Analysis of Georgia Tech's Offense and Defense

[BlueRattie]

An Early Look at Georgia Tech. Note, this is a pretty long post. I spent a lot of time reading about GT and sifting through rosters and stats. I wanted to give UK fans (like myself) an idea of who our opponent is and what it will take to beat them. What follows is a fairly detailed examination of who GT is and what they like to do. Hope everyone enjoys! Go Cats!


OFFENSE:

Overview: As soon as I heard GT was the opponent, I immediately thought of their grind it out triple option attack. Indeed, GT is a very, very run-based, handing the ball off roughly 77% of the time (the 5th highest percentage in the nation. UK, for comparison, runs 63% of the time, 13th in the country. GT was not involved in many “run out the clock” situations, so those numbers are fairly legitimate. However, it is a wrong to assume that they are a grind it out team. Their .435 points per play is 30th in the country, better than UK’s .415 points per play. This number indicates a more explosive offensive than one might realize, capable of ripping off big plays. What really sticks out is pace. You think UK is a grind it out team at 71 plays per game? Think again. Tech musters a meager 60 plays per game—dead last in college football. That, my friends, is a grind it out offense.

As for that triple option attack, it is just as advertised. Running plays from both under center and the pistol (and occasionally the shotgun) Tech will hit you with a variety of sweeps, options, veers, dives, draws, and—yes—cut blocks. The team as a whole is undersized, but they try to make up for it with precision assignment football, and defenses must account for every man on the field every play.

QB: Justin Thomas is the man here. The undersized (5’11 185) senior struggled last year breaking in underclassmen all around him. This year, though, Thomas has been flanked by veterans and has been very effective (within the confines of GT’s offense). Thomas has made good reads on the option, and when called on to run, has been generally effective (657 yards @ 5.7 yards per carry). GT obviously doesn’t want or need Thomas to throw very often. When he does throw he’s only marginally effective. His completion rate is a meager 54.5% with just over 9 yards per attempt. Don’t let his throwing fool you, though. His best qualities are his leadership and decision making—both of which are excellent. One positive note—from UK’s perspective—is that Thomas is fumble prone, coughing the ball up nine times this year.

RB: GT took a big hit when B-Back SO Marcus Marshall decided to transfer. In GT’s offense, the B-Back lines up behind the QB and gets most of the “conventional” hand-offs (dives, draws, off-tackle). Marshall was their leading yards per carry runner and was second to Johnson in total yards. Some reports from Atlanta indicate that Marshall believed he wasn’t getting enough carries, leading to his departure. In his stead, GT will lean more on true FR Dedrick Mills, who actually had 25 more carries than Marshall. The 5’10 217 lbs. back earned the coaching staff’s confidence as the season wore on, massing over 600 yards and 11 TD’s. At the A-Back, GT will rely on the trio of SO’s Qua Searcy and Clinton Lynch, and JR J.J. Green. All three are smallish (around 5’10 185 lbs.) flanker types that line up on the wings and take motion sweeps, counters, and the option pitch. While none of them are bruisers, each is capable of popping off big plays. Can UK stuff Mills in the middle while containing Thomas and his A-Backs in check on the edge? The answer to that question will be the key to the game.

WR: When you go play WR at GT, you’d better be ready to block. SO Brad Stewart (6’1, 197 lbs.) and JR Ricky Jeune (6’3 212 lbs.) both fit the bill. They are both willing, physical blockers—if not elite pass catchers. Jeune is the best pass catcher of the group, a possession type that runs good routes. His 22 catches and 37.4% target rate are the most of anyone else on the team—but at only 7.5 yards per catch. Oddly enough, Jeune has struggled with drops, catching only 45% of passes thrown to him. Stewart is more of a big play threat, but the real big play danger comes from A-Back Lynch, who gets has 16 catches for over 30 yards a catch.

OL: GT’s Oline is exactly what you’d expect from a triple-option team: smallish, under the radar blockers that have the agility and dexterity to get out on the edge or the second level. In fact, none of GT’s starting offensive linemen are at 300 lbs. The heaviest is SR C Freddie Burden, the 299 lbs. anchor of the line. Injuries pushed true freshmen LT Jahaziel Lee (6’2, 267 lbs.) and LG Parker Braun (6’3, 280 lbs.). Both have held their own, but their lack of size cannot be denied. The right side is manned by So. RG Will Bryan and Jr. RT Andrew Marshall. If you take the time to watch some of GT’s film, you’d know that their reputation as savage cut blockers is well-deserved. Can UK’s DL occupy the GT OL, keeping the legs of the LB’s and secondary safe? We’ll have to wait and see.
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DEFENSE: On defense, GT is giving up 26.4 points per game. At first glance, that’s much better than UK’s 32.8 points per game. But, given GT penchant for ball control on offense, their points per game should be much lower. And, upon closer inspection, a trend starts showing up in their defense. Most of their low scoring games were early in the season against weaker opponents. Mercer, Vandy (the early season version of Vandy) and Boston College were all early on the schedule, with GT hold these three teams to a combined 31 points. Even their early game vs. Clemson (a 7 to 26 loss) offered some hope for the defense. After that game, though, the wheels came off. In a four game stretch, UNC, Duke, and Pitt would shred the defense to the tune of 40 points per game. Throw in a lackluster win against Georgia Southern—who put 24 points on them—and you have a picture of a reeling defense, gashed by big plays left and right.

In the last three games, all wins, they seem to have righted the ship. The question remains, though: which GT defense will show up? The one being manhandled by UNC or the one that stifled VaTech? There is no consistent season arc for their defense, no lodestar on which to link their performance. The one common link to all of their woes is the inability to get off the field. Opponents convert 50% of their third down attempts against GT, 125th of 128 college teams. We know that it is an undersized, 4-3 unit that depends on discipline and technique rather than sheer athleticism. They have some playmakers, but their overall team speed and bulk leads me to believe they are vulnerable to a physical ground attack. They give up 4.9 yards per run attempt (89th in the country) and 7.1 yards per pass attempt (49th in the country), so the onus will most likely be on UK’s run game to ram it down their throats.

DL: The GT defensive line is anchored by Sr. DT Patrick Gamble. Gamble is a small but disruptive force that specializes in shooting the center/guard gap and making tackles in the backfield. His 8.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks leads the team. Sr. DT Francis Kallon is more of a run stuffer and ends Freeman and Rook-Chungong are smallish (245 lbs) defensive ends that, frankly, don’t generate much in the way of pass rush or stops behind the line.

LB: Perhaps the weakest area of the defense, GT runs a traditional 4-3 LB unit. SO Brant Mitchell is in the middle, while David Curry and P.J. Davis. It’s worth noting that the linebackers don’t get nearly as many tackles as the safties. Tech’s LB’s have struggled getting stops behind the line and only account for about 20% of the team tackles.

SC: SS Corey Griffin and FS A.J. Gray are first and second on the team in tackles, respectively. Both provide experience and excellent run support. Jr. Corner Lance Austin is one of the better corners in the ACC. Both he and his running mate Step Durham are tall, long corners that prefer zone coverage to man to man. They are physical, though, and have excellent ball skills.


SPECIAL TEAMS:

K/P: Kicker Harrison Butker is accurate, has a great leg, and is one of the more effective special team weapons in the ACC. Punter Ryan Rodwell averages over 40 yards a punt and puts nearly 60% of his punts inside the twenty.

KR/PR: When not lined up at A-Back, J.J. Green an effective, sometimes electric kick returner, averaging over 26 yards per return with a touchdown on the year. Punt returner Brad Stewart is very similar to UK’s Charles Walker. His primary job is to not fumble, evidenced by his 2 to 1 fair catch to return ratio.


GAMEPLAN:


To win this game, GT will do the obvious: run the hell out of the ball and control the clock. When their defense is left on the field too long, they get into an untenable situation (like at North Carolina) very quickly. Unlike teams that run to set up the pass, GT runs to set up . . . runs! First on the edge, then to the middle, and then the counter; each run setting up the next. GT prides itself on doing more with less, recruiting under the radar types and plugging them into a system that requires discipline and smarts. If UK builds a lead on them, then the whole plan falls apart.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

Thanks for the write up. I personally think GT has a serious problem on their hands. Our running game will likely dominate the game and the clock.

 

[1978pike]

Thanks for the write up. I personally think GT has a serious problem on their hands. Our running game will likely dominate the game and the clock.

An Early Look at Georgia Tech. Note, this is a pretty long post. I spent a lot of time reading about GT and sifting through rosters and stats. I wanted to give UK fans (like myself) an idea of who our opponent is and what it will take to beat them. What follows is a fairly detailed examination of who GT is and what they like to do. Hope everyone enjoys! Go Cats!


OFFENSE:

Overview: As soon as I heard GT was the opponent, I immediately thought of their grind it out triple option attack. Indeed, GT is a very, very run-based, handing the ball off roughly 77% of the time (the 5th highest percentage in the nation. UK, for comparison, runs 63% of the time, 13th in the country. GT was not involved in many “run out the clock” situations, so those numbers are fairly legitimate. However, it is a wrong to assume that they are a grind it out team. Their .435 points per play is 30th in the country, better than UK’s .415 points per play. This number indicates a more explosive offensive than one might realize, capable of ripping off big plays. What really sticks out is pace. You think UK is a grind it out team at 71 plays per game? Think again. Tech musters a meager 60 plays per game—dead last in college football. That, my friends, is a grind it out offense.

As for that triple option attack, it is just as advertised. Running plays from both under center and the pistol (and occasionally the shotgun) Tech will hit you with a variety of sweeps, options, veers, dives, draws, and—yes—cut blocks. The team as a whole is undersized, but they try to make up for it with precision assignment football, and defenses must account for every man on the field every play.

QB: Justin Thomas is the man here. The undersized (5’11 185) senior struggled last year breaking in underclassmen all around him. This year, though, Thomas has been flanked by veterans and has been very effective (within the confines of GT’s offense). Thomas has made good reads on the option, and when called on to run, has been generally effective (657 yards @ 5.7 yards per carry). GT obviously doesn’t want or need Thomas to throw very often. When he does throw he’s only marginally effective. His completion rate is a meager 54.5% with just over 9 yards per attempt. Don’t let his throwing fool you, though. His best qualities are his leadership and decision making—both of which are excellent. One positive note—from UK’s perspective—is that Thomas is fumble prone, coughing the ball up nine times this year.

RB: GT took a big hit when B-Back SO Marcus Marshall decided to transfer. In GT’s offense, the B-Back lines up behind the QB and gets most of the “conventional” hand-offs (dives, draws, off-tackle). Marshall was their leading yards per carry runner and was second to Johnson in total yards. Some reports from Atlanta indicate that Marshall believed he wasn’t getting enough carries, leading to his departure. In his stead, GT will lean more on true FR Dedrick Mills, who actually had 25 more carries than Marshall. The 5’10 217 lbs. back earned the coaching staff’s confidence as the season wore on, massing over 600 yards and 11 TD’s. At the A-Back, GT will rely on the trio of SO’s Qua Searcy and Clinton Lynch, and JR J.J. Green. All three are smallish (around 5’10 185 lbs.) flanker types that line up on the wings and take motion sweeps, counters, and the option pitch. While none of them are bruisers, each is capable of popping off big plays. Can UK stuff Mills in the middle while containing Thomas and his A-Backs in check on the edge? The answer to that question will be the key to the game.

WR: When you go play WR at GT, you’d better be ready to block. SO Brad Stewart (6’1, 197 lbs.) and JR Ricky Jeune (6’3 212 lbs.) both fit the bill. They are both willing, physical blockers—if not elite pass catchers. Jeune is the best pass catcher of the group, a possession type that runs good routes. His 22 catches and 37.4% target rate are the most of anyone else on the team—but at only 7.5 yards per catch. Oddly enough, Jeune has struggled with drops, catching only 45% of passes thrown to him. Stewart is more of a big play threat, but the real big play danger comes from A-Back Lynch, who gets has 16 catches for over 30 yards a catch.

OL: GT’s Oline is exactly what you’d expect from a triple-option team: smallish, under the radar blockers that have the agility and dexterity to get out on the edge or the second level. In fact, none of GT’s starting offensive linemen are at 300 lbs. The heaviest is SR C Freddie Burden, the 299 lbs. anchor of the line. Injuries pushed true freshmen LT Jahaziel Lee (6’2, 267 lbs.) and LG Parker Braun (6’3, 280 lbs.). Both have held their own, but their lack of size cannot be denied. The right side is manned by So. RG Will Bryan and Jr. RT Andrew Marshall. If you take the time to watch some of GT’s film, you’d know that their reputation as savage cut blockers is well-deserved. Can UK’s DL occupy the GT OL, keeping the legs of the LB’s and secondary safe? We’ll have to wait and see.
____________________________________________________________________

DEFENSE: On defense, GT is giving up 26.4 points per game. At first glance, that’s much better than UK’s 32.8 points per game. But, given GT penchant for ball control on offense, their points per game should be much lower. And, upon closer inspection, a trend starts showing up in their defense. Most of their low scoring games were early in the season against weaker opponents. Mercer, Vandy (the early season version of Vandy) and Boston College were all early on the schedule, with GT hold these three teams to a combined 31 points. Even their early game vs. Clemson (a 7 to 26 loss) offered some hope for the defense. After that game, though, the wheels came off. In a four game stretch, UNC, Duke, and Pitt would shred the defense to the tune of 40 points per game. Throw in a lackluster win against Georgia Southern—who put 24 points on them—and you have a picture of a reeling defense, gashed by big plays left and right.

In the last three games, all wins, they seem to have righted the ship. The question remains, though: which GT defense will show up? The one being manhandled by UNC or the one that stifled VaTech? There is no consistent season arc for their defense, no lodestar on which to link their performance. The one common link to all of their woes is the inability to get off the field. Opponents convert 50% of their third down attempts against GT, 125th of 128 college teams. We know that it is an undersized, 4-3 unit that depends on discipline and technique rather than sheer athleticism. They have some playmakers, but their overall team speed and bulk leads me to believe they are vulnerable to a physical ground attack. They give up 4.9 yards per run attempt (89th in the country) and 7.1 yards per pass attempt (49th in the country), so the onus will most likely be on UK’s run game to ram it down their throats.

DL: The GT defensive line is anchored by Sr. DT Patrick Gamble. Gamble is a small but disruptive force that specializes in shooting the center/guard gap and making tackles in the backfield. His 8.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks leads the team. Sr. DT Francis Kallon is more of a run stuffer and ends Freeman and Rook-Chungong are smallish (245 lbs) defensive ends that, frankly, don’t generate much in the way of pass rush or stops behind the line.

LB: Perhaps the weakest area of the defense, GT runs a traditional 4-3 LB unit. SO Brant Mitchell is in the middle, while David Curry and P.J. Davis. It’s worth noting that the linebackers don’t get nearly as many tackles as the safties. Tech’s LB’s have struggled getting stops behind the line and only account for about 20% of the team tackles.

SC: SS Corey Griffin and FS A.J. Gray are first and second on the team in tackles, respectively. Both provide experience and excellent run support. Jr. Corner Lance Austin is one of the better corners in the ACC. Both he and his running mate Step Durham are tall, long corners that prefer zone coverage to man to man. They are physical, though, and have excellent ball skills.


SPECIAL TEAMS:

K/P: Kicker Harrison Butker is accurate, has a great leg, and is one of the more effective special team weapons in the ACC. Punter Ryan Rodwell averages over 40 yards a punt and puts nearly 60% of his punts inside the twenty.

KR/PR: When not lined up at A-Back, J.J. Green an effective, sometimes electric kick returner, averaging over 26 yards per return with a touchdown on the year. Punt returner Brad Stewart is very similar to UK’s Charles Walker. His primary job is to not fumble, evidenced by his 2 to 1 fair catch to return ratio.


GAMEPLAN:


To win this game, GT will do the obvious: run the hell out of the ball and control the clock. When their defense is left on the field too long, they get into an untenable situation (like at North Carolina) very quickly. Unlike teams that run to set up the pass, GT runs to set up . . . runs! First on the edge, then to the middle, and then the counter; each run setting up the next. GT prides itself on doing more with less, recruiting under the radar types and plugging them into a system that requires discipline and smarts. If UK builds a lead on them, then the whole plan falls apart.

 

[cardkilla]

Think you nailed it with getting out to an early lead. If Cats can get up on GT say 14 or so, that could put them in a bind. I am hopeful that our defense playing against some good RPO teams has gotten them closer to ready for the type of offense they're gonna see. It's all about assignment football and with a month to get ready for it, hopefully that's enough time.

Feel like the Cats are gonna be ready to prove something and Johnson just keeps getting better. Add in the fact that we should be all healed up and I like our chances.

 

[1978pike]

From the perspective of a Tech fan I would say it is a fairly reasonable summary of our team. But there are a few comments that I can make that might offer a slightly different slant that comes from watching every single down played and not from just reading stats. Not meant to be a troll here just to offer a bit better understanding. I will try to follow the flow of your message in my reply.

You are correct that we are a run first team. We have a coach that follows the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. Early in the game he will run a base set of plays to see how your team defends them, At this point it should be noted that Paul Johnson makes all the play calls himself from the sideline and doesn't us a play sheet. He shuttles each play in by telling one of the many A backs that we use what play to run and he runs onto the field and gives it to the quarterback. He will watch certain defensive players that are the keys to certain plays we run to see how he defends the play and store that information for later use. Often times over his career he will hit a huge play in the first series of the game because he has noticed a tendency on tape review that week and it will hit for big yards and more often than not a TD (see the opening play of the Vanderbilt game). As stated before he will run the same play over and over again if the defense can't stop it. And once they do figure out a way to stop it - and this is where his true genius comes in - he will run it again only this time he will change his blocking schemes so that the defense is sitting there ready to take on the same blocker but instead he will get blindsided by the A back or wide receiver while the tackle swings out wide to block the edge. Little twists that have a tendency to break for very long yardage.

QB: Thomas is very experienced and very fast. If he makes it to the second level on a run play he is gone. His fumbles you mentioned are a byproduct of this offense with all of the B back reads and pitches to the A backs the ball is bound to hit the turf sometimes but many of those type fumbles are as much the fault of the running back taking an incorrect and or depth rather than Thomas actually dropping the ball himself. Also if you look at the stats we recover more of those fumbles than we lose. His passing stats are misleading. His accuracy is pretty good and he has a decent arm, but the majority of our passes are home run balls which obviously are lower percentage passes. He has a pretty good TD/INT ratio to offer as proof.

RB: While your information about Marshall is correct and we will miss him he technically isn't really our starting B back. Dedrick Mills is the true freshman who beat him out and started every game he was eligible to play in except the final game which came on the heels of a two game suspension. But make no mistake they are both very capable runners - the difference being Mills will prefer to run over you while Marshall would prefer to run around you. Mills is a bruiser with decent speed. Marshall is more of a speed guy. The A backs you mentioned are pretty much as you advertised though I would say Lynch is more the size you described while Searcy and Green are slightly bigger. All of them are receiving threats which makes them very dangerous if your secondary wants to cheat up to support the edge runs the all of a sudden the put their foot in the ground and are running free up the seam. Coach Johnson has someone up in the box to let him know when they see the safeties and corners cheating up to protect the run and that's when the QB step out of the option and tosses it deep. If they honor the pass then we are back to running it wide or up the middle. The offense is all predicated on us getting numbers advantages with us having more hats to block than you have defenders.

