Georgia Tech entered the season as the clear-cut favorite to win the ACC Coastal Division, but after the Yellow Jackets stumbled last Saturday, their upcoming clash with the Blue Devils should be the true signifier of whether or not Georgia Tech deserves its vaunted preseason spot atop the division.
The No. 20 Yellow Jackets enter the game fresh off a 30-22 loss to then-No. 8 Notre Dame, which was playing its first game since losing Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback Malik Zaire. Even without Zaire, the Fighting Irish leaned on sophomore Deshone Kizer, who threw for 242 yards, one touchdown and one interception in his first start under center.
Although Kizer’s performance was impressive for a new quarterback having to compete against a ranked opponent in his first start, the Notre Dame defense deserves the majority of the credit. The Fighting Irish held a Georgia Tech offense that had scored 134 points in its first two games to just 22, and snuffed out the ground game, holding the Yellow Jackets to 216 rushing yards, which, in comparison to the 457.5 yards per games they had averaged entering last Saturday, is an impressive feat.
But, like all teams coming off a tough loss, Georgia Tech is looking to learn from last week and open conference play with a win against a Blue Devil team that waltzed into Atlanta and handed the Yellow Jackets their first loss of the season in 2014.
“It is the same thing as when you win. You go in, you cover it, you cover the mistakes, you talk about it and then you flush it,” Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson said at his weekly media availability. “We will finish it today and then you will not ever mention it again. I won’t. Just like I don’t when we win. You put it behind you and move forward and get ready for the next game. It is what you do.”
Duke, like Notre Dame, beat Georgia Tech at its own game last year, as it went toe-to-toe with the Yellow Jackets on the ground. Georgia Tech edged out the Blue Devils 282-242 in rushing yardage, but Duke did enough damage on the ground to score three times and held onto the ball for exactly one more second than Georgia Tech—an accomplishment any team would love to have considering the Yellow Jackets finished 2014 with the fourth-best time of possession advantage in the nation.
“If you play Georgia Tech, if you can run the ball, if your offense can stay on the field, there’s no question you have a better chance at being successful,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “Georgia Tech’s going to have something to say about that. We’d like to put together drives that keep their offense off the field.”
The real key to last year’s win—Duke’s first against Georgia Tech in 10 years—was the three turnovers committed by the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech could not seem to put together any sort of consistent positive momentum—a theme not aided by the weather, as a thunderstorm delayed play for more than an hour at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The offense floundered for most of the afternoon, especially quarterback Justin Thomas, who currently functions as both the team’s best and most important player. Although he burned Duke for 119 yards with his legs, the Blue Devil secondary—which has played as strong as ever this year—contained Thomas through the air, holding him to 6-of-15 passing for 61 yards and two interceptions.
“Last year, when we beat them, we tackled really well. We got the ball out, got them behind the sticks, and that’s important to beat a team like Georgia Tech which runs a triple option,” Duke redshirt senior safety Jeremy Cash said. “We understand that in order to win, we have to win the turnover margin.”
This year’s version of the Yellow Jacket triple option is daunting as usual. Georgia Tech returns Thomas and adds B-back Patrick Skov, a Stanford transfer, but, as of last week, lost A-back Qua Searcy, who Johnson declared as definitely out for Saturday’s game in Durham.
Even without Searcy, Thomas and Skov, along with Marcus Mitchell—who leads the team with 221 rushing yards—have carved out a spot as one of the nation’s best backfields. Thomas, who Cutcliffe called one of the fastest players in the conference, has yet to throw an interception this year, and though the DeAndre Smelter-less passing game has been anemic, Thomas and the rest of the backs chew up an average of 377.0 yards on the ground per game.
On the flip side of the ball, the Yellow Jackets are only allowing 15.3 points per game, though last week’s game featured the first real offensive threat Georgia Tech has faced all season. Junior linebacker P.J. Davis leads the team with 16.0 tackles, 1.5 of those coming for a loss, and senior corner D.J. White has a pair of interceptions.
The unit did not look particularly strong against Notre Dame—the Yellow Jackets allowed Kizer to complete 70.0 percent of his passes and Fighting Irish rushers racked up 215 yards and three scores in last Saturday’s loss. Although the Blue Devil offense is still a work in progress, Duke is confident that if it follows a similar game plan as last year’s, it has a good chance to claim a two-game winning streak against Georgia Tech.
“The first thing [assistant head coach Jon] Latina said was, ‘You’re not only playing against Georgia Tech’s defense, you’re playing against their offense as well,’” Blue Devil senior center Matt Skura said. “Every drive, [it] is extremely important that you either are scoring a touchdown or are scoring a field goal. Because whenever you get behind Georgia Tech, it’s really hard to come back.”
This week’s contest at Duke and next Saturday’s clash against North Carolina will carry a bit of weighted pressure for Georgia Tech, as the Yellow Jackets have a date with No. 11 Clemson in two weeks.
After ending 2014 stronger than any team in the ACC—a commanding 49-34 win against then-No. 8 Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl capped an 11-3 campaign—Georgia Tech was lauded as one of the best teams in both the ACC and the nation. Notre Dame was the Yellow Jackets’ first test, and the Tigers will be the next ranked opponent up for Johnson’s squad, but Georgia Tech will have to beat two teams it lost to a year ago if it wants to head to Death Valley with a number next to its name.
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