Defenses May Rule In Tech And Canes Matchup
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - There's one team in the Atlantic Coast Conference that keeps defensive coordinators up late at night trying to scheme to beat it, this week's opponents for the University of Miami, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
Georgia Tech runs the triple-option attack which is rarely used outside of the service academies in modern football. It forces coaches to completely change their defensive attack and emphasize gap responsibility.
On the other hand, if there's one team who has been able to constantly solve the Yellow Jackets' attack, it's the Hurricanes who own four straight wins over Georgia Tech.
"You can feel it in the building. All eyes are on the defensive players, and rightly so, because they have a huge challenge," said Stephen Morris, Miami's starting quarterback. "It's not like we're facing an average defense, either. This defense is very well-coached and highly ranked, so overall, obviously we know that we're facing a great team and a challenge. It'll be a good fight."
Georgia Tech comes into the game with one of the stoutest defenses in the country to go along with its unorthodox offense. Tech is ranked 9th nationally in yards allowed, just ahead of Miami who is ranked 10th.
Tech knows that part of the game plan to beat the Canes is to try to contain running back Duke Johnson. As Tech head coach Paul Johnson said, "clearly, this will be the best offense that we've played.
One thing Miami will face is trying to score when they get the football because Tech's ball-control offense can keep the ball away from opponents like almost no other. Since 2008, Tech is 19-3 when holding the ball for at least 35 minutes.
But, since 2009, UM has kept Tech's offense in check allowing just 317 yards per game.
Both sides will say this doesn't matter, but the memory of last year's game in Atlanta will probably be in the recesses of the Hurricanes' and Yellow Jackets' minds on Saturday.
It was a wild one, Miami running out to a 19-0 lead, then giving up 36 unanswered points to fall into a huge hole, then scoring the final 23 and prevailing in overtime.
Expect the Yellow Jackets to be even more motivated to try and avenge a game that they surely think got away.
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