Through two games, what’s been learned?
Georgia Tech is 2-0, largely on the strength of big, big plays.
It’s easy to say that big plays aren’t always going to happen, but it’s also easy to point out that Tech had 67 plays of 20+ yards last year.
So, what is known so early in the season?
First, defensive end Derrick Morgan is a beast again this year with five sacks already.
Jerrard Tarrant is a one-man wrecking crew on special teams, producing two touchdowns this season on punts. He’s also played pretty good as a cornerback.
Speaking of cornerbacks Mario Butler isn’t too bad, either.
The offensive line’s pass blocking has improved. Zero sacks allowed this year.
The team has enough weapons on offense that Jonathan Dwyer can have a bad game and it not be the deciding factor.
That the interior of the defensive line is still an unknown. Both Clemson and Jacksonville State fell behind so fast neither worried about running the ball a lot.
That no one is taking any pressure off Derrick Morgan from the other side of the line. Coach Paul Johnson said after Sunday’s practice somebody needs to step up, and that Anthony Egbuniwe showed some signs on Thursday.
Demaryius Thomas is still Josh Nesbitt’s weapon of choice, as he should be. It’ll be interesting to see if Nesbitt starts looking for other dudes, like Kevin Cone or Stephen Hill.
Speaking of Nesbitt, his passing is still under review. He looked great against JSU, and had moments against Clemson. Other times, though, he overthrew receivers. But he showed his toughness, as if it had been questioned, in the fourth quarter against the Tigers, leading them on two big drives to win the game.
Scott Blair kicked a game-winner, but has still yet to hit one longer than 40 yards. He missed his one chance so far this season. At some point, a game is going to come down to him and that distance.
Fans, well the joint hasn’t sold out yet, and strangely there a few gold seats open on the east side of the stadium against Clemson.
What say you? What have you learned about your team through two games?
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142 comments Add your comment
Geori
September 14th, 2009
9:30 am
301 rushing yards vs Clemson = 500+ rushing yards vs Miami
Here’s to our fifth win in a row against Miami!!!
DawginLex
September 14th, 2009
9:31 am
trade school,
I don’t think anyone is ready to crown you nostradamus quite yet. NCSU?
The article is about what has been learned. Not much D being played right now on either side. All of a sudden, UT WANTS to exchange QB’s with UGA. Nesbitt needs to work on his passing. UGA needs a new DC.
Spurrier still can’t beat Bowdens or any of his disciples. Arkansas has to be looking to throw it 50 times Saturday. Don’t discount the heart of Javory Harris but Tech should still win. Maybe Tech caught a break that Perilloux was suspended?
2-0 vs South Carolina. Glad we could hold up our end of the deal.
BTW, my Joe Cox fried crow tasted good Saturday night washed down with my Joe Cox kool-aid.
Gotta go do some work.
mtraininjax
September 14th, 2009
9:52 am
Is this a GT thread or UGAG thread? Nuff about them, back to us.
GT has some work to do with Nesbitt passing, his 3-14 passing showed, some drops, but mostly his lofting of the ball or errant passes (ducks), over the receivers head, which to me shows he needs to work on passing more with real time pressure in his face. If our D cannot do it for him, none will. He needs more than 1 receiver and more than 1 option out of the backfield. If Peeples drops another ball in the flat, use krazy-glue on his hands.
The secondary can be beat when a team uses crossing routes and Cooper Taylor is not as speedy as we once thought.
ForTheRecord
September 14th, 2009
9:59 am
Good post on most of our strengths!!! But here are some areas of concern:
1. Kick return game appears worse than last year. Smith looks slow and hesitant and may lack the downfield vision for the job. Will R. Jones or even Tarrant be put here instead? Jones did terrific late last season and Tarrant certainly appears terrific on punt returns.
2. Passing, passing, passing…Nesbitt take a breath and just throw the ball. Looked hesitant to release on Thursday or resulted in throwing while scrambling and overthrowing the receivers. Must get better in this department or Dwyer and company will have it tough.
3. 3rd down efficiency! Except for the very end of the game against Clemson we did not convert a single 3rd down through over 3 quarters of play. That will get you beat! In an option attack (and any other for that matter) 3rd downs are crucial. We did not play well in the clutch until the game was on the line.
4. Is this because we lack a killer instinct? We could have put both of the first two opponents away early. Not doing so is the reason we are mostly stagnant in the polls.
