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Paul Johnson says ACC tried to 'screw' Georgia Tech with 2017 schedule

Paul Johnson doesn't like your scheduling tactics, ACC. (Getty)
Paul Johnson doesn’t like your scheduling tactics, ACC. (Getty)

Outspoken Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson is not holding back when it comes to the conference schedule draw the Yellow Jackets got.

The ACC announced its 2017 conference schedule Tuesday and Georgia Tech (again) has three games against ACC schools coming off a bye the previous week. Johnson is not happy about that.

“The conference tries to screw us every way they can,” Johnson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the schedule’s release.

Georgia Tech faced three opponents off bye weeks in 2016.

Johnson’s assertion is that league opponents request to have their open dates before playing Tech, and that the league has complied.

“It has to be it,” Johnson said. “It happens every year. It has to be intentional. There’s no other explanation for it.”

Georgia Tech, of course, is the only ACC team to run a triple-option offense. And given the rarity of the triple-option in modern college football, teams aren’t preparing for it on a regular basis.

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The first time Georgia Tech plays an opponent coming off a bye week is by necessity. Georgia Tech plays Miami on Oct. 12, a Thursday, and both teams have the previous Saturday off.

GT’s next opponent, Wake Forest, has the week of Oct. 14 off while Clemson, who plays Georgia Tech on Oct. 28, is off the week of Oct. 21. So not only does Georgia Tech have three opponents coming off bye weeks, all of the games happen in a row.

The consecutive nature of the games is more rare than a team facing three teams with two weeks to prepare. The AJC notes that Virginia Tech and Wake Forest had three such instances in 2015 along with the Yellow Jackets in 2016, though none of the teams had the games in a consecutive weeks scenario that GT is facing in 2017.

While the specifics are different, Johnson isn’t the only coach who unhappy about his conference’s scheduling tactics over the past year. Former Cal coach Sonny Dykes took issue with the Pac-12’s scheduling after his team went to USC on six days rest in 2016.

On the bright side though, if Tech marauds through those three bye-week opponents in 2017 we’ll likely get some epic trash talk from Johnson. We aren’t complaining about that.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!