Georgia Tech: Tar Heels About To Run Into A Buzz Saw

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 23: Offensive tackle Bailey Ivemeyer
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 23: Offensive tackle Bailey Ivemeyer /
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Georgia Tech (2-1) didn’t win a beauty contest last Saturday in the win against Pitt. With UNC this week, they’ll look to shore things up.

Did that header seem too dismissive? It probably is. North Carolina certainly could win this Saturday against Georgia Tech. But is that likely? Really? This is one of those games where it is just hard to get there.

UNC (1-3) has lost 3 of 4. In the process of losing those 3 games, they have suffered catastrophic injuries to their best players. I could spend time and space making that reality more nuanced, but some things are just plainly obvious. Those two facts are in that latter category. They lost games and got hurt doing it.

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Georgia Tech, on the other hand, just beat another struggling team in Pittsburgh, but didn’t look very good doing it. Specifically, the Yellow Jackets have fumbled the ball 11 times in their 3 games played. They recovered 4 of 6 of those in the first 2 games.

Simple math shows that they fumbled 5 times against Pitt and lost 4 of them. Most teams who do that lose the game. GT won 35-17. That seems impossible in any objective world.

But they did. And that is because, when they aren’t fumbling the ball, they are moving the ball, controlling clock, and scoring. Knowing that Coach Johnson will be focused on that this week, if they fumble a bunch this week, there is a problem. My guess is, though, that they fix it, and they roll.

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: Tennessee Game A Matter Of Mental Toughness

Prediction: Georgia Tech 38, North Carolina 17