No. 13 Georgia Tech holds off Maryland 21-16

There are two times when a team tries to put a game behind it especially quickly — when it loses a game and when it gets away with a win.

No. 13 Georgia Tech left Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the latter, after a 21-16 win over Maryland.

The win gave the Jackets a 6-0 record, a 3-0 mark in the ACC and undisputed possession of first place in the Coastal Division. Maryland fell to 2-3, having dropped three of four, and is 1-1 in conference play.

Tech head coach Paul Johnson has been trying to hammer home the difference between a good team, where the Jackets are, and a great one, where they strive to be. He will be doing more of that hammering this coming week, with plenty to hammer out, especially offensively, where he expressed disappointment.

"Offensively we struggled, never got any continuity," he said of his unit, which came into Saturday’s game averaging 51.6 points per game, but was held scoreless the final 27:51. "I don't know if we were very good anywhere. We didn't block the perimeter very good, we didn't block inside very good. We didn't read things very good. It was like popcorn trying to get everything fixed."

Although the first meeting between the schools since 2007, Saturday marked the fifth time in the past seven meetings that the game was decided by less than a touchdown, with today's five-point spread being the largest margin of victory.

Yet, three minutes into the third quarter, Tech was up 21-3, after quarterback Tevin Washington's second touchdown of the game from three yards out. The score was set up by a 79-yard kickoff return of the second half's opening kickoff, by Tony Zenon.

The electrifying sophomore nearly broke a string of 163 straight games without a kickoff return, but was caught from behind at the 17 by Maryland DB Trenton Hughes.

"It was a sideline return to the right, and I was supposed to set it up by pushing up then going out," said Zenon, who had 115 yards on three returns. "I set it up pretty good, and the guys did a good job of blocking. I hit the hole and the only person I saw, I think it was the kicker that I had to beat. I tried to cut up for him and tried to keep running. I didn't notice the guy behind me, and he caught me. I was disappointed, but I'll get it next time."

Five plays later, Washington took it in for the score that turned out to be the game-winner, but also Tech's last score.

"In the second half, we get the big kickoff return, we put it in the end zone, and then we just put it on cruise control," said Johnson. 

"There was a penalty, a missed read, somebody loose; it was a fiasco."

It also allowed Maryland back into the game.

The Terrapins have made most of their headlines in 2011 for their uniform choices — and nearly did so again Saturday, as their uniform du jour consisted of black jerseys with red patches across shoulder pads, and penalty-flag-yellow pants.

But in the fourth, the Terrapins scored twice in the first 7:27 of the quarter to close to within 21-16.

It started when sophomore quarterback C.J. Brown, who replaced starter Danny O’Brien in the second quarter, ran left with a quarterback keeper, turned the corner and ran untouched 77 yards down the sideline. It was the longest run against a Georgia Tech team since 2002.

The Yellow Jackets went three and out, and after a punt, Maryland drove 53 yards in 10 plays, with Davin Meggett taking it in. But the two-point conversion failed, despite Tech having only 10 men on the field, keeping the score at 21-16.

The drive was halted by an injury to Maryland left guard Andrew Gonnella, who suffered a severe leg injury and was taken to Atlanta's Grady Medical Center.

Tech managed only two more first downs, as the Jackets were held to 272 yards rushing for the game. Defensive tackle Joe Vellano was a monster, recording a career-best 20 tackles, 14 of them solo.

Washington admitted having a tough game as far as making reads but gave credit to DT David Mackall.

"I think in execution, we had a bunch of penalties this game, I think more penalties than we had all year," said Washington, who had 32 carries (19 of them in the second half). "On my part, I did a poor job in the reads in this game running the option. So it's just some things we have to get better at this week."

Johnson was annoyed at the number of carries his QB made.

"He needs to learn to pitch it to someone or hand it off," he said. "I guarantee you there weren't 32 plays he should have had it."

The defense allowed 333 yards, 246 of them on the ground and 174 of those in the second half. But Johnson cut them some slack, as they were playing without starting outside linebacker and leading sacker Jeremiah Attaochu and inside linebacker Daniel Drummond. Quayshawn Nealy and Malcolm Munroe stepped in and stepped up.

"We just said, 'You've got to pick your brother up and the next guy's up,'" said DB Louis Young, who was second on the team with six tackles (three solo) and a pass breakup. "Quayshawn stepped in and got a pick. We made a couple of mistakes, but for the most part we held it down. It was a good job for us to step up like that."

Tech stymied the Maryland passing game, as sophomore quarterback Danny O'Brien was replaced late in the second quarter, with Tech up 14-3, having completed just one of six passes for 17 yards with an interception.

Nealy had five tackles (all solos), and an interception with the score 14-3 that marked the end of the day for O'Brien, the ACC's fifth-leading quarterback (228.2 yards per game).

Brown didn’t fare much better, missing on his first 10 attempts and going 4-for-17 for 36 yards overall. Maryland's longest pass play of the day was a 34-yard completion from wide receiver Tony Logan to junior Kerry Boykins on a gadget play.

Brown did make an impact on the ground, as he was the game's leading rusher with 124 yards. He frustrated the Tech defense in the second half.

"We were told that he was more of a runner. We didn't know that he was THAT fast," said defensive end Izaan Cross. "They mostly ran the same thing. When (O’Brien) was in there, he would give the ball more to the running back than try to pull the ball and run. So (Brown) definitely made us pay for it.

"When it comes to run defense in particular, everybody has to do his job," Cross added. "If somebody messes up or somebody doesn't do exactly what he has to do, you can see the running back or the quarterback bust a long one. At times we did good and everybody was filling the gap. But it's just one small thing that can mess up a defense."

Tech made several messes, committing a eighth penalties, and was out of sync, missing on several pass plays that could have broken the game early. Those failures frustrated Johnson.

So it's back to the drawing board for everybody, including coaches as they try to straighten things out before traveling to Charlottesville for a matchup with Virginia next week.

"Either that or quit, I guess," Johnson said with a laugh. "We'll go back and go to work. I was upset with a lot of things, especially the execution of the offense. We didn't do a very good job of coaching this week. That's pretty evident to me because they sure played like they weren't very well coached."

But they'll still take the W.

"A win's a win," said Washington. "We learned a lot about ourselves today, just as we have every game this year. We know what we have to work on in practice and go out and prepare for Virginia."