Georgia Tech Football: Four things learned against Miami

Georgia Tech fell to Miami on Saturday in another heartbreaking defeat, a lot was learned about the Jackets in the loss and here are four of those lessons.

1. Clutch situations still a problem for the defense

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When the sun came out on Sunday morning, there was one thing that was evident. The

When the sun came out on Sunday morning, there was one thing that was evident. The Georgia Tech football team is two minutes away from being 5-0 and that the defense has struggled in the two biggest drives this season.

While the offense’s struggles in the second half were without a doubt a major part of the Jackets loss on Saturday, the defenses’ inability to stop the same play for most of the game-winning drive was absolutely woeful. The Jackets can still win the ACC Coastal but they’ll need the defense to step it up in ‘clutch’ situations if they hope to do so.

On Miami’s game-winning drive, the Hurricanes called five bubble screens. Not once after the first two bubble screens did Ted Roof choose to change the defensive coverage to press coverage. The Hurricanes time after time took advantage of it and picked up valuable yardage.

On the 4th-and-10 miracle catch for the Hurricanes, it goes back to fundamentals (video below). While Lamont Simmons was able to cover Miami receiver, Darrell Langham and be in a strong position to make a play, he forgot the golden rule of being a defensive back, “Always turn around”. Instead of turning around, Simmons chose to watch for Langham to go up for the ball and tried to bat it out of his hands. If Simmons had chosen to look for the ball, his body would’ve been in a position to knock down the ball and lowering the risk of a circus catch.

That being said, Saturday’s loss doesn’t fall onto the soldiers of Simmons, the team as a whole never should’ve been in that position, to begin with. After all, Simmons smart play to open the half on an onside kick scored the Yellow Jackets a huge touchdown and allowed them to be a great position to win the game. Unfortunately for Simmons, a lapse of fundamentals allowed Miami to get the lucky bounce.

2. KirVonte Benson’s impact on the offense/Monsoon weather

On Saturday, feature B-back KirVonte Benson left the game with a lower-body injury. Prior to leaving the game, Benson had 7 carries for 40-yards. While he wasn’t having the best game of the season, Benson’s lack of presence changed the dynamic of the Yellow Jackets offense as Miami didn’t respect what any of the other b-backs or a-backs brought to the table.

What made Benson’s injury and lack of presence even worse was the monsoon weather that came during the third and fourth quarters. The weather played right into Miami’s favor, as the Hurricanes are used to practicing in the rain, and as the announcers pointed out, “the weather is Miami”, in its own way it energized the Miami faithful, and completely changed the way the game was going.

That being said, Benson’s impact on the offense cannot be understated. When the Yellow Jackets haven’t had Benson available this season, the offense has been completely different and has struggled. The Yellow Jackets will need Benson to return if they hope to make one last gasp run at the ACC Coastal.

3. The Jackets are good but not over the hump yet….

There’s no denying that the Yellow Jacket is a good team but they’re not a great team just yet. So far through five games, the Yellow Jackets have been the best team on the field without a doubt in four of those games. On Saturday, while the Yellow Jackets weren’t the best team on the field, they were able to lead for the majority of the game. That being said, the great teams are the ones that find ways to win, find a way to get the last defensive stop, find ways to make the catch or pick up the needed extra yard. Georgia Tech didn’t do any of that on Saturday.

There is still plenty of work to be done on both sides of the ball, to say the least. The Jackets can still get over that hump in 2017 but there’s no room for error at this point.

4. ACC Coastal is still wide open

Despite losing to Miami on Saturday, the ACC Coastal is still wide open. The Hurricanes are a beatable team and still have a tough schedule ahead. The Hokies haven’t looked dominating in quite a while and is a team the Yellow Jacket match up well against. Yes, both Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are in a hole now with one conference loss but the ACC Coastal is nowhere close to being finished.