Georgia Tech Preview

This afternoon at 3 p.m., its the CANES vs the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium up in Atlanta. You can see the game on the Regional Sports Network (i.e. Sun Sports, FOX Sports South, etc). 

When we played GT last, it was last year at Sun Life Stadium, when GT was #23 in the country and we manhandled the Jackets 24-7 and held them to 134 yards rushing on the day. This year, GT looks pretty good. They manhandled a very good UVa team last week racking up 461 yards rushing and almost 600 yards in total offense (594 to be exact). Make no mistake, our D will have their work cut out for them today. However, I really feel this D is going to step up and make plays. Injury wise, Denzel Perryman, Curtis Porter, Raphael Kirby, and Andrew Swasey are out for the game today. Allen Hurns and Vaughn Telemaque will play today, and its a big boost to get them back healthy and on the field, especially the latter. We must get off the field on third downs and make GT have to convert in long yardage situations (i.e., 7 yards or more). We can't have GT be in short yardage situations on 3rd down. Johnson isn't afraid to take a shot on 4th down, so the D needs to be aware of that. GT doesn't throw the ball that often, but when they do, we have to be aware of that. However, their M.O. is the running game, and that MUST be the focus of the D, stay in their lanes, and finish tackles. Simply put Assignment Football. 

Offensively, we need a solid game out of Stephen Morris. He was 20-35 for 211 last week (1 TD, 1 INT). Also, big games are needed from Duke and Mike James, but also I need to see a solid game out of Eduardo Clements. Protecting Morris will be critical because of the fact that last week, GT had 2 sacks on UVa's QB (Rocco). In the receiving area, need the TEs to come up big today, and also, I need to see Thompkins and DJ (Davon Johnson) finally step up and produce in key situations. 

In the end, I think we'll stop the Triple Option, and I think we'll make enough key plays to win the ball game today. 

My prediction: CANES 27 GT 10

Report Card and Game Balls vs Bethune-Cookman

Thoughts on Yesterday's game. Offensively, big performance from Duke. We had 426 yards total offense. Nice performance from Morris going 20-35 211 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. However, of our 9 penalties, 4 of them on the Offense and all of them were false starts. Those are drive killing penalties you can't have. I didn't like the fact that the game was a little too close for comfort going into the 4th only up 24-10, but we got the job done and move on to 2-1 on the season.

Defensively, good performance from Tyriq McCord with 5 tackles (2 sacks, 2 TFLs). Shayon Green with 8 tackles and 1 broken up pass. However, we did allow 233 yards rushing (127 in the 2nd half, 106 in the 1st half), but compared to 255 yards rushing allowed last week vs K-State, its a slight improvement, but we can still do better. The down side is that Denzel was hurt, might not play in the next game @Georgia Tech. We did have 3 sacks in this ballgame and had a pick. Didn't like the fact we were EVEN on the turnover margin, against a good team, that's asking for trouble. We allowed 355 yards total offense, which was a little better, compared to almost 500 yards allowed vs K-State. However, there is still room for improvement here. 

Special Teams, Duke with the 95 yarder on the kickoff for the TD gave us a jolt confidence wise. Nice performance from Dalton Botts with 3 of his 4 punts inside the 20 and no touchbacks. Phillip had 4 PRs for 21 yards, helps with the Field position game. We started drives from an average of our own 41, while Bethune started their drives from an average of their own 20, which is very good special teams defense by us. 

Now to the Report Card:

Offense: A- Gotta cut the false starts out, but other than that, running game was much improved yesterday, and no three and outs, however, we do need to improve our 3rd down conversion rate, we were 4-11 in that regard, compared to 5-12 vs K-State, slight regression there. The passing game was much better here.

Defense: C  Now, I know its been much maligned, but they did come to play yesterday. compared to the almost 500 yards allowed vs K-State. Yes, we did allow 355 yards total offense, however, 233 yards were on the ground, and again, compared to the 288 yards rushing we allowed vs K-State, 233 allowed is a slight improvement, but there is much room to get better here and they will get better at stopping the run. The pass rush finally made an appearance yesterday, getting 3 sacks and a pick. I didn't like the fact that Bethune converted 7 out of 19 on 3rd downs, however, compared to the 8 of 11 K-State converted, its an improvement, but we can still be better in this area as well. 

Special Teams: A  Duke with the huge kick return for 6 gives us a big shot in the arm here. Pinning Bethune deep after Dalton's 3 of 4 punts inside the 20 was huge from a Field position standpoint. Malcolm Lewis had a 39 yard return on a kickoff. Dorsett had 21 yards on 4 PRs. Outstanding effort by the Special Teams unit yesterday. 

Game Balls: This week, I'm handing out four game balls. 

1. Duke Johnson: 14 carries, 94 yards, 2 TDs rushing. 3 receptions for 57 yards, and of course the 95 yard Kick return for a TD. 247 yards all-purpose yesterday. 
2. Stephen Morris: 20-35 211 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
3. Tyriq McCord: 5 tackles, 2 sacks 2 TFLs
4. Dalton Botts: 3 of 4 punts inside the 20, 0 touchbacks, 0 punt return yardage allowed

Yes, there is room for improvement and we'll need to get better stopping the run in the next game because the opponent is Georgia Tech on the road with the Triple Option. The key in the next game is assignment football.