His Jackets pull a no-show, and Paul Johnson is not pleased
This one picture is worth a couple of hundred thousand words, give or take. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Athens – There were two snippets of good news for Georgia Tech on an otherwise wretched Saturday: The Jackets still get to play for the ACC Championship, and the Georgia Bulldogs will be occupied elsewhere.
Other than that, this was a wipeout of epic dimensions. It wasn’t quite as bad as the 51-7 loss here in 2002, but at least that drubbing came in Year 1 under a new coach. This one arrived in Year 5 under Paul Johnson, who seemed the anti-Chan Gailey. Meaning: A man who could hold his own against the hated mutts. (Gailey went for 0-for-6.) But now Johnson, after stunning the Bulldogs on his first try, has lost four in a row to Georgia, and the series has again gone lopsided.
And Johnson, who on taking this job ordered that the slogan “Beat Georgia” be displayed on Tech’s practice field, was not pleased. Afterward his voice could be heard — at great volume and great length — railing at his players through the metal door of the visitors’ locker room, and his subsequent press briefing was sardonic even by Johnson’s standards.
When a reporter mentioned that early turnovers might have compromised Tech’s chance of winning, Johnson said: “Were you watching the game? Do you think it mattered where (the Bulldogs) got the ball?”
Speaking of which: “(Georgia) averaged 14 yards a play the first half.” (Actually only 10.6. But it seemed like 14.)
When another reporter noted that Georgia had the ball for only 8 1/2 minutes en route to 28 first-half points, Johnson said: “Good thing, huh?”
This is the same Paul Johnson who said in 2009, when his Jackets were about to play for (and win, at least on the field) the ACC title, who blithely said his program “had bigger fish to fry” than Georgia; the same Paul Johnson who has said repeatedly that he came to Tech “to win championships.” Technically, he still can claim the 2012 championship of his middling league, but the mythical state title is gone yet again. And, given that Tech’s 42-10 loss Saturday was its worst against Georgia under this coach, it wouldn’t appear the gap is narrowing.
Said Tevin Washington, Tech’s senior quarterback: “The only way we’re going to get it going the other way is to beat them.”
Whenever Tech loses — and it has lost half its games this regular season — the knee-jerk reaction is to label Johnson’s stylized offense as high-schoolish. But here again we saw that the option is all that distinguishes Tech as a program of worth. The defense, now on its third coordinator under Johnson, remains terrible. Special teams are again a calamity. If not for the Jackets’ capacity to run the ball, they’d be Vanderbilt before James Franklin. They’d be, in a word, hopeless.
But here’s the thing: The rest of Tech football has grown so feeble that it can no longer prop up the stylized offense, and on a day when the offense gets yards — Tech outgained the Bulldogs 426 yards to 379 — but not points, it has no chance. Said Johnson: “We couldn’t match them score for score,” and that has become the only way the Jackets can hope to beat anyone halfway decent.
This was the sixth time this season the Jackets have yielded 40 or more points. The wonder isn’t that they lost five of those games; the wonder is that they won even one. (At North Carolina 68-50.)
A big-time program cannot long subsist as a one-trick pony, and we’re seeing the limits of Johnson as a program builder. (As opposed to an offensive schemer.) He hasn’t recruited as well as he needs to recruit to sustain the successes achieved with Gailey’s holdovers. That Tech will play Florida State in Charlotte for the ACC title says more about the flimsy state of the conference than it does about Tech. The only time these Jackets look like a real team is when they have the ball.
The Jackets saw early Saturday what a real team looks like when it doesn’t have the ball. Tech back Robert Godhigh burst inside the Georgia 5 on the Jackets’ first series, and for a moment it seemed the game — Georgia had seized a 7-0 lead after 63 seconds — was about to be joined. But no. Safety Bacarri Rambo wrested the ball from Godhigh’s grasp, and that was essentially that.
Asked if it would be difficult to rouse his men to play Florida State after such a beating, Johnson said: “I look at it as another opportunity. We’ll see how they respond.”
It must be noted that Johnson did not give the impression of a coach living in fervent hope. True, a different opponent and a different venue could yield a different result. But it’s hard to imagine any game involving the Bulldogs turning out well for Tech anytime soon.
Further reading: On Paul Johnson’s poor early choice and Tech’s lack of fans.
By Mark Bradley
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519 comments Add your comment
Bill
November 24th, 2012
6:17 pm
I agree JB…
Ala also up on Auburn 48 to 0 in 3rd…UGA better be ready.
rj
November 24th, 2012
6:17 pm
If Paul Johnson had the class of a Mark Richt he would resign as opposed to wait to get fired. But since he won’t resign let’s hope as the dwindling GT fan base that the new AD sends him back to D3 unless there is a high school gig available. I am convinced that he can’t recruit or coach and how much evidence does the administration need to see the same thing everyone sees already? In the absence of an AD the President of GT has an obligation to step in.
Bill
November 24th, 2012
6:18 pm
If you say so Glory….
Rufus
November 24th, 2012
6:19 pm
No. The Sun Belt wouldn’t work. MTSU lives there.
JB
November 24th, 2012
6:20 pm
Johnson is a fraud. Noway Tech with its proud history be that bad. Tech has made him rich. Hes a hillbilly
UGA = Yawn
November 24th, 2012
6:22 pm
Enter your comments here
Jorge O'leary
November 24th, 2012
6:24 pm
Glory Between the Hedges
November 24th, 2012
6:16 pm
Whoever believes alabama is going to run the dawgs over should not be taken serious. Georgia has a handful of guys who are going to be drafted just in the first round. I believe the Dawgs are just better than Bama. We have been waiting a long time for this..Bama is going to be.in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Gloryhole between the hedges, you will be proven wrong against Bama!
MC
November 24th, 2012
6:25 pm
Contract extension anyone? LMAO
steve
November 24th, 2012
6:26 pm
Bradley will be happy again…another coach to try to run out of town.
Meanwhile, it does stink to come face-to-face with what you are…which is a very mediocre program. I hate it for Tech. They deserve better.
Gorilla Biscuit
November 24th, 2012
6:28 pm
Coach Paul Johnson………………gone fishin’.
KBP
November 24th, 2012
6:29 pm
@Bill, Georgia better be ready? Yes and Bama better be ready! Their defense is not the 2009 nor last years defense especially in the secondary and their pass rush is not that great. If we can block them, then Murray and the receivers will make plays against them.
Bill
November 24th, 2012
6:31 pm
I hope KBP
Ghost
November 24th, 2012
6:35 pm
Why would PJ berate hos players? Pj should be looking in a mirror and berating himself, Systems will only work if you can recruit players. JOhnson can’t recruit .
gt4861d
November 24th, 2012
6:37 pm
To those who want replace CPJ … replace with who? What makes you think his replacement would be any better? There’s a reason DRad left – those same reasons likely scare off other big-time college football coaches.
I certainly thing ga tech football’s problems are made worse by difficult academic requirements – requirements that SEC schools certainly don’t face. But I don’t think that fully explains Ga Tech’s consistent mediocrity. My guess is that Ga Tech’s lack of a non-alumni fan base, and the resultant empty stadium seats, scare off prospects. I’d also guess that Ga Tech’s non-existent visibility outside of Atlanta (and only partial media coverage in Atlanta – I heard once that there are more auburn alums in metro Atlanta that Tech alums, not to mention uga alums) doesn’t help recruiting.
I spent three years living in Blacksburg – everyone in Virginia knows that Tech. I know it’s an imprecise comparison (Va Tech should be called Va State … that’s really what it is) but that school has some demanding classes and regularly attracts solid talent. What explains the difference? My guess is that Va Tech’s rural/agricultural setting makes it seem “accessible” to the general public, especially in comparison to openly snooty uva. If correct that would suggest that the root of (real) Tech’s football problem lies in it’s promoted sense of (well-deserved) exclusivity.
In summary, I’d argue that the key to understanding why GT football consistently wallows in mediocrity is understanding why DRad left Tech for Climpsun. With that said, I’m not sure Tech is really interested in doing what is necessary to consistently win.
