Marshall has Jackets scoring and winning
ATLANTA — Georgia Tech has scored more than 60 points in two straight wins, giving new life to a football season that showed little promise after a 1-3 start.
Yellow Jackets quarterback TaQuon Marshall, suddenly playing more composed and avoiding mistakes on option plays, has been the key to the high-scoring streak.
Georgia Tech (3-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) will try to continue its offensive surge Saturday when Duke (4-1, 0-1) visits.
Marshall, a 5-foot-10, 185pound senior, said he may have tried to do too much early in the season. The past two weeks have been far different. He has led the Jackets to scores on his past 14 series — 13 touchdowns and one field goal.
“I think I’ve calmed down a little bit,” Marshall said. “My nerves are down a little bit more. Just trying to go out and have fun and play, because it’s my last go-around.”
Tech ran for touchdowns on its first seven possessions in its 63-17 win over Bowling Green two weeks ago. The Jackets scored eight touchdowns and kicked a field goal on their first nine drives in last week’s 66-31 rout of host Louisville.
“It’s amazing,” running back Clinton Lynch said. “It’s always a lot more fun when the offense is clicking and we’re just scoring so many points. It just feels like the opponent can’t really stop us.”
Paul Johnson, who is in his 11th season as Tech’s head coach, pounced on the one field goal when looking for evidence his option-based flexbone offense can still improve.
“We had 10 or 12 missed assignments,” Johnson said. “We had two or three plays that went for nothing. We miscalled a formation on a play. You know, it wasn’t perfect. And we had to kick a field goal. So there were things we could have done better.”
Maybe the Jackets weren’t perfect, but even Johnson had to acknowledge they came close the past two games. He said he couldn’t remember better streaks of scoring on every possession in his 22 years as a head coach at Georgia Southern, Navy and Tech.
“What we’ve been able to accomplish the last two weeks … I don’t remember that happening, maybe when I was at Georgia Southern, where we went like that and scored consistently,” Johnson said Tuesday, adding that “it’s been pretty remarkable.”
Tech’s offense looks remarkable to Duke, too.
Blue Devils linebacker Ben Humphreys said Marshall “is playing like a senior in that offense. He’s running it really well, and that makes us want to practice harder and focus.”
Duke coach David Cutcliffe said Tech “is playing right now as well as anybody I’ve seen, period.”
Cutcliffe recruited Marshall, but not necessarily as a quarterback.
“He’s obviously a great athlete, and he’s not the prototypical size drop-back quarterback,” Cutcliffe said. “… Yeah, he can play quarterback. He’s proven that every game. But he could also be a running back. He could be a slot receiver. He could be a DB.
“So I think when you sign a player like that, you’re really not sure what to expect. You get them on your roster, but I promise you, you’ll find lots of ways to use them.”
Marshall had four of the Jackets’ eight fumbles in a 49-21 loss to Clemson on Sept. 22. Johnson then assumed more responsibility of coaching the quarterbacks and took steps to simplify the offense to run only “four or five base plays.”
“Let me clarify it by saying we ran four or five base plays better,” Johnson said. “We got our quarterback fundamentals better, we got downhill. We just played better. We’re taking better care of the ball. We haven’t had penalties. All those things that stop drives.”
Marshall likes the emphasis on simplicity.
“I think we’re really clicking right now,” Marshall said. “I think everything is going the way we want it to go. I think everyone knows what they’re doing. We’re keeping it really simple right now, so it’s pretty hard to mess it up.”