Aug. 28, 2008
Georgia Tech Postgame Quotes
August 28, 2008 vs. Jacksonville State
Georgia Tech’s Head Coach Paul Johnson
Opening Statement
Anytime you win you should be happy. I learned a long time ago an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. So we’ve got a lot of areas to work on. I think it was good to get out there and play and get some things on tape. They say teams make the most improvement from game one to game two and certainly we’ll need to do that next week. Overall, we had some players make some big plays but we weren’t near as consistent as I would like, really, on either side of the ball. I think you have to give Jacksonville State some credit. I thought their kids played hard and came in and did a good job. For an opening game, I thought the crowd was great. We had a loud crowd, they were into it, it was good and we certainly appreciate their effort and the support.
Assessing the play of the A-Backs
They did some good and some bad about like everything else. Roddy was good with the ball but we also had some drops and some missed blocking assignments out of them a time or two so you know, probably about like everybody else. We’ll know much more about it when we have a chance to look at some tape. I’m hesitant to really access anybody’s play until you get to watch it because sometimes it’s misleading.
On Nesbitt’s play
I thought Josh played pretty good, really. We’ll look at the tape, but we turned guys loose on him that weren’t the read keys and you can’t read them all. I know on the fourth-down play we turned a guy loose. We’ll re-evaluate. He didn’t play perfect but I thought he did some good things and made some plays. He’s like everybody else, he’s gonna get better the more he plays.
On the Defense on Perrilloux
I thought the defense, especially in the first half, did a nice job. I think we lost intensity in the second half and they (Jacksonville State) did a nice job of protecting him. We didn’t get as many sacks on him as we would’ve liked but they held a lot of people in the block too. He’s elusive, he’s a good player and he made us look bad at times.
On the Consistency of Offense
As we get better and the execution gets better, I think that we’ll get better at it (consistency). We’re gonna have to get better faster because the competition level is going to get a lot better. There were areas, without looking at the tape that I’m really disappointed in, down on the goal line I’m really disappointed. We can’t knock the ball in from the one-yard line with two or three tries and we turn guys loose and it wasn’t like we were running but one play down there. At least you should know who to get. So, there are areas where we have to get better and we missed a lot of chances in the passing game. First play of the game we have a chance for a big play and dropped the ball.
On Jacksonville State’s Defense
I think they were geared up to try and stop the triple option and we didn’t run the triple option a lot. They had a lot of guys up there (on the line). They were definitely playing the run. That’s why they were vulnerable early on. We threw the ball some early on. I was trying to back them (Jacksonville’s defense) up early on but you’ve got to catch them for them to back up and we did hit some big plays in the passing game. Once we got up a little bit, I was trying to get our football team better. I was trying to work on the stuff we needed to work on rather than just throw it every down, because I thought we had the game in hand and it was stuff that we’re going to need to get better at.
Georgia Tech Sophomore Defensive End Derrick Morgan
On The Defense’s Play Against Jacksonville State Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux
“We did a decent job. We have to clean some things up. We’ll go watch the tape and work on it in practice.”
On the Defensive Line’s Performance
“The defensive line did a pretty good job. We got penetration and good rush on the quarterback. Overall, we did a good job.”
On Improving As A Defensive Unit
“Like I said, we need to go back and look at the tape. We can do a whole lot of improving. We have got a lot of room to grow.”
Georgia Tech Sophomore B-Back Jonathan Dwyer
On The Offense’s Performance
“We did pretty well. We showed our fans and the nation what this offense can do. We have a lot of talent here and we were productive. We have some things to clean up, but we looked pretty good.”
On the Offensive Production
“I knew we could put up some points, if everything went right. This offense can be very explosive. Coach Johnson calls his plays very aggressively, but he can be conservative. If he wants to score quick, we can score quick. If he wants to control the clock, we can control the clock.”
On Playing Against Jacksonville State
“Jacksonville State was a very good team. They came to play. However, we were very productive. Josh (Nesbitt) was reading the plays and the offensive line was fired up. The offense was doing all of the things we were supposed to do.”
On Running The Triple Option
“We ran it (the triple option) only about six or seven times. That surprised us. That’s our bread and butter play. That’s what this offense is all about.”
On The Season-Opening Crowd
“The fans were behind us the whole way. Which got us excited and we came out and played our best.”
JACKSONVILLE STATE HEAD COACH JACK CROWE
“I was disappointed we didn’t play better. I’m responsible for us not making mistakes, and we made a lot of mistakes. I think it’s probably true, whenever you play up or play down, unless you have an extremely poised football team, you get off to slow starts. We got off to a very slow start and dug ourselves a hole.
“Playing against this offense, you can have eight or nine or 10 people doing what they’re supposed to do. If you have one guy that doesn’t take the pitch, it can be 40 yards. There were some of those plays in there. We’re not going to play this offense again, and it’s hard for me to judge our guys because we have a young player in that situation.
“I thought we played physical. I thought we played hard. I thought we demonstrated talent. I’m not going to have any trouble sleeping, but I’m going to be up early. We looked like a team that didn’t know each other. If you look at the ones that have been here and played and the ones who haven’t, that’s the truth of it.
“Jonathan Dwyer is a player that we had in our sights about three times and just couldn’t tackle him. I think Jonathan Dwyer is a phenomenal player. What gets you in this offense is, you assign one guy to him, and that one guy is isolated with him.
“There’s just too many issues with this offense for people to deal with it. We had two and a half weeks to deal with it. The rest of these folks will get two days. Good luck ACC.
“I’d heard (Nesbitt) had trouble handling the ball. But I was impressed with Josh. I think they’ve got a guy they can build their offense around.
“I think we’ve got a guy we can build our offense around. Ryan is very competitive, and he had a lot of frustrating reactions out there. But nothing that didn’t find a positive spot somewhere. I knew we’d have a tough time winning this game, but I told our players that we’re the way we would be when we left this game, not the way we started. The score in the second half was 14-14, even with the two fumbles we left on the ground. As far as lining up and knowing we can play, I don’t think there’s any question we can.”