Uh Oh
November 24th, 2012
6:38 pm
Too bad for Tech, CPJ is getting an extension for winning the division.
Buzzman
November 24th, 2012
6:40 pm
Been saying all the time, CPJ cannot recruit, the years he had a decent team was with Gailey’s recruits. Who brought in Big AL? .Doesn’t this tell you that he cannot recruit, he runs a high school offense, and he sure cannot run a defense or special teams. What is it going to take to get rid of him and let’s just start over.
GT10
November 24th, 2012
6:40 pm
My suggestion for the new AD. Join the Big 10 and drop Georgia. You don’t recruit the same type kids so stop the series and only play them if you must in a bowl game.
alex
November 24th, 2012
6:40 pm
Went to MTSU game, it was obvious that GT does not have much talent on defense, small ,slow. Linebackers are not division 1 level and d-back are division 2 level. You really see a HUGE difference when the GT 2nd teamers have to play (GT center could not compete) with GA lineman. CPJ has to go, can’t recruit.
OldGold1964
November 24th, 2012
6:42 pm
The question is not whether he is pleased or not; the questions is: What is he going to do about it?!
Rich
November 24th, 2012
6:46 pm
Well Paul Johnson isn’t happy…Perhaps when he starts coaching then he has the right to say he isn’t happy….It’s not the players that didn’t shoe up it’s the not so good coach….
Uh Oh
November 24th, 2012
6:47 pm
Why is my comment “awaiting moderation”? All I said is Coach Paul Johnson is getting an extension for winning they’re division.
Uh Oh
November 24th, 2012
6:48 pm
their
Cleary not pleased?
November 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
Take a look at the tape as Johnson runs on the field to align a player properly. This is basic fundamentals that are lacing and that starts at the top. Although grossly overrated on the national scene, it’s no surprise that UGA was clearly superior, better coached and to be quite honest has better players. No whining about the win but they will fold once they reach a team with any real talent. Their schedule has only matched up one talented team (SC) ……. Good luck to them as they take on Saban.
Tech is stuck with PJ until the new AD comes on board. Just the facts. If we want to improve we MUST hire a coach who can recruit and wants to win (Kirby Smart?) but it will cost us. Either pay up or quit whining. Money will buy the talent. The SEC is proof of this.
Tech has dumbed down academically to accommodate athletes so stop with the academic requirement excuses. Although we don’t have housing, home ec, interior design and education degrees we do have the Ivan Allen college and enough worthless degrees to offer athletes.
Love my Jackets and am proud to be a fan. UGA has a superior football program but is an inferior school in multiple areas. I’ll take the nerds any day. Go Jackets!
GT_Ragdoll
November 24th, 2012
6:49 pm
Mom, I’m afraid I’m going to see that big and mean #9 in my dreams….
Paul Johnson
November 24th, 2012
6:50 pm
We don’t need no stinking defense when I’m calling the plays.
Jacket Dad
November 24th, 2012
6:50 pm
Johnson is not pleased?????? Try being a Jacket fan who has a coach that can’t recruit, sees no use in bothering with those silly pass plays since his vaunted offense is so stellar, never gets his team up for a game – must berate them before, during and after, wouldn’t know defense if it hit him in the face and is too egotistical to recognize the games our special teams have cost us over the past few years. Coach Johnson, you are not a complete coach and evidently can’t assemble a team of coaches who can bring it.
Whew, that feels better. I feel for the players, but even they appeared to give up today. Yes, they were outplayed, outcoached, out everything, but dang it, just give it your all!
We are screwed with Johnson’s buyout and contract. But we need a young DC who will light a fire (Johnson can’t), and some coaches who can recruit (Johnson can’t). We need coaches who develop their players – I don’t and haven’t seen it since Johnson has been here.
Good luck getting any of us to travel to Charlotte and wherever we (God help us) go to a bowl. Been there, done that!
Spanky
November 24th, 2012
6:52 pm
Like I said, you guys didn’t have a prayer against this defense! Watching the FSU\Fla game…don’t see ya’ll beating them either!! Good luck in NeverNever-Land! LOL! WE RUN THIS STATE!!….Have a good day!
