It didn’t take long to put a damper on a dream season for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. In one cool night in Atlanta, the Georgia Bulldogs ran wild in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The final score was 30-24, and it was remarkable the Jackets had the ball inside of 2 minutes with a chance to win. The Bulldogs ran for a whopping 339 yards, often gaining 6,7 and 8 yards a run. Georgia simply manhandled Georgia Tech upfront. I believe it’s time for head coach Paul Johnson to consider other options at the defensive coordinator position.

I agree that Tech is undersized on the defensive line, but it hasn’t only been Georgia that has been able to move the ball on the Jackets. Teams like Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi St also had big offensive days against the Jackets. It’s a systematic problem, and Wommack is not the answer. He’s had a superior offense bail him out for 2 years now. That’s enough for me.

Josh Nesbitt is the definition of a warrior. It looked like he suffered an ankle sprain last night, and he came back to nearly lead the Jackets to a victory. I wouldn’t bet against him or Paul Johnson to lose 2 games in a row. The next game is the ACCCG against the Clemson Tigers.

The Tigers are coming off their own disappointing loss. They got beat up by their in state rival South Carolina 34-17. Both teams have to put this weekend’s loss behind them and quick. Where I would favor Georgia Tech is Paul Johnson has never lost 2 games in a row while in Atlanta. He makes tremendous week-to-week adjustments. Clemson can’t approach the offensive line that Georgia has or the power running game the Dawgs have. At the same time though, the Jackets can’t match a South Carolina defense that stuffed the Tigers.

It will still be a close game like we expected, but with a little less excitement because of the recent losses for both teams. An ACC Championship will go a long way to helping the Jackets forget about the loss to arch rival Georgia.

It’s Clean Old-Fashioned Hate time when the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Georgia Bulldogs meet Saturday November 28 at 8 PM. The Yellow Jackets come in 10-1 ranked number 7 in every major poll. The Bulldogs are 6-5 and just lost at home 34-27 to a mediocre Kentucky team, they led 20-6 at the half. No matter what happens the rest of the year Dawg Head Coach Marc Richt is going to have his worst season in his tenure at Georgia. He’s never lost more than 4 games in a year. The Bulldogs would like to win this game and a win a bowl to salvage something out of a lost season. For Paul Johnson and Jackets the game is bigger.

This is the highest ranked Georgia Tech team to play in this game since 1990, when the Jackets won the national title. Paul Johnson immediately endeared himself to Georgia Tech fans last year, when Georgia Tech beat Georgia 45-42 in Athens ending a 7 game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Georgia would love nothing more than to spoil the Jacket’s dream season. Regardless of the outcome the Jackets are headed to the ACC championship to play the Clemson Tigers for the right to play in the Orange Bowl. Sure it’s a rivalry game, but why is the game so vitally important for Georgia Tech?

Recruiting:

Paul Johnson has made it a priority to recruit the talent rich state of Georgia. All 12 of his verbal commitments for the 2010 class are from Georgia. This state is the backbone of Bulldog recruiting. A win would prove a power shift within the states two biggest programs, and recruits will certainly take notice.

BCS Bowl and ranking implications:

The Bulldogs are playing to stay out of Shreveport, the Yellow Jackets are playing for a top 5 ranking and momentum heading into the ACCCG. There’s even discussion that if the Jackets beat Georgia and lose a close game to Clemson, that they could still be an at large team in the BCS. There’s even the slimmest of chances that Georgia Tech could get to the national championship game.

Bragging Rights:

This one is obvious. TO fans and players of the winning team, you get another 365 days of bragging rights:

National Perception:

To me this is what makes this game so important to the Yellow Jackets this season. Georgia is not a good team no matter how you look at their squad. Joe Cox is an average at best quarterback. The defense is undisciplined and prone to giving up big plays. This team is 119th out of 120 teams in turnover margin and has lost 5 times this year.

If Georgia Tech were to lose, it would be a serious blow to a team that is continuing to try and build credibility as a program that can be nationally relevant. A middle of the road SEC team beating a top 10 ACC team would also further damage the ACC’s football reputation. It’s simply not a game the Yellow Jackets can afford to lose.

This article is also featured at my blog All About Sports where you’ll find this article and others discussing Georgia Tech, the ACC, and a variety of sports topics.

It has not been a good last few seasons for Coach Paul Hewitt and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket basketball program. Since the 2004-2005 season, the numbers look just plain awful.

2005-2006: 11-17 (4-12)

2006-2007: 20-12 (8-8) NCAA Tournament 1st Round

2007-2008: 15-17 (7-9)

2008-2009: 12-19 (2-14)

Overall: 58-65 (21-43)

This is a critical year for Paul Hewitt. In the last four years the Jackets have zero NCAA tournament wins, and 43 regular season ACC losses. Athlon Sports lists Hewitt as one of the twelve coaches that enter the 2009-2010 season on the hotseat, but help is on the way. In the offseason everything that could go right did go right for Georgia Tech basketball. Derrick Favors a consensus top 5 High School player signed with Georgia Tech. Defensive specialist and upperclassman De’Andre Bell was medically cleared to play after last year’s spinal injury. Finally All-ACC forward Gani Lawal decided to return for his junior season. Let’s take a closer at Georgia Tech.

