ATLANTA, GA - A week after their finest performance of the year against the Miami Hurricanes, the #22 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-1, 2-1) fell flat Saturday at home against the Duke Blue Devils (5-1, 1-1). The result was a 31-25 loss that took Georgia Tech out of the ACC Coastal division driver's seat.
The dichotomy between last weekend's emotional win versus the Hurricanes and yesterday's loss to the Blue Devils was pronounced. All of the old coaching axioms and formulas for winning and losing held true. Boiled down into simplest terms the Blue Devils did to the Yellow Jackets what the Yellow Jackets did to the Hurricanes. That is, they played cleanly and won the turnover and penalty battle.
Head coach Paul Johnson summarized all of the above after the game. "I was disappointed in the way we played. We're not good enough to lose the turnover battle three to nothing to anybody and win the game. Couple that with penalties, especially in the first half, that kept drives alive for them. And in the red zone we kicked field goals while they scored touchdowns, and there's the game."
There is never a good time for turnovers and penalties, and the Yellow Jackets proved as much on Saturday..