5. We have some great surprises against Clemson! But they had a wrinkle or two as well. The tailback running the sideline route really hurt us once and it should have again but the QB simply missed them. Is this simply blown coverage, a mismatch for the opponent or what? We will certainly see more of this until we prove we can contain such plays.
6. Misdirection hurt us once (Spiller) but it was there mostly all night! Our DE’s had better learn to stay home or look for offenses to exploit their aggression.
Da U
September 14th, 2009
10:18 am
I thought you GT fans were smart? Why all the Jax ST. vs Fla ST references? Who cares what Fla ST did against them, it’s what we are going to do against U! Hears a stupid GT stat for U. Last year you lost to Virginia and V.Tech, we beat both of them. Does that matter, heck no! You still beat our tails. Just remember, be ready to be on this board come Thursday night, because after we light you all up I’m going to light this board up!
Da U
September 14th, 2009
10:42 am
And remember – You all scored 21 points against Clemson in the 1st QTR, but not a TD after. And two of those TD’s were a kick return and a fake fg. Gimmick plays that won’t work against the U. And you let Jax ST. score 17 on your great d?
collegeballfan
September 14th, 2009
10:46 am
This offense requires that the defensive tackles be blocked.
That is not happening.
Gold Club Seats
September 14th, 2009
10:50 am
Don’t forget that the CLUB section has a nice lounge with LOTS of TVs and did I mention 2 free cups of beer/wine with every ticket! Chances are that the people not in their seats are getting premium food/beverages in the lounge.
I, for one, have club seats but bring a flask and stay in my seats the whole game.
Go Jackets!
CLJacketbirmingham
September 14th, 2009
10:50 am
What about letting Tarrant touch the ball on offense once or twice?? Maybe run some version of the wildcat. Kid is a playmaker. He also played some great cover corner vs. Clemson.
bb
September 14th, 2009
10:55 am
I wouldn’t put too much stock in the FSU-JSU game. FSU was playing on 5-days rest and we all know how difficult that is. At least, both Clemson and GT were playing with the same handicap; not so for FSU and JSU. That probably had more to do with FSU’s performance than anything.
That said, I think we will see the normal 2nd game improvement THIS week for GT due to the short turn around between the 1st 2 games. Same for Clemson and FSU. A 5-day turn around didn’t really give them a chance to catch their breath, much less make improvements.
Jack G.
September 14th, 2009
11:10 am
I have been hearing all year how CPJ’s teams improve in the 2nd year.—-I’m still waiting tor the improvement. So far they have looked a little inept.
Buzz Belle
September 14th, 2009
11:22 am
Da U – you have made some very good points. The Miami game scares me a little bit after watching my Jackets last Thursday night. I think we are still going to pull this one out, mainly because we have some really good athletes and what I think is the best coach who will make sure past mistakes are not repeated! Thanks for joining us on the blog for a little fun. But, your going down Thursday night on National TV.
THWG
Trade School Junkie
September 14th, 2009
11:49 am
I beleive CPJ knew CU was gonna be a big challenge. He could look at their O & D Lines and could probably see that CU had a size & experience advantage vs GT’s O & D Lines.
Thats why I think CPJ was prepared to gamble early to put pts on the board with the fake FG. Plus, as the game went on, wanting to keep going down the field on pass atempts, maybe get some big catches, maybe even some Pass Int calls. Plus, going down the field kept the coverage back away from the line, opening up the QB option which Nesbitt ran successfully in 4th Qtr.
I think we’ll face a very similar challenge against UNC next week.
UNC’s D is as good or better than CU’s…at least on paper.
What the GT-CU game showed was:
1. that while most defenses can defend MOST aspects vs the GT-O, most defenses cant defend EVERY aspect.
2. that its almost impossible to keep GT from moving the ball on the ground.
2008: GT:21 CU:17
2009: GT:30 CU:27
Both scored about (10) more points in 2009 compared to 2008.
2008: GT:41 U:23
2009: GT:51 U:33 ????
I dont know, but we’ll see on Thursday.
WWJD
September 14th, 2009
11:50 am
Since PJ is God now maybe he can also play QB. Nobody could be a worse passer than Josh Nesbitt.
Tech82
September 14th, 2009
11:50 am
Da U – Correction, Jax St. scored only 7 points against our starters on defense. You don’t get to use “mop up” points to downgrade our D. What Clemson did to our D is another matter all together.