WR: this is where you let the stats confuse you a bit. Jeune is more of a deep ball guy most of the time and actually has excellent hands. I would venture to say he has fewer drop than Stewart and neither of them have very many. As far as him catching a low % of the balls thrown to him, again that's a function of the fact they are mostly long balls down the sideline as opposed to him having bad hands. Stewart is more of a possession receiver type but by luck of the draw has been able to take advantage of busted coverage several times to get the bigger YPC stats. They are both excellent blockers. If not they would never see the field in this offense. And the two of them probably play over 90% of the snaps.

OL: In our offense the linemen do have a tendency to be a bit smaller and more athletic that the average Power 5 school out of necessity. The tackles are often releasing their man on the line ( we often leave linemen unblocked and option off of them) and going to the second level to take out a linebacker or safety. When perfected the result is often one of the running backs streaking downfield untouched. This is evidenced by the fact we led most of the nation in plays of 50 yards or more. And were pretty near the top in runs of more than 20 yards. If we need size we bring in Shamire Devine who has started many games. He stands at about 6'7" and 380 lbs. Stamina tends to be his downfall to more playing time. As you mentioned a couple of freshmen start. That is because the are both very aggressive, fast and play "mean" which out coaches believes trumps their lack of size.

DEFENSE: This unit has a Jeckel and Hyde personality. Some pretty good athletes,especially in the secondary, but they are coached to play more of a bend but don't break style. You will get your yards on us. Lately they have improved on forcing turnovers which will kill most teams when they face us with the limited number of offensive opportunities our offense tends to allow the opponent. Our defensive numbers in the red zone are decent which helps to make up for the yards we tend to give up between the twenties. We will try to shoot gaps in the middle and contain on the outside which explains the limited production you noticed from the ends. Passing plays we will often bring a barrage of different blitzes to get your QB off his marks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: You were mostly spot on here. Our punter is consistent but not the outstanding threat our place kicker is. Butker has a very strong leg and will put most of his kickoffs through the end zone. He is a threat beyond 50 yards. Over his career he has hit several clutch kicks and is one point away from setting Tech's all time career scoring record. If the game comes down to a field goal I like our chances.

To sum it up I think it will be an entertaining and fairly close contest. Don't get over confident with the fact your DC has experience against our offense. If you take a close look we moved the ball pretty good against him even though he was blessed with 5* defenders all over the field. I think both teams are fired up for this game finishing the season strong with wins over our rivals. Plus there is that ACC Vs. SEC nonsense which seems to fire the fans up if not the players.

I appreciate the analysis you provided and look forward to more from you. Perhaps you can share what you think your own team's strengths and weaknesses are and matchups to look for. You sound pretty straight forward and reasonable with your analysis unlike some of the fans I find here that think Kentucky's prowess in basketball gives their football counterparts the birthright to similar success. I don't see the blowout predictions that many of them seem to have. But who knows - I've been wrong before. Best wishes for a good hard fought clean game. See you in Jacksonville.

 

[jauk11]

From the perspective of a Tech fan I would say it is a fairly reasonable summary of our team. But there are a few comments that I can make that might offer a slightly different slant that comes from watching every single down played and not from just reading stats. Not meant to be a troll here just to offer a bit better understanding. I will try to follow the flow of your message in my reply.

You are correct that we are a run first team. We have a coach that follows the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. Early in the game he will run a base set of plays to see how your team defends them, At this point it should be noted that Paul Johnson makes all the play calls himself from the sideline and doesn't us a play sheet. He shuttles each play in by telling one of the many A backs that we use what play to run and he runs onto the field and gives it to the quarterback. He will watch certain defensive players that are the keys to certain plays we run to see how he defends the play and store that information for later use. Often times over his career he will hit a huge play in the first series of the game because he has noticed a tendency on tape review that week and it will hit for big yards and more often than not a TD (see the opening play of the Vanderbilt game). As stated before he will run the same play over and over again if the defense can't stop it. And once they do figure out a way to stop it - and this is where his true genius comes in - he will run it again only this time he will change his blocking schemes so that the defense is sitting there ready to take on the same blocker but instead he will get blindsided by the A back or wide receiver while the tackle swings out wide to block the edge. Little twists that have a tendency to break for very long yardage.

QB: Thomas is very experienced and very fast. If he makes it to the second level on a run play he is gone. His fumbles you mentioned are a byproduct of this offense with all of the B back reads and pitches to the A backs the ball is bound to hit the turf sometimes but many of those type fumbles are as much the fault of the running back taking an incorrect and or depth rather than Thomas actually dropping the ball himself. Also if you look at the stats we recover more of those fumbles than we lose. His passing stats are misleading. His accuracy is pretty good and he has a decent arm, but the majority of our passes are home run balls which obviously are lower percentage passes. He has a pretty good TD/INT ratio to offer as proof.

RB: While your information about Marshall is correct and we will miss him he technically isn't really our starting B back. Dedrick Mills is the true freshman who beat him out and started every game he was eligible to play in except the final game which came on the heels of a two game suspension. But make no mistake they are both very capable runners - the difference being Mills will prefer to run over you while Marshall would prefer to run around you. Mills is a bruiser with decent speed. Marshall is more of a speed guy. The A backs you mentioned are pretty much as you advertised though I would say Lynch is more the size you described while Searcy and Green are slightly bigger. All of them are receiving threats which makes them very dangerous if your secondary wants to cheat up to support the edge runs the all of a sudden the put their foot in the ground and are running free up the seam. Coach Johnson has someone up in the box to let him know when they see the safeties and corners cheating up to protect the run and that's when the QB step out of the option and tosses it deep. If they honor the pass then we are back to running it wide or up the middle. The offense is all predicated on us getting numbers advantages with us having more hats to block than you have defenders.

WR: this is where you let the stats confuse you a bit. Jeune is more of a deep ball guy most of the time and actually has excellent hands. I would venture to say he has fewer drop than Stewart and neither of them have very many. As far as him catching a low % of the balls thrown to him, again that's a function of the fact they are mostly long balls down the sideline as opposed to him having bad hands. Stewart is more of a possession receiver type but by luck of the draw has been able to take advantage of busted coverage several times to get the bigger YPC stats. They are both excellent blockers. If not they would never see the field in this offense. And the two of them probably play over 90% of the snaps.

OL: In our offense the linemen do have a tendency to be a bit smaller and more athletic that the average Power 5 school out of necessity. The tackles are often releasing their man on the line ( we often leave linemen unblocked and option off of them) and going to the second level to take out a linebacker or safety. When perfected the result is often one of the running backs streaking downfield untouched. This is evidenced by the fact we led most of the nation in plays of 50 yards or more. And were pretty near the top in runs of more than 20 yards. If we need size we bring in Shamire Devine who has started many games. He stands at about 6'7" and 380 lbs. Stamina tends to be his downfall to more playing time. As you mentioned a couple of freshmen start. That is because the are both very aggressive, fast and play "mean" which out coaches believes trumps their lack of size.

