There wasn’t a single knowledgeable college football that didn’t think Georgia Tech wouldn’t struggle in 2020. Inheriting a team that was built to run the triple-option, Geoff Collins is working on multiple years to re-build the team and re-vamp the talent base.
All Georgia Tech fans were looking in his first year were some positives to point to, and improvement over the course of the year. In otherwords, they just needed a little hope. Georgia Tech’s 28-21 over Miami provided that.
During the first half of the season, it was ugly. There was an acceptable to blowout loss to Clemson, but some of the others were cringe worthy. There was a loss to the Citadel, a 24-2 loss at Temple where the offense looked completely dysfunctional, and double digit losses to UNC and Duke.
Many wondered if there was another win on the schedule.
Geoff Collins and his team went to Miami to face a Canes team that was 14 points in their losses from being undefeated. Miami is arguably in the top 3 of the ACC in terms of pure talent, but have a new coach too in Manny Diaz, and have struggled to finish off games. When they play closer to their talent level, they can do things like beat a good Virginia team, and come within a series of beating a top 15 team like Florida.
The problem is they often don’t play to their talent level, and the QB position has become a huge question mark. Still you didn’t expect a loss to Georgia Tech.
Credit Geoff Collins and staff for getting maximum effort out of their team today. Georgia Tech was clearly out-manned, but executed as well as they have all year despite a slew of penalties. A move to simplify the offense to a short passing game, with quick hitters, and a focus on the run game resulted in 345 yards of offense and 207 on the ground. If there’s anything Georgia Tech’s offense knows how to do it’s run block.
Georgia Tech ran the ball 45 times today vs 19 passes.
You know Collins would prefer more balance, but the object is play to your strengths and try to win games. Georgia Tech didn’t abandon the pass throwing 18 times, including a 41 yard pass play on a fake punt, but as we’ve said for weeks, Georgia Tech needs to primarily run the ball and shorten the game to help their defense.
The Georgia Tech team showed a lot of growth today, but so did the coaching staff by displaying the ability to modify their offense to their personnel. Georgia Tech needs a miracle to go bowling , but if they finish with another win or two in the second half of the season Jacket fans will be satisfied with the progress made in year 1 of the Geoff Collins tenure.
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