Georgia football: Has Paul Johnson been good for UGA vs. GT?

One of the most spiteful rivalries in college football is Georgia versus Georgia Tech. But it’s also one of the most lopsided with Georgia football having a huge advantage.

Clean, Old Fashioned Hate has suffered over the past five decades. What was once a close series between two in-state rivals has dissolved into a one-sided affair since Vince Dooley began coaching Georgia football in 1964.

Prior to 1964, Georgia Tech led the series 27-26-5. But since then, Georgia is 39-14 and the rivalry currently sits at 65 wins for Georgia, 41 wins for Georgia Tech with five ties.

Both programs have seemingly gone in different directions since 1964 as well. Georgia Tech has suffered through 17 losing seasons with only four 10-win seasons in that span of time. Georgia on the other hand has had only five losing seasons with 19 10-win seasons.

The Bulldogs are on their fifth head coach since 1964, Georgia Tech is on their 10th. I could keep going, but you get the point; the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets have gone down different paths and the rivalry has suffered because of it.

Yeah we still hate losing to Tech, some say that their least favorite team is Tech. There is a case to be made that Tech is still Georgia’s biggest rival. But there’s no denying that the rivalry has fallen behind the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry and the Cocktail Party in terms of how those outside of Georgia feel about Georgia versus Georgia Tech.

Paul Johnson’s affect on the rivalry

It’s safe to say that Mark Rich didn’t have a positive affect on the rivalry unless you’re a Georgia Tech fan. Richt went 13-2 against the Yellow Jackets which really stretched out the Bulldogs lead. As a Georgia fan, you expected to beat Tech. As an outside, you expected Georgia to win. But as a Tech fan, you were hungrier than ever for a win over the Bulldogs.

But how about Paul Johnson’s affect on the rivalry? As the ninth head coach for Georgia Tech since the retirement of the legendary Bobby Dodd, he was and is the latest man tasked with restoring Tech to their former glory.

Previous coaches

Bobby Ross was able to accomplish that with a National Championship in 1990 and two straight wins over Georgia. But he left to go coach the San Diego Chargers in 1992. Bill Lewis brought the program back to the depths they fell to in the 1980’s.

George O’Leary had some success before going to Notre Dame (and resigning for resume padding just weeks later). Then came Chan Gailey who could never lose less than five games each year.

Johnson’s resume

Paul Johnson was brought in to write the ship and he had a good resume for doing so. He went 62-10 in five years at Georgia Southern and led them to a pair of 1-AA National Championships. he then had a successful tenure at Navy, going 45-29. of course it’s hard to recruit at Navy so averaging over eight wins a year for five years should be praised.

Since arriving in Atlanta in 2008, Johnson has led Georgia Tech to a pair of 10-win seasons, four ACC Coastal Championships, one ACC title and two top 15 finishes. But more importantly to this topic. He’s defeated Georgia three times (2008, 2014 and 2016). He’s even been known to call out Georgia and the SEC in press conferences.

To answer the original question at first glance, it’s easy to say that Paul Johnson has had a positive affect on the rivalry. But what if you break it down a bit more.

Gauging Johnson’s impact on Clean, Old Fashioned Hate

While the Chan Gailey era was a disappointment and did not produce any championships, it also didn’t have any losing seasons. In fact, Gailey kept Tech above .500 every year.

Johnson however, has had three seasons where Tech finished with a record of .500 or less. Since Johnson was hired in 2008, Georgia has finished over .500 nine times, including five 10-win seasons.

Gailey might not have actually beaten Georgia, but the games in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 were all competitive, with 2004, 2005 and 2006 being decided by less than one score. I’m not saying that Gailey helped the rivalry, keep in mind, his predecessor defeated Georgia three-straight years.

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What I am saying is that the six years of Georgia playing a Chan Gailey led Georgia Tech team aren’t all that different than the nine years with Paul Johnson.

But there is one more way we can judge the impact that Paul Johnson has made on the Georgia versus Georgia Tech rivalry; recruiting. And to put it bluntly, Georgia and Georgia Tech aren’t exactly competing for recruits.

Johnson only signed one four-star prospect in 2017, the other 23 signees were three and two stars. That was good enough for 47th in the nation and eighth in the ACC according to 247 Sports. In fact, Georgia Tech has never had a top 40 recruiting class under Johnson and they’ve never finished better than eighth in the SEC.

While the Chan Gailey era wasn’t much better, it did bring in Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas and Tashard Choice. The Chan Gailey era saw 14 players drafted in six years. Paul Johnson has had 19 players drafted drafted in nine years. And the biggest draft classes under Johnson were 2009 and 2010 which featured Gailey’s recruits.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have dominated Georgia Tech in recruiting and player building. Georgia Tech being in the ACC, a conference that has produced two national Champions in four years and four national champions since 1993, should be able to recruit at a high level.

Georgia Tech, being in Atlanta, home to some of the best recruits in America, should recruit at a high level and challenge Georgia for the best players in the state. But they aren’t.

Instead, they’re settling for three stars and mostly players that Georgia will not recruit too heavily. It’s easy to attribute this to Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense. But that’s just offense, they aren’t even bringing in great defensive players.

Tech has had some great seasons under Johnson, but they’ve came when certain players like Demaryius Thomas were seniors. Without them, Tech falls back to around .500 again. That’s no way to sustain success and it’s definetely no way to build heat for a rivalry.

Conclusion

Three wins in nine years is great and all for Tech. But it’s clear that Georgia has bigger bugs to squash. The Bulldogs expect a good game from the Yellow Jackets, you always should in rivalries big or small.

But the fact that Georgia is focusing on bringing in and churning out the best football players while Tech is living off of three stars and pushing out late rounders shows that the programs are going in different trajectories.

Georgia right now is working to becoming a perennial national title contender and then staying there. Tech is doing well to get a 10-win season every five years.

For Tech fans, Johnson has breathed new life in the rivalry. They’re finally winning some games against Georgia, they’ve won some division titles and they even have a conference title. But if you’re a Georgia fan, you probably don’t think too much about the Yellow Jackets until Thanksgiving. You certainly aren’t concerned about them on signing day.

The same can’t be said about Florida and Auburn. As a Georgia fan, you probably are concerned with their results every week. And I don’t think that’s a conference thing. Switch Georgia Tech with Clemson and I think Bulldogs fans are probably watching Clemson pretty closely all year long.

Clemson has certainly become more of a threat in recruiting. They’ve poached a lot of Georgia talent over the last few years. Deshaun Watson comes to mind immediately. But just this last February, Clemson signed the no. 7, no. 23 and no. 29 players in the state of Georgia, all four-star players.

One has to wonder if these Georgia players going to Clemson wouldn’t be heading to Georgia Tech if the Yellow Jackets recruited at a higher level.

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You can say that Georgia Tech is peskier than ever for Georgia with their triple-option offense that is rarely seen, opinionated head coach who loves taking jabs at Georgia when he can, and three wins. But that’s it.

This rivalry isn’t any better off than it was 10 years ago and is certainly a far cry from where it was 20 years ago. Meanwhile, Florida versus Florida State is the top SEC versus ACC rivalry while Clemson versus South Carolina has drawn interest from all around the southeast.

From Georgia’s perspective, Paul Johnson hasn’t done anything to make you think more of Tech as a rival than previous coaches. And in some areas, you might even think less of Tech.

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