By all means necessary
Georgia Tech taking unconventional road to victory
Posted: Tuesday October 20, 1998 06:16 PM
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Creating a buzz: White has caught 31 passes this season. The rest of the team has 51 receptions combined Craig Jones/Allsport |
ATLANTA (AP) -- They give up way too many yards. They tend to
rely too much on big plays. They are the antithesis of their head
coach, who would prefer to slog out victories by scores like 10-7
rather than 41-38.
No. 20 Georgia Tech has thoroughly defied the guiding principles
of Football 101 -- running the ball, stopping the run, controlling
the clock. Yet the Yellow Jackets are sitting on top of the
Atlantic Coast Conference and contending for a major bowl.
"My neck hurts," said coach George O'Leary, a former defensive
coordinator who finds himself with a team totally out of character
for his background. "My head's going in one direction, then the
other way. It's frustrating from the standpoint that we practice
the right things."
In the games, Georgia Tech (5-1, 4-0 ACC) seems to do all the
wrong things.
On offense, the Yellow Jackets don't have a running back who's
averaging 45 yards per game. Only one receiver has caught more than
10 passes. They've beaten just one opponent in time of possession.
Then there's the defense, the main source of O'Leary's neck
pain. The Yellow Jackets have held only two opponents under 20
points and they've given up more than 400 yards three times. Their
play against the run has been particularly inept -- an average of
192.5 yards per game.
Last week was downright embarrassing. Virginia, unbeaten and
ranked No. 7 at the time, ripped through the Tech defense for 600
yards -- the third-highest in school history -- not to mention
holding the ball for nearly 38 minutes and piling up 27 first downs
to only 13 for the Jackets.
"I knew we gave up a lot of yards. I didn't know we gave up
that many yards until the press conference," said O'Leary, whose
team is allowing 24 points and 413 yards per game. "We missed a
lot of tackles Saturday and had a lot of careless plays on
passes."
Still, Georgia Tech won its fifth straight game, rallying from a
21-point deficit in the second half to capture an improbable 41-38
victory.
How is this possible?
"I guess that shows how much character and heart this team
has," said Dez White, whose 31 catches are 22 more than the
second-leading receiver on the team. "Statistically, you're not
supposed to win a game like the Virginia game. But our heart pulled
us through."
So did big plays on both sides of the line.
Quarterback Joe Hamilton completed only 11 of 23 passes, but six
of them went to White for a school-record 243 yards, including
three long touchdowns. The defense may have leaked like a colander,
but it began the comeback by forcing a fumble that linebacker
Delaunta Cameron ran back for a touchdown.
The defense has now scored in five straight games, an NCAA
record, and has one of the country's best turnover margins,
plus-10.
"When I saw that we gave up 600 yards, I was like, 'Wow,'"
defensive end Nate Stimson said. "But we won, and that's all that
matters. As long as we win, I don't care how many yards we give
up."
Tech almost certainly will have to veer from this
living-on-the-edge style Saturday night when No. 6 Florida State
visits Bobby Dodd Stadium for a game that could determine the ACC
champion.
It's hard to imagine anyone, even the resourceful Yellow
Jackets, giving up 600 yards to the Seminoles and still winning.
Then again, there are people still shaking their heads in utter
disbelief that Tech managed to beat Virginia, despite going about
it the wrong way.
"We've played real good at times," Stimson said. "Against
Florida State, we've got to play good the whole time. If you take
one play off, they're going to score. This might be the biggest
defensive test we'll face all year."
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