I'm back.... and tired

A few quick hits before I go to bed:

• Very entertaining to watch. Tons of variations out of the base formation. Anything can happen.
• Pass on the first play of the game! You almost knew that would happen, right? Of course Jones dropped it, but it could have gone for some good yardage
• Paul Johnson is intense. He gets in players faces. I saw three different episodes where he went after kids after mistakes (one a late hit, one a fumbled snap). See the picture to get a feel for what I'm talking about
• Nesbitt commanded the team pretty well. He made a couple of very impressive plays with his feet, and had a couple of beautiful option reads. The first half looked pretty crisp and well executed for the most part.
• In reality, GT did not run the true triple option but a few times. It was mostly counters, sweeps, etc.
  
• Jaybo Shaw played most of the 2nd half and played very respectfully for a true freshman. Commanded the game pretty well. Had some nice plays. Wasn't as dynamic as Nesbitt on the runs, but overall some good experience.
  
• Things got sloppy in the 2nd half. We put the ball on the ground 5 times. Wow. Lost 2. Lucky it wasn't more.
• Morgan Burnett is special - 2 INT's. By the way, we had 5 INT's the entire year last season......... and Burnett had 3 of them.
  
• Derrick Morgan had a strong game.
  
• The D didn't allow a 1st down for the first 18 minutes of the game
  
• We rushed 4 guys most of the game against the Jax St front 6. Yeah, they blocked 4 with 6 most of the night, and we still pressured Perriloux pretty well.
• Dwyer looked strong. Over 100 yards. Broke a lot of tackles.
• Total offense - 349 rushing, 135 passing = 484 total (7.9/play). Not a bad start.
  
• Injuries - Michael Johnson left due to dehydration. A.Barnes shoulder issue. Gilbert neck issue. Jefferson might have a dislocated wrist. Bowen hurt his leg. A bunch of other nicks / bruises.
• Roddy Jones looked great running and catching.
• GT's longest drive, 5:05, the opening one that ended in a punt. Four drives of less than 2 minutes resulted in scores. The other 2 were less than 3 minutes. So much for ball control.
  
• True freshman who played - J.Shaw, T.Melton, E.Peeples, R.Reid, C.Taylor
  
• 8 plays that were 20 yards or longer - strong.
  
• 45000+. Good crowd.
• Kicking game looked awful. Special teams in general needs major work.
  
• Overall, some good things and a lot of mistakes. Not a lot to complain about. We did about what you'd expect - run over an inferior opponent and make a lot of mistakes along the way.
• Jax St head coach comment after the game - “There’s just too many issues with [Tech’s] offense,” JSU coach Jack Crowe said. “We had two-and-a-half weeks to deal with it. The rest of these folks will have two days. Good luck, ACC.”
• For me, tonight was more about the fun of unveiling the team. I'm just not convinced I learned anything about the team against a I-AA school. I think we'll have our hands full at BC and will be blessed to come out with a win.