Guerry Clegg: Georgia Tech in unfamiliar role as favorite

For someone who professes to pay no mind to his critics, Paul Johnson sure is quick with facts to refute the criticism, as if well rehearsed and weary of hearing them. Or even just perceived criticism, such as:

Georgia Tech has played in three ACC championship games in seven years under Johnson because the Coastal Division is weak.

"I think that both Clemson and Florida State (both in the Atlantic Division) have had good teams," Johnson said. "If you look, this will be my eighth year I think at Georgia Tech. We're 5-3 against Clemson, 2-3 against Florida State. We've had better success with them than we have Virginia Tech and Miami (both in the Coastal)."

He bristles even more when anyone questions his offense. Until last season, it had been suggested that teams had figured out how to stop Tech.

"Somebody has a good game against a team that runs a pro-style offense, they don't stay, 'There's the blueprint, no more pro-style offenses, they're gone forever,' " Johnson said. "It's like anything else, if you execute, good players make you better. There's no magical way to line up on defense and play. When teams play well and they play good defense, they can stop you the same as they stop anything. It's kind of been amusing in a way through the years to hear people try to describe and talk about what we do."

Make no mistake, Johnson coaches with a chip on his shoulder. A microchip, that is. But that's OK. It worked well for George O'Leary. The fact is Georgia Tech will never contend for any national titles in recruiting. The rigorous academics at The Institute thin the talent pool considerably.

It doesn't help that the Yellow Jackets reside in crossroads of SEC territory and in the shadows of Georgia. Johnson is 2-5 against Georgia but three of those losses decided by eight, seven and six points.

He likes to note that the Yellow Jackets' last two wins came against SEC teams, Georgia and Mississippi State. Those wins, along with a respectable loss to Florida State in the ACC title game, are why the Jackets enter this season as the favorite to win the Coastal Division. Even this compliment prompted a dig at the media from Johnson.

"For once I hope they got it right," he said. "They haven't got it right too many times."

This is not the same team. Gone are the Jackets' top two runners, Synjyn Days and Zach Laskey, and their top receiver, DeAndre Smelter, plus their best offensive lineman, Shaquille Mason. But they do have eight defensive starters back. Most of all, they have quarterback Justin Thomas, who runs Johnson's unique spread option offense almost to perfection.

Thomas is to Tech's offense what Nick Marshall was to Auburn's. Thomas had committed to Alabama and might be starting at cornerback for the Crimson Tide except for one thing.

"He wanted to play quarterback," Johnson said.

The Jackets finished 11-3 in 2009 and again last season. Their record in the four years in between was 28-25. The primary difference has been quarterback play.

Johnson said Thomas is an underrated passer.

"I think he'd be a really good quarterback in any system," he said. "But his skill set really fits what we like to do. He's got great quickness. He's really fast. He's got a quick release. I think one of the things that people don't realize sometimes, if I'm not mistaken, he was either third or fourth in passing efficiency a year ago. I think the more he plays, the better he's going to get. We have a lot of confidence in Justin. I think our team does. We're really excited about the type of season that he may have."

Last year's success has presented Johnson with a different concern. Can the Jackets handle being the favorite?

"I don't know what it's going to take to change it," Johnson said. "If anything, we've just got to keep doing what we do and let that take care of itself. It doesn't bother me. I've been at this thing for a long time. We have our own set of expectations. I think we left here a year ago picked to finish fifth in our division. We didn't pay much attention to that, just like we won't pay much attention to being picked to finish first. I think you've got to play the games on the field."

This story was originally published August 4, 2015 at 6:15 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Georgia Tech in unfamiliar role as favorite ."