Georgia Tech returns to the site of the most significant win of coach Geoff Collins’ first season hoping for a similar result.
The Yellow Jackets will play Miami on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, where in 2019 they took advantage of three missed field-goal attempts by the Hurricanes (one blocked), a defensive touchdown scored by defensive tackle Ja’Quon Griffin, a touchdown off an all-time fake punt (a 41-yard pass from Pressley Harvin to Nathan Cottrell) and an overtime fourth-down stop by inches (by safety Tariq Carpenter) to prevail 28-21. The Jackets won as 18-point underdogs and broke a four-game losing streak.
Tech (3-5, 2-4 ACC) may not require all of those breaks Saturday, but as a 10.5-point underdog, it wouldn’t mind at least a few of them. Miami (4-4, 2-2) has won its past two games, both over ranked opponents. The Jackets head to Miami having lost their past two, both games that they believe could have been won with more attention to detail and fewer mistakes.
“They know the things and the reasons that we need to get better and will get better, but the belief in that locker room is still high,” Collins said.
Five things to know before Saturday’s game:
1. Heat is on secondary
Against Tech, Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett recorded his highest passing-efficiency rating against a power-conference opponent since November 2018. The next week, Duke quarterback Gunnar Holmberg established his career high in passing efficiency against the Jackets. Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong didn’t set any career marks against Tech, but he left a nice-sized dent in the Jackets – 495 yards of total offense, second most ever against a Tech defense. Last week, Virginia Tech quarterback Braxton Burmeister threw for a career-high 254 yards against the Jackets.
Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who in the past two games has completed 76% of his passes and averaged 10 yards per attempt, will take his turn Saturday. Tech coaches contended this week, though, that the Jackets secondary played better against the Hokies.
Collins said that, outside of the two decisive pass plays of 61 and 69 yards, the Virginia Tech game arguably was the secondary’s best. There were several plays in which Jackets defensive backs prevented completions. Defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker said that the secondary is becoming more cohesive and making progress, but has to be more consistent.
“Just hate that those two plays happened to them because the rest of them, they played pretty solid,” Collins said.
They can show more evidence Saturday.
2. A look at Miami’s defense
Patenaude on Miami’s defense:
“Miami’s defense is what you’d think. They’re long, they’re fast, they’re super athletic. They run to the ball, they try to notch you up and try to put their pads on you. They’re very boisterous, and that’s how they play.”
The Hurricanes have faced five of the top 13 offenses in FBS in yards per play – Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan State, Alabama and Pittsburgh – and held four of the five under their season yards-per-play averages.
The Hurricanes have freshman starters at both safety spots – Kam Kinchens and James Williams – and one at cornerback, Marcus Clarke.
“So they have a little bit younger group out there, but super athletic, super talented,” Patenaude said. “They’re going to challenge you. They play a lot of man coverage, and they get up and bump-and-run, and they are going to try to get you off your game, disrupt routes, that type of thing.”
3. Miami on offense
Van Dyke has made five career starts since taking over for D’Eriq King, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury. A second-year freshman, Van Dyke was recruited by Tech coaches coming out of high school in Connecticut. He has been named ACC rookie of the week each of the past two weeks, leading the Hurricanes to wins over N.C. State and Pittsburgh, both of whom were ranked at the time. Thacker called Van Dyke “a natural, pure thrower.”
“You can see their confidence in him to throw it,” Thacker said. “They’re sitting back there, they’re seven-man protecting at times and running three-man routes, and he’s firing ‘em in there.”
Miami will challenge the Jackets and Thacker with as fast a play-to-play tempo as they’ve seen this season. The Hurricanes will snap the ball with as many as 30 seconds remaining on the play clock. On top of that, they incorporate a large number of formations.
“They’re trying to philosophically make you play less aggressive,” Thacker said.
Tech defenders will have to communicate well, absorb play calls quickly and recognize their assignments, which they’ve not always done well this season. In game planning, Thacker was trying to find a balance between being complex in scheme but not at the expense of being too complicated for his defense, particularly when the pace of Miami’s offense will induce fatigue and make pre-snap communication more difficult.
4. Needing third-down solutions
Patenaude pointed out a particular third-down challenge that the Jackets have. Tech can make third-and-short plays and can make third-and-long plays, but third-and-medium has been trouble.
In the past four games, the Jackets were 4-for-8 on third down with between one and three yards to go. On third down and between four and seven yards, they’re 8-for-23. They actually haven’t been great past that – 3-for-12 between third-and-7 and third-and-10, and then 1-for-9 on third-and-11 or longer.
“The third-and-mediums have been totally inconsistent,” Patenaude said. “Whether it’s a run or a throw, a few drops, a few missed targets, a few pressures and that’s chasing you off (the field). So you just can’t rely on you’re going to hit that shot or you’re going to break a huge run.”
For the season, the Jackets rank last in the ACC at 35% on third down. (In league play, the number drops to 28.4%, still last.) Last season, they were seventh in the conference at 41.1%.
Miami ranks 12th in the ACC in defensive third-down conversion rate at 41.6%. Patenaude said he and the staff have studied their third-and-medium shortcomings to figure out solutions.
“I think that’s the next step, really just being consistent and being able to move those chains on those third-and-mediums,” he said.
5. Healthier offensive line
Patenaude said of the offensive line Tuesday that “we’ll have some guys back, and we’ll have more depth.” The lineman that the Jackets could use most is right tackle Jordan Williams, whose return would enable Ryan Johnson to move back from right tackle (where he had been subbing for Williams) to right guard. Backups Kenneth Kirby and Nick Pendley also have been out.
Another player whose return from injury has been awaited is defensive end Keion White, the grad transfer from Old Dominion who has yet to play this season. This week, linebacker Quez Jackson declared him “a dawg” – not the kind from Athens – and repeated it multiple times, as though to stress his White’s ferocity.
“I can’t wait till he gets on the field, for sure,” Jackson said.
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