Tech has shown in two games an ability to come out strong and then lose focus once they get a nice lead. That scares me. Here’s hoping that Miami is talented enough to stay close to us early. Maybe that will enable us to stay focussed for four quarters.
Eric
September 14th, 2009
11:52 am
I find it funny that some of you are comparing FSU vs JSU to Miami vs FSU. Hmm, 5 days turnaround in an emotional game that FSU lost and a sloppy field? I think there were other factors involved, and I wouldn’t be surprised if FSU wins their division. I think Miami will do much better on d this year than last year (healthy linbackers and better d tackles) and Ga Tech is going to have to find a way to stop a Miami offense that put up points against FSU’s defense. Is the secondary going to be able to stop Miami’s receivers??
Sam
September 14th, 2009
11:55 am
If bigger D lines continue to stuff Dwyer, it will only get worse from here on out.
Eric
September 14th, 2009
11:56 am
Oh, and FSU put up points on Miami through the air and couldn’t get it done on the ground, how exactly is Nesbitt going to do that when Telemaque and Hill return to Miami’s secondary? Got to remember that two starters were out for Miami’s secondary for that FSU game that will be back on Thursday. Its gonna be a good game, no way Tech puts up 50 points TSJ
Sam
September 14th, 2009
12:00 pm
Talent to stay with you early Tech82? Miami’s across the board talent goes way beyond what GT can put on the field. What you better worry about is a Miami now settled at QB putting points on Tech’s sorry D and GT having to play catch up. If so it could get ugly for Tech. Then Miami focuses on stuffing Dwyer and making Nesbitt do things he can’t. If Miami beats GT it is going to be a long long year on N. Avenue.
Tech82
September 14th, 2009
12:06 pm
Sam – You may be right, we’ll see. I seem to remember a lot of the same trash talk from the ‘canes prior to last year’s game. The biggest advantage Miami has is the extra three days to prepare. The question is will that be enough. We’ll find out Thursday. It should be a good game.
MJ
September 14th, 2009
12:16 pm
Tech 82 that was the funniest thing I have read all year…does Miami have enough talent to stay w/ Tech?!?!? I am still crying it was so funny and stupid at the same time. Miami will have more talent on that field Thursday than GT will have in 10 years. And seeing as we are talking about Jax St, lets all remember Ryan Perilloux did not play against GT but did play in the FSU. If I would have to guess, I would say there’s a very large drop off in talent at the QB position for Jax St, from QB1 to QB2. Not saying they would have won, but lets say they probably score more points than 17. The GT defense, especially the seconday, is a joke and will not be able to handle the Miami WR’s. And the fact is, against Clemson, GT scored really only 13 true points, the rest were from garbage gimmick plays. Miami by 2 TD’s, this thing is over early.
m
September 14th, 2009
12:34 pm
Even chan gomer gailey, the sorriest coach in the history of the world beat Miami. Paul Johnson stomped the crap out of Miami in 2008 and will do it again in 2009.
Miami sucks so bad that they are in the chan gomer gailey class of sucking. Thank God and Greyhound his gone forever.
Trade School Junkie
September 14th, 2009
12:49 pm
Clemson has better O & D Lines than Miami.
Clemson’s QB is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY better than Miami QB Harris.
Clemson has as good or better skill players than Miami.
Did a 5-day turn-around have an ipact on GT? Probably.
Will GT be better on Offense, and especially in Passing game? Yep.
Will GT be better on Pass D. Yep.
I like Cooper Taylor(#22), he’s a player for sure. But, Clemson put speed (Spiiler) on him and he couldnt keep up. Thats why Tarrant was covering deep on the very last CU drive, and batted down the deep pass.
I frankly dont see Miami as being better than Clemson was
in ANY aspect.
So, I dont expect GT to have much trouble against the U.
A GT loss to Miami would be a COMPLETE SHOCK.
MJ
September 14th, 2009
1:03 pm
Well be prepared to be “shocked” trade school. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Be prepared for a beat down is more likely. In reality, Miami should have no problems handling GT and the 1940’s Army offense.
Is GT overrated? Yep!
Is GT going to get throttled in Miami? Yep!
Does GT have no girls and a bunch of nerds at their school? Yep!
Does GT still play 2nd fiddle to GA in the state of GA no matter what GT does? Yep!
Am I going to come on this blog on Thursday after Miami wins and make trade school eat crow? You bet I will!
