Yellow Jacked Up
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Georgia Tech Football: Four quick hits following 38-28 victory at UNC

By Lee Cagle

CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 03: Tobias Oliver #8 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets celebrates with teammatges after scoring the go-ahead touchdown against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the fourth quarter of their game at Kenan Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Georgia Tech won 38-28. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - NOVEMBER 03: Tobias Oliver #8 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets celebrates with teammatges after scoring the go-ahead touchdown against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the fourth quarter of their game at Kenan Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Georgia Tech won 38-28. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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Georgia Tech escapes Chapel Hill with a win today ending a long streak of Paul Johnson losses in his home state. It very much was an escape however as the second half saw a resurgent North Carolina who very nearly stole the show from the Jackets. A win is a win however and the Jackets will take it as they go home to prepare for Miami and a chance to become bowl eligible.

1.       Ball Security has got to be more important.

An early fumble by Jerry Howard put the Tar Heels up by seven and late turnovers by Howard and Oliver very nearly lost the game for the Yellow Jackets. It has been a plague on this offense all season long as they seem to split between historic production and soul-crushing momentum killers. Tech was thankfully able to survive the mistakes today by causing a few turnovers of their own in the form of Interceptions with the final one by Anree Saint-Amour to help seal the deal for the Jackets.

2.       Maybe not a two-quarterback system?

We came into the day knowing that both Taquon Marshall and Tobias Oliver would play, but we were not sure which quarterback would see the lion share of playing time. It turned out to be Tobias Oliver, the electric freshman who would see the bulk of snaps in the game and was overall very effective in both rushing and passing on the day. His overall stat line was 28 rushes for 120 yards and a perfect day throwing the ball going 2 for 2 and 104 yards, including an 86 yard TD pass to Qua Searcy.  Next week will be a better barometer of what the situation is with the Qb’s but it certainly seems that Oliver may have earned the job today.

3.  The defense was solid as a unit but the secondary is still a little green.

The defense had a great day holding North Carolinas run game in check as Brant Mitchell and Anree Saint-Amour combined for 17 tackles and Saint-Amour also had the game-sealing Interception to his name. The defense held UNC to 374 total yards with 208 of those coming through the air from the backup quarterback. For a lot of the game, the Jackets were losing the turnover battle but ultimately brought it back to even at 3 turnovers for each team, with Tariq Carpenter and Tre Swilling both recording interceptions.  There were a few plays throughout the game where the defender was in position in the secondary but did not seem to be able to locate the ball effectively to make plays. Every week they seem to get better and I imagine that will be the next area of improvement.

4. They finally finished one.

Late game collapses have been a theme of the last several seasons for Georgia Tech and today was almost another chapter in that saga. The Jackets were up 18 at one point in the game but somehow allowed UNC to tie the game with under ten minutes left in the fourth quarter to give all of us a scare. It was great to see the fight in the team and especially the defense following the turnovers that left them with shorter fields in tough situations, and even better to watch Saint Amour grab the interception to set the Jackets up in plus territory with under two minutes left and give the offense one more chance to seal the deal.

This game was important for a variety of reasons, but most importantly in my mind, it serves as a measuring stick for how far the team has come especially on defense. With all of the Coastal Chaos scenarios still in place, and bowl eligibility still on the table, there is still a lot to be excited about with this Georgia Tech team.