Georgia Tech Football: Jackets have the perfect offense to beat Tennessee

If there was a team that had the perfect offense to beat the Tennessee Volunteers, it would be Georgia Tech football’s triple-option offense.

In 2016, the Tennessee Volunteers had one of the worst run defenses in all of college football. The Volunteers under highly-praised defensive coordinator Bob Shoop allowed on averaged 218 yards per game, not exactly what the Vols were expecting or hoping for.

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That was despite the Volunteers having one of the best defensive players in the country on their team and a strong defensive line in general. Entering the 2017 season, Tennessee will be without some of their top players from last season on both sides of the ball. It got worse for the Volunteers when it was announced top linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr would be out for the season with a torn meniscus.

While there are encouraging signs that the defense will take steps forward in 2017, it’s hard to see Tennesee drastically improving that 218-yard mark from a year ago. Luckily for Georga Tech, their triple-option based offense is the perfect offense to beat the 25th ranked Tennessee Volunteers.

Last season, Tennessee had four games in which they allowed 300 or more rushing yards, three of those four games saw opponents rush for 400 or more yards. A number they would like to see oppositions come nowhere close to in 2017.

Now, last season, the Yellow Jackets rushed for 300 or more yards a total of four times. The Jackets were only kept under 200-yards just three times which included a matchup against Clemson.

When diving more into statistics, the matchup gets worse and worse for the Tennessee defense. Last season, the Yellow Jackets averaged 47 carries per game, last season, Tennessee played in seven games which the opposition rushed 45 or more times. In those seven games, the opposition averaged an immense 307-yards per game.

When the Volunteers allowed more than 300-yards, they were 2-2 with wins against a bad Missouri team and an average Kentucky team. The Yellow Jackets when rushing for 300 or more yards were 3-1.

Now, the Yellow Jackets are missing experience at the b-back position and in all reality at quarterback. Which will be interesting to see if they will be able to find chemistry on Monday which could make or break the Yellow Jackets’ defense. That being said Clinton Lynch (if he plays) and Qua Searcy could be in for quality days as two of the more experienced backs in the Jackets backfiel.

All that being said, the Yellow Jackets are in a great matchup with Tennessee which could be their best matchup on the season. If the Jackets can get the ball rolling early, the Volunteers are going to have a long night and will have a tough time keeping the Jackets off the field.