Georgia Tech Game Looms Large For The Hokies

After a fairly lackluster performance in front of an all-white crowd of 66 thousand in Lane Stadium, the coaches have begun to feel the heat from the passionate Hokie Nation fan base.

This week has been plenty stressful and busy for the team and the coaching staff who have both had to field questions on their sub-par play so far this season.

Even a caller, Jason from Arlington, had some sincere words he expressed to Coach Beamer on Monday nights Hokie Hotline.

“We talk about winning 10 games a year and winning ACC championships. But who are we kidding? We’re not going to achieve our goal of winning a national championship in football with the offense we’ve seen over the past seven years….VT football’s hit the ceiling. You’ve brought us to a really good place, but in order to get to the next level, we’re going to have to get an offense to go with that defense.”

Of course you don’t mess with Coach Beamer and he had this to say to the caller.

“I think you're all wrong. When you go back seven years, some of those teams have been some of our better scoring football teams. We haven't talked about inexperience for all seven years, that hasn't been the case. If you can't look at us and tell what's going on right now, then I'm not sure you know a lot about football. We're going to get better. When we win two ACC Championships and play for a third. I'll be the first to tell you that a couple of those offensive teams weren't as talented as we wanted. The talent on our offense hasn't been as good as the talent on our defense. We got behind in a couple of areas and that's just a fact. We put together two ACC Championships and played for a third one, and I think you're getting it out of whack when you start talking about…and we want to win a National Championship. And I can assure you that we've got good coaches, and the coaches and players are going to get better, and we're going to continue to win. And I think you're out of whack."

Obviously Beamer does make some good points in there especially about our offense not being as talented as our defense over the past few years.   If you look at the records and recruiting over the last 10 years then you would see a trend of the higher ranked and higher recruited players venturing over to the defensive side of the ball.

But, either way you look at it the majority of the fan base will probably not agree on just one issue being the problem. 

Which brings us to Saturday’s matchup with the 2-0 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. 
Georgia Tech is coming off an impressive 19-16 win over the Boston College Eagles in Boston, MA.  Coach Paul Johnson’s offense has worked pretty well so far this year and unless the Hokies defensive line got a lot better in a hurry, they should expect another solid offensive game on Saturday.

Their two key offensive players are quarterback Josh Nesbitt and running back Jonathan Dwyer who have both scored three touchdowns apiece on the ground this season.  However, Nesbitt has been less then spectacular through the air this year completing just 11 of his 25 passes for 140 yards. 

"Nesbitt and Dwyer are tough inside and outside”, Head Coach Frank Beamer said in his Tuesday press conference.  “They know what they are doing. They hit fast, a lot of chopping is going on, and you’ve got to be disciplined. They are certainly a good offense."

My Thoughts:

The first thing I see when I look at the Yellow Jackets is the lack of a passing game, a turnover problem (five turnovers in their first two games), and a very stingy yet less aggressive defense.

With the exodus of defensive coordinator John Tenuta, the GT defense has “calmed down.”  A whole lot less blitzing, less pre-snap movement, and more base zone coverage is to be expected from the newly revamped GT defense. 

This should benefit Virginia Tech some since the offensive line has struggled so far this season.  I would expect GT to cook up some blitz packages but it shouldn’t be like anything the Hokies line saw last year.

The passing game has been less then stellar although Paul Johnson’s system is around eighty-percent run and twenty-percent pass.  Georgia Tech’s leading receiver Demaryius Thomas is listed as questionable for the game so if he is out, that would make the Yellow Jacket passing game even more unproven.

This will be a battle maybe even a war that will be won in the trenches.  If Georgia Tech can win the battle on the line them I would expect them to run away with the game and win by two or more scores.  However, if the Hokies can hold strong on defense and manage to score a few touchdowns then they should be able to win the game.

The Yellow Jackets will turn the ball over so if Tech can manage a goose egg in that category that would also help put the pressure on this Georgia Tech team.

The best thing that could happen would be for the Hokies to get up early and force Georgia Tech to throw more then they like especially in the second half.

My prediction:

After last week’s performance, there’s just no way I can pick Virginia Tech especially since GT has already won a conference game.

I have Georgia Tech winning 24-13 in a very hard-hitting game in Blacksburg.