College football: Georgia Tech rolls in win, but left searching for more

ATLANTA — There was joy in Georgia Tech's locker room Saturday afternoon to be sure, but it lasted rather briefly.

That's because there was another feeling, too, and the Yellow Jackets hope it leaves their systems and doesn't return.

Moments after racing to a 41-10 season-opening blowout victory over FCS-contending South Carolina State at Bobby Dodd Stadium, an air of dissatisfaction settled over the players brought to speak to media during post-game interviews. To a man, the sentiments each conveyed made it seem as if something collectively was left on the field.

"We were lackadaisical (Saturday). We can do better than that," senior B-back Anthony Allen said. "We were walking to the line of scrimmage. We can do better than that. You expect people to go 100 percent, but I think some of us were looking past this first game a little bit."

Apparently, a career day from their starting quarterback and a 31-point victory over a two-time defending conference champion wasn't enough.

To understand why the 16th-ranked Yellow Jackets — defending ACC champions themselves — were upset, look no further than the journey it took for them to get to the dominating win.

A combined 12-yard passing performance, a combined two completed passes, a slew of missed tackles and a perceived occasional lack of effort led to them believing something was missing from the romp over a program that played bigger than its national billing.

"I talked to the team afterwards, they understand it and are pretty subdued," Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson said. "But there is a fine line there. You only get to play 12 regular season games, and when you win 41-10, you have to be a little bit happy.

"But at the same time, we know that we can play better and that is my job to point that out to them — and I did."

Much like Johnson intimated, it wasn't all bad for the Yellow Jackets.

Joshua Nesbitt, Georgia Tech's Heisman hopeful quarterback stole the show offensively, as he tied a career-high three rushing touchdowns and sprinted for a 130-yard performance. It was the fifth time in his career that he had rushed for more than 100 yards in a game.

On the flip side, the signal-caller of Johnson's run-based scheme had trouble in the passing game, where he attempted six passes and only completed one. One of those incompletions was an interception hauled away by Bulldogs cornerback Semaj Moody.