Know Your Foe: Georgia Tech
Pitt-Georgia Tech Preview
Game Three: Pitt (1-1) vs. Georgia Tech (1-1)
Last Week
Pitt was embarrassed against rival Penn State in a 51-6 blowout loss. Georgia Tech had issues of their own, falling to South Florida 49-38, wasting a nice offensive day.
Georgia Tech Offense
On offense, Georgia Tech runs a unique flexbone offense, colloquially known as the Triple Option. I don’t want to go into too much depth on the intricacies of the unique attack that that Pitt defense will face, but a great rundown of it can be found here. Basically, under this offense, rushing plays, which rely on eliciting uncertainty in the defense over which back will receive the ball, are favored to a high degree over passing plays. The uncertainty stems from the fact that the Quarterback can take the ball himself or at any time hand off or pitch the ball to one of the Running Backs (designated as A Back and B Back).
Running the offense this year for Georgia Tech is second year starting Quarterback TaQuon Marshall. Marshall has had a mixed bag to begin his career. Though he put up very high individual rushing totals last season, the offense has a whole wasn’t nearly as effective under him as a whole compared to under his predecessor Justin Thomas. The fact of the matter is that Marshall remains a threat with his legs and is also a decent passer, which is not always a given in this offensive scheme. He’s a bit banged up, missing time during the South Florida game with a toe injury. His backup Tobias Oliver was productive, but his passing ability must be questioned, as he didn’t throw a single one during his appearance.
Gerogia Tech was dealt a blow this past week when their starting B Back KirVonte Benson was lost for the rest of the season with injury. Pitt fans may remember Benson from last season when he gashed Pitt for a career-high 196 yards with 2 Touchdowns. While it’s unfortunate for him that he will miss almost this entire season, this seems at first blush to be a benefit for the Pitt defense. However his backup, Freshman Jordan Mason, has had a promising start to his career, rushing for 7.5 yards per attempt through his first two games. Additionally, their underperforming offensive line gets a boost this weekend as their starting Center, Kenny Cooper, who missed the first two games with a foot injury, will make his season debut against Pitt.
Georgia Tech Defense
Georgia Tech has a new Defensive Coordinator this year in Nate Woody. He is replacing Ted Roof who led lackluster units for Georgia Tech for the past 5 seasons. Woody, who previously held the same position at Appalachian State, brings with him a new 3-4 defensive scheme. The transition to the new scheme hasn’t been especially smooth though. In their only matchup against FBS competition, South Florida scored 35 offensive points, including 21 unanswered points in the 4th quarter.
The Defensive Line looks like the strength of this side of the ball, though that isn’t saying much. This position group is anchored by their Nose Tackle, Kyle Cerge-Henderson. The Senior was a force in the trenches last week getting 2 sacks. Additionally, having just switched from a system with 4 down linemen, there is plenty of depth allowing them to rotate liberally.
However, this advantage on the line is a disadvantage at Linebacker as there is an additional position there to cover. In particular, they don’t have a reliable option at the Jack position, an outside Linebacker position that is meant to be a disruptor in the offensive backfield. Victor Alexander has had primary duties there, though there has been a healthy rotation as he hasn’t been able to blitz effectively. The success of Woody’s defense seems to revolve around this position being a strength and the lack of any player being able to be effective there speaks to their overall defensive woes early this season. The Secondary is inexperienced as a whole and ripe for being attacked, though early in this season they haven’t been burned too badly overall.
Georgia Tech Special Teams
Georgia Tech utilizes two kickers, with Brenton King handling Field Goals and Extra Points and Shawn King taking kickoff duties. Sophomore Pressley Harvin III handles punting duties. So far this season, he’s only punted 3 times for an average of 40 yards. Special Teams overall have been a disaster though for the Yellow Jackets. South Florida had two kickoff returns for Touchdowns last weekend. Overall, South Florida returned 6 kickoffs for an average of 44.3 yards.
Key Matchup – Georgia Tech Backs vs. Pitt Linebackers
Stopping the Georgia Tech option will come down to the entire Front 7 sticking to their man and being quick enough to prevent the Yellow Jacket Backs from picking up chunks of yardage. In particular, the Linebackers will be called upon to play a strong game. Georgia Tech moved the ball almost at will against South Florida last week in large part because their Backs were able to get to the edge much faster on outside runs. Georgia Tech is probably going to gain a lot of yardage on the ground regardless, but the key to beating them will be in preventing the large gains. If the Linebackers are able to recognize the plays developing, stay disciplined, and finish their tackles they will accomplish this. As long as the Yellow Jackets aren’t gaining at least 5-10 yards on most plays it provides more opportunities for drive killing tackles for loss and turnovers.
Prediction: Pitt 31-27
In their 5 meetings since joining the ACC, Pitt has scored more than 30 points twice. They won both of those meetings and lost all 3 meetings where they failed to hit that threshold. I expect that trend to continue in this game, but it will be close. The Pitt defense will have more success than last season due to a stronger Front 7, particularly at Linebacker. This doesn’t even consider the relative likelihood that the Panthers get a game-changing Special Teams Touchdown due to Georgia Tech’s poor coverage in that area. I don’t see this game having many punts, but the score will stay relatively low due to the methodical nature of both team’s offensive attacks.
* Stats courtesy of College Football Reference
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