(ACC) The Yellow Jackets play on a grass field at Bobby Dodd Stadium (seats 55,000)
- Paul Johnson enters his 4th year as head coach at Georgia Tech and 2010 was just his 2nd losing season in his 14 years of head coaching experience. Last year they entered the season with high hopes, but they exited with a 6-7 record.
- The argument against Johnson has been that you can’t win
To that Johnson says “You don’t have to be balanced. We have to be efficient. Completing 40 percent is not efficient. We have to find ways to help that.” Their passing game was one of the least efficient in the nation last year. In addition, they fumbled too much (stats?). Execution is key to their scheme because the ball is changing hands and it is prone to costly errors.
- Head Coach Paul Johnson
without balance, because while his team dominates the rushing game (1st in the nation), it had the second worst passing game (119th in the nation) in 2010.
- The only way to describe Georgia Tech is by the offensive scheme head coach Paul Johnson has used everywhere he has gone: the TRIPLE-OPTION, SPREAD OFFENSE. A quick way of understanding what this means is that on every offensive play there are three different options of who has the ball. In the first step, the quarterback (A) either keeps the ball or hands it to (B). If he hands it to (B) the decision is final. If he keeps it then he has another decision to make to either keep it or hand it or pass it to player (C). Under previous head coach Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech had a similar attitude on offense where they predominantly ran the ball. But when Paul Johnson took over as head coach in 2008, he took the running game to another level. Now when Georgia Tech is on offense you can be certain that they are going to run the ball on every down, with the exception of about two plays per quarter.
- If they are going to run the ball on every play then why can’t defenses stop Georgia Tech? The Triple Spread Option is a version of the Spread Option that many offenses use in college football. But the difference is in the options available because rather than two runners, it utilizes three options of runners on each play. Also note that in addition to the triple running threat, Paul Johnson also differentiates his version of the Spread Option from others by having the Quarterback take the snap to begin the play under Center (directly behind the Center) as opposed to the shotgun formation (about 8-10 yards behind the Center).
- This year they lose a huge part of their offensive production from QB Joshua Nesbitt and B-back Anthony Allen. Looks like there is some significant competition at both positions though. But still, this team only returns 12 starters.
- Seven offensive starters return, with half of them on the offensive line. And Center Jay Finch could be considered a half-returning-starter as he had a great amount of experience at Center and at Guard last year. The offensive line is critical, especially for the running game and for allowing the quarterback to have time to pass the ball to improve their efficiency.
- Quarterback competition is between three possible starters: (1) Tevin Washington, who played almost half the season after Nesbitt broke his arm during the Virginia Tech game, (2) Synjyn Days, a redshirt freshman and (3) Vad Lee, a true freshman.
- While Georgia Tech’s rushing offense has improved, their rushing defense has declined. Tech had enjoyed five straight years ranked in the top 20 in rushing defense under former defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta. But when Johnson took the job in 2008 and let Tenuta go, he lost one of the best defensive minds in College Football. Last year Georgia Tech’s rushing defense continued its decline to 78th in the Nation, by far their worst in the past ten years.
- Five defensive starters return for the second year of Defensive coordinator Al Groh’s 3-4 system. As a reminder, Al Groh was the head coach of fellow ACC-team, Virginia from 2001-2009. Georgia Tech’s defense gave up a lot of points last year and were really quiet when it came to getting to the quarterback and putting pressure on him—they had just 17 sacks and 8 interceptions. They need to produce more pressure on the quarterback, while also improving their ability to stop the run. Basically they need to improve upon everything.
- Georgia Tech is building an indoor practice facility for approximately $6-7 million thanks in part to Coca-Cola Enterprises CEO John F. Brock III’s $3.5 million donation.
- Click here for Georgia Tech’s schedule.
