Three Biggest Storylines For Georgia Tech's First ACC Game Vs Stanford

Georgia Tech turns the page this week with a new opponent coming to the Flats. The Yellow Jackets will face the Mercer Bears on Saturday at Noon and are desperately looking for their first win of the season. Today, we look at the early storylines for the Yellow Jackets and things to watch heading into this matchup.

Can The Yellow Jackets Force More Turnovers?

One of the biggest stories coming out of Week 3 was how much the defense improved with sacks and forced turnovers. They got an interception by CJ Gamble and a strip sack by Taje McCoy; both had a huge impact for the Yellow Jackets and their dominant defensive effort. They will need that to carry on the road as well. One of the big emphases when defensive coordinator Jason Semore came in was to create and force turnovers. Georgia Tech has just two on the season and definitely needs to create more to help this offense. It looks like the Yellow Jackets are more than capable; now it is doing it in each game and being more vertical and violent. It will be intriguing if they can bring those turnovers to Stanford.

Can The Yellow Jackets Improve Their Run Defense?

We posed this question at the beginning of the season, and we do it again in Week 4. It remains a major concern for the Yellow Jackets. They have the No. 134-ranked run defense in the country, giving up 241 yards per game on the ground. They just gave up 188 rushing yards to Mercer.

The week before is was 299 rushing yards and three touchdowns to Tennessee. Week 1, the Yellow Jackets gave up 181 yards to Colorado. It is a major concern for this defense, which is probably against the run. Head Coach Brent Key addressed those issues postgame vs. Mercer.

"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."

How Much Will Dalen Penson Be Utilized?

One pleasant surprise this season has been former cornerback-turned-wide receiver Dalen Penson, who is putting together a productive season. He leads the Yellow Jackets with 189 receiving yards and still has the longest reception this season of 42 yards. I bring up Penson because of his connection with quarterback Alberto Mendoza.

It's been stellar this season, and whenever the Yellow Jackets need a big play, these two deliver. They always go to Penson, and he consistently makes the plays. Going against Stanford, Georgia Tech will need big plays, and what better way than relying on this connection to do so.

“Me and Alberto’s connection definitely has grown since I moved over in the winter. You know, we always talking to each other, sending each other texts, you know, trying to figure out different ways on how we can be the most productive as far as us two go and as far as the offense goes as well. You know, we're always trying to figure out ways after practice to try to clean up some things that maybe we didn't like in practice or some things in the game that we didn't like. Alberto is always texting me things and giving me tips.

Obviously, with me not having as much receiver experience and him being on a national championship team, he knows what it takes to be a championship team. And so, Albert's definitely doing a great job at helping me out as far as helping the rest of the offense out,” said Penson.

Georgia Tech and Stanford will kickoff at 10:30 on Saturday night and the game will be televised on ESPN.

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