On Iowa by Marc Morehouse
GT’s Johnson talks Hawkeyes
Posted on Dec 14, 2009 by Marc Morehouse.
Obie, left, the Orange Bowl mascot, along with Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson, center, and Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz, right, pose for photos after a newss conference for the upcoming Orange Bowl game in Miami, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson talked Hawkeyes during a Monday morning news conference in Atlanta.
Iowa (10-2) faces Atlantic Coast Conference champion Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5. Tech beat Clemson, 39-34, in a topsy-turvy ACC title game on Dec. 5.
Tech started its Iowa preparation Monday.
The marquee matchup is Tech’s “flexbone” rush offense against Iowa’s nationally ranked defense.
“They’re a tremendous defensive football team,” Johnson said. “I’ve known [Iowa defensive coordinator] Norm Parker for a while and he has a great reputation. They have some outstanding players and they play well together as a team.
“They’re probably similar to North Carolina or Clemson in that they’re big up front. They’re just a good defensive team.”
The Yellow Jackets’ offense is led by running back (B-back in flexbone parlance) Jonathan Dwyer. The 6-0, 235-pounder has rushed for 1,377 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. Quarterback Josh Nesbitt, a 6-1, 214-pounder, has 991 yards and 18 TDs. He’s completed only 47.7 percent of his passes, but has 10 TDs to only four interceptions.
Dmaryius Thomas, 6-3, 229, is Tech’s leading receiver with 46 catches for 1,154 yards and eight TDs. He averages 25.1 yards a catch, second in the FBS.
Iowa’s defense has forced 29 turnovers this season, second in the Big Ten.
“I think they do a great job in zone coverage and they break to the ball well and they can get pressure with their front four,” Johnson said. “When you can do that, you can drop seven back into coverage and have some interceptions. Plus, nobody can run the ball on them. They generally play with six guys in the box and can stop the run, so they have some guys dropping. They’re well coached and they have some good players. They’re pretty good.”
Iowa’s offense against Tech’s D is the decided undercard.
The Hawkeyes rode quarterback Ricky Stanzi’s up-and-down performances to a 9-0 start, which included a five interception, two TD and 300 yards in a comeback win over Indiana.
Johnson noted Iowa’s offensive line on Monday.
“They have some big guys that lean on you and mash you a little bit,” Johnson said. “Then, they’ll throw some play-action at you. Their quarterback Stanzi will be back for this game, which will be a big help to them. They don’t beat themselves and they’re very well coached. I think they’ve showed a lot of character in that they’ve come from behind in several games this year and did what they had to do to win.”
The Hawkeyes won seven games after trailing this season.
“Offensively, they kind of have a style of their own,” Johnson said. “They have some big offensive linemen and they try to run the ball at you and throw some play action. I don’t think we’ve played anyone that resembles what they do offensively.”
Defensive end Derrick Morgan (6-4, 272) leads Tech’s defense with 18 tackles for loss and 12 sacks. Rover Morgan Burnett (6-1, 210) leads Tech with four interceptions. Linebacker Brad Jefferson (6-2, 237) is Tech’s top tackler with 90, including eight tackles for loss.
Tech’s rush defense unplugged down the stretch. In their last two games (a loss to Georgia and a victory over Clemson), the Jackets allowed 662 rushing yards. Is that the real Tech or is it the Tech defense that allowed just 53 rushing yards the two weeks before that (wins over Wake Forest and Duke) poor stretch?
“I think anytime you struggle as much as we have, there has to be a little lull to it,” Johnson said. “If I knew exactly what the answer was, then we wouldn’t be struggling. The players have to be accountable, the coaches have to be accountable and we have to look at everything.”
Iowa has sold something in the neighborhood of 15,000 tickets for the Orange Bowl. Tech has sold 9,000. Johnson isn’t worried if the game turns into a Hawkeye home game.
“Unless they can put them in the game then it’s really not going to matter,” Johnson said. “Hopefully, we’ll have good fan support. I don’t think it’s going to make that big of a difference.”
Quote: "I don’t think we’ve played anyone that resembles what they do offensively.”
Do you think you could elaborate on that for us, Marc?
I think it's a statement on pro-style offenses. Really, how many are there?
I don't think it's a statement on Iowa's inefficiencies this year.
I didn't take it as a slam on Iowa's offense.
Ferentz when talking about GT said that Iowa's offense is unique too though not as unique as GT's.
Big QB recruiting point for Iowa should be — and should always be — "This is the offense you're going to run in the NFL."
I'm guessing he means that there aren't many pro style offenses run in the ACC?
And when this game is done I don't think our offense will be the undercard in this game. They held WFU and Duke to 53 yards rushing? So what. I think we're going to blow that defense to shreds on the ground and in the air.
