Comments from Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins following the Yellow Jackets' 48-27 loss at Boston College Saturday:
Opening statement:
“First and foremost, I think the story of the game, and we’ve got to correct this, is the turnovers. Three turnovers lost led to three scores. Lost by three scores. Sudden-change defense has got to get the stop if we do turn it over. We did not. And then we did not create any turnovers ourselves to give the ball to our offense.
"The penalty game, we had some critical penalties that really cost us. We get a huge third-down stop in the red zone, then a personal foul gives them a first down and then they score. Jahmyr Gibbs takes a kickoff return to the house, that gets called back. So that’s 14 points off of penalties that were not in our favor and 21 points off of turnovers.
"Those kind of things, with a young team, we have to make sure we’re getting addressed, getting fixed. But I do think the guys came out and battled in the second half, played together. You didn’t see a lot of guys losing composure, which could happen. And they just kept going out there and battling, fighting, trying to find a way to play some really good football in the second half.
“We just can’t hurt ourselves early like we did, dig ourselves in a hole, (as we did), I think down 17 early off turnovers and some mishaps. So get back to work this week, and we’ve got a top-five team rolling into Bobby Dodd Stadium next Saturday at 3:30. So no time to sit here and sulk. Got to get it corrected, get it fixed. We’ll have a practice tomorrow afternoon, and then we will start our process for the next game.”
On the run defense:
"I think the unique thing about their offense is it is a lot of different formations, a lot of different shifts. As you kind of try to find the rhythm, they don’t do a lot of the things that they’ve done in previous games. They give you different window dressing, they give you different alignments, create gaps in different ways.
“And I thought that once we were able to dial in on the new way they were attacking us, we got some good stops late in the second quarter and then on into the second half. But every single week is a unique twist on what they do and they’ve got really good players that fit the system, fit the scheme, to give them a chance to do that.”
On keeping disciplined on defense:
"Each week and this week, we were keyed in on the (Boston College) passing game, because it was so explosive and they did a lot of really nice things in the passing game. I thought they did a nice job. There were two busts that came in the red zone, eye-discipline violations.
“But other than that, I thought it was a clean game coverage-wise for the most part. The thing that got us was the quarterback scrambling. We knew he was going to be able to make plays with his feet. He did. He’s a really good player.”
On first-half onside kick try:
"We had two fakes, right? We had the fake punt on the fourth-and-13, I believe. It was wired and it was right there. And then the onsides, their kid just made a really heads-up play. We had three dudes going against one, so we knew we would have it, but the kid for them made a really nice play, a heads-up play.
"Anytime that you can get a situation where you can create a three-on-one advantage, we felt like that was the time. We’re trying to gain some momentum and get the ball back to our offense. We go into every single game looking for opportune moments to steal some possessions, tried it.
"I thought we made a really nice play on the onsides later in the game, and that was set up based on the one we had initially done. They overplayed the bunt, and then we’re able to get the onsides over there to the left. Juanyeh (Thomas) made a heck of a play. Jude (Kelley) made a great kick, and we were able to get the ball back and go down there and score.
“So we’ve got to take those chances in early phases of us building this thing. And the guys understand that, the defense understands that we’re going to take some chances and sometimes it might create a short field for the defense if it doesn’t work. We’ve just got to put the ball down and respond.”
On replacing Jeff Sims with James Graham:
“Jeff was playing good, right? I think he had a really good passer rating going throughout. Took some shots in the middle of the third quarter, late in the third quarter. And, we just felt it was best just to make a change. But I thought he was playing well. He obviously had two touchdown passes, he had a touchdown run. So he was playing well. We got James in there, and I think James came in and did some good things as well.”
On losing:
“Obviously, the final result hurts, the final result of games that you don’t win is painful. But you’ve got to learn from that pain, you’ve got to learn from that, and then grow and develop. But we’re going to be really, really good.”
On defending tight end Hunter Long:
"So we have to load up certain parts of our defense to get some favorable matchups for us. But, invariably, what happens as you do that, that leaves some other things vulnerable, too. When they find those little spots, then they get some plays on you.
“But the things that we had to stop, that we had to shut down, that we knew we had to (stop) going into the game, other than the quarterback scrambling, I thought the guys and the defensive staff did some good things.”
On B.C. quarterback Phil Jurkovec scrambling:
“We’ve just got to continue to generate more pass rush, to make sure we understand our pass-rush lanes, all those kind of things. So we will continue to do that. Some young guys got some chances today. There was one, on the biggest scramble of the day, one of the young guys didn’t run the proper scheme and we can get that fixed. Those kind of things, they’re going to happen when you’re playing a bunch of young guys. But we’ve got to continue to stress those things, stress pass-rush lanes.”
On if some penalties reflected a lack of discipline:
"One hundred percent. There are so many things that we cover, that we drill, that we harp on, that we’re yelling from the sidelines, to remind of all of those lessons, but still you got to make sure the guys are in tune and making sure they’re doing the right things at the right time.
"But I sat in all the practices, all the meetings, those kind of things. We’ve got to be able to execute that at a high level and, like you said, be disciplined. Those are the things that can get very frustrating, and those will be addressed.”