Paul Johnson
November 24th, 2012
6:52 pm
Did y’all like my 4th and 8 pass to the tackle. I’m so smart.
eddy
November 24th, 2012
6:52 pm
But the smartest man in football, self proclaimed, looked like a doofus today. It never occurs to Johnson that no one else uses his ridiculous offense. If it was so good, most everyone would use it. Sad to see, Tech was once a very good football team….before Johnson. He’ll continue with his goofy offense until the powers decide enough is enough. Can’t cure stupid when stupid is in charge.
Gumbo
November 24th, 2012
6:52 pm
If we can petitions to get back to Division 2, we will be in a helluva position to win every year. D2 coach, D2 players…….
cpj
November 24th, 2012
6:53 pm
So none of the techies who said VL was going to beat down the Dawgs are remembering that now. Your silent apology is accepted.
THWGT
Rick James
November 24th, 2012
6:55 pm
@GTBob
It wasn’t just 5 star players versus 3 star players. That happens every year. This UGA team is probably the most talented team in the country and easily the most talented in UGA history. That is why there there is such a discrepancy. No matter how bad Richt coaches you can’t overcome that
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Well said Bob..
KBP
November 24th, 2012
6:55 pm
CPJ recruits kids who want to play college ball. CMR recruits players who want to play pro ball. The offenses they run show that.
Buzz
November 24th, 2012
6:57 pm
CPJ has never recruited. Tech does not have the horses. We have already won our last game in 2012.
Expand Majors or merge with Georgia State Univ. Why is Georgia funding a 50% Georgia Student ,Specialty Engineering University when all Major Universities including UGA (800 in Engineering Now) and Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Clemson, Florida, Etc. teach Engineering. A waste of our Georgia tax dollars. Expand or go private.
cpj
November 24th, 2012
6:57 pm
KBP
November 24th, 2012
6:55 pm
CPJ recruits kids who want to play college ball. CMR recruits players who want to play pro ball. The offenses they run show that.
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It is really sad that you believe this to be true.
Truther
November 24th, 2012
6:58 pm
In 2008 a sports columnist for the AJC wrote something akin to “GT’s program under Paul Johnson was on the rise and UGA under Mark Richt was on the decline”.
He is still a sports columnist for the AJC.
Sierra Dawg
November 24th, 2012
7:01 pm
And how, exactly, are you going to recruit those 4- and 5-star players? Take them for a stroll through your magnificent stadium that’s about half the size of UGA’s? You know, the Joke by Coke – that you can’t even fill unless it’s packed with Bulldogs once every other year. Maybe you emphasize the exposure of playing in the mighty ACC instead of that OTHER conference. OK, maybe not a good idea. Possibly have GTBob regale them with the history of the glory days of Tech football post-Vietnam? Yeah, that would leave a lot of awkward time on everyone’s hands. Maybe let them hold your 1990 national championship trophy for a while? Just don’t tell them that there are 2 others for the same year sitting in a trophy case in Boulder, CO.
So, again, how do you convince a blue-chipper to come to Tech? What do you sell? Especially now. Seriously.
PSW
November 24th, 2012
7:01 pm
The solution for Tech, football-wise, is to get back into the SEC. Would take time and cost money, but it would up the ability of the program eventually, esp. with recruits, as well as drawing those non-Tech Atlanta fans and their sweet, sweet money to Grant Field. Thinking of the Big Ten is a mistake, if someone is, because non-Tech Atlanta fans may care about the teams coming in, but I don’t think the rest of us would.
I deeply love Tech in ACC basketball and woud hate to leave it, but the only way Tech will ever be reliably competent, year in, year out, on the football field again is to somehow get back into the SEC. Then the academic program becomes a draw–a challenge a reasonably bright top kid should want to conquer, a degree in Management that opens the way to future business sucess after college or the NFL (and business is the way to family uplifting), as well as playing in the best football conference in the nation. It would turn a “weakness” into a strength.
Woud also keep the GT-Georgia thing from dying, which is probably likely the more non-Crackers move into state, who didn’t grow up with it.
