After Georgia Tech likely cost itself a bowl game with a very ugly 43-20 loss at Duke, one thing has become abundantly clear. Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech have to cut ties with defensive coordinator Ted Roof. Roof is a former Yellow Jacket player from the 80s, and a decent recruiter. It’s not an overly talented defense, but some pieces were in place for the Yellow Tech to be pretty good on that side of the ball this year.
The secondary was experienced and the linebacking crew has some talent. The unit completely fell apart against Duke. The Blue Devils scored on every single offense possession they had until the 10 minute mark of the 4th quarter. It was a listless effort that saw Georgia Tech woefully unprepared for the Duke offense. I tweeted this during the Duke GT game and it seems to be an appropriate game summary.
David Cutcliffe vs Ted Roof at the moment pic.twitter.com/W0ED4ohsol
— Jeff or Jeffrey Fann (@TalkinACCSports) November 18, 2017
Last year even in a 9-4 season, Ted Roof’s defense was among the country’s worst on 3rd down. That seemed to improve this year, but a startling statistic came to the forefront. Georgia Tech in 3 of their 5 losses blew double digit 2nd half leads. Today was a complete defensive disaster. Up 14-3, Duke went on to outscore Georgia Tech 40-6. Time and time again this season Roof’s defense has given up scoring drives with under 2 minutes left in a half or a game. It was brought up as an issue early in the year, worked on in practice, but yet the results have remained the same. Up 20-13 with under 2 minutes left today before the half, Duke marched down the field with absolute ease. Coming out of the half Duke, Roof made no adjustments, and Duke put together another TD drive to make the score 27-20. The Blue Devils never looked back.
The blame must lie with the man that coaches the defense and that’s Ted Roof. He’s in over his head, makes poor in game adjustments, and doesn’t bring enough pressure. A season that was 6 points from an 8-1 start is now, barring a monster upset of Georgia next week or a bowl waiver for going 5-6, will end in frustration and disappointment right after Thanksgiving.
Paul Johnson has changed defensive coordinators in the past, but that doesn’t mean you stop trying. Roof has been at Georgia Tech since 2013. He’s had some good moments, but overall this experiment needs to come to a close. It’s time Paul, make the move, or you could be next.
