Breaking Down The Kansas Jayhawk's Win Over Georgia Tech

The Jayhawk's improved tackling helped pull out the victory.

It was like a whole new team was out on the field today. 

The Jayhawks were motivated from the start and were able to eke out a victory against #17 ranked Georgia Tech at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

I'm going to break down the game, giving five things we need to work on, and five things we did great on today.

Let's get started. 

The Bad #5: Arm Tackling

This wasn't as big an issue as in the North Dakota State game, but it still needs to be worked on. 

The missed tackles on the options almost led to a loss, but we were able to prevail.

The Bad #4: Special Teams Coverage

It seemed all game that Georgia Tech had the KU special team's number. The Yellow Jacket's easily opened up holes for their returner. Luckily they didn't take one all the way, but KU needs to be better at that in future games.

Also what was up with clocking the Yellow Jacket's punt returner well before the ball reached him? It was an unnecessary 15 yard penalty that shouldn't happen at this level, although it looked pretty awesome.

The Bad #3: Pass Coverage

The Jayhawks left too many receivers open for my comfort.  Luckily GT's quarterback isn't necessarily the best throwing quarterback, so we weren't burned too bad. We will need to fix this when we go against teams who have good quarterbacks however. 

The Bad #2: No Interceptions

If you are going to win games, you need to be able to force turnovers. We were able to force a fumble, but that was lack of control on Georgia Tech's receiver. 

If we are to compete the rest of the season, we need to be able to intercept at least 1 a game.

The Bad #1: Dropped Passes

The dropped passes was the number one bad thing of the game. We seemed to be worrying about making a move then catching the ball. One of those incidents led to an unnecessary interception. We need to cut down on them during the remainder of the season.

But that's enough negativity, lets move on to the positives.  

The Good #5: Opening Holes For Our Running Game

Our running game looked really good today, and we have to thank the boys up front for that. The Jayhawks O-Line did much better this week at opening up the holes for the running backs to run through. 

We have a decent running game, and if we block like we did today, we can have a great running game for the rest of the season.

The Good Number 4: Linebackers

Our linebackers, particularly  Justin Springer, looked very impressive today, making tackles and sacks all over the place. Our linebackers could become a dominant force later on down the road. 

The Good #3: Clutch Defense

Our defense today only allowed the Yellow Jackets to convert on 4 of 13 third down conversions. We also plugged up the holes many times during the game to ensure they didn't have a big run up the middle.

The Good #2: Daymond Patterson

How on was this guy today?

His 32 yard reception for a touchdown where it seemed he was almost tackled by everyone GT player 3 times was great. He looks like a player that will become a major factor in the years he is at KU.

The Good #1: Motivation

Turner Gil did a phenomenal job of turning these guys around from their loss last week. They came to play from the opening play, and kept it up the rest of the game. Motivation goes a long way for a young team such as the Jayhawks.

Well that's it from me today. This win raises my expectations for this team now that i know they can do it.

This is the King of the Nerds Ben Gartland, signing off.