Georgia Tech Football: Is This the Final Product for the Rambling Wreck?

(From now on, you can call him "Georgia Tech's most prolific rushing quarterback" Josh Nesbitt. Because he is.)

It seemed like someone was going to get embarrassed Saturday night in Nashville.

Would it be Vanderbilt, blown out at home on Halloween?

Or would it be Georgia Tech, hampered by the weight of their own expectations, surprised and, perhaps, upset against a 2-6 SEC team?

In the end, it was a little bit of both.

As late as 14 minutes into the third quarter, Vanderbilt owned a three-point lead in front of a crowd of allegiances mixed between the Commodores and Jackets.

Georgia Tech had hemorrhaged points in the first half defensively, and their claim to the spot of "best one-loss team in the country" was slipping away. After all, you can't be the best one-loss team anywhere if you have two losses.

But then the offensive juggernaut (I think it's fair to call it that now) that is Paul Johnson's spread option offense took over, rolling to nearly 600 total yards, a shell-shocking 56 points and a 25-point road victory.

So did the Yellow Jackets really come out the better or the worse for their trip north to the country music capital of the world?

On one hand, a team favored by 11 points doubled the spread and then some, and beat Vanderbilt by a wider margin than South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss or LSU.

The offense barely ever slowed down, and it used new wrinkles and involved new faces to roll up all sorts of video game-like statistics.

Conversely, the defense had it's head-shaking moments, playing close to horrible (OK, probably just horrible) for the first 40 minutes, allowed nearly 400 total yards, more than 200 rushing yards and a stupid-awful 7.5 yards per play.

But on the other hand, Tech controlled the ball, as it usually does, for nearly 40 minutes.

The Jackets took three Vanderbilt turnovers and turned them into 21 points, and Josh Nesbitt, now Tech's most prolific rushing quarterback, even passed for 193 yards and two touchdowns.

But on the other hand, Tech got gashed again and again by playmakers. The same special teams unit that forced a fumble on a kickoff also let the 'Dores take one back for six.

And at times, the backup quarterback at Vanderbilt looked pretty darn good against the Jackets' hapless pass coverage.

We could go on, but I'm quite tired.

The most enjoyable part of Georgia Tech's season, to me, has been watching the evolution of a good team as it labored to become a great one: to see the Yellow Jackets rise from the mob of above average teams to become one of the country's best.

It's a treat to see that sort of change unfold, and even more fun to write about it.

But Sunday night, I'd argue that we learned nothing new about the Jackets on Saturday.

The offense, when it's on, is unstoppable. The defense, unless it's playing at it's highest level, is easily exposable. Special teams are a question mark every time toe meets leather.

Thus far, Georgia Tech has been a winner simply because it could just outscore you. So maybe that's who the Yellow Jackets are. Maybe the evolution, for the most part, is complete.

Maybe Georgia Tech is just a team that's good at making the right adjustments at halftime, picking itself up with good defense when required, taking advantage of opportunities from turnovers and, if all else fails, able and willing to ride an offense that no one save Miami has come close to slowing down.

Maybe, after nine games, highs and lows, short runs, long passes, and everything in between, this is the finished product. Anything Georgia Tech accomplishes from here on it does so because of the team it has become.

Are they the best one-loss team in the country? I don't think we can answer that definitely. I know I certainly won't. There are just too many extenuating factors to consider for each team for us to be able to meaningfully answer that question right now.

I will simply say this: Georgia Tech is a very, very good team. Probably a great team. Almost definitely the ACC's best team.

The offense is almost unstoppable at times. The defense is almost invisible at times.

Statistics, depth charts, recruiting rankings, they can all tell their own story, but nothing matters more than this:

With just three games left in the 2009 season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 8-1 and likely about to become one of the nation's top 10 teams. So beat that with a stick.