Mental Mistakes Cost Georgia Tech Football Again

It’s hard to be disappointed in losing to top 5 team, but this game will leave Georgia Tech Football fans with a sour taste in their mouth.

Coming into Saturday, many tech fans believed a loss was coming from Clemson, but this game was more than a loss. This loss fully exposes the cracks that this team has.

On the first drive, TaQuon Marshall orchestrated the offense for a 58 yard drive, to get Tech to Clemson’s 17. Then things went poorly as a false start, 6 yard run, -10 yard fumble, and another false start pushed Georgia Tech back to the 36 and out of field goal range.

Thankfully the defense stepped up on the next series, only allowing 5 yards and forcing a punt. On the ensuing drive, Tech’s a backs fumbled two times, in three plays and one of them was returned for a touchdown.

At 7-0, Georgia Tech Football still had a chance to tie the game up, but gained 0 yards and punted the ball. Tech’s defense remained stout on the next drive, forcing another punt. Trevor Lawrence would come in on the next drive and Tech would have no answer, eventually allowing 21 more points in the half, while only scoring seven.

Clemson continued the onslaught by scoring 21 more points en route to a 49-21 win. Clemson’s defense held Georgia Tech’s FBS leading rushing offense to only 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. After a good first few drives by Tech’s defense, mistakes piled up and Clemson gained 480 yards, averaged 7.7 yards per play and scored 42 points.

Georgia Tech Football was supposed to lose this game, but squandering so many opportunities is what makes this loss even more frustrating. Mental mistakes plagued Tech last year, and have already cost Tech this year.

In only 4 games this year, Georgia Tech has fumbled the ball 15 times (once on a punt). Even though only 5 have been recovered by the opposition, Tech hasn’t scored any points on any of the drives they’ve fumbled. Tech also averages a fumble every 3.4 drives this year.

Fumbles aren’t the only mental mistakes Georgia Tech football has made this year. Penalties have also been a problem. Despite being in the top 50 of least penalties, and least penalty yards, penalties have killed Tech this year. For example, Tech lost two defensive players to ejections in the South Florida game, which could have helped stop USF’s offense at the end of the game.

For Georgia Tech Football, there is no surefire way to get back into the win column. Paul Johnson has made questionable decisions this year, and his offense hasn’t been performing extremely well but ultimately it comes down to player execution. Coaches can only do so much.

Tech’s defense specifically has been put in many positions to make tackles and stop the drive but have missed those tackles and allowed drives to continue. Georgia Tech must improve in both player execution and coaching if they want to make a bowl.