Da U
September 14th, 2009
1:11 pm
Miami’s weak spot is the secondary, but as Eric stated above we have two starters back (Telemaque & Hill) that did play in the Fla ST game. And remember the name Telemaque, he is the hardest hitting player on the team. The other weak spot was the DE, we started a freshman and sophmore, but it was just reported today that our 5th year senior starter Eric Moncur is back and will play. The key to the game is Miami stopping the run and making GT pass, and GT stopping Miami from scoring early and often. If Miami can’t stop the run, it will be 6 straight. If Miami makes GT a passing team then Miami will win.
Miami 37 GT 31
Da U
September 14th, 2009
1:16 pm
that did NOTplay in the Fla ST game…….ooppss
TO DA DUMMY U GUY
September 14th, 2009
1:20 pm
And who else on your schedule did tech light up that you didn’t?? Think before you post moron. The question will be, where will you be thursday after the game? 4 in a row jokeass!! It will be 5 after this week. You have 1 good player at qb and thats it. We have playmakers on both sides of the ball and way more talent, better coaches and after we pounded you last year with the run with the same players, what’s going to change this year? (crickets)…..Hey maybe if you brought back ken dorsey,fore and shockey, i would worry! Tech will focus on your passing game, and if it gets shut down, you guys will get run out of your new joke stadium by halftime. Just come back and see thursday, i will be back on here to say, “i told you so”!!!!!!!!!!
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
1:25 pm
Its funny how all these Dog fans only hope on here is that another team beats us. You canes fans were on here talking trash as well… Guess what it doesnt matter what we say, the guys on the field play the game. It is pretty much the same teams in growth that is coming back to play this year. Please God, let these Miami folks keep thinking they are going to steam roll us!
DawginLex
September 14th, 2009
1:40 pm
Joe Schmoe,
for the record, I predict Miami to lose to Tech.
Not all Dawg fans have predicted a loss.
Now UNC, I believe they have the D line to stop the option.
Sam
September 14th, 2009
1:40 pm
Miami could have no secondary and Josh Nesbitt couldn’t exploit it. The guy can’t complete 50% against air.
East Cobb Hokie
September 14th, 2009
1:42 pm
Da U, Thursday night depends totally on whether your D “flys to the ball” or not IMO. Fly and you lose since the ball won’t be where you flew to, like last year. Play a rotating disciplined D and it will be a game.
Sam
September 14th, 2009
1:50 pm
Tech needs to be a little concerned about that D line of theirs getting pushed around.
Sam
September 14th, 2009
1:53 pm
And maybe it’s just me, but with the exception of one big run against Jstate, Jonathan Dwyer has been a non factor. If teams keep stuffing him like in the first two games it can’t be good news for Tech down the road.
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
2:00 pm
Sam, Jdwyer only played part of jsu game, and Clemson commited their interior to stop dwyer. They paid the price doing that by opening up the midline option for Nesbitt to run right through.
surfrider
September 14th, 2009
2:00 pm
Great start and comeback ability after being ahead. The pass completion ratio needs to improve through easier to hit passes and on the long passes maybe a slightly improved loft could allow our wr’s to run under pass and catch it hopefully. As for the previous regime, I think Ball, Bilbo, and some of the others could fit in well with this scheme. Tech over the years had an option component going back to Pepper as far as I can remember…Curry, Ross, etc…But this option is a level to itself and interesting to see. Thought we only had big plays then look at stats and see we had 300 yards rushing. It was’nt too long ago where 200 + yards rushing and 150 + yards passing were good days. Hopefully the D can force more 3 and outs.
1Jacket7
September 14th, 2009
2:00 pm
The thing I have learned about GT in the first two games are the following:
1) Tech’s OL is the key to the success of the rest of the season. When they figure out how to sustain blocks the offense will be better.
2) Nesbitt needs to get his reads down, when he does the offense will open up. It is not totally the opposing defenses. It is funny to hear so many people thinking they are stopping us. We are stopping ourselves. The question is why is it so hard for him to get it?
3)I believe the defensive line will get better every week as well as the Offensive line. It is game reps that get you better. Staying healthy is key. The Defensive line needs to learn how to fight maintain their positions, clog up the holes and get to the QB. Game experience will help.
4)The only person running their routes hard from start to finish is Bay Bay. The others run less then full speed until the ball is thrown their way. That is why the balls seem to be over thrown. And we have to catch the balls. Again, we will be better Thursday on this then we have been.
In conclusion the problems we have can be fixed and it will come with film and game experience. We just need to win the games until we get it right.
