Georgia Tech Football: Despite 35-point performance, Tech offense has work to do

The Georgia Tech offense on Saturday put up 35-points and 543 total yards of offense but with that being said, the offense still has a ton of work to do in preparation of next Saturday’s game against USF.

"“I just didn’t like the way we played, considering who we were playing” – Georgia Tech head coach Paul Jonhson following Saturday’s 41-0 season opening win over Alcorn State"

Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson wasn’t shy on Saturday afternoon following Georgia Tech’s win over Alcorn State. Despite putting up 35-points and over 500-yards of total offense, Johnson felt that the Yellow Jackets offense was inconsistent and seemed to leave a sense of wanting more out of the offense.

In Johnson’s post-game press conference following Saturday’s game, he noted that while there was success on the offensive side of the ball, overall the play level was not where he expected it to be considering the opponent.

"You know I guess I have a high standard. I don’t know, we punted the ball one time, and I just didn’t like the way we played. I didn’t think we were consistent. – Paul Johnson"

One part of the offense that Johnson seemed to stress through his press conference whether on purpose or not was the Jackets inability to throw the ball on the day.

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Passing Attack:

Senior quarterback TaQuon Marshall had a rough day through the air, completing just 50% of his passes (9-for-18) for 104-yards, one touchdown, and a single interception. Dating back to last season, Marshall has completed just 22 passes on 70 attempts in his last five games, a completion percentage of 31.4%. Johnson overall called Saturday’s performance in the passing game “lousy” in his post-game press conference.

Offensive Line:

But it just wasn’t the passing game that Johnson wasn’t pleased with, he was also unpleased with his offensive line that had it’s fair share of up and downs throughout the game especially in passing situations. While Alcorn State didn’t record any sacks on the day, they did record four tackles for a loss and one quarterback hurry. It wasn’t a horrible effort but it won’t be an effort that will allow the Jackets to be as successful next week or beyond.

Last season, the offensive line was swiss cheese like at times during passing plays that lead to 20 sacks on the season. If the Jackets want to make a bowl game in 2018, they’ll need to give Marshall time to make the throws that he can make. Without that time, Marshall is going to continue to struggle in the passing game.

Turnover Problems:

For the Jackets, their three turnovers (one interception, two fumbles) was another example of not focusing on detail. All three turnovers were preventable and were turnovers in the style that cost the Jackets several games in 2017. Last season, turnovers were a problem for TaQuon Marshall and like the passing game, the two turnovers in Saturday’s season opener does not breathe confidence into Marshall’s ability to take a step forward as a quarterback.

Saturday’s offensive performance for the Yellow Jackets will do for now but it wasn’t as stellar as a performance when looking beyond the box score. The offensive unit had their fair share of mistakes throughout the game and while they can be masked over against programs like Alcorn State. Programs like UCF, Pittsburgh, and Clemson in the upcoming weeks will take advantage of those mistakes and make them pay for them.

All qoutes were transcribed from Johnson’s post-game press conference that you can find here.