For all the criticism Richt gets for vanilla playcalling, you would think more people would support risky decisions. GT was scoring nearly every drive. You can't assume GT wouldn't have scored after a typical kick off.
A few things:
1. GT had 5 drives in the first half (that drive before the half, 1 play, where they downed it doesn't count). Miami stopped them on 3 of 5 of those drives. Holding GT without points on 60% of drives isn't good, per se, but it isn't "nearly every drive". Miami also stopped GT on the prior two drives before the half.
2. The decision itself to go onside is risky but at least make sure your players know what to do when something bad happens. They have to know it is a live ball.
3. You can't assume GT scores if we kick it off normally. Maybe they score 7 or 3 after a long drive, maybe our D stops them. It turns out our D stopped them on 7 of 10
4. I think the criticism with the playcalling is more than fair. I think it is clear the serious issues are on offense. The defense is NOT perfect. They have issues too. They're clearly doing a pretty good job and look at what they have done during ACC play (this year):
Duke
Points Allowed: 6
Yards Allowed: 349
Turnovers Forced: 2
Sacks: 6
Tackles For Loss: 11
FSU
Points Allowed: 20
Yards Allowed: 406
Turnovers Forced: 2
Sacks: 4
Tackles For Loss: 9
Georgia Tech
Points Allowed: 17 (that onside kick is not on the D)
Yards Allowed: 289 (Before today they averaged 479 YPG and 36.5 PPG)
Turnovers Forced: 0
Sacks: 2
Tackles For Loss: 7
So in ACC Play (so far) [Per Game Average]
Points Allowed: 14.34
Yards Allowed: 348
Turnovers Forced: 1.34
Sacks: 4
Tackles For Loss: 9
If you're only allowing less than 15 PPG and 350 YPG, it isn't hard to win games.