Louisville Swats The Yellow Jackets 44-17

Patrick Conarro

Patrick Conarro

— 3 min read
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Watching Georgia Tech play Louisville Saturday night, from the opening kickoff, two questions quickly came to mind. One, how was Louisville, at 5-3, a mere 14.5 point favorite on this night?. Two, how in the world did Georgia Tech beat a pretty decent Duke team a few weeks back?

Like most questions swamping the Tech program this sad season, there are no good answers.

Again on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets looked outclassed from the get-go. True, they held Louisville to a field goal on their opening possession. Also true is that Tech did then " drive" down close enough to facilitate a 32 yard field goal from Aidan Birr to tie it up at three apiece. At that moment, you realize that anyone who saw the score on their TV crawl would think that the game was close. Not so.

That opening possession by Georgia Tech was the weakest, strangest way imaginable for an offense to cover the 70 yards or so needed to set up Birr's kick.

To wit:

  • Following the Cardinals' field goal on the game's opening possession, Tech's Chad Alexander returned the Louisville kickoff 14 yards to Tech's 17 yard line.
  • Mendoza sacked– five yard loss
  • Mendoza completed 5 yard pass
  • Mendoza sacked- seven yard loss
  • Bacchetta 37 yard punt fumbled by UL , recovered by GT at their own 46.
  • GRADY ADAMSON–now in at QB for GT
  • Maddox three yard loss in a run.
  • Adamson pass complete to Corbo for 0 yards
  • Incomplete pass by Adamson
  • Bacchetta punt/ Louisville penalty for roughing the punter gives Tech another first down at UL 42 yard line.
  • Mendoza pass complete to Penson for 14 yards
  • Mendoza pass complete to Haynes for 12 yards
  • Haynes rush for two yards
  • Mendoza 2nd down pass incomplete
  • Mendoza 3rd down pass incomplete
  • Birr 32 yard field goal — score is now 3-3, with six minutes left in the opening quarter.
  • In that entire sequence, Tech ran 12 plays to gain 33 yards. Seven plays gained zero or fewer yards.
Tech Coach Brent Key at the bottom of this picture had a brief happy moment in the early going when Tech recovered a UL fumble on a punt, setting up the Jackets near midfield.( RamblinSports)

First quarter stats told a grim tale. Tech ran 14 plays , gaining a total of 26 yards. Louisville ran 15 plays, good for 146.

The Cardinals had seven running plays, good for 49 yards. Tech had five runs for 12 yards. Cardinal QB Lincoln Kienholz completed seven of eight passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. Tech QB's Mendoza and Adamson were a combined five of nine, for 37 yards. And Tech sustained three penalties in the opening quarter.

Following Tech's field goal, UL scored the next 24 points to take a commanding 27- 3 lead just before halftime.

  • Somehow, Tech rallied for the briefest moment to cover 75 yards in seven plays in just 46 seconds, scoring on a Mendoza - to- Furhmann pass in the final seconds of the first half.
  • The halftime score was 27-10, but hey, Tech was to receive the second half kick, so who knows what might happen?
  • Well, what did happen was 10 more points for the Cards in the third quarter, as that oddly effective offense that showed up for Tech at the tag end of the first half went back into hiding and the game's outcome was settled long before the final gun.

Another long night was at hand for Brent Key and his charges. In his post-game remarks, Key said he was " damn pissed off" about the play of his football team.

He went on, " The way we coach. The way we play. It's embarrassing. It's a joke. It starts with me", said the visibly upset head coach of the Yellow Jackets.

Key was careful to avoid naming any one person. He again demurred when asked about specific changes that might be in store. When asked about the new wrinkle he introduced in this game– namely, alternating quarterbacks with each new possession- Key cited the obvious- it didn't make any difference in the outcome. ...nor really in the stats.

Georgia Tech fell to 2-6 with the loss. And the schedule is unrelenting- the Jackets have Clemson, Wake Forest and Georgia left to play. Tech will be heavy underdogs in each of those games.

But by now, the prospect of saving this season from a pure win-loss perspective is long gone. The broader hope is that Key and company can identify and at least begin to address whatever the problems are that have ailed this team from the first few plays of that game one loss to Colorado, back on September 3.

Wait...was that game really only two months ago? Seems much longer...

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports

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