Is Georgia Tech's Defense Really the Problem??

I think our offensive numbers are certainly inflated. The scheme makes it hard to defend against, because no one uses it anymore (and hasn't for years). So it probably helps us do more with less. But inevitably we get exposed against the more powerful and athletic teams.

The short answer is yes. We are ranked in the upper echelon in several key offensive statistical categories, both in the conference, and nationally. Prior to this year, if we scored > 30 points, it was an automatic CPJ victory....I still think special teams is one of the weakest aspects of our team.

I miss the days when our defense was ranked in the 50's....

If our offense was scoring 100, and our defense was giving up 101, people would still blame our offense. Because it is different.

If Tevin didn't throw a pick on our last possession, we would've won 107-101, so take that, stylee.

It doesn't help the case of the naysayer when ridiculous premises are postulated in an attempt to fuel, er pot stir, the negative/positive camps on the board. But I guess it's free entertainment so I can't complain.

Sweet! Another thread about how CPJ is just using the bad D as a scapegoat for our offensive short comings...

Originally Posted by steebu

If Tevin didn't throw a pick on our last possession, we would've won 107-101, so take that, stylee.

Irrefutable!

Look, let's be serious guys: our offense's numbers aren't just 'inflated' - we're ranked high nationally in the important categories: yards and points. An offense's lone goal is to score points.

Are we perfect? Heck not. But we've got more big plays than almost anyone else in the country, we score more points than most teams (and more points than any Tech team in modern history), etc etc.

Complaining about offensive production is evidence of bias against the way our offense gets points, not the number of points we score.

"Stats are blahblahblah, I believe in the eyeball test! 4th Quarter points are worth more!" etc etc.

Great. Whereof we cannot speak, we must be silent. So if the "eyeball test" tells you something that you can't actually communicate - 'our offense may score points, but it's not REALLY good say my eyes, because X - then there's nothing to be said.

We NEED to be perfect to win with the way our defense has played.
"Well, Clemson won even though they have a bad defense too!"
Yep. And Clemson's offense is pretty good too... just like ours.


We're all frustrated with losing, but complaining about a historically good offense and classifying cirticism of a historically bad defense as "scapegoating" is insane. We get it, it'd be better to score 38 points in the 4th quarter (and lose) than 38 in the first 3 quarters (and lose). Whatever.

The scheme definitely makes it harder to defend against, and we do get creamed by harder teams. But if we were running a more traditional offense, with these inferior players, I'm pretty sure we'd still get dominated-- and probably worse.

Originally Posted by stylee

Irrefutable!

Look, let's be serious guys: our offense's numbers aren't just 'inflated' - we're ranked high nationally in the important categories: yards and points. An offense's lone goal is to score points.

Are we perfect? Heck not. But we've got more big plays than almost anyone else in the country, we score more points than most teams (and more points than any Tech team in modern history), etc etc.

Complaining about offensive production is evidence of bias against the way our offense gets points, not the number of points we score.

"Stats are blahblahblah, I believe in the eyeball test! 4th Quarter points are worth more!" etc etc.

Great. Whereof we cannot speak, we must be silent. So if the "eyeball test" tells you something that you can't actually communicate - 'our offense may score points, but it's not REALLY good say my eyes, because X - then there's nothing to be said.

We NEED to be perfect to win with the way our defense has played.
"Well, Clemson won even though they have a bad defense too!"
Yep. And Clemson's offense is pretty good too... just like ours.


We're all frustrated with losing, but complaining about a historically good offense and classifying cirticism of a historically bad defense as "scapegoating" is insane. We get it, it'd be better to score 38 points in the 4th quarter (and lose) than 38 in the first 3 quarters (and lose). Whatever.

aside: how much zone blocking do we do? With the addition of more beef up front, will we be better equipped to do more in the near future? Do you see this happening moving forward given our young qb's and their skill sets especially Justin?

Originally Posted by stylee

Irrefutable!

Look, let's be serious guys: our offense's numbers aren't just 'inflated' - we're ranked high nationally in the important categories: yards and points. An offense's lone goal is to score points.

Are we perfect? Heck not. But we've got more big plays than almost anyone else in the country, we score more points than most teams (and more points than any Tech team in modern history), etc etc.

Complaining about offensive production is evidence of bias against the way our offense gets points, not the number of points we score.

"Stats are blahblahblah, I believe in the eyeball test! 4th Quarter points are worth more!" etc etc.

Great. Whereof we cannot speak, we must be silent. So if the "eyeball test" tells you something that you can't actually communicate - 'our offense may score points, but it's not REALLY good say my eyes, because X - then there's nothing to be said.

We NEED to be perfect to win with the way our defense has played.
"Well, Clemson won even though they have a bad defense too!"
Yep. And Clemson's offense is pretty good too... just like ours.


