A-backs dominate Green Wave 65-10 in tune up for Notre Dame

ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson is known for his brutal honesty. So when someone asked whether he was looking forward to playing some real competition, he didn't have to think long for an answer.

"No, I'd rather win 65-10," Johnson said.

Saturday's 65-10 win over Tulane, combined with the season-opening 69-6 win over Alcorn State, will mean little when the No. 15-ranked Yellow Jackets play their first meaningful game next week against Notre Dame in South Bend.

But being 2-0 with a pair of blowouts puts the Yellow Jackets in a far better place than they were last year after starting with two tepid wins.

Against Tulane the Yellow Jackets depended heavily on quarterback Justin Thomas, as well as a deep bench of A-back prospects who didn't see much action a week ago.

Thomas completed 7 of 9 passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 71 yards ane one touchdown.

"That quarterback is amazing with some of the stuff he does," Tulane coach Curtis Johnson said. "I think (Georgia Tech coach) Paul Johnson has the answers with this offense. He's done an outstanding job here."

It was part of an offensive onslaught that saw the Yellow Jackets rush for 439 yards and post 571 in total offense. They have exceeded 200 yards rushing for 16 straight games and gone over 250 yards rushing in the last eight.

"Today was an A-back day really rushing the ball," Johnson said. "They were going to take the B-backs away and we weren't going to force them with everybody pinching. Next week it could be a B-back/quarterback game."

The tally for the A-backs was impressive. Broderick Snoddy carried four times for 35 yards, Qua Searcy carried six times for 35 yards and one touchdown, Clinton Lynch carried one times for 49-yard touchdown, Isiah Willis ran once for 13 yards and TaQuon Marshall (Harris County) ran twice for 10 yards and had a 35-yard touchdown reception.

"All those A-back made some play," Paul Johnson said. "TaQuon Marshall had a nice catch. Clinton Lynch had a nice run. Qua Searcy made a play."

The B-backs took a more supporting role. Patrick Skov carried 11 times for 50 yards, Marcus Marshall rushed six times for 37 yards and Marcus Allen carried twice for 20 yards and one touchdown.

Georgia Tech set a modern-day school record (since 1950) with 134 points in consecutive games.

"I thought we came out a little bit lethargic to start the game, even though we scored on the opening drive," Paul Johnson said. "We'll look at the film and see if we got better. We need to continue to improve."

Tulane (0-2) was led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Tanner Lee, who completed 14-of-30 passes for 165 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Tailback Lazedrick Thompson rushed 13 times for 74 yards to lead the rushing attack. The Green Wave had 248 yards in total offense.

"Our kids played hard in spots," coach Curtis Johnson said. "Our turning back (Thompson) really ran the ball well. I've got to get him the ball more."

Georgia Tech scored on its first possession when Jamal Golden returned a punt 44 yards to the Tulane 35 and the Yellow Jackets covered the rest of the ground in six plays. A-back Qua Searcy scored on third-and-goal from the 13, taking a pitch to the left and diving into past the pylon.

After Tulane missed a field goal, the Yellow Jackets responded with a 70-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-0 lead. B-back Patrick Skov rushed the final 9 yards for the touchdown to give Georgia Tech a 14-0 lead.

Georgia Tech blocked a punt to set up its next score. The ball was snapped high to punter Peter Picerelli, whose kick was blocked by Chris Milton and recovered at the 10. Three plays later, Thomas scored on a 4-yard counter option to the right.

"It helps anytime you get some short fields and certainly the offense had some short fields tonight," Paul Johnson said. "If I'm watching that game, I'm not sure that after the third series I was pretty sure who was going to win."

Tulane put together a seven-play 90-yard scoring drive to cut the lead to 21-7. The Green Wave scored when Lee found receiver Devon Breaux for a 44-yard touchdown pass.

Georgia Tech scored again with 1:01 left in the half when Thomas threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Searcy for a 28-7 halftime lead. The Yellow Jackets blew it open with three touchdowns in the first 6:22 of the second half to seize command 49-7.

"When we got into a little bit of rhythm we did move the ball," Curtis Johnson said. "That's a great defense."

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 10:08 PM with the headline "A-backs dominate Green Wave 65-10 in tune up for Notre Dame ."