What We Learned From Georgia Tech's Loss to Stanford on Saturday night

Saturday night was tough if you are a Georgia Tech fan.

The Yellow Jackets were the night cap for a wild day of college football, and after leading the game 20-10 at the half, Stanford dominated the second half of the game and held on at the end to win 34-27, dropping Georgia Tech to 1-3 heading into their bye week and leaving them with more questions than answers.

So what did we learn from Georgia Tech's loss to Stanford?

1. Georgia Tech is in trouble

I think this is hard to deny at this point. Georgia Tech is 1-3 right now and there is not a lot of good to say about the way that they have played so far this season. One of the alarming things is who they have lost to.

Colorado is starting to spiral and does not look like they are going to make a bowl game. Stanford lost their first two conference games by scores of 45-6 and 35-7. Not only that, the Cardinal have not won more than four games in a season since 2018. Arguably the worst program in the Big 12 and the least talented team in the ACC was able to get wins against Georgia Tech and that does not bode well for the future.

Looking ahead, Duke is 4-0 and playing well under Manny Diaz. Same with Virginia Tech, who is 4-0 under James Franklin, not to mention the game is in Blacksburg. Boston College on Oct. 24th is a game that Georgia Tech can win, but if you lose to Stanford, you can also lose to Boston College. A road game to 4-0 Pitt looks really tough; hosting Louisville and Wake Forest, as well as road tests to Clemson and Georgia, are going to be games where the Yellow Jackets are underdogs.

Can this team improve? Yes, that does happen in college football. Are they dealing with some injuries? Also, yes. But Georgia Tech is not playing good football at all right now and have lost to a pair of teams that probably won't make a bowl game while looking like they have not fixed any of their issues.

A 1-11 season is very much on the table for Georgia Tech.

It could be a very long year on The Flats.

2. The defense looks similar to prior years

It has been a long time since Georgia Tech could say they have fielded a good defense.

This was supposed to be the year that they started to get that turned around. Did anyone expect Georgia Tech to be Ohio State or Miami on defense all of a sudden? No, but Jason Semore was supposed to turn things around by creating havoc, sacking the quarterback, stopping the run, and forcing turnovers.

Here was Semore in fall camp on what he expected from the team when it came to stopping the run:

"We got to learn how the game changes when it's third down and four to six. We got to learn how the game changes in tempo periods. Right. Although there's a lot of learning that goes with all of that. But from a base normal down, put your hand in the ground, play technique standpoint, we're going to be just fine in terms of stopping the run."

They have not been fine and are currently one of the worst defenses in the country. Georgia Tech ranks 122nd in rush defense, 95th in sacks, and 109th in turnover margin.

They did a better job of stopping the run against Stanford, but the Cardinal have one of the worst rushing attacks in the country and were content to just drop back and throw the ball on Georgia Tech.

Stanford is far from the best offense that Georgia Tech will see and it could be a long year once again on that side of the ball.

3. Mendoza played well considering everything around him

I might be on an island with this, but I think that Alberto Mendoza is playing good football and the things around him are failing him.

Is he perfect? Far from it. The interception near the end of the game and the intentional grounding penalty that put Georgia Tech in a rare 4th and 45 were bad plays, though I would argue the pressure on him before the intentional grounding caused that to happen. Mendoza finished the game 26-for-39 for 268 yards and two touchdowns.

Mendoza is one of the few bright spots on this team and he is playing as a starter for the first time in his career and has one of the worst offensive lines in the power four, which has also led to Georgia Tech being unable to run the ball. I think Mendoza will continue to get better, but if the offensive line and play-calling don't improve, then the outcomes of games might not change.

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