Tigers Toy With Tech in ACC Coastal Tilt

Clemson Starts Slowly Before Humbling Hosts in 49-21 Rout

Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson’s post-game moods have been hotter than the record heat in Atlanta this month. The reason is plain to see. His team is ice cold. The source of his frustration was on full display again on Saturday as Clemson ran roughshod over his squad by a 49-21 count at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

The Tigers started slowly but came to life when backup QB Trevor Lawrence joined the fray on Clemson’s 3rd possession. Tech, by contrast, started well but then stumbled and stayed down.

Georgia Tech’s football team has not merely lost 3 games in a row, but they’ve looked bad in the process. This time they fell to a far more challenging opponent, the 3rd- ranked Tigers from Clemson. Unlike their previous two losses, Tech was a heavy underdog coming into this contest. So realistically, a Tech win on this day would have been an upset of historical significance. The loss, in and of itself, was not a surprise.

However, this Yellow Jacket squad, but for the first 7 minutes, again looked awkward, and at times, downright inept. Certainly Clemson’s roster is physically superior and deeper than Tech’s. But there were far too many moments of self -inflicted football misery for Tech to pin the outcome on physicality alone.

Aggressive penalties are one thing. Dead ball fouls, such as procedure calls on place kicks, are another. Likewise, a fumble resulting from a vicious hit is understandable. But repeated mishandled snaps and errant pitches become embarrassing. And that’s the word Tech Coach Paul Johnson used to sum up his team’s performance.

“Embarrassing”. It’s an appropriate word for an 8 fumble day. On a day when the Jackets vaunted offense produced only 203 total yards, the most sobering stat was 8 fumbles from only 64 snaps. Somehow Tech managed to recover 7 of those, but the damage was severe still.

The Yellow Jackets looked sharp on the game’s opening possession, moving crisply down the field using their signature option play to produce several first downs and take them to a first down at the Clemson 17. Then, suddenly, they reverted to the recent pattern. A motion penalty. A short gain. A loss. A fumble. A sack. Settling now for a field goal attempt….but now another motion penalty taking them out of field goal range. So they punt, into the end zone, yielding a touchback for Clemson, giving the Tigers possession on their 20-yard line, 3 yards further out from where Tech had held a first down only moments earlier.

Even so, Tech’s defense again forced a Clemson.punt. But the Jackets’ resulting possession resumed their prior pattern, though with the ineffectiveness somehow amplified–3 straight backward plays ended with a fumble in their own end zone which was graciously gathered up by Clemson’s Clelin Ferrell to score the game’s first touchdown.

Following another ineffectual Tech possession, the Tiger offense then came alive under the direction of prized freshman QB Trevor Lawrence. Unlike the first 2 possessions that produced only a single first down with senior QB Kelly Bryant at the helm, Lawrence led the visitors 74 yards in just 7 plays with Hunter Renfrow hauling in a 17-yard scoring pass.

Lawrence was even more efficient with his next chance. After a 2 yard run by Adam Choice from the Clemson 45, Lawrence found Justyn Ross wide open on a play action pass for an easy 53-yard touchdown, hiking the score to 21-0.

Georgia Tech took advantage of a rare Clemson mistake by generating a TaQuan Marshall score following an interception of a Lawrence pass on a deflection.

Any Yellow Jacket hopes for a comeback were quickly dashed when Lawrence took the Tigers right back down the field and scored again, this time on a 3-yard shovel pass to RB Travis Etienne. With that, Clemson took a 28-7 lead into the locker room. The margin felt bigger than 21 points and soon after the 2nd half started, it was.

With the opening 3rd quarter possession, Clemson generated another drive that was long, quick and productive –covering 75 yards in just 7 plays with Tavien Feaster scoring from 27 yards out, in only 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

At that point, Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney emptied his bench. Tech generated 2 more touchdowns and backup QB Tobias Oliver got in some more work for Tech. Swinney did re-insert some starters later in the half, including QB Kelly Bryant.

As for Paul Johnson, Tech’s head man seems bewildered by his 2018 team’s continued inability to perform to the standard to which he ascribes. Worse, the case can be made that the problem is bigger than this season. Similar issues and similar results were at hand in 2017 as well.

Tech QB TaQuan Marshall is ready for a different outcome. ” We just need a W” he said post-game when asked about Tech’s next foe, Bowling Green. Marshall vouched for his team’s focus and said they need to emphasize fundamentals.

Whether those plans will bear fruit, only time will tell. The Yellow Jackets are at an awkward crossroads in their 2018 season. There is time to right the ship and time to fight for bowl eligibility. But no time to waste.