From Jon Cooper at Ramblin Wreck

[Boomergump]

1 – Georgia Tech’s rank in the ACC in touchdowns (45), rushing offense (319.7 yards per game), total offense (473.8 ypg), pass efficiency (158.2), third down conversions (57.4), fourth down conversions (75.0), offensive first downs (24.2), time of possession (33:23) and turnover margin (plus-8).

3 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, which has scored on at least 50 percent of its possessions. The other schools are Georgia Southern and Oregon. The Jackets have scored 52 times in 93 possessions.


5 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, who have scored touchdowns on at least 40 percent of its possessions. The Jackets have hit pay dirt 45 times. The other four schools are Oregon, Georgia Southern, Marshall and Ohio State.

_________________________________________________________________________

With numbers like this, turning the final quarter pole of the season, can any reasonable fan still question the viability of this offense? If you remove any association with the program or any bias regarding the offensive system and just look at those numbers in an objective fashion without knowledge of what program they represented, what would your characterization be? For me personally, those numbers are eye popping. In fact, I would conclude that we must be talking about one of the top 2 or 3 offensive teams in the land.

What say you?

 

[GlennW]

The interesting thing is that these numbers have held up over the past two weeks, when we played against Pittsburgh and Virginia, which, at the time, had two of the top "defenses" in the Country. After playing us, they can't say it anymore.

If I'm not mistaken, Clemson has the top-ranked defense, so we still have a hurdle (or two if you take into consideration UGA's heralded "SEC" defense) to clear...

 

[mqpayne]

Our offensive system has never been a question to me. Recruiting and coaching the QB has been my question which is being answered by JT. Working hard and smart at recruiting especially for the defense has been the flaw.

 

[Animal02]

1 – Georgia Tech’s rank in the ACC in touchdowns (45), rushing offense (319.7 yards per game), total offense (473.8 ypg), pass efficiency (158.2), third down conversions (57.4), fourth down conversions (75.0), offensive first downs (24.2), time of possession (33:23) and turnover margin (plus-8).

3 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, which has scored on at least 50 percent of its possessions. The other schools are Georgia Southern and Oregon. The Jackets have scored 52 times in 93 possessions.


5 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, who have scored touchdowns on at least 40 percent of its possessions. The Jackets have hit pay dirt 45 times. The other four schools are Oregon, Georgia Southern, Marshall and Ohio State.

_________________________________________________________________________

With numbers like this, turning the final quarter pole of the season, can any reasonable fan still question the viability of this offense? If you remove any association with the program or any bias regarding the offensive system and just look at those numbers in an objective fashion without knowledge of what program they represented, what would your characterization be? For me personally, those numbers are eye popping. In fact, I would conclude that we must be talking about one of the top 2 or 3 offensive teams in the land.

What say you?

Remember it is just a high school offense. We will never be able to compete.

 

[TomOReilly]

Recruiting (on the offense) does not seem to be an issue either with offense results like this. The challenge is matching these offensive stats with similar defensive results. This is likely a result of poor recruiting and a sound scheme based on our SA abilities. Hopefully, the recent progress on D is going to continue and mature into mid D1 rankings. If that can happen, we will be successful for years to come.

 

[gtjackets930]

1 – Georgia Tech’s rank in the ACC in touchdowns (45), rushing offense (319.7 yards per game), total offense (473.8 ypg), pass efficiency (158.2), third down conversions (57.4), fourth down conversions (75.0), offensive first downs (24.2), time of possession (33:23) and turnover margin (plus-8).

3 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, which has scored on at least 50 percent of its possessions. The other schools are Georgia Southern and Oregon. The Jackets have scored 52 times in 93 possessions.


5 – The number of FBS schools, including Georgia Tech, who have scored touchdowns on at least 40 percent of its possessions. The Jackets have hit pay dirt 45 times. The other four schools are Oregon, Georgia Southern, Marshall and Ohio State.

_________________________________________________________________________

With numbers like this, turning the final quarter pole of the season, can any reasonable fan still question the viability of this offense? If you remove any association with the program or any bias regarding the offensive system and just look at those numbers in an objective fashion without knowledge of what program they represented, what would your characterization be? For me personally, those numbers are eye popping. In fact, I would conclude that we must be talking about one of the top 2 or 3 offensive teams in the land.

What say you?

Really impressive stats... I want to see what we do against Clemson and UGA and hope these numbers hold up. Clemson is #2 in the nation in Total Defense and UGA comes in at #21, so they'll be tough tests for our offense. IMO, those two games will be the truest measure for a number of reasons. We usually have some of the same excuses when our O performs poorly...

1. Early season game w/ new players so we're not really clicking yet
2. New QB who is learning the system
3. Ineffective passing game w/ no big receiving threats
4. Big injury

Obviously there are others, but these seem to be the ones I hear the most. Luckily, this year those excuses can't be made and we'll see what our team can do against our strongest competition. If the offense passes those tests, I hope it will finally be validation for people who don't think the T-O can cut it at this level. Conversely, if we lay two eggs, it could strongly divide our fan base and the calls for CPJ's head will return.

