Georgia Tech's options prove too much for Hokies

By foxsports
Published

CFN's Instant Analysis of No. 19 Georgia Tech's 28-23 win over No. 4 Virginia Tech:


Unstoppable offense




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Here's a tip for Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Duke and Georgia: Start preparing for Georgia Tech right now. Not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now. Virginia, you're too late.

Georgia Tech's offense is unstoppable for several reasons. First, it's because the option really does work, but the times when it doesn't end up getting all the attention. Second, it's because head coach Paul Johnson has the right pieces in place with speed, talent and experience. And third, no one else has any time to prepare.


Miami had 10 days after the Florida State game to work on the Yellow Jackets. LSU had a month before the Chick-fil-A Bowl and shot the attack down. This isn't the NFL, where teams can spend as much time as needed on the field to work on the finer points and the nuances. In a regular week, a college team has a few practices to try to get ready, and realistically, the team gets only one really good practice and there's no way to properly simulate Georgia Tech's speed and efficiency. The final five teams on the Yellow Jackets' schedule have a mere week to get ready, and even though three of the final four ACC games are on the road and even with Georgia to finish things up, Tech might run the table and be 11-1 unless everyone starts to prepare to tomorrow morning.

— Pete Fiutak















Hot hand at QB



Paul Johnson has a hot quarterback running his triple option. The rest of the ACC ought to be very afraid.

A picture of inconsistency for the past year, junior Josh Nesbitt has seen the light in the past month, guiding Georgia Tech to four consecutive wins and deep into the top 25. He has pitched at the right time, run roughshod through opposing defenses and had more of a presence in the Yellow Jackets' huddle. When the game was on the line late in the fourth quarter, he ended Virginia Tech's comeback bid with an absolutely gorgeous, 39-yard scamper down the left sideline. Over the past four games, Nesbitt has accounted for 10 touchdowns and rushed for more than 400 yards. In Saturday's pivotal win, he completed a single pass. Nothing more was needed.

In Johnson's offense, you only go as far as the quarterback can take you. The way he has been playing, Nesbitt looks capable of taking 6-1 Georgia Tech a long, long way.

— Richard Cirminiello










Reality for Hokies






1. Bud Foster won the first half, but Paul Johnson won the second half by making the right halftime adjustments. Because Tyrod Taylor isn't an elite quarterback, the Hokies weren't able to turn a strong first-half performance into a considerable scoreboard advantage. Sound familiar, Oklahoma and Arkansas?

Virginia Tech fans will be devastated after this loss because of developments over the previous few weeks, but when the sun comes up Sunday morning in Blacksburg, Hokies fans should be able to find perspective and peace. They'll realize, with due sobriety, that Taylor is not a national title quarterback and that Frank Beamer doesn't have a national title-caliber team. That's no insult or putdown. Virginia Tech's offenses have rarely if ever been good enough to grab the ultimate brass ring; only during the Michael Vick years did BeamerBall ever have a chance of claiming the crystal. As long as this program is winning ACC titles — and that's still well within reach for the Hokies — they're fulfilling their potential and achieving their objectives.

2. It took a while, but this is the Georgia Tech team that many expected to see at the start of the season. Josh Nesbitt still makes a few poor decisions and Paul Johnson threw the ball a few times too many in the fourth quarter, but the triple option is finally clicking, the standard-bearer of the ACC has been beaten and the prestige of the Yellow Jackets' program has been elevated to an even greater extent. Georgia Tech delivered a small statement to the college football world when the Jackets narrowly lost at Virginia Tech last season (and would have won if Nesbitt had completed a downfield pass to a wide-open receiver); this win in Atlanta represented the much-bigger broadcast the Rambling Wreck needed to make. Don't knock Virginia Tech; praise Georgia Tech for rising to the challenge and throwing the ACC into its typical state of October chaos (in both divisions, not just the Atlantic).

— Matt Zemek













Difficult schemes