DEFENSE: This unit has a Jeckel and Hyde personality. Some pretty good athletes,especially in the secondary, but they are coached to play more of a bend but don't break style. You will get your yards on us. Lately they have improved on forcing turnovers which will kill most teams when they face us with the limited number of offensive opportunities our offense tends to allow the opponent. Our defensive numbers in the red zone are decent which helps to make up for the yards we tend to give up between the twenties. We will try to shoot gaps in the middle and contain on the outside which explains the limited production you noticed from the ends. Passing plays we will often bring a barrage of different blitzes to get your QB off his marks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: You were mostly spot on here. Our punter is consistent but not the outstanding threat our place kicker is. Butker has a very strong leg and will put most of his kickoffs through the end zone. He is a threat beyond 50 yards. Over his career he has hit several clutch kicks and is one point away from setting Tech's all time career scoring record. If the game comes down to a field goal I like our chances.

To sum it up I think it will be an entertaining and fairly close contest. Don't get over confident with the fact your DC has experience against our offense. If you take a close look we moved the ball pretty good against him even though he was blessed with 5* defenders all over the field. I think both teams are fired up for this game finishing the season strong with wins over our rivals. Plus there is that ACC Vs. SEC nonsense which seems to fire the fans up if not the players.

I appreciate the analysis you provided and look forward to more from you. Perhaps you can share what you think your own team's strengths and weaknesses are and matchups to look for. You sound pretty straight forward and reasonable with your analysis unlike some of the fans I find here that think Kentucky's prowess in basketball gives their football counterparts the birthright to similar success. I don't see the blowout predictions that many of them seem to have. But who knows - I've been wrong before. Best wishes for a good hard fought clean game. See you in Jacksonville.

Thanks for giving us your insight on GT, sounds like you are a very serious fan, great detail. I hope both teams have a great game with no injuries, and the good guys win.. I hope you know who that is, LOL.

 

[BlueRaider22]

Wonderful analyses from the both of you. And thus far a great civil conversation.

Several things I'm looking at.

First, can we reduce GT's offense. Johnson is a great coach. If he could recruit at an elite level they'd win at an elite level. But his offense tends to work against him in bowl games. He's 2-5 in bowl games at GT....which is too poor for his coaching ability. And it's too large of sample size to blame the opponent draw. So it must be due to another reason. While at Navy, Johnson's team's exceeded their year's average rushing yds in nearly every game.....however in 7 bowl games for GT he has only been able to match or exceed the year's average rushing yds once. And on multiple occasions they were stopped well below their average. Since the rushing game is the engine that moves the train. this is a big recurring stat that can't be ignored. And it's clear that the majority of teams benefit from having weeks to prepare.

Furthermore Stoops knows Johnson's offense......so, it shouldn't be foreign to him. So, at first glance it appears that the projection will be slanted in UK's favor.....which brings me to my next thing.


Stoops is still a young coach coaching a young team. He has never coached in a bowl game. Some coaches excel in bowl game prep and execution.....some are quite poor......most fall in the middle. Johnson and GT will be "Steady Eddie" as you know they'll be prepared and ready.

I'm looking for UK's level of preparedness......and more specifically on defense.

 

[adolph rollingover]

I have been clipping and tagging GATech all weeekend. Here are a few. Much more to come,

 

[Oldtrainer]

Thanks BlueRattie and 1978pike. Both good blogs!
1978pike, Since the Florida game CATS i.m.o. have improved weekly. Our o.line led by the only senior to play center Jon Toth are big, physical, deep, and I think the most improved unit on our team. Will this cause match-up problems for your Jackets? I'm sure you know Benny, Boom, and Jo-Jo are very capable SEC r.bs. and run a lot out of The Wildcat formation behind a very physical line. This season has Tech faced this style of offense?
In late fifties and early sixties I saw a few Ga. Tech games. Then they were coached by the great Bobby Dodd. They had a center/linebacker first name Maxie who was one of the best college players I've ever seen! Can't remember his last name.
Think it will be a very entertaining game. Hope it will be a injury free game. WILDCAT fans will be there in mass!

 

[BlueRattie]

I appreciate the analysis you provided and look forward to more from you. Perhaps you can share what you think your own team's strengths and weaknesses are and matchups to look for. You sound pretty straight forward and reasonable with your analysis unlike some of the fans I find here that think Kentucky's prowess in basketball gives their football counterparts the birthright to similar success. I don't see the blowout predictions that many of them seem to have. But who knows - I've been wrong before. Best wishes for a good hard fought clean game. See you in Jacksonville.

1) Thanks for the insight. It's always nice to hear from opposing fans that can give lucid, cogent analysis of their respective team--a rarity in the modern sports world.

2) I think it's going to be hell of a game. UK can score on GT, but can our young defense maintain the discipline necessary to keep GT's offense on the sideline? That is the question of the game.

3) As for our team, it's been an interesting year. Here's a short summary.

• We began the year with our hopes riding on a young defense, Boom Williams at running back, and Drew Barker--Kentucky born gun slinger and proverbial fair-haired-boy--at quarterback. We're thinking: "We're going to have to air it out to win, 6 and 6 if we're lucky, don't embarrass yourself against UofL."
• We lost our first two games in the most demoralizing fashion you could possibly imagine. Blew a huge lead to So. Miss and got thumped by Florida.
• In a cupcake game against New Mexico St., Barker goes down with a back injury. He is eventually lost for the season. In comes Steven Johnson, a lightly-recruited, skinny-ass junior college kid from "College of the Where the Hell is That?" who is under the impression that Jesus cured his Tourette syndrome. Believe it or not, we will come to love this skinny-ass kid more than our own children. (You simply cannot make this stuff up). With the game in hand, Stoops gives some carries to three star true freshman tailback Benny Snell. Snell is very good.
• Before the South Carolina game, confidence was at an all time low in the Stoops era. Ugly rumors (which I will not repeat) were swirling around the coach and program. This, I believe, was the nadir of the season.
• In gutty fashion, we beat South Carolina. We run the hell out of the ball but can't throw it worth a damn. Snell is awesome; Johnson can't hang on to the damn ball.
• We get shellacked by Alabama, but looked surprisingly competent on the road against an NFC South team. UK fans convince themselves that 'Bama was just taking it easy on us out of the kindness of their hearts. (You gotta understand, we're very use to losing).
  
