Table set for Georgia Tech to bounce back

There are many moments from last season’s 3-9 disaster that Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson would just as soon forget. Mainly that stretch from the third game, a loss to Notre Dame, to the 13-7 loss to Georgia in the season finale.

But there’s one moment that sticks in Johnson’s memory. The Yellow Jackets were tied 7-7 with Miami to begin the second quarter and had the football on the Hurricanes’ 4-yard line.

“I got nine freshmen on offense,” Johnson said. “I’m looking to try to hand it to somebody and everybody out there is a freshman. When that happens, it’s tough to be successful in our league and on this level in general.”

The Yellow Jackets had posted four consecutive seasons of 446 or more points, including a school-record 530 in 2014. Last year they produced only 351 points, with 134 of those coming in the first two games against Tulane and Alcorn State.

Attrition and injuries gutted the offense. Johnson realizes that sounds like an excuse.

“There are lots of reasons, but nobody wants to hear the labor pains. Just show me the baby, right?”

Nonetheless, last week at the ACC media days in Charlotte, Johnson enumerated many of the reasons the Jackets suffered through their worst season in eight years under Johnson just one year after nearly winning the ACC championship.

Johnson ticked off the list: Top two receivers from 2014 lost to the NFL. Top two B-backs lost to graduation. Top four slot backs lost. Next two B-back lost to injuries. A-back lost to injury. Another receiver lost in preseason practice.

Is it really any wonder that quarterback Justin Thomas, who finished second to Clemson’s Deshaun Watson last year on the preseason All-ACC team, failed to live up to expectations?

“Justin was surrounded by guys who had never played,” Johnson said. “So the chemistry was not going to be that good.”

Johnson has not lost faith in Thomas, now a senior.

“I think he’s a gifted play maker,” he said. “I thought last year was kind of not indicative of the kind of player he is.”

Truth is, not many schools would suffer through a 3-9 season without scapegoating the head coach. Fortunately for Johnson, it was not financially feasible to fire him after one bad season. Besides, the Board of Regents was focused on firing Georgia’s Mark Richt.

So Johnson has a chance for redemption.

“We have to get back to the level of play that we’ve been accustomed to over the last few years,” Johnson said. “We weren’t real good offensively a year ago as we had been. And we weren’t good enough in other areas to carry the team. Offensively, we have been in a spot most of the last eight years we could kind of push through and control the ball and stay on the field.”

There was, at least, one good byproduct of all of those injuries. The Yellow Jackets go into this season with an abundance of experience on offense to go with what Johnson said is the most experienced defense he has had at Tech.

The schedule sets up nicely for a bounce-back season. The Jackets open in Dublin, Ireland against Boston College, a team that was also 3-9 with two of those wins over FCS opponents. Then they play Mercer and Vanderbilt, both at home.

There’s a good chance they could be 3-0 when Clemson visits for a Thursday night ESPN game. That’s followed by yet another big home game, when Miami and Mark Richt come to Atlanta. A 4-1 start could put the Jackets back in the thick of the ACC Coastal Division.

“I think we have a little added incentive this year to bounce back to where we’re accustomed to being,” Johnson said. “That’s the standard we’re looking to get back to and where we have our sites set.”

Tech is one of those programs that’s always hard to figure. Take the Orange Bowl season of two years ago. After back-to-back losses to Duke and North Carolina, there were many supporters who were wondering if the program had plateaued under Johnson. Then they won their next five games, including back-to-back upsets of Clemson and Georgia.

The fact is they operate with the thinnest margin of error. They never finish high in the national recruiting rankings. That doesn’t mean they don’t get good football players. They just don’t have much depth. Many of their best players need a year or two in the develop.

There are critics — including myself at times — who think Johnson relies too heavily on his unique offense to compensate for average talent. But that offense, when it’s at its best, is an equalizer.

I believe Tech could be the most improved team in college football this season. Whether that’s enough to return to win the Coastal Division, beat Georgia and end any speculation of Johnson’s ability to win consistently on a high level remains to be seen.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Table set for Georgia Tech to bounce back."