Sept. 27, 2013
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Johnson
Opening Statement
“It was a tough game. Clearly you have to give Virginia Tech. They played better than we did. They probably coached better than we did. I’ve never seen so many mistakes. It seemed like every series that we had the ball on offense we either jumped offside or had some sort of penalty. We had a hard time picking up the blitz. It was a comedy of errors. Even on the big pass play we hit to Robbie [Godhigh], the B-back went the wrong way. If we ran the option we would turn the corner loose. And then defensively, it’s hard to gauge. We gave up a 95 yard drive. With special teams, it was awful. I don’t know what the average field position was, but it seemed like we were inside the 20 yard line every time. And against a good defense if you’re going to make mistakes, you’re not going to be successful. We’ve got to play better and we’ve got to coach better, bottom line.”
Was tonight’s performance the result of two games in six days?
“No. It’s been coming. I’ve told you all along we’re not very good with the option. We’re terrible in fact and it showed. We’re not going to throw the ball 24 times and win very many games. That’s not us. We’ve got to be able to run the ball to hit play action and those sorts of things. And we didn’t do it.”
What was the bigger issue Virginia Tech’s defensive scheme or their personnel?
“The scheme is not any different then what most people play against us. The players are pretty good, but for whatever reason, it seems like we self-destruct. The first series we fumble the ball and we practiced that 8 million times with that guy coming in there. Then on the second series we’re moving the ball fairly well, but then we have to receivers who are on the back side of the play who are offsides – just a total lack of concentration. We also had a right guard who jumped two or three times on 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 3. We’ve got to do a better job coaching.”
On going for it on 4th down with rough 6 minutes to go in the 4th quarter
“That was probably not the smartest decision in hindsight. It was pretty dumb. But we got out of that unscathed because they missed the field goal. It was 4th and 2 and I thought we had a play that would work. It didn’t.”
How confident are you that you are going to get good at running the option?
“I’m confident that we’re going to get better at it. We’re either going to get better at it or we’re going to have other people playing.”
Did you ever consider bringing in back-up quarterback Justin Thomas?
“That’s not necessarily Vad. He can’t stop the guy popping in the B-gap all day when you are supposed to block down on him. The guy’s a good player and he was timing the count pretty well. So you have to alter the count and if you can’t do that then you just kill yourself. And when we look at the tape, it’s never as bad or as good as it seems. There will be stuff that you can correct and stuff that you will look at and say what if. But that’s the nature of the game. When we had a chance to make some plays we just struggled making them. You’ve got to make some plays against good teams.”
On the defense’s performance in the second half
“I thought we did an okay job in the second half. The quarterback was 19 for 25 and he comes in completing less than 50%. So that’s not real good. But points are what are important and we held them to 17 and that should be good enough to win the game.”
VIRGINIA TECH HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER
Opening Remarks
“I think we have a mentally tough football team, a physically tough football team. What we’ve done over the last 12 days, three games, two of them away from Blacksburg, against three good teams … this team here tonight is really good … and to come in here on a short week and not much rest, the kids said we don’t want any excuses. We’re going to go down there and get it done, and that’s what they did.
“The coaches and players deserve a lot of credit on this one. This was a special win.”
On the importance of getting ahead quickly
“That was good, that’s an advantage, although their quarterback made some good runs and some good passes. There were a couple of long passes (we gave up). If we don’t give those up …. I don’t know what the yardage was, but our defense played a heck of a game.”
On the performance of Logan Thomas
“I thought it was excellent … his leadership, his throwing, his decision-making, being in control. He’s a quality, quality quarterback, and he’s tough. He’s mentally tough, and he’s physically tough the way he runs around and bangs into people. I’m proud of that.”
On Thomas playing through an injury
“He pulled a little something in his stomach, but he fought through that. He was going to play in this game.”
On Journell missing the field goal
“It was close. What you worry about is when it’s a bad miss. Cody said he thought he had it, and it must’ve been just left of the bar. I thought he made it.”
On preparing for and being successful against the Georgia Tech offense
“It’s real hard. I’ve got to give the scout team credit. I think we’re fortunate to have some veterans up front that have played against this offense a couple of times. It’s a rugged offense. You have to be rugged yourself to play it. You have to be very precise. Again, it all goes back to mental discipline, and physical (discipline).”
GEORGIA TECH PLAYER QUOTES
Vad Lee R-SO QB #2
On Virginia Tech’s defense
“They had a good defensive scheme. Virginia Tech has always had good defense. For the most part, we were killing ourselves with the penalties. We were killing ourselves and you can’t do that.”
On the bettering the option
“We’ve got to get better on practicing [it]. I’ve got to do my part better. If anything on offense happens, I put it on me. We’ve just go to get better.”
ZACH LASKEY JR BB #37
On the offense’s inability to produce a game winning drive
“That was really frustrating tonight. Usually we can sustain a drive and get that drive to take the lead and break their spirits, but tonight we struggled and, in all honesty, it came down to us not executing properly. We knew their defense, and their defense played a heckuva game. We prepared well and didn’t execute as well as we should have.”
Jeremiah Attaochu SR DE #45
On the week ahead
“It’s frustrating but it’s just one game in a big season. We can’t let it bring us down. We’ve got a lot of things in front of us that we can accomplish, and that includes an ACC Championship. As a leader, I can’t be too down about one loss. We have to look to Miami and get back to work and encourage the guys to be upbeat. Football is a game of ups and downs and week-to-week situations can change. We’re going to go into next week ready to beat Miami.”
Robert Godhigh R-SR AB #25
On his pass reception
“We had made a little adjustment on the sideline based on how they were playing. Vad [Lee] threw a good ball and I was trying to make a play for the offense.”
Brandon Watts R-SR LB #11
On Hokie quarterback Logan Thomas
“He’s a great player and he was on tonight. We did our best to try to stop him. He hit a couple of plays and we hit a couple of plays. We tried to do our best.”
