Bulldogs dominate Yellow Jackets - Get ready for LSU
By Don Stone - Football Atlanta
There’s no other way to say it. No matter how much it hurts
for Georgia Tech fans, they were slapped down soundly by archrival Georgia,
who notched its 10th win over the Yellow Jackets (8-4) in 11 years. Just
about the only aspect of the game where Tech showed up was in rushing, where
they had 243 yards.
Now, if you were to say that the Jackets would control
time of possession 24 minutes to 20 at the end of the third quarter and have
held the Georgia running game to just 84 yards, you’d be pretty confident
that the score would be favoring Tech. But, at that time, it was 31-7 with
the guys from Athens on top. The Bulldogs actually didn’t need a ground game
with the way Aaron Murray was picking
apart the Tech secondary, completing 19 of 29 passes for 252 yards and four
touchdowns.
“I think they did a nice job protecting the quarterback,”
head coach Paul Johnson said. “We
didn't get to him too much. ... You have to give them credit for that. The
bottom line is they made plays when they had to.”
Murray extended his school record for td passes in a season
to 32 with two more to Michael Bennett
and Chris Conley in the first half,
then connecting to Tavarres King and
Aaron White in the third quarter.
“The offensive line has been great,” said Murray. “The
progress they have made since game one has been unbelievable. We had some
big catches by a lot of guys today: tight ends, receivers, running backs.
Everyone was making plays. My job was easy.”
As good as Murray was in his game, the opposite could be said
for Tech’s quarterback Tevin Washington,
who’s inability to complete passes or to run for that matter was striking.
Washington ran the ball 13 times for 41 yards, his lowest performance since
gaining only 36 yards against Miami. He only completed 3-of-10 passes for 34
yards with two interceptions...both of which were in Tech territory and
neither of which had a receiver within ten yards of catching the passes.
They were actually his best passes of the day, unfortunately right in the
bread basket of a Bulldog defender.
Washington was so ineffective that Paul Johnson replaced him
in the fourth quarter with Synjyn Days
who almost immediately improved the passing game. The freshman quarterback
replaced quarterback Washington in the fourth quarter and completed 3 of 5
passes for 78 yards, including a 36-yard pass to Stephen Hill
to set up Smith's touchdown run. But, that was all the Jackets would get.
Attendance for the game was surprising, not for the 54925
tickets sold, just 75 short of capacity, but for the number of empty seats.
Hundreds of open spaces dotted the student sections of the north stands with
still more in the south stands. In reality, there appeared to be more red in
the stands than yellow.
The Sun Bowl had representatives in the press box watching
the game. It would appear that the Yellow Jackets are headed to El Paso for
the New Year’s Eve game against an opponent from the Pac-12. The Chick-Fil-A
Bowl had said that Tech would need to beat Georgia to be in the running. So
that’s out. The Champ’s Sports Bowl in Orlando is still a possibility. They
hold the No. 2 pick and will likely chooses the loser of the ACC
Championship Game, which should be Clemson. Florida State and Virginia are
also options.
For Georgia, their celebration didn’t last long as they were
probably already thinking of their next opponent as their bus traveled east
up I-85. They’ll switch rolls to underdog status as they return to Atlanta
for the SEC Championship game against the #1 ranked LSU Tigers, who just
took apart the #3 Arkansas Razorbacks 41-17.
“I'm pleased with what's going on right now,” said head coach
Mark Richt. “We've got an unbelievable
challenge next week. Anybody who's watched LSU knows they have one of the
most physical teams that there is in college football, if not the most
physical. And in all my years of watching football, I don't know if I've
seen a team this big and strong and physical.
“I've not studied them yet,” he said. “I've not allowed
myself to, but as you play common opponents throughout the year, you get to
see enough of them to know that they're really special. From my observance,
I see nothing of any kind of weakness in their game. So hopefully as we
study it tonight and tomorrow, we might find a little crease somewhere.
They're a great football team, and it'll be a great challenge for us.”
Kickoff at the Georgia Dome is Saturday at 4:00pm. position.
As for Tech, they just have to wait for a bowl to come calling. |
