Georgia Tech fans expected a dropoff from last season after losing All-American Calvin Johnson and longtime starting quarterback Reggie Ball to the NFL and graduation, respectively. Instead, they got unexpectedly strong performances from their defense and star running back Tashard Choice.
The Yellow Jackets (1-0) turned in the most impressive performance among ACC teams last weekend, dominating Notre Dame in a 33-3 win in South Bend. The Fighting Irish (0-1) suffered their worst season-opening loss ever and failed to score a touchdown in a season opener for the first time since 1985.
"I'll be honest, I did not see this coming," Georgia Tech head coach Chan Gailey said. "I did not think we would play that well defensively."
The Fighting Irish gained only 121 total yards-with negative nine yards rushing-and the three points were the lowest output of Charlie Weis' tenure.
Much of the Yellow Jackets' success came from their heavy blitzing. Notre Dame's three quarterbacks combined for 15-of-22 passing for just 130 yards, a mere 4.2 yards per completion, and were sacked nine times for a loss of 69 yards.
"We're going to blitz you, we don't care who you are," Gailey said. "We felt like the challenge was to stop the running game to see if [Jones] could throw the ball well enough to beat us."
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, never had to worry about having to throw the ball to win. Choice, last year's ACC-rushing leader with 1,473 yards and 12 touchdowns, torched the Fighting Irish for a career-high 196 yards and two touchdowns. Jonathan Dywer also got in on the act, adding 27 more yards and a touchdown on just five rushes. For the game, the Yellow Jackets rushed for 265 net yards and averaged over six yards per attempt while running the ball nineteen more times than they passed.
Starting quarterback Taylor Bennett, replacing four-year starter Ball, completed just 11-of-23 passes for 121 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions.
"Somewhere, I want to say start of the second quarter, I told John [Bond, the offensive coordinator], 'John, let's just keep pounding them a little bit,' " Gailey said. "[Bennett] did some really good things. And he missed some throws that I had seen him make 50 times in practice. The great thing is, he didn't have to go play great today. He could play good and we could still win."
Next weekend could produce similar results for Georgia Tech against Samford. The Bulldogs, a I-AA school from Alabama, finished 3-7 last season and lost to the Yellow Jackets 38-6. In that game, Georgia Tech rushed for 186 yards and one touchdown while giving up just 163 yards of total offense.
Yet, after hearing about Appalachian State's upset against Michigan Saturday afternoon, the Yellow Jackets know they cannot afford to stray from what has worked for them so far.
"This just goes to show you, you'd better get ready every week for every team," Gailey said. "There are no gimmes in the world of football."
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