Yeah, not a lot of comfort when one of your defensive starters comes out with a blanket statement like this:
Deandre Baker was asked when the last time he has gone against an offense similar to Georgia Tech’s.
Surely he faced an option-oriented offense back in high school, right?
“I’ve never faced a triple-option,” Baker said.
Troubling, sure, but he’s a defensive back, so you have to be as worried about not giving up on the deep pass on the rare attempts when Tech’s offense strikes that way as you do in run support. Maybe more so, considering how the Jackets nailed a few big plays to beat Virginia last week.
Pass defense is not the concern with Georgia’s defensive line, where there are plenty of true freshmen getting ready to face a steady stream of cut blocks while doing their best to jam the line of scrimmage.
Freshmen defensive lineman Julian Rochester, David Marshall and Tyler Clark will play the Yellow Jackets for the first time as will sophomore Jonathan Ledbetter.
“I do think that it’s tougher when you’ve got guys who have not played against this type of offense,” Smart said. “We’ve got several defenders who have not played against this type of offense.”
Even outside linebackers Davin Bellamy and Lorenzo Carter, Smart said, played in a more limited role last year behind Jordan Jenkins and Leonard Floyd.
“It’s key when you have got guys that have played this before that understand how fast it really comes; where our freshmen probably won’t know that unless we’re able to simulate it,” Smart said.
Good luck with that this week, Coach.
Meanwhile, Paul Johnson brings out the cute.
Opponents that go up against Johnson’s offense often have the mantra that it’s “assignment football,” something Johnson says he gets a kick out of hearing.
“I don’t know any team that you play that it’s not assignment football,” he said. “We’ll see. They’re talented. What we do is a little bit different. I know we’re stressing out on how to try to block them.”
Who knew cut block prep was stressful?
Get The Picture 
“I know we’re stressing out on how to try to block them.”
Whaddya know, the Johnson knows basic poor mouth.
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A rookie head coach with little to no experience against this offense. An extremely young defense with little to no experience against this offense. It seems to me that we will need a breakout offensive performance from Eason and company to win this game.
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I guarantee Chubb and Michel are going to have a say in things, both on the field and firing up their teammates.
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As much as I hate to agree with Coach Johnson, I’ve made similar quips plenty of times regarding “assignment football.” When is it ever not assignment football?
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The difference is that against other offenses, at the point of attack, the assignment is to tackle the man with the ball. Against the option, at the point of attack, i.e. the pitch, the assignment is to tackle your man whether he has the ball or not. Guys often have a problem with this.
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Way to temper my optimism. Thanks (genuinely).
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Will Baker even be in this game? Will Georgia stay in nickel? If not which DB comes out, Maurice Smith? If Georgia insists on its standard nickel with two deep Tech will gash it.
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Johnson is going to exploit our inability to set the edge. Tech won’t have a lot of success running up the middle, but they’ll find ways to create space outside and will run for several big gains. I do not have high hopes for this game. At mid-season I felt we’d lose this game and have not changed my mind.
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I agree with your points, but I think a great offensive performance could win this game for us. Surely our offensive line and OC are due for a breakout game, right?
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One would hope, but to be brutally frank… this is the worst offensive line I’ve seen Georgia put on the field in over a decade. I had super high hopes for Brandon Kublanow going into his freshman year based on personal stories I’d heard. However, reality did not match perception. Brandon is undersized and consistently struggled against NT’s that exceed 315 lbs. In short, I don’t expect any special performance out of this OL against Tech. Hope they prove me wrong!
Besides the standard keys to victory… I think there a couple of things we must do to get the W in this game:
1.) Forcing Tech’s offense to run inside and prevent a lot of yards after contact.
2.) Our offense being productive inside the red zone and I’m not talking about field goals. We’ve got to score TD’s when we’re inside their 30 yard line.
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Kublanow out weighs all but one tech d-lineman.
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GT is no better than Kentucky or Auburn…I like the way our team has responded late in the season..
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OK..we usually win this game. We are usually ranked, with some semblance of stability in the coaching departments.
Those things aren’t there this year. This is causing some worry.
But consider…A. This offense has grown considerably since the O’Ms and Nichols St. debacles. B. I doubt GT;s defense is any better than ULL’s is. Admittedly, I’m guessing, but ULL is pretty stout for who they are.
C. If GT’s offense is so unstoppable, they would be a top ten program…but they struggle for their wins, just like Georgia has this year. D. Georgia’s defense is young but look what they did against Auburn…The late points by ULL came against reserves. These factors point to a win for UGA.
What I expect GT to do is stunt and blitz….hoping to shake up Eason and hoping to get to Chubb and Sony in the backfield. They will have some quick guys who can get around the pocket edge.. Find a way to handle that and compete a few (the counter roll out works well) and watch the running game take off.
Tech’s offense is what it is. It can be shut down…Geogia has the players to shut it down.. We need to get up by 14 early…that’s the key…show them you can score and make them try to catch up..
Now about those refs…..the refs always worry me.
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Wait Coach Richt already won this game …why are we having to play it again? O yea ,never mind. 87% winning percentage against the nerds wasn’t good enough….I forget change and hope is better…my bad.
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Fuck off. It was time for a change. This isn’t complicated. You’re just using it as an opportunity to troll.
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Put me in the camp that has given up on the offense having this elusive “breakout game” I keep hearing so much about. I reckon, that’ll come along in Year 2. Just as long as the offense stays on the field for a long time and keep the N.A,T.S. off it, the defense comes to play 3-Or-4-And-Outs and keeps the N.A.T.S. off it and special teams (and/or defense) gets us one or two of those NOTs we’ll survive. Just win.
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