ATLANTA – Georgia Tech ran all over Alcorn State on Saturday, when 10 different players carried the football for the Yellow Jackets as they totaled 439 rushing yards in a 41-0 win.
Now they’re about to get run over by their coach – at least on offense.
Head coach Paul Johnson was pleased by his defense’s first shutout in five years. The new 3-4 scheme that first-year defensive coordinator Nate Woody installed stoned the Football Championship Subdivision’s Braves in the opener for both teams in Bobby Dodd Stadium.
How about the other side of the ball, where Johnson calls plays?
Not so much.
KirVonte Benson ran for two touchdowns and the Jackets took control early, scoring on the fourth snap of the game when Jordan Mason went 28 yards. Mason, a redshirt freshman fullback, led Tech with 85 yards as one of four players to surpass 70 yards.
Yet in Johnson’s mind, the Jackets should have further dominated Alcorn State, the program they beat 69-6 to open the 2015 season.
“I think anytime you can win a game and win it in pretty dominating fashion, that’s a positive,” Johnson said. “At the same time, I was disappointed in the way we played offensively, for sure. For as many guys as we have returning on offense (10 starters), that was a pretty sloppy performance.”
The Jackets punted just once and were 8-for-12 on third-down conversions for the game. In the first half, though, Mason lost a fumble and quarterback TaQuon Marshall threw an interception and misfired badly several times while going 4-for-12.
Also, Shawn Davis clanked a PAT off an upright after Tech went up 20-0 on Benson’s 5-yard run in the second quarter.
“I didn’t like how we played considering who we were playing,” Johnson said. “We should be able to move the ball and beat those guys.”
Marshall rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown and was 9-of-18 passing for 104 yards, a touchdown to senior wide receiver Brad Stewart and the first-half interception. Benson had 75 yards on 10 carries, and backup quarterback Tobias Oliver added 72 on 12.
Alcorn State quarterback Noah Johnson was 10-of-15 passing, though for just 51 yards.
The Yellow Jackets outgained the Braves 543-146 and blew the game open with three touchdowns in the third quarter.
Less than a minute after Benson scored on an 8-yard run early in the second half, Tech linebacker David Curry picked up a Marquise Forman fumble and ran 15 yards for a touchdown.
With a variety of blitzes, Tech limited Alcorn State’s rushing and passing attacks on the way to the Jackets’ first shutout since a 56-0 win over Syracuse on Oct. 19, 2013. The Braves were just 2-for-13 on third down.
For their trouble, the four-time reigning Southwestern Athletic Conference East Division champions collected a $375,000 payout from Tech.
After Davis missed the PAT, the redshirt junior who missed much of last season after tearing an ACL while making a tackle on a kickoff at Miami was replaced by sophomore Brenton King, who hit all four of his PATs.
“Brenton King is the kicker,” Johnson said after the game.