football ? Tired of expectations falling short on an annual basis ? Tired of battling Atlanta traffic on game day ? Just can’t bring yourself to pull for the Dawgs ? Help is on the way.. Georgia Southern voted last week to make the move to the FBS soon. Get behind the Eagles and help with the move ! After all, just a few years ago the Eagles were whipping ….ugh… Middle Tennessee State. Help keep Paulson Stadium full and growing. Besides that, the girls are much prettier. Georgia Southern….Eagles….Fight..Fight…Fight !
JRW7
September 30th, 2012
9:35 pm
GT doesn’t have the blue chip players needed to win, and the 4 and 5 star players are not going to come to Tech and play in this offense of CPJ, WHY? Because this offense will not prepare them for pros! GO DAWGS!!!
JRW7
September 30th, 2012
9:37 pm
Tech fans are not falling, they are jumping!
GT is a 4th rate High School Team
September 30th, 2012
9:50 pm
GT lost because they looking too much forward to the Clemson game. Not really bad since most High School teams do it anyway.
benchwarmer
September 30th, 2012
11:40 pm
Tech can’t recruit top talent. No one wants to play in this gimmick offense. No talent means no chance. Tech needs another buyout, this time football. Can’t they fire the idiots who keep hiring these losers!
benchwarmer
September 30th, 2012
11:54 pm
Georgia Tech, one of the oldest and sometimes greatest names in college football should be able to hire and keep a superior coach. One has to wonder what the problem is with accomplishing that. They play in a second rate league to start with and look like they don’t even belong there. Why on earth does any self respecting GT fan tolerate the continuing mediocrity that has taken over the major sports programs. I challenge all of them to stand up and not take this crap anymore. Aren’t you embarrassed enough yet?
GTBob
October 1st, 2012
8:11 am
I TOLD EVERYONE OF YOU TOOLS LAST WEEK THAT WE WOULD LOSE TO MTSU!!!!!!!!!!!
News Nearby: 2nd GA Tech Fan Falls Over Railing; Charge Against Jessica Colotl Stands | Cartersville
October 1st, 2012
8:17 am
[...] According to WSB Channel 2, a Tech freshman fell 15 feet in the northwest bleacher section at Grant Field during Middle Tennessee State’s 49-28 win over Tech. [...]
JoeFan
October 1st, 2012
8:18 am
There seems to be a disconnect between the players and coaches and it is growing game by game. In other words the players don’t have faith in the system or the men running it. If DRad isn’t ready to part ways with this group, then the stadium will become practically empty each Saturday as fans vote with their feet and their wallets. It will be even more disgraceful after the debacle the Clemson beat down promises to be. What a mess and it keeps getting worse the longer this situation is allowed to continue.
wt. king
October 1st, 2012
9:16 am
I’ll say it again…. the buck stops with CPJ. He has ALLOWED the Def. to get bad and stay bad. I dont care that he’s NOT a Def type coach. He’s the HEAD coach and thus responsible for all sides of the ball. Recruiting, Def., Off, special teams….CONDITIONING AND TRAINING!!!! Everything!!!! I dont see how he has a choice here. He’s GOT to make a change this week or the AD will be forced to remove him…… maybe before the end of season? Hell, at this time ANY change would show us they are at least trying!
stendek
October 1st, 2012
11:00 am
Hello again Mark. I simply cannot drive more nails into the Yellow Jackets coffins. Even I thought the Techsters would put 50 or more points on the visitors from Tennessee. Almost the other way around. Also consider that I would have had Mark Richt and Mike Bobo in soup lines years ago. Still not completely sold on Richt but still believe Bobo is a fraud. Oh well. Hard to argue with perfection. I support state teams. Cheer for Dawgs when they play Tech not because of any overriding hatred of Yellow Jackets but I just like UGA a bit more. Maybe it is the mascot. Squa tront friend.
stendek
October 1st, 2012
11:03 am
Dependable Russ I. Once removed.
Vince
October 1st, 2012
12:04 pm
I said it earlier in the year–Johnson’s advantage the first few years was the scheme. There is a reason no major FBS teams are running the option. But now the scheme has been figured out. And if you don’t have something to back it up (defense), you’re not going to win anymore. UGA will absolutely destroy GT with their running attack if something isn’t improved.
bugsquacher
October 1st, 2012
1:54 pm
like i have posted many many times……fire the gobbler
The Old Coot
October 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
Middle Tennessee 49, Georgia Tech 28: What’s left to say?
Sounds like a normal situation at Histeric Grant Field.
Why don’t you guys and Virginia and Duke just drop down to the FCS level and play there?
Full Metal Jacket
October 1st, 2012
2:47 pm
It still stings two days later (pun unavoidable) but now we have to look towards the rest of the season and next year. Groh’s not going anywhere before the end of the season and may step down on his own then. Washington is a real trooper, I think, but has not improved on making reads and late in games (incl. OT) when the pressure seems to get to him. It is time to start giving Lee more reps, besides the 1 or 2 series which he gets now (which at least is better than none at all). CPJ must recruit and sign better players, including a QB who can pass as well as run the option….as challenging as it may be. CPJ will show his worth in the coming weeks: either he effects a turnaround or the team wallows in self-pity and incompetence.