Article GT vs UCF Postgame Thread

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Shorthanded Jackets Fall Short In Home Opener

Jahmyr Gibbs (21) runs for a touchdown (Hyosub Shin / ajc.com)

Atlanta, GA – Down six starters and depth at key positions, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-1, 1-0) faded late Saturday night in their first home tilt of the 2020 season.  The Central Florida Knights (1-0, 0-0), a respected top 25 program over the last few years, emerged victorious by a final score of 49-21.

The Jackets entered the game with gaps and question marks across its Above The Line (ATL) depth chart when compared to preseason expectations.  Absent from the offense today were starters RB Jordan Mason and TE Dylan Deveney.  Another TE, Dylan Leonard, was a scratch.

The damage done to the defense made matters worse.  Tech’s defensive line was missing starters DE Antonneous Clayton, DT TK Chimedza and DL Antwan Owens along with key rotational player DE Curtis Ryans, a key cog in the Jackets’ week 1 win against Florida State.  Tech’s top CB Tre Swilling also missed his second consecutive game.

“We had to get creative in practice this week… minimal 12 personnel on offense and three down linemen on defense,” said Head Coach Geoff Collins in his postgame interview with radioman Wiley Ballard.

Let’s be clear.  Neither Collins nor the players claimed moral victories.  Save those for today’s victor who is wont for fabricated titles and hardware.

For Tech the mantra is next man up.  The team fought valiantly, showing signs of life into the 4th quarter against an opponent that most outside of the Georgia Tech program expected to roll easily today.  A 33-yard touchdown run by true freshman RB Jahmyr Gibbs narrowed the Knights’ lead to 28-21 with 13:12 remaining in the game.  The home crowd was energized as was the home team.

But football games are won on the line of scrimmage, and Tech began with one hand tied behind its back on the defensive front.  Evidence of wear and tear to that unit showed itself late as the Knights’ vaunted offense reasserted itself in the 4th quarter, scoring three consecutive touchdowns immediately after Gibbs’ jaunt without much resistance.  Tech’s offense sputtered in response, and the final chapter of the story was written.

Despite the absence of key players, the Jackets had plenty of opportunities within their control to affect the outcome of the game.  Turnovers and special teams often determine college football games and today was no different.

Following an impressive first game despite a few mistakes, QB Jeff Sims led a Tech offense today that coughed up the ball five times.  Of the Jackets five turnovers, two came thru the air and three came via the ground game.

Special teams was a mixed bag.  Rarely is “mixed bag” a positive, however after the debacle in Tallahassee that descriptor is an improvement.  The Jackets must resolve its field goal issues to become a threat in the ACC this year and in the future.  See 2014.  Otherwise, “mixed bag” will lead to a new definition for “scoring range”.

There were certainly signs of light.  Jahmyr Gibbs lived up to his billing, ripping off a 75 yard kickoff return on his first collegiate touch.  Gibbs finished with 219 all purpose yards and two touchdowns. 

Tech’s offense has now shown a pattern of improvement as compared to last year.  Sims led the offense to 471 yards of total offense.  Nine different receivers caught balls for 244 yards thru the air, demonstrating a balance and proficiency without needing to rely on one or two playmakers.  To that end, noticeably absent despite the team success were WR Ahmarean Brown and WR Jalen Camp, each of which tallied a single reception for 11 yards.

The Jackets managed 12 chunk plays, defined as passing plays of 15+ yards and running plays of 10+ yards.  The distribution was an even 6 and 6, respectively.  Overall the offense produced 5.8 yards per play and converted 7 of 15 third downs.

Last but certainly not least, punter Pressley Harvin remained an “absolute unit”, averaging 51.2 yards per punt.  Of his four punts, three ended up inside the 20, with one boom ball traveling 70 yards.

Ultimately it was feast or famine on offense.  Combined with a shorthanded defense forced to play 92 plays, the flood gates opened late for Tech’s foe.  Next week brings Tech back into ACC play with a road trip to Syracuse and an opportunity to go 2-0 in ACC play.

 
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wesgt123

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Quick post game observations:
1. Gibbs/Sims gonna be good.
2. Refs sucked butthole.
3. That offense UCF has is the biggest cheat code. They’re so fast they don’t even give enough time to call down for a review.
4. We are not as good as we thought after the FSU game. Better, but not as good as we thought.
 

Gt2019

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My observations:
1: Gibbs is going to be crazy good
2: sims is making true frosh mistakes but still looks better then anyone lasts year
3: Harvin is really really good and a difference maker
4: the refs sucked
5: ucf fans are worse then dawg fans, sorry had to say it
6: we should’ve ran the ball and not relied on sims that much
 

85Escape

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Everybody knew this was not going to be an easy win. If they didn’t, then they should have. UCF is a good team, and they would give most other teams in the country a run for their money at the very least.

