Thanks to our new sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.
Georgia Tech took a 7-0 lead at Clemson and then gave up an 18-play touchdown drive and the wheels came off the bus. Eric Singleton Jr. dropped an open touchdown pass, Haynes King threw a pick in the first half and they were down 21-7 at the break.
King started forcing the ball after four drops in the first half by his receivers and threw three more picks and he put extra pressure on Tech's defense. The Jackets had forced a punt and had a Jaylon King interception prior to two of the picks and he threw interceptions on three straight drives including one to a random space on the field where there was no offensive player and he had 10 yards of open grass in front of him.
The defense gave up 35 points to a not-great Clemson offense and let Cade Klubnik have the time to make some good throws and they could not stop Will Shipley or Phil Mafah.
That's the crux of the game. Neither side took advantage of momentum plays and the offense had a big letdown against a very physical defense and King reverted to what I like to call A&M King forcing throws and trying to make too much happen instead of playing within the offense. That is the same thing that happened in the BC game.
King's line in those two ACC losses.
27/63 passing 333 yards, 3 TDs and 7 INTs.
King has to play within the system. He is the leader of the offense appointed by the staff and he has to be better than that at this point.
The defense is not good, there is not a lot you can do about it right now as it is a Jimmies and Joes issue more than scheme or coaching at this point. There was a limited amount of changes Kevin Sherrer could put in midseason and the personnel is what it is along with the coaches coaching it up. I expect significant changes on that side of the ball after the season both in personnel and staff to address what needs to be done, but they can keep GT in games and they made enough plays at Clemson to give GT a shot if the offense was functioning a little better. The offense was the big letdown though and that killed the defense and the game snowballed. Now they have to fix it fast.
Now the Jackets are in must-win territory with Syracuse coming up. The Orange are playing for their head coach's job at the moment as there is a lot of unhappiness in upstate New York with how things have gone since Dino Babers won 10 games in 2018. He is 23-35 since that season with one winning season last year.
The Orange have a little less pressure with a now dreadful Wake Forest team at home next week so the pressure is really amped up on the Jackets.
This week we get to see the worst rushing defense in the P5, Georgia Tech face a team that ran 65 times for 392 yards last week against a Pitt team that has given up on the season. Syracuse is only 38th in the country in rushing after that outburst still behind teams like Georgia Tech in that category.
It is a must-win situation for the Jackets and a bowl bid would do a lot to help Brent Key and his young program show some real progress without turning the Georgia game into something that would be unfair to the players into a game where they need to upset a top 2 team to go to a bowl game.
Tech has played well in night games this season going 3-2 with the two losses coming to top 25 teams Louisville and Ole Miss with both of those games behind close in the 4th quarter. It is time to see them finish off a not-great Cuse team and break the bowl curse that GC3 created.
Georgia Tech took a 7-0 lead at Clemson and then gave up an 18-play touchdown drive and the wheels came off the bus. Eric Singleton Jr. dropped an open touchdown pass, Haynes King threw a pick in the first half and they were down 21-7 at the break.
King started forcing the ball after four drops in the first half by his receivers and threw three more picks and he put extra pressure on Tech's defense. The Jackets had forced a punt and had a Jaylon King interception prior to two of the picks and he threw interceptions on three straight drives including one to a random space on the field where there was no offensive player and he had 10 yards of open grass in front of him.
The defense gave up 35 points to a not-great Clemson offense and let Cade Klubnik have the time to make some good throws and they could not stop Will Shipley or Phil Mafah.
That's the crux of the game. Neither side took advantage of momentum plays and the offense had a big letdown against a very physical defense and King reverted to what I like to call A&M King forcing throws and trying to make too much happen instead of playing within the offense. That is the same thing that happened in the BC game.
King's line in those two ACC losses.
27/63 passing 333 yards, 3 TDs and 7 INTs.
King has to play within the system. He is the leader of the offense appointed by the staff and he has to be better than that at this point.
The defense is not good, there is not a lot you can do about it right now as it is a Jimmies and Joes issue more than scheme or coaching at this point. There was a limited amount of changes Kevin Sherrer could put in midseason and the personnel is what it is along with the coaches coaching it up. I expect significant changes on that side of the ball after the season both in personnel and staff to address what needs to be done, but they can keep GT in games and they made enough plays at Clemson to give GT a shot if the offense was functioning a little better. The offense was the big letdown though and that killed the defense and the game snowballed. Now they have to fix it fast.
Now the Jackets are in must-win territory with Syracuse coming up. The Orange are playing for their head coach's job at the moment as there is a lot of unhappiness in upstate New York with how things have gone since Dino Babers won 10 games in 2018. He is 23-35 since that season with one winning season last year.
The Orange have a little less pressure with a now dreadful Wake Forest team at home next week so the pressure is really amped up on the Jackets.
This week we get to see the worst rushing defense in the P5, Georgia Tech face a team that ran 65 times for 392 yards last week against a Pitt team that has given up on the season. Syracuse is only 38th in the country in rushing after that outburst still behind teams like Georgia Tech in that category.
It is a must-win situation for the Jackets and a bowl bid would do a lot to help Brent Key and his young program show some real progress without turning the Georgia game into something that would be unfair to the players into a game where they need to upset a top 2 team to go to a bowl game.
Tech has played well in night games this season going 3-2 with the two losses coming to top 25 teams Louisville and Ole Miss with both of those games behind close in the 4th quarter. It is time to see them finish off a not-great Cuse team and break the bowl curse that GC3 created.