Iowa's offense has some proving to do, in my mind. If Stanzi would've remained healthy, no, it's a good offense and it, at the very least, finds a way to beat NW.
But Stanzi's health is an issue and so is rust. His last game will have been nearly two months ago.
His last game was nearly two months ago and everyone else will have been what, six weeks or so?
I don't think his health will be an issue at all, rust, a little. And neither team will have played for awhile so I think that's all kind of a push.
And you know this team is going to be practicing very hard leading up to the game so they'll get a lot of cobwebs out.
Great point, E.
I asked Clayborn about bowl practices, saying I hear they're tougher than people might think. He said exactly right. They taper practices late in the year. Bowl practices are treated more like August two-a-days.
GT has not seen a defense like this. They should come away with an understanding of "six seconds of hel*l".
GO HAWKS!!
Iowa's DTs have to stay on their feet. Cut blocks are a huge part of GT's scheme.
One of the keys for our defense will be for the DB's to not blow coverage if they go play action. I just played GT in NCAA 2010 on XBOX 360 and Sash got sucked in a few times. I still won 27-21 though (D played well, they ran a kick back on me). If only this was a valid indicator of what will happen…
Perfectly valid!!
I might get an X Box, actually.
Careful. EA Sports NCAA football is completely addictive. If you go full bore and turn on the recruiting option, you could end up spending as much time coaching as Ferentz does.
FWIW, I think GT has faced a similar offense and it was UGA. The Bulldogs ran the ball and pounded it out against the Yellow Jackets. The Bulldogs had a shaky QB in 5th year guy Joe Cox who is the epitome of a 'game manager' and beat the Jackets without being able to throw to the superb WR Green (out with a shoulder injury.)
I can see that. Georgia beat the living tar out of them, too.
One more thing about GT, UGA and Iowa…. the Bulldog defense was notorious for what their fans would refer to as a Bend And Break Defense. I think UGA poor special teams play, kick coverage in particular, put the Dawgs in really difficult field position disadvantages (for the way they are built, as we say.) If you look up the boxscore – you'll see the Bulldogs using an effective running game, a steady bend don't break defense and an adequate passing attack did alright v GT.
But don't go to sleep with the idea its easy to handle Tech. It's not. They can score suddenly or slowly with their half dozen plays. And they try to fly to the ball in very disruptive ways. Paul Johnson is a great play caller. They are not completely 'transformed' over there but they are plenty potent.
Iowa's safeties and LBs will know they are running into something when they start colliding with Nesbitt and Dwyer. Those guys are full-sized they are similar to Juice Williams and Mendanhall of Illinois a few years ago. Strong runners with forward tilt.
That's why I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of 3-4 with linebackers, including Tarpinian or Troy Johnson, chipping in quite a bit.
Also, will the safeties' shoulders hold up? Sash and Greenwood have been nursing it for quite a few weeks.
Very informative article… Looking forward for more articles on your blog
Can I hyperlink up to this, through my site? I’m likely to get as much causes of data as i am able.
Just thought i would comment and say neat design, did you code it yourself? Looks great.
Hi just thought i would tell you something.. This is twice now i’ve landed on your blog in the last 3 days looking for totally unrelated things. Spooky or what?
I’m glad I found a site that deals with the same thing I’m dealing with. I always read the whole post and keep an eye on other comments too before commenting myself. In this way i have found some good Blog that I now follow beyond the purpose of getting links from them. For example, this is my second stopping over your site. I always like the content and the way you write .
Forgive that you might be forgiven.
Hypotheek informatie, hypotheek aanvragen of afsluiten? Hypotheekrentes bekijken. Hypotheek aanbieders vergelijken, hypotheek vormen, bijkomende kosten,
What ? I swear, They just don’t get it! The boarder is not the main problem.Its good to get extra funding but how about insted of spending 600 million lets save 100 billion and stop paying for illegals to be here!!! Don’t give them a reason to come over and the illegal population will drop by 3/4, the border can then be secured with what we already have. California spends 10.5 billion on the care of illegals, over half of the bugdet gap. And now they talk making them all legal for free, the flow across the boarder will ony grow larger. In my country they would cut your feet off if you crossed the boarder not pay you
BKR problemen? Nu Geld lenen zonder BKR toetsing? Op zoek naar betrouwbare aanbieders? Wij vergelijken banken die u toch kunnen helpen aan een betrouwbare
Hoewel migraine op elke leeftijd voor het eerst kan optreden, begint dit type hoofdpijn meestal tussen de tien en veertig jaar. Bij de meeste mensen treedt
This could hurt more than help I suppose.
The natural thing to do is to throw in the towel so that you can negotiate this directly if you want.
We’ll start with major headache number one.