• In gutty fashion, we beat Vanderbilt. We run the hell out of the ball but can't throw it worth a damn. Snell is awesome; Johnson can't hang on to the damn ball.
• In gutty fashion, we beat Miss St. We run the hell out of the ball but can't throw it worth a damn. Snell is awesome; Johnson can't hang on to the damn ball. There was an important kick, bedlam ensued.
  
• We 'effin manhandle Mizzou @ their own place. True, Mizzou is a dumpster fire of gas soaked hobo bodies, but we just plain crushed them. With Little Sister's of the Poor (aka Austin Peay) on the remaining schedule, a bowl game is within our reach. Alas, we still don't throw the ball very well.
• We play Georgia at home: night game, huge crowd, jacked-up fan base. Lost on a last second field goal. Damn. We still don't throw the ball very well.
• We play Tennessee at the Dreamsickle Sherbet palace. In a game in which no one wanted to tackle anyone we lose 49 to 36. (Sad face emoji).
• We thump Austin Peay because they're a high school team. We did come out flat though, so we had folks wanting to fire Stoops. Typical stuff, you know.
• We go to the Pizza Palace as 28 point dogs to UofL and Heisman QB Lamar "Check out my Pose" Jackson. UofL's offense is as good as advertised. Their defense? Not so much. Bobby Petrino get's off his hog and decides, "I'll be damned if I let them run it down our throats." So he goes full-out to stop the Snell and Johnson who, by now, both have 1,000 yards rushing. Suddenly, Steven Johnson becomes a buggy eyed version of Warren Moon, dropping bombs like the Luftwaffe. (OK that was an exaggeration, it wasn't that sudden). Three long touchdown passes keep UK in the game. It was a great game by Steven Johnson, and Juice Johnson. So, yes, we literally smacked them around with our Johnsons. And when Mr. Pose becomes a turnover machine late in the game, there's another important kick. Bedlam ensues, the tears of UofL fans are delicious.

Along the way, we found some stars in the making. Steven Johnson is a born leader; he teammates would follow him to hell and back. Benny Snell is a stud. Kid carries around Fiats in his spare time. The offensive line is a group of blue collar road graters. The secondary was awesome, then it sucked, then it was awesome again. Jordon Jones is a tackle machine. It was a season of hope, despair, and jubilation. In short, it was everything good about sports all wrapped up in four months.

 

[1978pike]

Wonderful analyses from the both of you. And thus far a great civil conversation.

Several things I'm looking at.

First, can we reduce GT's offense. Johnson is a great coach. If he could recruit at an elite level they'd win at an elite level. But his offense tends to work against him in bowl games. He's 2-5 in bowl games at GT....which is too poor for his coaching ability. And it's too large of sample size to blame the opponent draw. So it must be due to another reason. While at Navy, Johnson's team's exceeded their year's average rushing yds in nearly every game.....however in 7 bowl games for GT he has only been able to match or exceed the year's average rushing yds once. And on multiple occasions they were stopped well below their average. Since the rushing game is the engine that moves the train. this is a big recurring stat that can't be ignored. And it's clear that the majority of teams benefit from having weeks to prepare.

Furthermore Stoops knows Johnson's offense......so, it shouldn't be foreign to him. So, at first glance it appears that the projection will be slanted in UK's favor.....which brings me to my next thing.


Stoops is still a young coach coaching a young team. He has never coached in a bowl game. Some coaches excel in bowl game prep and execution.....some are quite poor......most fall in the middle. Johnson and GT will be "Steady Eddie" as you know they'll be prepared and ready.

I'm looking for UK's level of preparedness......and more specifically on defense.

 

[mtn cat1]

Strictly on a personal lever, I feel like our schedule vs; Vandy, Miss. St., Ga, UT, & UL were more formidable than the challenge that Ga Tech presents

 

[docholiday51]

It comes down to can we defend the edges well enough to give us a chance to win.Some of the time their QB keeps it a long time before he pitches it,we have to be able to get enough defenders out in space most of the time.They will make some plays,we just can't give up too many.

 

[Freetaxreturn]

Said it before, Jordan Jones will have 30 tackles

TaxSlayer Bowl trophy will look great inside the UK facility

 

[stinger78]

Strictly on a personal lever, I feel like our schedule vs; Vandy, Miss. St., Ga, UT, & UL were more formidable than the challenge that Ga Tech presents

It may be. Just know that some consider the SEC East to be one of the weakest divisions in college football this year. I don't know. It's all pretty subjective. Personally, I think our schedule of Vandy, UGA, Clemson, VA Tech, UNC, Pitt and Miami is the tougher one. But we were 3-4 against that slate having lost in the last second to PItt and having given away the game with Miami. We'll see. I'm real excited to play UK and think it will be a great game.

Old trainer, you probably know this, but that LB was GA Tech and CFB HoF player, Maxie Baughan. He went on to an NFL career with the Eagles,Rams and Redskins where he was 9-times a Pro Bowl selection, and 7 times a 1st/2nd team All Pro. Pretty good career. Oddly, he finished that career in the Gator Bowl.

 

[docholiday51]

This is probably one of the better match-ups out there this bowl season.It would seem to shake out as a close and competitive game.The x factor could be turnovers,if one team makes them and the other doesn't it could get lopsided.

 

[1978pike]

In response to some of your factoids BlueRaider I will say this. Yes 2-5 in the last seven bowl games is not a good record by anyone's standards but I will say some of that can be attributed to the success Paul Johnson has had at Tech and the level of the opponents we have faced in the bowl games. Those seven games were against Mississippi State, Ole Miss, USC, Utah, AirForce, Iowa and LSU. Not very many slouches in that group. So I think that explains some of what you referenced as lower production in the bowl games. You have to remember the regular season averages include some cupcake games as well as conference games against lesser opponents to some degree so it's not much of a stretch to understand the production might be lower. In a bowl game most often you are matched against an opponent that has had a comparable amount success as your own team (like this year). I would guess (no data to support it) that most teams over a seven game data sample in bowl games probably average below the regular season offensive output.

That being said, most of those teams I listed above are known for their stout defenses and defensive lines in particular (Air Force being the exception and that was just an ugly game all around 14-7). IF we have an achilles heel it is probably when we go up against a team with NFL sized talent on the DL (see Clemson this year). But most offenses would struggle against that kind of talent. When the defense gets penetration at the point of attack any offense will struggle but against our offense the struggle is probably a little more glaring. Now Justin Thomas can throw the ball better than you may think and I can assure you if you start loading up 8 or 9 guys in the box we will air it out and it won't be 7 yard out patterns.

