2013 Miami Hurricanes 12 part Opponent series - Part 5 (GT - Oct 5th ACC Opener)

Oct 5^th – GT (ACC Opener)

In Part 5 of the 12 part 2013 Miami Hurricanes opponent series, I’m going to talk about our opponent in the ACC opener, and that’s the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who come to Sun Life Stadium on October 5^th.

Here’s what you need to know about the Yellow Jackets: They are coached by Paul Johnson, who is entering his 6^th season in Atlanta. This was the hot team when he came in from Navy, but my, have things changed. In 2009, they won the ACC title beating Clemson in Tampa to do so. With a Johnson coached team, you know what you’re going to see, which is the Triple Option. His teams have led the nation or have been near the top in total yards (especially rushing, not so much passing) and total points.

Here’s what Johnson said after winning the 2009 ACC title: "When we took the job, this is the reason we took it — to have a chance to compete and go to BCS bowl games.” He was on a roll at that point and when you look at the resume of this man, you see why he had the confidence he had at that time. He won two Division I-AA (now FCS) national championships at Georgia Southern. Then he led the Naval Academy to five straight bowl games. And once he arrived in Atlanta, he had early success to everyone’s amazement.

Now, though, fast forward to 2013, they are not as consistent as they were early on. They come into this season off a 7-7 season, and the third straight year with at least five losses. Yes, there has been bowl games in that stretch, but when you go to the Sun and the Independence Bowls, instead of the BCS bowls like the Orange and the Sugar, the disgruntling gets a little louder.

GT by the numbers in 2012:
Rushing Offense: 311.21 (4th in nation, 1st in conference)
Passing Offense: 129.86 (115, 12)
Total Offense: 441.07 (35, 4)
Scoring Offense: 33.57 (34, 4)
Rushing Defense: 144.21 (41, 5)
Pass Defense: 229.79 (58, 5)
Total Defense: 374.00 (43, 5)
Scoring Defense: 28.29 (65, 7)
Turnover Margin: 0.29 (45, 4)
Sacks: 2.00 (59, 8)
Sacks Allowed: 1.00 (13, 2)

That right there tells you that this is purely a running team. Defensively, this is a middle of the road team.

What does 2013 hold for the Yellow Jackets? Lets break them down:

Defensively – They have eight starters back here, which includes Jeremiah Attaochu, who makes the move over to the D-Line from LB, more specifically DE. This is off a 2012 season where he had 10 sacks while at LB. You have to realize the move is coming from a change in philosophy. 2012 Defensive coordinator, and former Virginia head coach, Al Groh was canned in mid-season after their  D allowed 40-plus points for the third straight game. When he was at GT, Groh used the 3-4. On Jan. 9^th, Johnson hired former Duke HC Ted Roof to be the new DC in Atlanta. Roof, is an alumnus of GT, playing LB there. For five years, he was Duke’s head coach and he’s been an assistant in many places, including a stop in Happy Valley in 2012. What we’ll see from Roof is a 4-3 defense. The LBs he’ll have at his disposal returning as starters all made more than 40 tackles last season, including 84 (4.5 for loss) from sophomore Jabari Hunt-Days, a reigning Freshman All-American.  They did lose to Graduation: DE Izaan Cross (Signed as UFA by Buffalo), DT T.J. Barnes, CB Rod Sweeting (Signed as UFA by New Orleans).

Offensively – They will have to fill the shoes of Tevin Washington (Graduation), who was a two-year starter and the ACC’s all-time leader in career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback. The man that will likely be the guy to run Johnson’s offense is Vad Lee, a redshirt sophomore who appeared in all 12 games in 2012. Lee was a four-star recruit from Durham (NC) Hillside H.S. He had 96 carries for 544 yards, including 59 yards and two scores in the 56-20 rout of the Virginia Cavaliers on Sept. 15. In the shootout win vs Carolina (68-50) on Nov. 10, he threw for 169 yards and ran for another 112 yards. Backing up Lee, is Justin Thomas, a redshirt freshman from Prattville, AL  and another four-star prospect. To help Lee in Johnson’s offense, the RBs that are back for them are David Sims, a RS Senior (135 carries for 612 yards, and 4 TDs and 2 receptions for 8 yards receiving in 2012), and junior B.J. Bostic.(34 carries for 212 yards rushing and 7 receptions for 139 yards receiving in 2012). They also have Four offensive line starters coming back for them. The Yellow Jackets averaged over 311 rushing yards a game last season. Look for that again in 2013. Gone to Graduation or other circumstances besides Washington: RB Orwin Smith (Signed as UFA by Tampa Bay), OG Omoregie Uzzi, WR Jeff Greene (Transferred to Ohio State and sitting out this season).

Special Teams – They do return Junior Jamal Golden as both the Punt/Kick Returner. The PK will be Senior David Scully, and the P will be Senior Sean Poole.

In closing, when I look at GT’s schedule, there are winnable games there. Elon in the opener is a no-brainer right there. After that, they go to Duke after the BYE week on Sept 14^th, and then have Carolina and VT at home in a five day stretch. They could either be 2-2 or 1-3 after the first month of the season. Then comes a trip down to Sun Life nine days later, which will be a loss for them, so we’re looking potentially at 1-4 or 2-3 for Tech before heading out West the following week to play BYU in Provo, before going back to Atlanta to host Syracuse the next week. Then they have a trip to Charlottesville before coming back home to host Pitt. After the second BYE week, comes a trip to Clemson to close the ACC portion of the schedule. They close with Alabama A & M and their bitter rival UGa at home.

I’m going to honest here, I’m looking realistically at best case, 7-5 for GT in 2013.

In Part 6 of the series, I will preview the North Carolina Tar Heels.