Georgia Tech Football: Offense looks to get on track against Virginia
After racking up just 230-yards against Clemson last weekend, the Georgia Tech offense has another test in the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Georgia Tech offense lead by TaQuon Marshall is looking for a strong rebound game against Virginia this upcoming weekend. The Jackets, enter the weekend with 48th best scoring offense but are coming off their worst offensive game of the season.
Last weekend against the Clemson Tigers, the Jackets offense was stifled for the third-straight season. While they were not kept under 100 rushing yards for a third-straight season, the Tigers racked up just 198-yards of rushing and 230 yards of total offense. Both were season lows for the Jackets through their first seven games.
The Jackets will look to get back on track, however, this Saturday when they take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The Cavaliers, 5-3 may have had a surprise offense this season but their defense is living up to expectations rather well through eight games. So far this season, the Virginia defense is allowing 24 points per game while allowing 332-yards per game, the 30th best in the nation.
When breaking down Virginia’s defense, you can see that they are a pretty balanced defense overall. In the passing game, the Cavaliers have allowed just 178.5 yards through the air while allowing 158.9 yards on the ground.
Since the Jackets won’t be passing the ball all that much against Virginia, let’s take a look at how the Virginia rush defense has been of recent. In their last three games, it’s safe to say that
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opponents have been able to run the ball against the Cavs and have tried the minimal in the pass game.
In their last three games, opponents have attempted 122 rushes while throwing the ball just 60 times in the same span. Over those 122 rushing attempts, Virginia’s opponents have rushed for 624-yards, an average of 5.1 yards a rush. The Cavaliers inability to stop the run of late contributed mightily in their back-to-back losses.
Prior to this three-game stretch, the Virginia defense had only allowed 657-yards in five games, an average of 131.4 yards a game. With the Yellow Jackets current play rate of about 61 rushing attempts per game, the Jackets could be looking at the ability to rush for over 300-yards easily on Saturday.
With TaQuon Marshall most likely drawing most of the attention from the Virginia defense despite rather lackluster performances of late, KirVonte Benson should be in for another huge game for the Jackets.
Over the course of the last five game, Benson has rushed for 100-yard in all but one game. In that five-game stretch, he has averaged 126.2 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry. Even if the Cavaliers defense focused in on Benson, it’s hard to see anybody slowing him down. Even Clemson couldn’t slow down Benson as he rushed for 129-yards on 16 carries last Saturday, an average of 8.1 yards per carry.
Prior to the Jackets poor performance against Clemson, the offense had rushed for 400-yards in four of six games. The only two defenses besides Clemson to hold the Jackets under the 400-yard mark was the Miami defense and the Jacksonville State defense.
The Jackets have the ability to get the offense back on track against Virginia. Earlier this season, the Jackets had a similar performance against Miami but was able to get the offense rolling the next against a strong Wake Forest defense.
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If the Jackets don’t get any offensive momentum rolling this week against Virginia, it could help cause a long November for the Jackets. Especially considering that they face two of the top defenses in the country this month in Virginia Tech and Georgia.