With regard to Stoops experience against our offense in the 2012 ACC championship I will say this. If I recall the weather was very cold and rainy and both sides struggled to move the ball as the 21-15 score would indicate. I would also add that was at the time the worst GA Tech team we had fielded under coach Johnson finishing the year at 6-6 and only made the championship game because both Miami and North Carolina had self imposed restrictions against playing any post season games because of NCAA troubles. So I would have expected to be beaten much worse than the final score by an 11-2 FSU team. If Stoops is armed with the same kind of 4 and 5 star talent on this years Kentucky team then I would say that we are in for a long day. I don't think that's the case so I expect a close hard fought game.

In response to some of the other posters, yes we have gone up against some big offensive lines that like to pound the ball down your throat with some mixed results. I would say Miami, Boston College, Pittsburgh fir that bill. Clemson and Virginia Tech as well although they are more read option kind of offenses. In general I would say our run defense is better than our pass defense. We are not the biggest defense but we are quick. As mentioned in a previous post our safeties make a lot of tackles and they are often brought up in run support against run first type teams hence their numbers. We have faced a lot of talented running backs throughout the year and I would guess we have held most of them below their yearlong averages. We struggle a bit more against the pass but that is more of a function of the lack of a pass rush than the talent of the DBs. However, we are much improved in that area the last third of the year. I would say that, like most teams, we have a hard time with dual threat QBs - but most teams struggle with that. We have one so we know how it feels to have someone penned in and then watch them wriggle free and tear off down the field for a 20 yard gain.

This game will be very interesting to see who can best impose their will against the other team given the contrasting running styles. Teams that face us for the first time have a hard time maintaining the necessary discipline to defend our offense consistently. Many of today's players want to make the ESPN top ten with a big hit and in the course of doing so forget their individual responsibility. Do that against us and all of a sudden we are streaking down the field on a long run. Our offense wants players to take chances because when they do that often gives us a numbers advantage. And yes we cut block. All teams do. But we do it a lot. Again this is an area where young players can have a difficult time. We do it all the time, practice it all the time and do it at a speed most players are not used to. As soon as the defender starts worrying about the cut block he is beat. Sometimes they will take themselves out of the play just trying to avoid the block. It's a scheme designed to distract the defender. It is also much more efficient than straight up blocking if it is done right. A good cut block will bring the defender to the ground making it much more difficult to make the tackle while at the same time giving the running back a better chance to find a running lane. How often do you see a defender shed a good stand up block to make a tackle. A lot. Not so much against a good cut block. That being said if a blocker whiffs on a cut then the play is blown up very easily. So how Kentucky does against the cut blocks will go a long way toward determining their success against our offense.

 

[BlueRaider22]

^Right on. I think the game will be close.....and will be physical. I'm kinda old school in that I love running offenses.....which we both do well.

In reference to Stoops exposure to the GT offense, notice I didn't mention how he did or the difference between FSU/UK talent level.....just that it's not foreign to him and that he has planned for it. I think that our guys will receive great instruction in how to slow down GT's offense......I'm more worried about execution. And also Stoops HC responsibilities during his first bowl game.

 

[docholiday51]

How cool is this,being able to talk about an upcoming game at this time of year.I can't wait to see the team take the field in Fla.The players and coaching staff have to be thrilled to be involved in this considering where we we(they) were after 2 games.I doubt that they or anyone else could really explain how it happened or when it turned around

 

[BlueRaider22]

^and to do so with an intelligent, civil conversation.

 

[Oldtrainer]

It may be. Just know that some consider the SEC East to be one of the weakest divisions in college football this year. I don't know. It's all pretty subjective. Personally, I think our schedule of Vandy, UGA, Clemson, VA Tech, UNC, Pitt and Miami is the tougher one. But we were 3-4 against that slate having lost in the last second to PItt and having given away the game with Miami. We'll see. I'm real excited to play UK and think it will be a great game.

Old trainer, you probably know this, but that LB was GA Tech and CFB HoF player, Maxie Baughan. He went on to an NFL career with the Eagles,Rams and Redskins where he was 9-times a Pro Bowl selection, and 7 times a 1st/2nd team All Pro. Pretty good career. Oddly, he finished that career in the Gator Bowl.

Yeah Maxie Baughan he was a great one. My high school teammate and good fiend was captain of Tulane and I saw their game with Tech at Grant Field. Remember coach Dodd on his TV show said to be sure and come out for the game with SMU they have a young quarterback that is gonna be a good one. It was Dandy Don!

 

[jauk11]

I have been clipping and tagging GATech all weeekend. Here are a few. Much more to come,

View embedded media

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When I click your links it says this media cannot be played, no explanation. Anyone know what the cure would be, except buying a new computer.

 

[pickled cat]

From the perspective of a Tech fan I would say it is a fairly reasonable summary of our team. But there are a few comments that I can make that might offer a slightly different slant that comes from watching every single down played and not from just reading stats. Not meant to be a troll here just to offer a bit better understanding. I will try to follow the flow of your message in my reply.

You are correct that we are a run first team. We have a coach that follows the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy. Early in the game he will run a base set of plays to see how your team defends them, At this point it should be noted that Paul Johnson makes all the play calls himself from the sideline and doesn't us a play sheet. He shuttles each play in by telling one of the many A backs that we use what play to run and he runs onto the field and gives it to the quarterback. He will watch certain defensive players that are the keys to certain plays we run to see how he defends the play and store that information for later use. Often times over his career he will hit a huge play in the first series of the game because he has noticed a tendency on tape review that week and it will hit for big yards and more often than not a TD (see the opening play of the Vanderbilt game). As stated before he will run the same play over and over again if the defense can't stop it. And once they do figure out a way to stop it - and this is where his true genius comes in - he will run it again only this time he will change his blocking schemes so that the defense is sitting there ready to take on the same blocker but instead he will get blindsided by the A back or wide receiver while the tackle swings out wide to block the edge. Little twists that have a tendency to break for very long yardage.

QB: Thomas is very experienced and very fast. If he makes it to the second level on a run play he is gone. His fumbles you mentioned are a byproduct of this offense with all of the B back reads and pitches to the A backs the ball is bound to hit the turf sometimes but many of those type fumbles are as much the fault of the running back taking an incorrect and or depth rather than Thomas actually dropping the ball himself. Also if you look at the stats we recover more of those fumbles than we lose. His passing stats are misleading. His accuracy is pretty good and he has a decent arm, but the majority of our passes are home run balls which obviously are lower percentage passes. He has a pretty good TD/INT ratio to offer as proof.

