Three Biggest Storylines For Georgia Tech's ACC Battle Vs Duke

Georgia Tech is back home for a matchup against ACC rival Duke, coming into town fresh off a bye week. The Yellow Jackets are looking to earn their second win of the season and pull off an upset over the Blue Devils, who will look to keep rolling. Let’s take a look at three storylines to watch in this game.

What is the health of the Yellow Jackets?

This is the biggest storyline heading into the week, and we likely won’t have answers until Wednesday, when the injury report comes out. This was the injury report from two weeks ago against Stanford:

DB Jayleb Mbakwe (starting CB)
RB Malachi Hosley (backup RB)
DE Jordan Walker (starting DE)
S Savion Riley (Starting Safety)
WR Darnell Collins
CB Trae Stevenson Jr (backup CB)
S Fenix Felton (backup safety)
S Will Kiker
LB Kyle Efford (starting LB)
OL Jameson Riggs (starting center)
OL Josh Petty
OL Ethan Mackenny (starting LT)
WR Kentrell Davis
WR Coi Jean-Noel
DE A.J. Hoffler (backup DE)
DT Derry Norris Jr
DT Shymeik Jones (backup DT)

The Yellow Jackets also suffered more injuries in the game, including the loss of starting cornerback Daiquan White. We also don’t know who will suit up on the offensive line, which had to play four backups in the last game. Injuries have taken their toll, and hopefully we will hear good news once the injury report comes out with more players returning.

What will the defense look like?

As a whole, the Yellow Jackets defense hasn’t been good enough for them to win games. They've had lapses in pass and run defense throughout the year. You can point to injuries, but everyone has injuries to deal with throughout the season. The Yellow Jackets have struggled with depth, and players who have stepped in haven’t performed at a high enough level. They have one of the best rush offenses coming into town this upcoming week, with Duke coming to town. Duke has the No. 12 rush offense, averaging 243.5 yards per game.

The Yellow Jackets looked better a week ago against Stanford in their run defense, but they haven’t faced a talent like this all season. The Yellow Jackets also struggled to defend the pass in their last outing against Stanford, giving up nearly 400 passing yards. Will they be able to shore up these areas against a good offense in the ACC? That will go a long way in determining whether they can pull off this upset and win the game.

"One thing I don't think we did a good enough job in was, again, still a major work in progress, stopping the run and consistently running. You have guys rocking back, some guys staying frontside. You know, we didn't do it worth a crap setting edges early on.And you can't play good run defense if you don't set edges and you play downhill with your backers, right? But they got to know where to be and what to do. And when you start moving the front around, right, trying to disrupt the things in the front, you know, it's hard for them because they don't know where those gaps are going to end up."

Will things finally change?

The Georgia Tech fan base has continued to back this team despite the slow start to the season. To keep them showing up, this football team needs changes across the board. It starts with the coaching, scheming, and players playing up to their potential. Georgia Tech did a better job getting off to a better start .than Stanford, but they needs to sustain it throughout games.

They also need to be better situationally and avoid boneheaded penalties or miscommunications in critical moments. That can be fixed with better attention to detail and more experience. Defensively, there have been good moments, but there have also been lapses. It has to be better, and it starts with the front seven being better against the run. With some time, we should hopefully see some of their cornerbacks return to help the team with some of the issues.

“I'm a massive Georgia Tech fan, right? Even if I wasn’t the coach and I'd be pissed as hell at the head coach, if I was out there in the stands, I'd be pissed off. I'd wonder what in the hell is going on. We got to get it fixed. That's the reality of it. So, I'm not saying anything other than what's coming from the bottom of my heart. And you know, I stood in front of the team this morning and had a long meeting with them and spoke the same way, but also the reality of things have to change,” said Key.

Add us as a preferred source on Google