Yellow Jacked Up
Fansided

Georgia Tech vs Pittsburgh: Five Storylines to Watch

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

ATLANTA - NOVEMBER 1: A member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team holds his helmet up at the beginning of the fourth quarter during the game against the Florida State Seminoles at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field on November 1, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Tech beat Florida State 31-28. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA - NOVEMBER 1: A member of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team holds his helmet up at the beginning of the fourth quarter during the game against the Florida State Seminoles at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field on November 1, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Tech beat Florida State 31-28. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 7
Next
ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 1: Defensive back Jaytlin Askew #33 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets looks to tackle running back P.J. Simmons #4 of the Alcorn State Braves at Bobby Dodd Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – SEPTEMBER 1: Defensive back Jaytlin Askew #33 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets looks to tackle running back P.J. Simmons #4 of the Alcorn State Braves at Bobby Dodd Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images) /

Can the Jackets play 60 minutes?

If one was to look back at the Yellow Jackets last 13 games dating back to last season, how many of those games can one truly stand back and say the Yellow Jackets played a full 60 minutes of quality football? We count three, perhaps four games (if you count Alcorn State) that the Yellow Jackets played a full 60 minutes of quality football in all facets of the game.

For the Jackets, late game collapses have become all two common of an occurrence. The Jackets last season blew fourth quarter leads in the final minutes to Tennessee, Miami, and Virginia. If you want to count their second half collapse to Duke in there as well, there are four games that the Jackets should have had victories but either late offensive miscues or poor two minute defenses cost the Jackets the game. This past weekend was just another example, as the Jackets blew their fourth quarter lead to USF.

On Saturday, the Jackets will need to play a full 60-minutes in order to beat Pittsbugh. Like it is for the Yellow Jackets, Saturday’s game is pretty big for Pittsburgh in the sense that a loss would put the Panthers at a 1-2 record and with games against UCF, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Miami left, the Panthers could easily be looking at a losing season in 2018.

The Panthers in reality are not that quality of a team but they do play hard and can be a frustrating team to play. Last season, the Yellow Jackets walked away with 35-17 victory but the game was full of turnovers and bad mistakes. Those turnovers and mistakes ended up costing the Jackets several games down the road last season. On Saturday, those turnovers and mistakes can’t happen. While the Panthers are not a high quality, they are good enough to make opposing teams pay for their mistakes.

That all being said, last weekend’s game against USF wasn’t a full 60 minutes of football from start to finish. The Jackets on one side of the ball or the other (counting special teams) looked out of sync or just could not make a play. That can’t happen on Saturday against Pittsburgh and perhaps for the first time since the Jackets win over Virginia Tech last November, they can play a full 60 minutes of football.