Dec. 30, 2013
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Georgia Tech Coach Paul Johnson
(opening statement)
Well, you know, my hat’s off to Ole Miss, I thought they played well. They did what they had to, to win the game. I think we can play better than that. Clearly, we didn’t and again, I give them some credit for that. I don’t think we ever got in sync on offense at all. We never got in any king of rhythm; it was just kind of hap-hazard. We hit some players here and there, nothing to gain any consistency and turned (we) turned the ball over. We had a chance to maybe go back and win the game when we were down six and we line up and jump offsides on the first play. Then, they made a nice play. We had a reverse pass on, the kid made a nice play. Then once we got away, we should have just tucked the ball and ran back and got what we could get. So, disappointing, we had a chance to pin them down several times. To their credit, they flipped the field. You know, it was 7-7 and we have them on the two-yardline. They flip the field and we go the ball on the two-yardline. It’s a big change. So, didn’t play well enough in any facet to really win the game. We were fortunate that we had a chance at the end to come back and win. You know, they struggled in the kicking game. We got some blocked kicks that kind of kept us in the game, really.
(on what adjustments Ole Miss made defensively after opening quarter)
They played about every defense known to man. I mean they were just popping gaps and lining up. We were just really tossing the ball. Then after a while (they were) running out, outside with the motion. I really don’t know if they did a whole lot different. We just didn’t block them as well if you want to know the truth.
(on if Ole Miss did anything differently than he expected)
No, we just didn’t do a very good job of adjusting to it. The first three of four times, we ran the true option, the triple, I think we missed the ready every time. Then we got ourselves behind. They created some negative plays for us. W got ourselves behind and couldn’t make first downs.
(on if Ole Miss’ tempo was a factor)
I think the thing that surprised me is how well they ran the ball and they had struggled running the ball coming into this game. I haven’t seen the stats, but they ran the ball pretty well.
(on if success to Ole Miss running game was blocking or the scheme)
Well, I think they blocked some and I think we missed a lot of tackles. It’s hard to see from the sideline, but I think we missed a ton of tackles. Something, that is probably a little of all of it, really.
(on reverse play that led to Ole Miss safety)
We had been waiting a series and half to get the ball in the middle of the field because I knew it was going to work. They made a play, we didn’t. If it had worked you know you would be calling be a genius. If it doesn’t work, then you can call me a dumbass.
(on if layoff, coupled with short preparation time affected rhythm of the offense)
I don’t know. I thought that we had OK practices. They weren’t great practices. We never really got into any rhythm. The first drive, we were able to run the toss we had some formation and got leverages because they were popping gaps inside and really they wasn’t anybody on the perimeter much. We had two or three blockers for two defenders and we were able to hit some plays. But, we never really got our option game going at all. I mean we never got anything out of it.
(on the fake punt call)
That’s my fault. We shouldn’t have given the option to do that.
(on any question about putting in a third linebacker)
No. We talked about it going in and today before the game. Other than the injuries, they decided to play the nickel package against them. They thought they would match up better defensively.
(on who had a tough time with pass protection?)
I’d say the backs more than the line is my initial response without watching the tape. We really struggled blocking off the edge of the backs.
(on evaluation of quarterback Vad Lee’s play overall)
I thought he was like everybody else. I thought he did some good and some bad. He made a couple of plays, he hit the big pass to Darren (Waller), really got us back in the game after the turnover. He hit Waller on the big pass play that lead to another score. He made the plays for us.
(on the contributions of the senior class) Our senior class, I’m as proud or more proud of what they’ve accomplished off the field in the classroom and how they’ve represented the program. I think that all the guys have their degree, they’ve all represented the program in a classy manner and a lot of them played a lot of really good football for us, including these two guys who are sitting up here with me.
(on gap that allowed Bo Wallace’s on touchdown runs)
That was a zone read play and the guy that was assigned to the quarterback got blocked. Sometimes they can block you too, it works like that. That’s good execution on their part at the time.
(on the touchdown pass after the turnover)
They were getting in an eight man front and they were fronting the corner and taking a safety deep and leaving it like a two shell. Finding the corner and finding the safety both and trying to pass them off. So we ran two posts so the guy was passing the gap and they were one (defender) short. Vad (Lee) made a great throw, I think their defender even tried to come over and slipped and fell, and it ended up being a big play for us.
(on Ole Miss being prepared for Ole Miss’ defense)
I think they played pretty much like we practiced. Especially in the second half when we made a couple of adjustments at halftime. It was pretty much what we thought.
Senior DE Jeremiah Attaochu
(on handling up tempo offense of Ole Miss)
I thought we were in good shape for the most part, it was just getting off the field on third and fourth down and they had some key conversions out there and that was really the difference in the game. We knew their tempo and that they were going to move the ball but for the most part I thought we handled it well and got used to it after a while.
(on the rushing performance of Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace)
He’s a hard runner and he’s good at shaking tackles. He’s a solid runner, not overly fast, but he can move and shake and run people over.
(on the 3rd and 13 conversion from Ole Miss toward end of game)
He just chucked it up there and you have to make a play, you have the same amount of time to get to the quarterback and I got there too late. He just chucked it up there I don’t know what happened after that.
(on setting the sack record)
I don’t really care. It would be nice to win but I just keep everything in perspective and the individuals around, my teammates, who are the guys that I care about the most.
Senior AB Robert Godhigh
(talk about the emotions about a tough ending to the season)
It definitely hurts, especially when you had chances to come back and win the game. Like coach said, we didn’t get in any rhythm on offense to get anything going.
(thoughts on the late game chances)
We felt pretty good about it and everyone was counting us out of the game, but once we got that stop everyone in the huddle was positive about trying to go score and take the lead.