1Jacket7
September 14th, 2009
2:01 pm
UNC is a Noon game on Raycom.
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
2:03 pm
I agree with you DawginLex, I think the NC game will be the toughest D we will face against our offense all season. I rank NC,Clemson,VT as our toughest defense that we will face all season against our paticular offense.
Louisiana Jacket
September 14th, 2009
2:07 pm
Another noon game…I could hardly have guessed….two top 25 teams and still noon game, I mean how am I supposed to be sober when I don’t have a nap to rely on in the middle of the day haha…
1Jacket7–> Agree whole heartedly only one addition is that I think Nesbitt is still getting comftorable sitting in the pocket thinking he needs to throw to BayBay. If he can understand that the crossing routes from Roddy and Allen we will be in good shape.
Louisiana Jacket
September 14th, 2009
2:07 pm
Joe disagree–> VT is always one of the best D’s Ill give you NC as second though
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
2:08 pm
Ughhhm, I hate noon games… I will have the sun right in my face in 132. great!
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
2:16 pm
Louisiana Jacket, I know they are one of the best D’s, but that is not what I stated. I said the best D against our offense. I believe NC D is going to be more stingy than VT’s D.
Louisiana Jacket
September 14th, 2009
2:24 pm
Hummm….I see what you are saying but I think VT is more disciplined and thus will be a better defense against us. North Carolina only looked good last year against us because of how many fumbles we had haha.
Hayseed Dixie
September 14th, 2009
2:33 pm
Three things.
CPJ is as good as advertised.
Nesbitt needs to get better at passing, else the option will be defended far more easily.
The defensive line needs to step up the pressure.
If Tech does those things consistently well, everyone else is in trouble. This team has the heart.
Joe Schmoe
September 14th, 2009
2:35 pm
Yea, your right about that. We did fumble the ball a lot that day. When we did drive, it was all for a fumble. I know against VT last year they had some pretty big DT in the middle, but those guys are gone to the NFL. We didnt start to click as an offense untill the late third and whole fourth against VT.
Da U
September 14th, 2009
2:50 pm
Joe S. Sam, Jdwyer only played part of jsu game, and Clemson commited their interior to stop dwyer. They paid the price doing that by opening up the midline option for Nesbitt to run right through.
Every team that plays GT will load the box and try to stop Dwyer, if it wasn’t for the trick play and punt return Clemson would have easly won this game. GTs O did nothing all night, except for the 1st series of the game. OUR D-Line doesn’t worry you? Actually, it should.
AdMan
September 14th, 2009
2:51 pm
Tech is an at best average football team. They are one dimensional, with a QB that has an average throwing arm. Their defense is weak in the middle and going forward in the season good teams will exploit this weakness often. Tech will lose this week. Miami has twice the athletes that Clemson had and will run and throw the ball effectively throughout the game. I’m afraid that Tech is in for a long night on Thursday and will limp back to Atlanta with a loss and plenty of excuses. Get used to it Tech you have yet to play any good teams on your schedule and when you do they will expose to you and everyone else that your team is average at best.
1Jacket7
September 14th, 2009
2:52 pm
Remember guys. It is hard to throw the underneath routes when there is 8 or 9 people in the box. We need to better at the deep routes they were there for TD’s last week. Can you imagine the damage we would have inflicted if we converted those. Lord, I pray that we get better at that. Then we will be unstoppable. Yes, we need to spread the ball around its just that Bay Bay has been getting separation and is open. Wouldn’t you throw to him? When Josh sets up to throw he needs to put the ball where it is supposed to be. i.e. On the outside shoulder when fly routes down the sidelines not down the middle for the safeties to come across and make the INT. As I stated earlier, Nesbitt will get better at this. I look at all the games closely on my DVR and we just need to make our blocks. It is incredible to see Navy do so well with smaller lineman than we have. We just need more aggressive play from our O-LINE.
Sam
September 14th, 2009
2:59 pm
So what Joe Schmoe. After the long run he got 21 more yards on the next six carries. And Clemson stuffed him all night long. Rationalize that. What do you think VT and UNC will do.
GT Que
September 14th, 2009
3:01 pm
AdMan
GT has things to work on (on both sides of the ball) granted, but your analysis is offbase. GT will win 9-10 games again this year (one of which against UGA as well)
Keep your negativity off of this board, if you REALLY want something negative to talk about, go the UGA blog….No love lost to the dawgs, but THEY’VE got some serious issues from the top down