Death From, Well, Everywhere

by Akula Wolf on Sep 27, 2011 1:39 PM EDT

As you've no doubt heard by now, the Georgia Tech offense is having itself a really good season so far. The Jackets lead the nation in total yards per game (630.5), yards per snap (9.4!), and scoring (53.3). They have almost 1600 yards rushing through four games. The early-season schedule is a factor in that, but these extremes would be sure signs of improvement under just about any circumstances. Take a look at their output against teams they played in both 2010 and 2011:

vs. MTSU 2010: 5.8 yds/play
vs. MTSU 2011: 7.9 yds/play

vs. KU 2010: 6.1
vs. KU 2011: 13.5

vs. UNC 2010: 6.7
vs. UNC 2011: 6.9

What's really terrifying is this may be the most efficient passing attack Paul Johnson has had at Georgia Tech. While they didn't lack for big plays in the past but Josh Nesbitt was more boom/bust than Tevin Washington has been in 2011. Nesbitt never completed more than half of his throws as the starter and last year dipped down to 37.1%. This season, Washington has hit 64.3% of his attempts while averaging over 19 yards per attempt. And the latter number, like so many others associated with this offense, is just nuts. Here are a few more:

-- Stephen Hill has 462 receiving yards on 14 receptions (33.0 YPC).

-- Six players have at least 100 yards on the ground.

-- Orwin Smith has 349 rushing yards on 19 attempts. Hell, there are only five wide receivers in the ACC averaging more yardage per touch.

-- They've converted two-thirds of their 3rd downs, up from 40.4% in 2010.

Here is one example of how Hill and the Tech offense rack up those big pass plays:

As Bob Davie's handy telestration illustrates above, the corner has run support duties and has his eyes in the Georgia Tech backfield.

Pretty much as soon as Washington pivots to the near side of the field, it's all over; Carolina's corner bet on run the whole way, or rather, did what he was supposed to do and move up for support.

Washington is totally unbothered by the pass rush and about to let it go, the corner is in no man's land with no run to stop, and the safety has played himself out of position by shading toward the line of scrimmage while the play develops. That's how this happens.

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i am sure State's coaching staff

has informed the players of what is shown in your article. hopefully State’s coaches have a defense for this, and the D-backs understand and execute it. will it not be up to the line backers and D-line to stop the run and let the D-backs and safeties defend the pass?
is GaTech’s current QB as good a runner as Nesbitt was?

of course i realize our D-line is not going to get it done-hence- ass kicked. ugly day.

by sbas2 on Sep 27, 2011 2:25 PM EDT reply actions

…our D-line is not going to get it done…

Yeah,what they did to UNC’s defensive line does not bode well for us.

by non_sequitur on Sep 27, 2011 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

We have a D-line?

Hold on, when did that happen, I thought our D-line was trying on new walking boots.

by chip24spb on Sep 27, 2011 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe we have an advantage here

If our defensive players consistently make the wrong decisions, particularly in the defensive backfield, then maybe they’ll be IN position to make plays against Tech, who will be counting on us to be somewhere we’re not. It’s like Costanza – “if everything I do is wrong, then then the opposite must be right”. Look for our corners to be RIGHT where they need to be… for all the wrong reasons.

OR – it might be that our soft zone will work out. We don’t react to the ball AT ALL… so a ball fake in the offensive backfield shouldn’t hurt us… we’ll keep guarding the appropriate square of turf, come hell or high water.

Ah, who the hell am I kidding? I’ve been saying for a few weeks that Tech is going to run for 500 on us… I’m sticking with it. And Amerson will get burned deep twice, to boot.

I don’t recall ever feeling quite as hopeless about a game as I do about Saturday. YAY BEER!!!!!!!

by wolfonthehill on Sep 27, 2011 8:07 PM EDT reply actions

I don’t recall ever feeling quite as hopeless about a game as I do about Saturday.

This is pretty much how I felt about midway through Amato’s last season. I remember a co-worker asking us who we played next (I believe it was with three games left), and I told him “We lose to X this week, Y next week, and Z the week after.” (Can’t remember the teams)

I actually still have hope for a bowl season, just based on the way we improved in the second half of seasons 1 and 2 of the TOB era.

by WolfpackSteelersFan on Sep 27, 2011 8:47 PM EDT reply actions

I didn't even comment about the 9.4 yards per play

WTF? Basically averaging a first down every time you snap it? Steven, we need some detail here – what’s the best yards per snap a D-1 team has averaged for a season?

by wolfonthehill on Sep 28, 2011 9:54 AM EDT reply actions