Georgia Tech Football: Tech Escapes With A Win vs. UNC

Georgia Tech Football, despite their best efforts to lose, held on to a 38-28 win vs. UNC to keep their Coastal hopes alive!

After the first second half drive by Georgia Tech Football in which they went 75 yards in 12 plays, Tech took a 28-10 lead and it looked like the game was over. The defense had only given up 3 points and the offense under Tobias Oliver was operating swiftly.

However in typical Atlanta sports fashion, that didn’t happen. The law of “of course” came into play as the Yellow Jackets went 3 straight drives (12:53) without scoring, with a fumble, turnover on downs, and another fumble.

Fumbles have been the story of this season, with Tech fumbling in every game this year (counting fumbles forced but not recovered). Tech’s offense has fumbled 28 times this season (11 recovered) and in 3 of their 4 losses, have fumbled more than 4 times.

Luckily the 4 fumbles (3 recovered) today didn’t make Georgia Tech lose, but they made the game closer than it needed to be.

Georgia Tech ran for 461 yards today and 5 touchdowns, but the real story today was the defense. The defense, under first-year coordinator Nate Woody, has gained a new identity as the aggressor on the field. 

After only forcing 10 turnovers in 11 games (5 games without a turnover), Tech has forced 16 turnovers already in only 9 games, forcing at least one every game. Tech also only needs 3.5 sacks in their final 3 games to equal their sack total from last year.

This new style of aggressive defense has proved itself this year and once Woody can get a full use of his players, this defense could be one of the best in the ACC.

The quarterback “controversy” has also most likely been solved, with TaQuon Marshall being taken out for Tobias Oliver early in the game.

While Oliver limits your offense a little by not being willing to pitch it a lot, he has some of the intangibles you can’t teach, and with more practice can be a great player in this offense.

Next week, the Yellow Jackets will host the 5-3 Miami Hurricanes in what’s essentially a knockout game for the ACC Coastal.