Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at NC State Wolfpack preview

After a thorough beat down of the Virginia Cavaliers last week to pick up their seventh win of the season, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets travel to Raleigh, N.C. Saturday to take on a revitalized N.C. State football team. The Wolfpack picked up their first ACC victory last week after a 24-17 win at Syracuse, and while Dave Doeren’s rebuilding team is 5-4 and 5th in the Atlantic Division — they’ve looked much better recently and could be a surprising challenge at home.

Opponent: NC State Wolfpack

Time/TV: 12:30 pm ET, ESPN3

Georgia Tech Offense vs. NC State Defense

State’s defense has been pretty bad this year, and thanks to this great conversation that took place on From The Rumble Seat, I can tell you that the Wolfpack are one of the worst teams in the country when it comes to stopping third down chances. Tech? Yeah, they’re first in converting those opportunities.

To pour some gasoline on that kindling fire, it appears that the Pack isn’t too great in general defensively. They allow 4.21 yards per rush and 171.1 yards per game on the ground while ranking 63rd in total defense.

With Justin Thomas continuing to coordinate the triple-option wonderfully, while throwing for 14 touchdowns and limiting his picks to just four (even with a poor 48.4 completion percentage), things look pretty good for Paul Johnson’s offense Saturday, even without the services of Zach Laskey and Charles Perkins.

Georgia Tech Defense vs. NC State Offense

Doeren likes to run the ball quite a bit with this year’s State squad.

But where the Jackets are No. 3 in the nation when it comes to getting yards from running the ball, you have to go all the way down to No. 55 before you reach the Wolfpack and their 174.1 yards per game (4.79 yards per rush).

Still, we’ve talked about Georgia Tech being a poor run-stopping team and that’s certainly not going to just change overnight.

QB Jacoby Brissett likes to move around a bit in the pocket and can be a threat to run at times, but for the most part he’s been controlled, averaging just 2.5 yards per carry.

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The Jackets should go into this game and pick up another win, no problem. At the same time though, this State team has shown they can play a little with the big boys (they lost to FSU 56-41) and a win last week might be the spark they need to get going after a rough four-game losing streak in the weeks prior.

Stay tuned for post-game coverage, and a live game thread that will open on Saturday morning. Check it out!