We're all frustrated with losing, but complaining about a historically good offense and classifying cirticism of a historically bad defense as "scapegoating" is insane. We get it, it'd be better to score 38 points in the 4th quarter (and lose) than 38 in the first 3 quarters (and lose). Whatever.

Great post! Unfortunately, because you actually like the offense your incapable of making an honest assessment of it to the anti-CPJ crowd. By the way have I seen posts from you over on NCAA Utopia forums?

Originally Posted by Jeagt

Great post! Unfortunately, because you actually like the offense your incapable of making an honest assessment of it to the anti-CPJ crowd. By the way have I seen posts from you over on NCAA Utopia forums?

Yeah. I stopped after a while. That game is just too flawed.

Originally Posted by dressedcheeseside

aside: how much zone blocking do we do? With the addition of more beef up front, will we be better equipped to do more in the near future? Do you see this happening moving forward given our young qb's and their skill sets especially Justin?

We do zone blockign on our "zone dive" play. We run that play a pretty decent amount in every game.
We should continue getting better at this sort of thing. We haven't looked exceptional on zone dive this year, which is more based on missed assignments rather than an inability to block, and B-Backs not taking enough advantage of the holes they're given.

I don't think it affects the QBs too much. Even our pistol option play is not a true zone read option.

Originally Posted by stylee

Yeah. I stopped after a while. That game is just too flawed.

Didn't bother with this years, found a good group of guys and played a bit last year. It's a shame that alot of the flaws are with the basic flexbone plays too. Anyway, between here and there I've definitely learned quite a bit not only about our offense but others as well from you...So thanks!

Originally Posted by stylee

We do zone blockign on our "zone dive" play. We run that play a pretty decent amount in every game.
We should continue getting better at this sort of thing. We haven't looked exceptional on zone dive this year, which is more based on missed assignments rather than an inability to block, and B-Backs not taking enough advantage of the holes they're given.

I don't think it affects the QBs too much. Even our pistol option play is not a true zone read option.

I was just think CPJ might be inclined to tweak his offense in that direction given the beef up front and the running skills of our backs. I hate to say "Oregon does it with big OL's and tiny, fast, quick backs," but they do.

The defense is the issue, and I'm not necessarily on the PJ bandwagon anymore. If our defense was ranked in the 40s right now instead of the 90s we would probably be 5-1 with the same offense. Could the offense do better? Yes, but it is a football team and all three aspects need to feed off of each other for a team to reach its full potential. Our defense has regressed over the last 3 years and our offense has stayed about the same, the difference is we had a QB and BB that masked other problems with their pure skill. We need more guys like that or we are going to need the other aspects of the team to step up.

The only thing wrong with our defense is a lack of tackling fuel.

As bad as the defense has been, this offense certainly has problems of its own. We haven't been able to put the game away with a "death march" drive like we have in the past. We've had turnovers at critical moments, and we've been woeful on 4th down conversions. With the experience our OL has, you'd think we could play 3 yards and a cloud of dust all day, but this just hasn't been the case for some reason. Maybe this stems from losing an offensive line coach.?

I was especially livid with CPJ for "sitting on the ball" in the fourth quarter of the Miami game, and honestly I haven't watched a game since. Call me whatever kind of fan you want, but I'm no longer convinced that CPJ (his playcalling and recruiting) can succeed. I'm sick of mediocrity, and what we've witnessed this year doesn't even approach that. With the experience we have returning on offense, this should have been a banner offensive year. We either don't have the talent, the leadership, the coaching, or the cajones to get it done.

Originally Posted by TECHnician

As bad as the defense has been, this offense certainly has problems of its own. We haven't been able to put the game away with a "death march" drive like we have in the past. We've had turnovers at critical moments, and we've been woeful on 4th down conversions. With the experience our OL has, you'd think we could play 3 yards and a cloud of dust all day, but this just hasn't been the case for some reason. Maybe this stems from losing an offensive line coach.?

I was especially livid with CPJ for "sitting on the ball" in the fourth quarter of the Miami game, and honestly I haven't watched a game since. Call me whatever kind of fan you want, but I'm no longer convinced that CPJ (his playcalling and recruiting) can succeed. I'm sick of mediocrity, and what we've witnessed this year doesn't even approach that. With the experience we have returning on offense, this should have been a banner offensive year. We either don't have the talent, the leadership, the coaching, or the cajones to get it done.

Yet if our D didn't absolutely suck balls (#90 in the nation), we'd have plenty enough "talent, leadership, coaching, and cajones to get it done."

Here's the thing about our D, it not only allows lots of points, but it subtracts point opportunities for our O. Imagine how good our O would be with just an average defense. We'd probably be averaging 10 more points a game, easy.