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Georgia Tech throttles Georgia in second half for win
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Coach Paul Johnson was hired at Georgia Tech to do three things: beat UGA, win the ACC and show the world that his offense could hang with top-tier BCS teams.
In his first year, it's hard to argue that two out of three ain't bad.
Georgia Tech walked into Sanford Stadium last Saturday a little starry-eyed at first, but settled down in the second half and dropped 33 points on UGA to end up beating the Dawgs in their house 45-42.
UGA tried to put up a fight offensively, but the Dawg defense forgot to play fundamental football, which lead to their demise. The Dawgs took poor angles in defending the option and somehow forgot how to tackle as Tech racked up 409 rushing yards through Johnson's triple-option attack.
The credit has to go to Tech running back Jonathan Dwyer, who broke big plays that resulted in touchdowns and ultimately stole the momentum away from the Dawg defense. Tech's offense was technically "stoppable," but only after gaining 4-5 rushing yards per play. Paul Johnson noticed the trend of the Dawgs giving up those yards on average and went for it numerous times on fourth down. This not only broke the will of the UGA defense, but also exhausted them enough to keep them from stopping Tech at a crucial time in the fourth quarter with only four minutes remaining.
The game ball has to go to Paul Johnson for keeping good on his preseason promises, but UGA's offense was electric as well. Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns, but the defense could not stop Tech long enough to get UGA caught up on the scoreboard. Mohammed Massaquoi, the senior WR for UGA, had a career day as well in his last game wearing red and black.
Now that the bragging rights for the state have changed hands for the first time in seven years, Georgia Tech is going to soak up every minute for the next 363 days until these teams meet again.
I've been privy to watching many meetings between these two teams, but Saturday's game from a football fan's standpoint was one of the best in the rivalry since 1999's overtime game. That game ended with a blown fumble call in the endzone at the hands of UGA's Jasper Sanks, which gave Tech the victory.
Either way, the bragging rights go to Georgia Tech for this year and it may sting (pun intended) Dawg fans for quite a while. This was the third time this season that UGA lost a game in a high-scoring manner, which firmly put Defense Coordinator Willie Martinez on the hot seat for the time being.
Coach Mark Richt has already stated in the media that he doesn't foresee any staffing changes, but that the coaches will look at the season as a whole very soon and see where improvements can be made. Martinez staying has to have UGA rivals excited as the Dawgs are far from being the dominant defensive team that fans were treated to the first four years of the Mark Richt era.
Regardless of changes being made or not, UGA fans have to face the harsh reality. Paul Johnson is not Chan Gailey and this Georgia Tech squad will be a force to be reckoned with as long as Johnson is at the helm. If Georgia refuses to play 60 minutes of football and smart defense in the upcoming meetings between these rivals, then you'll see a lot more "old gold" at the office on Monday in and around Atlanta after Thanksgiving.
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