RB: While your information about Marshall is correct and we will miss him he technically isn't really our starting B back. Dedrick Mills is the true freshman who beat him out and started every game he was eligible to play in except the final game which came on the heels of a two game suspension. But make no mistake they are both very capable runners - the difference being Mills will prefer to run over you while Marshall would prefer to run around you. Mills is a bruiser with decent speed. Marshall is more of a speed guy. The A backs you mentioned are pretty much as you advertised though I would say Lynch is more the size you described while Searcy and Green are slightly bigger. All of them are receiving threats which makes them very dangerous if your secondary wants to cheat up to support the edge runs the all of a sudden the put their foot in the ground and are running free up the seam. Coach Johnson has someone up in the box to let him know when they see the safeties and corners cheating up to protect the run and that's when the QB step out of the option and tosses it deep. If they honor the pass then we are back to running it wide or up the middle. The offense is all predicated on us getting numbers advantages with us having more hats to block than you have defenders.

WR: this is where you let the stats confuse you a bit. Jeune is more of a deep ball guy most of the time and actually has excellent hands. I would venture to say he has fewer drop than Stewart and neither of them have very many. As far as him catching a low % of the balls thrown to him, again that's a function of the fact they are mostly long balls down the sideline as opposed to him having bad hands. Stewart is more of a possession receiver type but by luck of the draw has been able to take advantage of busted coverage several times to get the bigger YPC stats. They are both excellent blockers. If not they would never see the field in this offense. And the two of them probably play over 90% of the snaps.

OL: In our offense the linemen do have a tendency to be a bit smaller and more athletic that the average Power 5 school out of necessity. The tackles are often releasing their man on the line ( we often leave linemen unblocked and option off of them) and going to the second level to take out a linebacker or safety. When perfected the result is often one of the running backs streaking downfield untouched. This is evidenced by the fact we led most of the nation in plays of 50 yards or more. And were pretty near the top in runs of more than 20 yards. If we need size we bring in Shamire Devine who has started many games. He stands at about 6'7" and 380 lbs. Stamina tends to be his downfall to more playing time. As you mentioned a couple of freshmen start. That is because the are both very aggressive, fast and play "mean" which out coaches believes trumps their lack of size.

DEFENSE: This unit has a Jeckel and Hyde personality. Some pretty good athletes,especially in the secondary, but they are coached to play more of a bend but don't break style. You will get your yards on us. Lately they have improved on forcing turnovers which will kill most teams when they face us with the limited number of offensive opportunities our offense tends to allow the opponent. Our defensive numbers in the red zone are decent which helps to make up for the yards we tend to give up between the twenties. We will try to shoot gaps in the middle and contain on the outside which explains the limited production you noticed from the ends. Passing plays we will often bring a barrage of different blitzes to get your QB off his marks.

SPECIAL TEAMS: You were mostly spot on here. Our punter is consistent but not the outstanding threat our place kicker is. Butker has a very strong leg and will put most of his kickoffs through the end zone. He is a threat beyond 50 yards. Over his career he has hit several clutch kicks and is one point away from setting Tech's all time career scoring record. If the game comes down to a field goal I like our chances.

To sum it up I think it will be an entertaining and fairly close contest. Don't get over confident with the fact your DC has experience against our offense. If you take a close look we moved the ball pretty good against him even though he was blessed with 5* defenders all over the field. I think both teams are fired up for this game finishing the season strong with wins over our rivals. Plus there is that ACC Vs. SEC nonsense which seems to fire the fans up if not the players.

I appreciate the analysis you provided and look forward to more from you. Perhaps you can share what you think your own team's strengths and weaknesses are and matchups to look for. You sound pretty straight forward and reasonable with your analysis unlike some of the fans I find here that think Kentucky's prowess in basketball gives their football counterparts the birthright to similar success. I don't see the blowout predictions that many of them seem to have. But who knows - I've been wrong before. Best wishes for a good hard fought clean game. See you in Jacksonville.

This should be a great competitive game that could very well come down to two great field goal kickers!! I believe the pundants give you about a 4 point advantage.

 

[Tskware]

Excellent thread!

But an especial thanks to BlueRattie, whose description of our season was about the funniest thing I have read on this site in some time, and it was about 99% accurate as well. Congratulations sir! Well done!

 

[TBCat]

When I click your links it says this media cannot be played, no explanation. Anyone know what the cure would be, except buying a new computer.

More than likely you don't have a plugin installed or perhaps you have a script blocker installed on your browser that is getting in the way,. I usually have to disable my flash blocker temporarily to watch some of the videos. That's probably what's doing it.

 

[aikenite4uk]

Excellent thread and serious analysis that is above what one usually finds on these boards. I think this game will be one of those rare "running game" shootouts where the winning team need 40+ points to survive. Expect lots of big plays in the running game from both teams.

 

[adolph rollingover]

Here is Rocket Toss which they willl block multiple ways. Here slot cracks the LB and A back cuts the safety

 

[jauk11]

More than likely you don't have a plugin installed or perhaps you have a script blocker installed on your browser that is getting in the way,. I usually have to disable my flash blocker temporarily to watch some of the videos. That's probably what's doing it.

\
Thanks, will try to research.

 

[BlueRattie]

Excellent thread!

But an especial thanks to BlueRattie, whose description of our season was about the funniest thing I have read on this site in some time, and it was about 99% accurate as well. Congratulations sir! Well done!

I do my best. LOL

 

[stinger78]

Since you guys enjoy looking at video clips (so do I), here's the last bowl game we played in - the Orange Bowl from 2014 against Mississippi State. If you watch, you will see our offense at near peak performance. This was a largely SR laden team that executed at a very high level. They all graduated and we were left last year with a lot of underclassmen playing before they were ready... hence the 3-9 record.

This season, it is apparent they have used last year's experience and grown up a good bit. We are still not at the level of efficiency you will see in this video, but you will be able to get a good look at what your D will face on NYE in Jax.

I think it will be a great game! I know you guys are pumped... we are, too, after missing a bowl last year for the first time in 18 years, and getting to play another good SEC team.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz2BTy1Pe-w

 

[JPFisher]

Three long touchdown passes keep UK in the game. It was a great game by Stephen Johnson, and Juice Johnson. So, yes, we literally smacked them around with our Johnsons.

Just about pissed myself. Good Lord.

 

[maysvilleky]

I think UK needs to win the coin toss and receive the opening kick. Then they need to methodically drive down the field and score a TD (no FG). Then we need to do that every possession and hope to keep GA Tech out of the end zone at least 2 times. I think UK will give up some big plays but hopefully tighten up in the red zone. Because there won't be a lot of extra possessions, I think a score along the lines of 35 - 27 will be the final score. Hopefully for UK.

Also...I hope UK doesn't have to punt the football. That could change the whole complexion of the game.