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Monday, September 8, 2008
Georgia Tech can win the ACC Coastal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Five things we learned over the weekend:
1. Georgia Tech can win the ACC Coastal: As our Mark Bradley wrote on Sunday, there were a lot of things, tangible and intangible, that went into the Yellow Jackets’ 19-16 win at Boston College. But more than anything, the victory was a testament to the ability of Paul Johnson and the Georgia Tech coaching staff to get their guys in a mindset to keep playing and keep pushing for the entire 60 minutes of the game. People forget how long a college football game really is and a lot of times the biggest challenge is to forget mistakes and just keep playing hard and believing that good things are going to eventually happen. Georgia Tech did that and did what well-coached teams do: They made their own breaks when the game was on the line.
So let’s look at the landscape of the ACC Coastal: Virginia Tech struggled for the second consecutive week before finally putting away Furman 24-7. Miami is better on defense but does not have many playmakers on offense. North Carolina struggled with McNeese State. Virginia got its doors blown off by Southern Cal and led Division I-AA Richmond by only 3-0 midway through the fourth quarter before winning 16-0. Duke is going to be better but still doesn’t have the athletes it needs to win more than just a few games.
If Tech can win at Virginia Tech this week, the Jackets will be 2-0 in the ACC with both wins coming on the road. Put another way, Tech will have four of its final six conference games at home. That’s huge.
2. Georgia needs to find a pass rush: When you’re No. 2 in the nation and thinking SEC championship, it is necessary to nitpick and find whatever weaknesses you still have and address them before the conference season starts.
Georgia was impressive in the 56-17 win over Central Michigan but after the game it was clear that the Bulldogs still need somebody to step up and assume the David Pollock—Quentin Moses—Charles Johnson—Marcus Howard role as the overwhelming pass rusher off the edge.
The Bulldogs had only one quarterback sack (that coming from linebacker Rennie Curran) against Central Michigan but there may be a couple of opportunities coming up. South Carolina’s offensive line continues to be a mess with poor protection and a lot of false starts. Arizona State gave up 55 sacks a year ago. If Georgia can pressure the quarterback the Bulldogs will win both games.
3. Florida needs to find a running back not named Tebow: Florida has more guys who can run fast and make plays than any team in the country. The Gators had enough to beat Miami 26-3 Saturday night because the Hurricanes don’t have any playmakers other than QB Robert Marve.
But sooner or later Florida is going to have to run the ball between the tackles in order to hold on to the lead against a quality SEC opponent. Florida needs a big, durable back in the Erict Rhett mold who can pound on defenses and wear them down. Emmanuel Moody, the transfer from Southern Cal, was supposed to fill that role but he has somehow found his way into Urban Meyer’s doghouse.
Florida appears to have improved on defense so this, in MHO, is the Gators’ most glaring weakness as they head to Tennessee on Sept. 20 after being off this week.
4. East Carolina is not a Cinderella: I thought East Carolina’s best hope of beating West Virginia on Saturday was to control the football on offense, kind of hang close and find a way to steal the game in the fourth quarter. East Carolina had a better idea. The Pirates simply lined up and kicked the Mountaineers’ butt from the opening whistle to the final horn.
This is a good football team with a great quarterback (Patrick Pinkney) and a very good defense that has now beaten the defending champions in both the ACC (Virginia Tech) and Big East.
East Carolina, now ranked No. 14, is capable of winning every game it plays this season. And if the Pirates go 13-0 and win the Conference USA championship, they will have beaten four BCS teams (Virginia Tech, West Virginia, N.C. State, Virginia) in their non-conference schedule. None of the other leading potential BCS party crashers (Fresno State, Utah, BYU) can make that claim.
5. Ole Miss is going to beat some people: The Rebels got a very tough pass interference call (Coach Houston Nutt would probably use another word) that put the best place-kicker in college football (Wake Forest’s Sam Swank) in position to kick a 41-yard field goal to beat the Rebels 30-28. It was a heartbreaking loss for Ole Miss, but when I talked to Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe on Sunday, he predicted that good things are ahead for the Rebels.
“I know that there are some great teams on that side of the SEC, but I’m telling you that Ole Miss is going to beat some people before this season is over,” Grobe said. “That was a really good football team we beat and we were fortunate to win.”
Ole Miss found out this weekend that QB Jevan Snead is the real deal. He led the Rebels down the field and had apparently won the game with a five-yard touchdown pass with 1:05 left.
“I was proud of the way Jevan played. He has become the leader on this team,” Nutt told me on Sunday. Ole Miss gets Samford and Vanderbilt at home in the next two games before going to Florida on Sept. 27.
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