Georgia Tech had a chance to show they were turning their season around yesterday in Blacksburg, but they had more of the same errors that plagued them in their prior three losses, and the Yellow Jackets were beaten by the Hokies 34-24 and dropped to 2-4 ahead of their homecoming date with Boston College.
When looking at yesterday's performance, whose stock rose and whose fell?
Stock up: Alberto Mendoza
I will go to bat for Mendoza and I think he has played well this year considering the offensive line situation is among the worst in the ACC, the running game has not been what they program had hoped, and he is a first time starter with now six career starts under his belt.
Mendoza made some mistakes yesterday with an interception and he held the ball loose at times, but he set a new career high in passing yards and was the best part of the Georgia Tech offensive attack yesterday. If Georgia Tech can improve the other parts of its team, they can win with Mendoza.
Stock down: Georgia Tech defense
The Yellow Jackets defense has been rough for most of the season, but they made things too easy at times for Virginia Tech.
The first drive of the game for the Hokies went 75-yards in three plays and then the second drive went seven plays and 80 yards. Before you know it, the Hokies were up 14-0 and had only ran 10 plays.
The good news was that the Yellow Jackets finally got some pressure on the QB, totaling five sacks and racking up eight TFLs. Still, they are too inconsistent and give up too many big plays to be trusted week-to-week.
Stock up: Jordan Allen
Georgia Tech lost a lot of receiver talent in the transfer portal this offseason and did not have a lot of proven production. The Yellow Jackets only had two receivers who had caught a touchdown at the power four level coming into the year, with Allen being one of them, and he has been the top target for Mendoza and one of the most underrated receivers in the ACC.
Yesterday, Allen pulled in 10 of 13 targets for over 100 yards and was a consistent threat for Mendoza. He will need to keep up the high level of production as Georgia Tech is not getting very much aside from him and Dalen Penson.
Stock Down: Georgia Tech's red-zone scoring
The Yellow Jackets fumbled the ball out of the endzone on their first drive and cost themselves seven points. Later in the game, Aidan missed a 32-yard field goal that would have cut the lead to two-scores.
When you lose by 10 points and you gave up 10 points with red-zone opportunities, that is a hard pill to swallow.
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