KBP
November 24th, 2012
7:04 pm
cpj, I am not one to take shots at Tech so tell me why what I posted is wrong. Very few of CPJ’s recruits get drafted and lots of CMR’s get drafted.
ramguy68
November 24th, 2012
7:04 pm
The experiment should be over.. This offense can’t win consistently at this level. They win some games and make some good teams look bad sometimes. They just can’t get on a long run and win 8 or 9 games in a row. Plus it hurts recruiting in the long run.
Rick James
November 24th, 2012
7:05 pm
I often wondered why Georgia fans always called CPJ” coach “fish fry” I forgot that remark.What I always say to people is the way Paul Johnson comes off to the press and in the media is the way he comes off to recruits and their parents.He is the real reason Tech’s talent is so far below Georgia’s not academics..He simply does have the people skills to sell Georgia Tech football to top knotch players.
GTJohn
November 24th, 2012
7:06 pm
Why does everyone think Bama is going to kill the Dawgs. I think it will be a close game and the Dawgs have a good chance to win. Bama can be beat.
BILLY JACK
November 24th, 2012
7:07 pm
Georgia could of made that score anything it wanted-just got back from the game and tech needs to somehow get out of the ACC championship game-tech may never beat UGA again in my lifetime and Florida is putting a beatdown on FSU-so much for all these tech football experts.
Bryan
November 24th, 2012
7:08 pm
Unless Tech is get lucky enough to get in a really bad bowl, they won’t win another game this year.
AtlantaNative62
November 24th, 2012
7:09 pm
UGAly not only has MUCH better talent, they are much more physical. They have an “attitude” that borders on being dirty. They flat out kicked our a$$es and we (Tech) buckled under the vicious hitting. The worst part about the a$$-whooping is we just stood there and took it. Over and over again. UGAly was throwing around our players like they were rag dolls. Nobody on the Tech side stepped up for a teammate who got slammed. They literally stood there and watched on multiple occasions. That is UNACCEPTABLE. Not to sound like an old coach but I always want to win. But if we can’t, at a minimum we have to compete! We are getting a rep of being quitters. Again, UNACCEPTABLE! Our guys – almost all of them – just don’t do the hitting. They take hits (or avoid them) and they were simply abused today. Even our star offensive player – Orwin Smith – pulls up (or runs out of bounds) before getting hit. Someone needs to let these kids know that while the offense requires finesse, finesse and being physial are not mutually exclusive.
Coach, it is time to hire a big time D-coordinator who will REQUIRE this team to be physical. We looked silly today on defense. On one fourth and 1, we were not even lined up for the play. I’m surprised UGAly didn’t score we were so disorganized. That is coaching and unfortunately our defense looks like it is simply trying not to screw up rather than play fast and knowing their roles. We made “first game” mistakes in the 12th game. HORRIBLE!
Coach, while you are making changes, it is time to shake up our recruiting as well. Please understand I’m not picking on these kids. I support them. Feel for them. But they need better coaching and better talent along side of them.
I am very proud of the way the team rallied to put themselves in position to be in the ACC title game. They could have quit on the entire season. But they didn’t. Now, they have to learn not to quit in a game EVER. After Godhigh fumbled early, that game was over. Tech quit right then and there.
GTJohn
November 24th, 2012
7:09 pm
Vad should have started. To come in when you are 21 down is not a vote of confidence.
GT10
November 24th, 2012
7:11 pm
Look at how many players recruited by PJ have been drafted. Don’t even say Stephen Hill……..he was committed to GT before Johnson was hired. Gailey had pro prospects as players….GT at this time does not.
Abe
November 24th, 2012
7:11 pm
The Hill is supporting GT to be an international college like MIT, so why not join the D3 football league MIT plays in.
Rick James
November 24th, 2012
7:12 pm
@GTBob
O’Leary was granted a multitude of academic exemptions which eventually led to flunk gate. He is part of the reasons Tech will never be competitive again.
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Get off that academic crutch Bob..Tech has the lowest graduation rate for football in the ACC.Paul Johnson is signing the mensa members that you say he is..
Old Dawg
November 24th, 2012
7:13 pm
Johnson always blames his players for losses but as a Dawg fan…we hope Tech keeps him forever!!