Open mobile menu

Paul Johnson Weekly Press Conference: Game 6

Oct. 17, 2017

PRESS CONFERENCE AUDIO

PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO

Opening statement:
“Well certainly we were disappointed with the way Saturday’s game finished. Looking back we have had a couple of really squirrely games this year and that was another one of them. The bottom line is we just didn’t make enough plays in the end and they did, and we ended up with a disappointing loss but you’ve got to put it behind you and move on just like you would do if you had won the game. There is nothing else I can say about that game that I haven’t already said.”

On Wake Forest’s offense:
“I think they’ve got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football on offense. The quarterback has started for three years or four and they got some offensive linemen that have played together for a while. They’ve got a dynamic receiver in [Greg] Dortch who is really a playmaker, a really good tight end and they’re doing much better offensively than they have in the past. So it will be a challenge, certainly.”

On Wake Forest’s defense:
“I think they lead the nation in tackles for loss, they’re in the top 20 in scoring defense and they’re been really good on defense from the last couple of years. Again, it’s a big challenge. I think #53 the defensive end [Duke] Ejiofor, who gets a lot of pub and he’s a really good player but the guy that’s caught our eye is the other defensive end, Wendell Dunn, he makes a lot of plays. He’s a good player. The two inside guys are strong, play with good leverage. And they’re well coached. The linebacker Jaboree Williams has played for a long time; he’s a senior this year. They’ve got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football.”

On the frustration of the two tough one-point losses and the psyche of the players and team: “I’m sure it is frustrating. You hope that it hurts, but you’ve got to learn to put it behind you and move on. You can’t go back and change it. You’ve just got to talk about why it happened and why you were in that position and all the opportunities you had that we shouldn’t have been in that position … we’ve had all kinds of chances in both games to win and when it came right to it we didn’t make the critical plays, or didn’t get it done. It’s like I told our team, we’re halfway through the season. Since we are only playing 11 games, I’d say this is the halfway point. You’ve still got most of the goals in front of you, you don’t control them. As I told them, this is my 10th year and I think maybe one year someone went undefeated in the Coastal and won the thing with an 8-0 record. Who knows what’s going to happen. You win the rest of your games and Virginia Tech beats Miami or Virginia beats Miami, two teams beat Miami and all of a sudden … we’ve won the division with a 5-3 record before. You don’t know, you just keep playing and it sounds cliché but you play one game at a time. You’ve got a conference game at home this weekend against a really good Wake Forest team; you better get ready to play. Our goal this week is to try to get win four, that’s all we care about. Get win No. 4. That’s all you can focus on. That’s all you can control.”

On Georgia Tech’s one-minute defense:
“The bottom line is if you don’t stop guys, it doesn’t work. The key to any kind of two-minute offense or one-minute offense is getting started. Once you get a first down or two and get some momentum then it becomes more difficult. We’ve got to try to create some more negative plays and got to try to play tighter. The thing about it is there was roughly about two minutes left when they got the ball and they ran 15 plays. A lot of those plays were either out of bounds or going for first downs so you couldn’t run 15 plays. That’s the thing you’ve got to stop. You’ve got to limit that kind of thing. Sure you can second guess just about every call of every game and you can do it on offense and defense, it’s the magical thing where if it doesn’t work it was a bad call and if it works it was a great play. That’s just the nature of the game and the way it works. The truth of the matter is that it’s always somewhere in between.”

On the overall improvement of Georgia Tech’s defense in 2017:
“I think clearly we’ve played better on defense than probably the last couple years. But that’s not the goal; we want to be even better. We`ve played some really good games on defense and some games that weren’t so good, just like on offense. We didn’t exactly light it up in the second half on offense either.” “A wise guy told me one time and it’s been pretty true, `every Saturday 50 percent of the teams will win and 50 percent will lose. That’s just kind of the way it works.'”

On Andrew Marshall’s season-ending injury and his plans for the future:
“We’re going to sit down and visit probably this week sometime. It’s disappointing for him, I know he had worked really hard in the offseason to try to get ready to play his senior year. He’s going to have a lot of options because he’s going to have his degree. Andrew is a pretty sharp guy and I’m sure he’ll have a plan for what he wants to do and I’ll support him with whatever that is.”

STUDENT-ATHLETES’ POST-PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITY

RELATED HEADLINES

Football Jackets Honored at Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet

Georgia Tech’s Bella D’Amico, Dylan Leonard and Camille Trotman recognized

Jackets Honored at Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet
Football Georgia Tech Breaks Ground on Fanning Center

New student-athlete performance center set to open in 2026

Georgia Tech Breaks Ground on Fanning Center
Football VIDEO: Spring Practice Media Availability - Day 4

AHC for special teams/cornerbacks Ricky Brumfield and specialists talk to media

VIDEO: Spring Practice Media Availability - Day 4
Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Legends Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets