Georgia Tech's Johnson makes 'easy decision' on fourth down
November, 9, 2009
Nov 9
5:00
PM ET
Posted by ESPN.com’s Heather Dinich
To Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, it was an easy decision. A no-brainer. In fact, Johnson said on his Sunday evening teleconference that he didn’t even consider what would’ve happened if Georgia Tech didn’t make it on fourth and one from the 5-yard line against Wake Forest in overtime.
“I wasn’t worried about what if it didn’t work,” Johnson said. “We lost the game. Move on. Go to the next one.”
Meanwhile, just about everyone else in the country who was watching was ready for the field goal unit to trot out.
At stake: The Coastal Division crown.
Option B: Kick a chip-shot field goal and send it into a second overtime.
Johnson’s call: Goferit.
It worked, and it might become the most memorable, gutsiest call of the season. At least to everyone else but Johnson.
“I never thought anything much more about it,” he said. “To me it was the way to go. It wasn’t a hard decision.”
Johnson’s philosophy is to usually go for it on fourth down and less than two yards (as long as they’re across midfield), but on this particular day, the Jackets had been 0-for-4 on their fourth down conversions to that point.
That played no part in his decision.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Johnson said. “I saw how they lined up. I didn’t much see how they were going to stop it. (Josh Nesbitt) felt like he could get it. I felt like he could get it. You tell the kids to play to win, you’ve got to play to win. If we kicked the field goal, let’s say we get a good snap and make the kick. You’ve still got a 50-50 chance to lose. Now we’re going first. To me, that was an easy decision. We’ve gotta get half a yard. We get half a yard we’ve got a chance to win the game. I thought my chances of getting half a yard were better than 50-50.”
In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense, especially considering how Georgia Tech lines up.
“If I’m in the shotgun, snapping the ball six yards deep to the quarterback, I might not go for it,” Johnson said. “I think each coach would’ve had to make their own decision. The easy thing to do? Kick it. Then you put the onus on the kids. If the kicker misses, you can blame the kicker. To me it wasn’t a hard decision. Really, when I saw it was half a yard, it wasn’t that hard.”
But Johnson did it without thinking as hard as we are about it. He did it in a second’s notice. And word spread quickly about it through the coaching ranks of the ACC. Duke coach David Cutcliffe, whose team will host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, said he probably wouldn’t have made the same call. But Cutcliffe's team relies on its passing game, and has struggled to run the ball this year.
“Probably not,” Cutcliffe said. “Just being real honest. That’s pretty gutsy, pretty confident in the offensive front and their ability to run the ball. That’s pretty amazing. It worked. It’s going to go one way or the other, and it went the right way for them.”
Virginia coach Al Groh said with the team Johnson has, including the combination of Jonathan Dwyer and Nesbitt, he would’ve “given serious thought” to making the same call, and he used the same reasoning as Johnson.
“Even if you kick the field goal, that doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game,” Groh said. “You’ve still got to go back and play another series with the other team, and maybe they score and you don’t, or they kick a field goal and you miss yours. You’ve got it right there, and all you have to do is make one yard to win the game right now. Unless you’re playing scaredy-cat, there’s a lot of good reasons to go for it right when he did -- if you’re the No. 2 running team in the country, which is what they are.”
Johnson was playing to the strength of his team. Plus, his offense is better than his defense, so it makes more sense to try and win the game with those guys on the field than taking a chance with an inconsistent defense.
“When you analyze all the factors,” Groh said, “it certainly makes sense.”
It also makes for the No. 7 team in the country this week.
To Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson, it was an easy decision. A no-brainer. In fact, Johnson said on his Sunday evening teleconference that he didn’t even consider what would’ve happened if Georgia Tech didn’t make it on fourth and one from the 5-yard line against Wake Forest in overtime.
“I wasn’t worried about what if it didn’t work,” Johnson said. “We lost the game. Move on. Go to the next one.”
Meanwhile, just about everyone else in the country who was watching was ready for the field goal unit to trot out.
At stake: The Coastal Division crown.
Option B: Kick a chip-shot field goal and send it into a second overtime.
Johnson’s call: Goferit.
It worked, and it might become the most memorable, gutsiest call of the season. At least to everyone else but Johnson.
“I never thought anything much more about it,” he said. “To me it was the way to go. It wasn’t a hard decision.”
 | |
| AP Photo/John Bazemore | |
| The decision to have Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt go for it on fourth down in overtime against Wake Forest was "easy" for coach Paul Johnson . |
That played no part in his decision.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Johnson said. “I saw how they lined up. I didn’t much see how they were going to stop it. (Josh Nesbitt) felt like he could get it. I felt like he could get it. You tell the kids to play to win, you’ve got to play to win. If we kicked the field goal, let’s say we get a good snap and make the kick. You’ve still got a 50-50 chance to lose. Now we’re going first. To me, that was an easy decision. We’ve gotta get half a yard. We get half a yard we’ve got a chance to win the game. I thought my chances of getting half a yard were better than 50-50.”
In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense, especially considering how Georgia Tech lines up.
“If I’m in the shotgun, snapping the ball six yards deep to the quarterback, I might not go for it,” Johnson said. “I think each coach would’ve had to make their own decision. The easy thing to do? Kick it. Then you put the onus on the kids. If the kicker misses, you can blame the kicker. To me it wasn’t a hard decision. Really, when I saw it was half a yard, it wasn’t that hard.”
But Johnson did it without thinking as hard as we are about it. He did it in a second’s notice. And word spread quickly about it through the coaching ranks of the ACC. Duke coach David Cutcliffe, whose team will host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, said he probably wouldn’t have made the same call. But Cutcliffe's team relies on its passing game, and has struggled to run the ball this year.
“Probably not,” Cutcliffe said. “Just being real honest. That’s pretty gutsy, pretty confident in the offensive front and their ability to run the ball. That’s pretty amazing. It worked. It’s going to go one way or the other, and it went the right way for them.”
Virginia coach Al Groh said with the team Johnson has, including the combination of Jonathan Dwyer and Nesbitt, he would’ve “given serious thought” to making the same call, and he used the same reasoning as Johnson.
“Even if you kick the field goal, that doesn’t mean you’re going to win the game,” Groh said. “You’ve still got to go back and play another series with the other team, and maybe they score and you don’t, or they kick a field goal and you miss yours. You’ve got it right there, and all you have to do is make one yard to win the game right now. Unless you’re playing scaredy-cat, there’s a lot of good reasons to go for it right when he did -- if you’re the No. 2 running team in the country, which is what they are.”
Johnson was playing to the strength of his team. Plus, his offense is better than his defense, so it makes more sense to try and win the game with those guys on the field than taking a chance with an inconsistent defense.
“When you analyze all the factors,” Groh said, “it certainly makes sense.”
It also makes for the No. 7 team in the country this week.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Heather Dinich
Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.
