Evaluating Chris Weinke’s Performance As Offensive Coordinator In The Pop-Tarts Bowl

For the first time in the Brent Key era, he had a new offensive coordinator at the helm with co-offensive coordinator Chris Weinke calling plays for the Yellow Jackets after the former offensive coordinator left for Florida. Weinke did some nice things in his debut as the coordinator and filling in for the Yellow Jackets. Let’s take a look at some of the good.

Georgia Tech scored 21 points in the first half of the game, including 14 unanswered points. The offense was on fire and couldn’t be stopped by BYU. The Yellow Jackets gained 401 yards of offense on Saturday, including 270 yards through the air.

Weinke kept the same dazzling plays in the offense where he allowed Eric Rivers to touch the ball on an end around. He also called a great play early in the game on 4th and goal, which was a direct snap from Trelain Maddox, which resulted in a three-yard touchdown for the Yellow Jackets. The offensive line also played well and protected quarterback Haynes King, allowing him to survey the defense and hit big plays.

The running game also got going for Georgia Tech, which is a key indicator in the win. The Yellow Jackets hit a number of big plays in the running game that had the Cougars on their heels.

It felt like for the majority of the game, BYU was on their heels and didn’t have an answer for Georgia Tech, especially in the first half of the contest.

The turning point of the game came on a 4th and 2 when Georgia Tech was looking to add to its 11-point lead and have a 14-point advantage. Aidan Birr’s kick would get blocked, and that would be the turning point of the game for Georgia Tech. The offense got bogged down and didn’t have the same success it did earlier in the game.

Some of the struggles included third-down conversions, where the Yellow Jackets went 4-12 on third down. Georgia Tech also struggled mightily in the red zone and went 3-6 with red zone drives to scores. If the Yellow Jackets were better in the red zone, they could have put the game away and come up with the 10th win of the season. Some of it was play calling and not taking advantage of some matchups for Georgia Tech, especially when Malik Rutherford had played the best game of the season.

Another one of the tough elements of the offense was its clock management. There were several key moments which Georgia Tech could have stolen points and taken advantage of the time they had, but delayed it, which ultimately bit them in the end. You can look at the end of the first half with the clock management there that ultimately became a Hail Mary pass instead of a Birr field goal. If they had managed the time better, that would have become a reality. At the end of the game, it was the same thing. Bad clock management when they got a 4th and 15 conversion on a 66-yard pass from King to Eric Rivers that put Georgia Tech on the doorstep of victory. Those final four plays, they didn’t get a single yard when they had time available. They also burned timeouts on incompletions on those plays.

The Yellow Jackets just needed one final score to put the game away and emerge with a victory. They did move the ball well against the BYU defense, but didn’t score at all in the second half of the game. They couldn’t quite find that knock-out punch. Overall, it was a decent performance from Weinke that could have used some tweaks and adjustments. He showed that the offense can thrive and play at a high level, but some of the stall-outs and three-and-outs are concerning.

Grade B-

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