On the positive side, Georgia Tech didn’t turn the ball over. On the negative side … there was a lot.
On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets were up against it – a talented, athletic and well-coached opponent that, for good measure, had plenty to play for and was in its own stadium. Walking a tightrope, Tech lost its balance early. The No. 5 Bulldogs did the rest in Tech’s 45-21 defeat, dissecting the Jackets with a high-powered offense and blunting them with a relentless defensive effort.
“It’s a huge game,” quarterback TaQuon Marshall said. “We know what it means. We knew what it meant going into it. We didn’t play our best, and they exploited that.”
Tech had won four consecutive games and six of seven by avoiding mistakes and taking advantage of its opponents’. The recipe was flipped Saturday by a team that required no assistance.
Tech needed explosive plays on offense to relieve the pressure of having to grind out first downs against the Bulldogs’ defense, ranked 13th nationally in total defense. But through the third quarter, Tech’s longest play from scrimmage was 10 yards. Coach Paul Johnson said blocking was poor, and Marshall missed some reads in the option, mistakes that were magnified in a game in which the Jackets fell behind early.
“We played against a really good football team and we played very poorly,” Johnson said. “I think (Georgia) probably had something to do with a lot of that.”
Tech may have taken its last gasp on its second possession (not counting Juanyeh Thomas’ kickoff return for a touchdown), when it trailed 21-7 in the second quarter. On third-and-10, Marshall checked out of a play at the line, but with Sanford Stadium at a fever pitch, apparently not everyone heard the change. What looked like a triple-option play busted, and Marshall was lucky to gain four yards. Tech went for it on fourth-and-6 from the Tech 48, with Johnson calling a quarterback draw.
“They didn’t flow like we thought they would on that specific play,” Marshall said. “So I just tried to make a play; they kind of ate it up in the backfield.”
UGA gained possession at the Tech 44, and the Bulldogs were able to create a mismatch with linebacker Brant Mitchell trying to cover wide receiver Mecole Hardman, one of the Bulldogs’ fastest players. Quarterback Jake Fromm had an easy throw for a 44-yard touchdown for a 28-7 lead with 9:22 left in the second quarter.
On defense, the Jackets missed a slew of tackles, couldn’t pressure Fromm and were often blown off the line of scrimmage by Georgia’s massive front line. Tech’s defense, which has thrived on turnovers and covered up its deficiencies with them, didn’t get its only one – a fumble forced and recovered by nose tackle Brandon Adams – until the fourth quarter, when the score was 45-7 in Georgia’s favor.
“It was a combination of them checking out and running different plays, and then when we would have the right play, we’d miss tackles,” Mitchell said. “It was a combination of both.”
