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Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Johnson: ‘There needs to be a playoff’

ATLANTA — For those searching for a viable, immediate solution to the BCS and its finicky problems, Paul Johnson has an idea.

“There needs to be a playoff,” he said.

The Georgia Tech head coach has not been the first — nor is he sure to be the last — proponent of installing such a system to replace college football’s current postseason format.

Asked Tuesday during his weekly news conference about the sport’s current method of choosing its national champion, Johnson stood firm behind his declaration that a playoff is the best possible way the country’s top teams to be fairly recognized.

“There’s so much parity in football that on a given day, you could make a case for whoever,” Johnson said.

He cited his own seventh-ranked Yellow Jackets as a team that some believe may not belong as high in the national rankings as it is because of a perceived lack of strength in its schedule.

Providing similar examples with respect to other top-10 teams, he asserted that his call for a playoff had nothing to do with whether he thought his team could or couldn’t do well in the BCS system. He just thinks it’s time for a change.

“The bottom line is, I guess the people in charge don’t want it (a playoff),” Johnson said. “It’s perception, I guess. … You would have to restructure some things, and then there’s tradition and all of that.”

There is a tradition concern, as in changes in previous schedules that many schools have become accustomed to.

For example, his idea of a playoff would mean pushing the regular season back one week in order to begin the playoffs Thanksgiving weekend and extend into the current bowl season. If that were to work, it would change the timing of annual rivalry games such as the Georgia-Georgia Tech series; one that has been played the weekend after Thanksgiving the better part of 80 years.

Speaking at a gathering of the Macon Touchdown Club last month, Johnson broached the idea of a playoff to attendees, saying that it was up to them if changes were to come.

“If fans and everybody involved keep pushing for a playoff,” Johnson said Oct. 19, “then eventually, we’re going to get one.”

NOT THEMSELVES

Saturday’s game against Wake Forest was much closer than most anticipated it would be.

With penalties, key miscues and just plain bad luck settling upon the Yellow Jackets for much of the contest, it took a couple of key plays to keep them from the brink of an upset.

Johnson wasn’t quite sure why the penalties were up, and why they happened at key moments. Likewise, he wasn’t sure why it seemed his team had trouble powering its way with relative ease to a big blowout win.

Maybe it was just one of those days, he said.

“The guys who have pretty much carried our team all year really didn’t play as well as they’ve played. And I think that’s somewhat understandable that you’re not going to be at the highest level every game,” Johnson said. “I equate it to guys who are pitchers. Even guys who win the Cy Young get shelled once in a while. Or they go out and they don’t have their best stuff and their best game.

“That’s kind of where we were.”

While B-back Jonathan Dwyer enjoyed a 189-yard rushing performance, quarterback Josh Nesbitt, statistically, had one of his worst rushing and passing outings of the year. But he still played well when it counted, Johnson acknowledged.

Thanks to Nesbitt, the Yellow Jackets converted a crucial fourth-down in overtime before scoring the game-winning touchdown a play later.

OVERTIME CONFIDENCE

Before overtime began, Johnson went over to his team captains — Nesbitt, defensive end Derrick Morgan and cornerback Morgan Burnett — to reaffirm what he wanted them to do during the coin toss.

“I was going over with them again, ‘OK, we win the toss, we’re going to play defense. If they win the toss and they go on defense, we want to play in front of the students on that (north) end,’” Johnson said.

As Johnson went through those scenarios — ones the team has practiced often during the year — Burnett excitedly piped up.

“Morgan Burnett goes, ‘Coach, if I pick one off and take it to the house, is it over?’” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, it’d be over.’

“But I mean that’s the confidence; you got to love a (player) that’s that confident.”

IN FROM IDA

As remnants of Tropical Storm Ida battered Atlanta on Tuesday, the Yellow Jackets sought refuge from the deluge of rain and wind.

The team practiced indoors at the Atlanta Falcons’ Flowery Branch facility. They practiced there twice in the spring, and have spent a small handful of practices this fall inside the Falcons’ home Georgia Dome.

QUICK HITS

Georgia Tech has won 13 of its past 14 meetings with Duke. The only loss in that stretch came in 2003 when the Blue Devils beat the Yellow Jackets in Durham, N.C., 41-17. … Duke ranks 11th nationally in pass offense, averaging 301.6 yards passing per game. Georgia Tech and its run-based option offense ranks 116th, averaging 127.8 yards passing per game … Georgia Tech is 124-67-4 all-time against teams from North Carolina.