Biggest Strength:

This might be the best frontcourt in the ACC. Derrick Favors is 6-10 freshman that is already considered one of the better frontcourt players in America. F Gani Lawal was dominant at times last year, but wore down late in the year should benefit from the arrival of Favors. Teams won’t be able to double team Lawal as they did much of the time last year. 6-8 Forward Zachery Peacock is a solid player that I think is better when he stays in the paint, but he is capable of hitting the mid-range jumper and the occasional 3. Brad Sheehan is a 7-0 C, who can provide quality minutes in the paint.

Biggest Weakness:

My first inclination is to say where is the perimeter shooting going to come from? G Iman Shumpert is a scorer and is talented, but I wouldn’t consider him a sharp shooter. He did hit 3 3 ptrs in Georgia Tech’s first exhibition game though.  Lance Storrs has some 3-point ability, but he’s not consistent. Tech’s best hope for a 3-pointer shooter might be highly touted freshman Mfon Udofia. Udofia had a reputation as a good shooter in High School. Maurice Miller has shown glimpses of being a capable shooter as well. There’s potential outside, but it’s all unproven or inconsistent at this point.

Final Analysis:

Overall this is a team that features several former McDonald Americans and a slew of top 100 High School recruits. De’Andre Bell’s return gives Georgia Tech’s it’s best perimeter defender since Mario West was there. Hewitt has underachieved as a head coach the last several years. It can be argued he hasn’t coached up a team since the 2003-2004 final 4 team. He’s never made the NCAA’s without a dominant PG, and will have to figure out how to this year without one. Shumpert is a more natural shooting guard. Maurice Miller is coming off injury, and Udofia as we said is only a freshman. In an ACC devoid of major talent in the bottom half of the conference the Jackets should be able to navigate their way to a .500 conference record and 18-22 regular season wins. If the outside shooting can come together, this team has enough frontcourt talent to win 25 games and make a sweet 16.

This past weekend Georgia Tech headed up to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the SEC’s Vanderbilt Commodores. Vanderbilt had only a 2-6 record, but had a decent defense that was ranked in the top 40 in the country. 56 points, nearly 600 yards of offense of later, the Commodores looked like they had been run over by a freight train in the 56-31 victory for the Yellow Jackets. The victory also moved the Yellow Jackets to 8-1 on the season and 6-1 in the ACC. Barring an unlikely loss to Wake Forest or the Duke Blue Devils this will be your ACC Coastal Division Champions. In only his second season, Johnson has the Jackets on the brink of successes, not seen on the flats since Bobby Ross was roaming the sidelines.  Currently I have the Yellow Jackets rank as the number one team in the ACC in my All About Sports week 9 ACC rankings. It’s really isn’t even close at the moment.

First critics said Johnson’s triple offense wouldn’t work at a BCS School. He went 9-4 his first season. Then they said it wouldn’t work the second time around.  As we said Georgia Tech is 8-1 this year, and they are leading the ACC in scoring with 35 points a game. So where did Paul Johnson succeed where previous coach Chan Gailey failed?

One point that I think that is especially important is that Paul Johnson understands the academic rigors of Georgia Tech. Coming from Navy; Johnson had no trouble understanding the student in student athlete. While Georgia Tech certainly doesn’t have the academic restrictions of the Naval Academy, Johnson was equipped to come to Georgia Tech and work at a school with higher than normal academic standards. Next, Paul Johnson immediately understood the necessity of beating the Georgia Bulldogs.

In his first year, he defeated the hated Dawgs. That bought more goodwill from Georgia Tech fans that anything short of an ACC championship could bring. To some Yellow Jacket fans it was more important. Gailey, while being the consummate southern gentleman of a coach, had teams that were prone to incredible inconsistency. This was in part due to a lack of focus by his squads. Johnson demands perfection in each and every game. When he doesn’t get it, he has no problem getting in a player’s face. That style is exactly what you need at the collegiate level. You don’t want to miss a block or get a holding call, then come off the sideline and face Johnson. 

Another Johnson quality that I think aids his success is his unwavering confidence in his system. He’s been running his version of option football for 25 years, and don’t you dare tell him it won’t work. This confidence becomes extended to his players, and you can see it in their play this season with big play after big play and suffocating time of possession drives. The Jackets lead the country in Time of Possession in 2009. There’s not a lot more Georgia Tech fans could have asked for since the hiring of Paul Johnson. He looks like the perfect fit for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.