Regardless, I think the stakes are pretty high for our last two games and I'm really excited to see what we can do. Big games like these are what CFB is all about and I think our team is equally excited.

 

[Papa Doc]

Great post! Many these days never let objective facts and data influence their beliefs. A fascination with trendy styles and the "everyone is doing something else" argument among the pundits convinces them that what CPJ does is wrong because it isn't chic. A couple of wins against dreaded opponents is required to change this sentiment. Remember how great the offense was in November of 2008 amongst the same detractors? Granted, a key to the offense's success against better opponents is having play makers who can make a positive play out of imperfect execution. In this offense, the linchpin is the quarterback. Nesbitt played angry and was a bull to wrestle to the ground while Dwyer complimented him the extra gear to run away from defenses. This year Thomas brings get-away speed, elusiveness, good decision making and an accurate arm to the mix, a complete combination that really hasn't been there during CPJ's tenure. That combination gets the ball to the best option for success while still having the ability to make something out of nothing when a play breaks down. It also attracts play makers to the team. The numbers are great this year, setting an upward trend for future years and attractive to even more talent.

 

[GlennW]

Recruiting (on the offense) does not seem to be an issue either with offense results like this. The challenge is matching these offensive stats with similar defensive results. This is likely a result of poor recruiting and a sound scheme based on our SA abilities. Hopefully, the recent progress on D is going to continue and mature into mid D1 rankings. If that can happen, we will be successful for years to come.

I think if you look around all programs, not just GA Tech, you'll see that we aren't alone in that defenses seem to be the achilles heel of their respective teams. I think that the way College Football has evolved, offense has become more "protected" and evolved than the defensive side of the Line of Scrimmage, and, therefore, having the dominant defenses we've seen in past years just aren't that common.

This shouldn't mean we have to be in the middle of the pack, or bottom third, of the programs out there, but I think we need to find a way to have our defense to find a way to make more stops, including getting turnovers so that our offense can wear opposing defenses down and score points, causing opposing offenses to press, which might give our defense a chance to dictate more than react, making them even more effective.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Clemson will be our biggest challenge (for the O) this year. They have a helluva D. But don't sleep on NC St today...they have a Dline that could give us trouble. Am I really worried?...not much. Our Oline is our strength this year and I expect them to contiue to play well.

 

[GlennW]

Here's something else I just found:

@ColeMareno: craziest stat you'll see all day: Georgia Tech has gone 3 and out an FBS low EIGHT times this season, running the football 76% of the time.

 

[awbuzz]

Great stats. Come bowl game hope we hold our current ratings for the O and see the D's ratings continue to improve.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Our SID really needs to push this info to the talking heads. Its the only way to start changing perceptions. The facts are the facts but the TV morons have to be spoon fed them.

 

[iceeater1969]

Clemson will be our biggest challenge (for the O) this year. They have a helluva D. But don't sleep on NC St today...they have a Dline that could give us trouble. Am I really worried?...not much. Our Oline is our strength this year and I expect them to contiue to play well.

Coach has changed from recruiting Short, short armed - 270# line men to taller 6-3 or more and 300# or more line men. With all other top schools taking the even larger players we are finding a sweet spot for some good talent. I really like the fact that against teams with no large lb we could ishift to the wishbone / veer and pound some teams. The blocking is not that different.

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Our offensive system has never been a question to me. Recruiting and coaching the QB has been my question which is being answered by JT. Working hard and smart at recruiting especially for the defense has been the flaw.

It's having the players to run the system--which we haven't had--and it's executing the system, which we haven't had. We are doing well, but no one would call us a complete team. And that has been our trademark: good to outstanding on offense, weak to atrocious on defense, year after year.

 

[GT_B]

Guys...why are even discussing this..our offense is a gimmick. Only highschool teams run this offense and Tech will never habe success until we scrap the option...

Am I doing this right?

 

[gtg936g]

I went to a high school game last night. I saw an up tempo spread scheme with good players and coaches get shut down by an average under center team that could run the football. For all the hype that high flying offenses get, I still believe running the football leads to success.

 

[Boomergump]

I went to a high school game last night. I saw an up tempo spread scheme with good players and coaches get shut down by an average under center team that could run the football. For all the hype that high flying offenses get, I still believe running the football leads to success.

Running the football successfully has always ranked right up there with TOs as a predictor of winning. Just look at last game against UVA.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Guys...why are even discussing this..our offense is a gimmick. Only highschool teams run this offense and Tech will never habe success until we scrap the option...

Am I doing this right?

Not really. The reason our D is so bad is that it practices against our O. (tic)

I think our unadjusted for opponent stats will fall off by the end of the season with Clemson, UGAg and a good bowl opponent. But these numbers are damn good.

How much better would our O numbers be if our D got off the field as much as a top 40 D????? Obviously the total game O stats would be better (total TDs, # of first downs, yards per game) but the percentages and points per drive would be the same or lower since we'd have a lot more trash drives sitting on the lead. Great problem to have

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Remember it is just a high school offense. We will never be able to compete.

That's just because we've never faced a high school defense.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

That's a good point. Everyone we face runs high school defenses apparently.