I agree with all your positive stuff, so thanks. But we are going to have to disagree with UCF being such a good team. They are a good team, but that's it. They aren't worthy of half the praise they were getting from the Disney-employed hacks announcing the game. Now I really, really hope they get to play a really good P5 team. They'll get steam-rolled in my opinion. I think if we'd have more of our lineup out there we could have won this, but without Mason and the others it was a really, really tall task.
 

techfan#14

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Here is my take. Refs missed some major calls that drove me nuts. I hate that the score does not indicate how the game played out. Secondary was tested and i was let down in that outcome. Turnovers are killing us. Gibbs looked the part and I am still impressed with with Simms ability to throw the ball. I know he missed several receivers but he still puts the ball in good spots especially to his RBs. OL didnt perform as well as I hoped but not bad either.
 

85Escape

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Well, at least I can salve my pride on a 7 - 14 point win prediction by saying that it was predicated on pounding Mason up the middle for 20 plays to wear them out. And there was a moment when I thought we might pull it off there in the fourth. Then the wheels fell off and our guys got their heads on backward from exhaustion on D.
 

CINCYMETJACKET

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Well that’s what happens when you let AAC refs work the game. So whoever (Stansbury?) agreed to that is a loser. Either ACC or third party.

If I'm not mistaken, and I can be from time to time, for non-conference games, the refs are usually from the away conference. Correct me if I am wrong. And if the refs can't perform their job fairly, they shouldn't have jobs. And that would fall on AD Stansbury to point that out.
 

lv20gt

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Overall I liked that the offense seemed to reinforce what they showed last week in terms of having an identity and showing the ability to consistently move the ball. There are obviously still flaws that need to be addressed, not all of which an be this year, but still looks to be going in the right direction. Certainly still looks like we are going in the right direction from last year. Would be nice if our OL could step up in the run game and we could establish it a little bit more going forward to take the pressure off Sims. We can move when we're just playing within ourselves, but he tried to force the issue more than he should have today.

Defense, I liked the adjustments we made in the second half until late when it became clear that we wouldn't be able to score enough to win and the defense seemed to just be deflated after that. Hard to really judge because of the missing pieces and because of the super uptempo nature where it seemed like they did a lot of their damage. I feel like this year we'll have an okay defense that will give us chances in most of our games like they somehow did today. But we still have issues that I don't think can be addressed except through recruiting. Would be nice if we could get everyone to play though.
 

Dottie1145

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The good:
•Jordan Williams played another great game.
•Chico Bennett and Jared Ivey will become a dynamic duo in 3rd down situations in the near future
•Gibbs is the real deal. Looked like Jamaal Charles today.
•Demetrious Knight is a baller, needs to play more.
•Sims is going to be a Star


The Bad:
•Turnovers
•Awareness of Coaching Staff when subbing against the fastest offense in the country
•End of half clock management(we should not have spiked the ball)

The Ugly:
•Coach Collins Vest
•Coach P relying too much on the pass in early down situations


We just played a good team, I’m not discouraged.
 

JacketOff

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I agree with all your positive stuff, so thanks. But we are going to have to disagree with UCF being such a good team. They are a good team, but that's it. They aren't worthy of half the praise they were getting from the Disney-employed hacks announcing the game. Now I really, really hope they get to play a really good P5 team. They'll get steam-rolled in my opinion. I think if we'd have more of our lineup out there we could have won this, but without Mason and the others it was a really, really tall task.
UCF easily finishes in the top half of any division in college football. They’re in what I defined as the second tier, or at the very least, the third tier. On par with schools like Iowa, Nebraska, Miami, South Carolina, Oklahoma State, etc.

Would the team that they put on the field survive an entire season against a P5 conference schedule? I don’t know. It’s a hypothetical with no way to answer it. But they also don’t have the advantages that P5 schools have access to either. The difference in TV deals alone is worth multiple millions of dollars per year. But in a 1 game shootout, UCF puts up a good game against anybody outside the very top tier.

Tech could’ve put themselves in position to win this game, but they didn’t, and they got boat races and embarrassed because of it. I’m not really focused or concerned about what UCF has done, or will do. I‘m excited for the future of Georgia Tech football, and think that we can get into that top 2-3 tier of college football where we belong. We’re not there yet, and there are going to be hiccups like we saw today along the way. The the trend line is going up. I just hope todays game doesn’t ruin that trajectory.
 

stech81

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Ok i'm a little drunk but thought about the game .
6 turnovers are bad but we can work on that.
Sims will be fine he will have good and bad games just need Coach P to sit down and show him his mistakes. Remember Joe Hamilton didn't set the world on fire his freshman year )
Gibbs will be a great back and Griffin and Smith are also good.

But what hurt the most was Mason being out. we get with in 7 points in the 4th quarter and their defense was gassed think about Mason running up the middle on a gassed defense . This would open up the passing game. Mason is the kind of back you want to wear down a defense/
 

GTZachary

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Hopefully moving forward we don’t schedule a home and home with a top non-P5 team and their officials. Lose lose situation all around. I’d rather schedule UF or Tenn than do this again.
 

Tundeballer

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There probably isn't an example of a team winning a game being -4 in the turnover margin in the last few seasons. Get that fixed and we can be competitive. Injuries suck but they had guys out too.
 
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