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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 5, 2012Paul JohnsonMIKE FINN: We now welcome Georgia Tech head football coach Paul Johnson. Coach, just a brief opening statement, then we'll go to questions. COACH JOHNSON: Good morning. We're coming off a very tough, physical football game, a game that was really kind of gut‑wrenching for an opening‑season game. It was really physical and there were a lot of ups and downs. Looked like we had the momentum going our way. To Virginia Tech's credit, they came back and found a way to get it in overtime. We turned the ball over and they didn't, so we end up losing the game. It's going to be a bounce‑back game for us to see how we can handle a little adversity, come home, settle in, see if we can't play a lot better than we played on Monday night. MIKE FINN: Questions for Coach Johnson. Q. Looking back on that Tech game, I'm curious what you saw in your pass defense in the final minutes that allowed Tech to move the football so well. COACH JOHNSON: Well, the first play in the 44 seconds, some guys jumped an underneath route that they shouldn't. We were trying to play some roll coverage. We had a mistake. So there was a pretty big hole. The last play on fourth down, we were misaligned. We should have been in man coverage, bringing pressure. We lined up outside. But the biggest thing was tackling. I think if we tackle the guy, the ball's on the 40 yard line with five or six seconds, it's a 57‑yard field goal. To their credit, the kid broke the tackle, ran it down, got it in field goal range, put it into overtime. Q. You lost Washington on a third‑down play. I'm curious on how that played out. Are you okay with the way that's set up? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think clearly you don't want to lose your starting quarterback on third down. That's the rule. It looked like the helmet came off when he was on the ground. The rule says if it comes off, you're out for the play. It clearly came off. Just one of those things. Q. This comes up every time there's a Monday night game. You have the Monday night came, you're on the road, you get back, you have another game on Saturday. How difficult is it scheduling that week to get it done? COACH JOHNSON: It's really difficult. I mean, we'll play this week. We got back at 4:00 Tuesday morning. We took yesterday off because, as I said, it was a really physical game. Go out in shorts today and get a normal Monday in. Probably have a shells practice tomorrow, walk‑through on Friday, then play. So it's very difficult. Q. Y'all rushed for 192 yards, which is a lot for a lot of people. Was it a function of the offense or some other breakdown there? COACH JOHNSON: I think it's a combination of everything you said. You have to give Virginia Tech credit. Bud is a really good coach, they had a good scheme. They played well. We didn't do some of the things that we would like to do, didn't execute as well as we could have. I mean, you can always say that. But I think they're pretty salty on defense. We knew going in they had a pretty good defensive front. I thought they were. They were pretty good up front. I think you have to give them some credit, as well. I think they're a pretty good team, especially defensively. Q. What areas in this short week are you focusing on in terms of improvement? COACH JOHNSON: Just everything. We've got to improve in pretty much every facet. The biggest thing this week is trying to get healthy. You can't go out and try to work on a bunch of physical‑type things. It's got to be the mental. Just like I described the last series, not trying to roll the coverage both ways, being inside technique when you play man. On offense we were terrible technique‑wise in a lot of areas. I don't know we got very many option reads correct. Just the stuff we do every day. Especially early. We got a little better in the second half, but early we were really struggling. Q. Your overtime possession when Tevin's pass got picked off, was that a case of him trying to make a play that just wasn't there, trying to do too much, or how do you evaluate that? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think that he was just trying to make a play. The thing that you don't see, same play we scored on, the touchdown. They probably had a bust I think defensively, too. One zoned it off and the other played man. He flushed himself to the side where all the defenders were. Nobody took the crossing route. He didn't stay in there long enough to see it. I think he was just trying to make a play, as kids will do. MIKE FINN: Coach, look like we're done for the day. Thanks for being with us. We'll talk to you next Wednesday. COACH JOHNSON: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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