Syracuse Tops Tech

Yellow Jackets Again Fail To Overcome A Tough Foe– Themselves–In A 37-20 Loss

Imagine you’re at a countdown for a rocket launch. “5-4-3-2…..wait a minute….everybody stop. We may have a problem here. Let’s check it out. Everybody give us 20 or 30 minutes and we will try again to get this thing going”. That was the last second message at the Carrier Dome. No, it was NOT about the HVAC system, but instead apparently related to a late-arising question concerning the health of some members of the Syracuse roster. Georgia Tech may have been ready to play at 12:05pm, the original kickoff time. We will never know. What we do know with certainty is they weren’t ready to play when the game finally launched about 30 minutes later.

Geoff Collins’ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets departed Atlanta late last week as a solid 7.5 point favorite, heading north to take on an 0-2 Syracuse team. The Orange had struggled mightily in their first 2 games of 2020, especially when it came to scoring points. By late Saturday afternoon, all that had changed. Tech fell to Syracuse by a 37-20 score at the Carrier Dome Saturday afternoon in a contest that didn’t feel that close in the waning minutes.

Once again, Tech fell behind early, this time trailing 17-0 after one quarter. Again they clawed back, this time to within 3 in the 3rd period. And again they then saw the bottom drop out late, as Syracuse scored 14 quick points and held the Jackets scoreless in the final period. The loss left the Jackets 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference.

Syracuse opened the scoring on an unusual play–either good offense or sloppy defense, depending on your perspective. Freshman RB Sean Tucker burst up the middle on a handoff, and was seemingly spun down by Tech safety Juanyeh Thomas. But as Tucker rolled over the top of Thomas, he deftly avoided touching his knee down and then regained his footing and resumed his sprint to the end zone. Tech’s Tariq Carpenter was in the near vicinity of the play but pulled up, thinking the tackle was complete. The result was a 38 yard TD run for Tucker and a 7-0 lead for the Orange. You could almost feel the energy level rise for Syracuse. This extra-effort early score was like a cloudburst in a drought to a team that had scored only 16 points total in their first 2 games.

Tech QB Jeff Sims had a rough start, tossing 2 first quarter interceptions, leading to 2 more Syracuse scores and the 17-0 Orange lead. The Yellow Jackets scored midway thru the 2nd quarter on a nice 24 yard pitch and catch from Sims to Gibbs. The satisfaction of that counterpunch was whittled a bit when Collins then tried to cross up the Orange by having holder/ punter Pressley Harvin try a 2-point conversion run on a fake PAT. Syracuse was not fooled and Tech’s ace punter was summarily herded out of bounds at about the 2, leaving Tech with an 11 point gap at 17-6. Each team added a score before the half for the 23-13 halftime tally. Tech did block Syracuse’ PAT attempt, avoiding that 24th point– for the moment.

The Jackets drew within 3 with a 3rd period scoring run by Jamious Griffin. They would get no closer, though. The Orange retaliated less than a minute later on a 43 yard TD pass by Tommy Devito to Nykeim Johnson who had glided past Tech’s secondary. The home team pulled away from there, adding another touchdown on a spectacular 43 yard interception return-cum- lateral pulled off by DB Trill Williams.

Perhaps worse than the loss itself, disturbing patterns have emerged for Georgia Tech early in Collins’ 2nd season at the helm. Namely, fall behind early, trail at halftime, play catch-up and fight nobly (but unsuccessfully) uphill, against largely self-inflicted misery. For the 3rd time in 3 games, Collins’ men were behind by double digits at the half. Tech was penalized a whopping 15 times for over 100 yards. Many of those flags were for alignment, substitution or procedure infractions, suggesting insufficient attention to detail. The Yellow Jackets also gave up 5 turnovers on the day, leading directly to 17 points for Syracuse. And the place-kicking game was once more an adventure for Tech as Gavin Stewart had yet another kick blocked.

Offensively, the Jackets were again productive, earning 453 yards and 23 first downs against a decent Syracuse defense. The turnovers and penalties, though, prevented point production anywhere near commensurate with that yardage total. Tech hit on only 33% of 3rd down opportunities. QB Jeff Sims had the worst game of his nascent career at Tech, going 13 for 28 with the 4 interceptions. He was harried frequently by the Orange pass rush generated from their unconventional 3-3-5 alignment.

On the other hand, again this week, the Jackets’ running game was quite successful. They ran the ball 52 times for 275 yards, good for 5.3 yards per carry. Jamyhr Gibbs led with 105 net yards rushing, followed by Dontae Smith with 75.

Another bright spot was the play of Pressley Harvin (as the punter, not as the scatback). He averaged 49.3 yards per kick including a long of 64, and had only one punt returned.

Tech now has a bye-week before hosting Louisville at Bobby Dodd Stadium in a rare Friday night game Oct 9. In his post-game remarks, Geoff Collins reviewed the myriad issues that his team has a need to improve upon. He insisted that this unexpectedly poor performance at Syracuse was on him. Collins vehemently declined to give any excuses, and to emphasize that point, he cited multiple factors such as youth, inexperience, lack of tight ends, missing several other players, playing in the unusual setting at a near-empty Carrier Dome, and the last-minute delay of the game’s start as available excuses that he specifically felt did not apply. He stressed that coaches and players would continue to work to improve. That said, the initial good vibe about the Tech program in early Year 2 under Collins following the surprise win at Tallahassee has been diluted somewhat by inconsistent play in the following 2 losses. (Note: FSU’s thrashing at the hands of Miami on this Saturday adds to that dilution). Nonetheless, there are many positives to build on– including a very stout running game, productive punting and the anticipated return of several key players.

Accordingly, the upcoming Louisville game offers a potential turning point for the Yellow Jackets to resume their winning ways before the Jackets host Clemson the week following.

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports