Georgia Tech not giving up on farfetched ACC title
ATLANTA — After a second loss in the Atlantic Coast Conference, it seems like a good time for Georgia Tech to reset its goals.
Not so fast, said coach Paul Johnson.
He’s not giving up on the idea of the Yellow Jackets (4-3, 3-2) reaching the ACC championship game, though he could’ve used some visual aids Tuesday to explain all that needs to go right.
“What happens if Virginia Tech goes and beats Miami and we win at Virginia?” Johnson asked. “Then (Virginia Tech is) coming in here next week and Miami is one loss away from being tied with whoever wins that game. If we win that game,” presumably, he meant Virginia Tech, “we could all wind up with two losses.”
If that all sounds a bit convoluted, one thing is easy to understand.
The Jackets can’t afford another conference defeat.
Their part of the deal begins with Saturday’s road game against the Cavaliers (5-3, 2-2).
“That’s a lot of ‘ifs,’ but it’s not dead,” Johnson said. “We don’t change our goals. We just keep playing. It will be all dead if we don’t win at Virginia.”
No. 13 Virginia Tech (7-1, 3-1) plays at No. 9 Miami (7-0, 5-0) Saturday night before visiting Atlanta on Nov. 11. The Yellow Jackets close out their ACC schedule with a Nov. 18 game at Duke (4-5, 1-5).
Essentially, everything has to fall in place for Georgia Tech — Virginia Tech beats Miami, the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia, Virginia Tech and Duke, and Miami loses one of its last two conference games against either Pitt or Virginia.
Under that rather farfetched scenario, Georgia Tech, Miami and Virginia Tech would all finish 6-2 in the conference. The first tiebreaker would be their record in division games, which would eliminate the Hurricanes. Then, Georgia Tech would get the nod over Virginia Tech based on their head-to-head matchup.
The Yellow Jackets are clinging to that faint hope.
“I’ll get the guys together and try to rally everyone to get some energy going at practice,” quarterback TaQuon Marshall said. “We still have some things ahead of us we’re still trying to accomplish. We can’t really get down. We’ve got to keep practicing hard and trusting in each other and just keep going.”
A year ago, Georgia Tech defeated the Cavaliers 31-17 in Atlanta.
But Charlottesville has always been a challenging venue for the Yellow Jackets, who have lost 10 of their last 12 appearances at Scott Field dating to 1992.