Al Groh stood in front of his defense earlier this week and read the quote: "We're similar players, but we're different, too, because I'm better than him. I'm better. He just has more hype. He knows that, or he should know that.
"He is a good quarterback, too, so I don't want to take anything away from him. But like I said, I am better. I know that."
"I'm" is Middle Tennessee State's Dwight Dasher. "He" is Georgia Tech's Joshua Nesbitt. That was all the motivation that the Yellow Jackets needed.
With Dasher's quote to the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville fueling them, Tech's defense intercepted Dasher four times and limited the Blue Raiders to 115 yards in the second half to help the Yellow Jackets to a 42-14 win Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
"Who?" Nesbitt responded when asked what he thought about Dasher's quote. "Who is that?"
Nesbitt knows exactly who Dasher is. His Greene County high school team lost to Dasher's Charlton County team 34-33 in the semifinals of the 2005 Georgia high school playoffs.
So he was already motivated. The quote pushed him a little bit more.
"I always take it personally," Nesbitt said.
Well, he got the last word Saturday.
Nesbitt rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown, passed for 86 yards and another touchdown and efficiently led the Jackets to three consecutive touchdowns in the third quarter to turn a close game on its head.
The scores came easily because Tech's defense was chasing Dasher all over the field. He finished with 173 yards passing, with the four interceptions, and 35 rushing, with a fumble on a sack by Dominique Reese.
"I re-read it before the game," said Reese, who was the one who revealed that Groh, Tech's defensive coordinator, read the story to them during the week. "I was mad. Nesbitt's our quarterback. I don't like anybody taking shots at him."
The third touchdown of the quarter came when Anthony Allen took a pitch left and ran in from 6 yards out to push the Jackets' lead to 35-7. Nesbitt checked out of a pass play and called the run when he saw how the Blue Raiders were lined up. That drive started at the 30 after inside linebacker Julian Burnett forced a fumble and outside linebacker Steven Sylvester recovered it.
Tech's second score came on a 26-yard touchdown reception by Stephen Hill. The play was supposed to go to another receiver, but Hill changed the call after Johnson gave it to him. That drive started on the 40-yard line after Reese sacked Dasher and forced a fumble that outside linebacker Anthony Egbuniwe recovered.
Tech's opening score in the third came when Allen, mostly quiet in the first half, took a pitch and sprinted 32 yards down the right sideline with 9:06 remaining. The offense had the defense to thank for the drive because the Jackets forced the Blue Raiders to punt from their 6-yard line, giving the ball to Tech at the 45.
"Our quarterback's a pretty good player," Groh said. "Some of our players were challenged to make sure that the game was over that they helped him to be the best player. They were tuned into the game, very focused."
That focus was mostly missing in the first half. Tech intercepted Dasher four times, including two by Jerrard Tarrant and one by Burnett, but could convert the miscues into just one touchdown. That came on a 20-yard run by Orwin Smith on Tech's first series.
Johnson challenged the team at halftime to play with more urgency, a familiar refrain this season. The defense responded by not allowing the Blue Raiders to convert a third down in the second half (0-for-5) and the offense responded by capitalizing on its chances.
"I think we are getting better, but sometimes it is hard to tell," Johnson said.
Nesbitt said he's never called another player out like Dasher did, though Nesbitt was quoted in the same article saying he's better than Dasher. Nesbitt said he didn't seek Dasher out after the game.
"I feel like I went out and played my game," Nesbitt said. "I didn't do any talking. He's someone who did the talking. He needed to go out and play."
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