Georgia Tech fell on the road to the Virginia Tech Hokies and are two games under .500 after the loss. The Yellow Jackets struggled, came out flat, and had few answers early. When they responded in the second half, the lead was too big to fully come back and win. They face a new challenge as they host Boston College on Saturday at home.
Georgia Tech is a favorite by the sportsbooks and most power rating systems ahead of Saturday’s game, including ESPN analyst Bill Connelly's SP+. For those that don't know, here is how Connelly describes what SP+ is: "As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking."
Georgia Tech opens as a slight favorite at home vs. Boston College. Connelly projects a 29-22 win for the Yellow Jackets over the Eagles. He gives Virginia Tech a 68% chance to beat Boston College. ESPN FPI gives Georgia Tech just a 67.1% chance to win at home and get its second conference win of the year. DraftKings also has the Yellow Jackets as a four-point favorite.
Can the Yellow Jackets have a more consistent defense
Georgia Tech was the definition of Jekyll and Hyde on Saturday vs. Virginia Tech. They looked putrid in the first half against the Hokies, missing tackles, giving up big plays, and allowing Que’Sean Brown to exploit them at will. The second half was a completely different story, as the Yellow Jackets created pressure that led to tackles for loss and sacks. They forced three-and-outs, and the Hokies' offense couldn’t get anything going for a good chunk of the quarter. The defense looked revitalized and played with more of an attack-style approach than in the first half, when they were on their heels. After that strong stretch, the Yellow Jackets defense struggled again and allowed the Hokies to get the run game going and regain control of the game. Virginia Tech ultimately finished it out with one long drive marked by big plays. On Saturday, the defense was too up and down for the Yellow Jackets to come out on top.
"We had more guys around the ball. And look, at the end of the day, in the second half, we were able to get pressure. When you're able to get pressure on the quarterback, it helps the back end out a lot. But in the first half, way too many times, it was one single guy. And reaching, lunging at the guy. We were in post-safety coverage, and the quarterback scrambles at one time. There was three missed tackles on that one. There was three on the running back, another play. So we came out in the second half and played tighter coverage, played more man coverage in the second half, and pressured more. And without pressure, we're able to get more hats around the football
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