Georgia Tech Football vs Miami Hurricanes Gameday Preview

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are in the midst of one of their toughest seasons in a long time but on Saturday afternoon they’ll look to get back into the win column when they take on the Miami Hurricanes.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-4; 0-3) vs Miami Hurricanes (3-3; 1-2)

Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, FL) – 12:00 pm – Weather – Odds: Miami (-18)

Last week, Georgia Tech traveled to Durham to take on the Duke Blue Devils and struggled defensively for the second straight week, giving up 41-points to the Blue Devils after giving up 38-points in the week prior to North Carolina.

The Hurricanes, on the other hand, pulled off a big upset win at home, taking down the Virginia Cavaliers 17-9. The Hurricanes are winners of three of their last four with their only loss during that stretch coming against the Virginia Tech Hokies. Saturday afternoon’s matchup is the final game of a three-game homestand for the Hurricanes.

Georgia Tech Offense vs Miami Defense:

This is not good news for Georgia Tech’s offense as Miami owns one of the better defenses in all of the ACC. The Hurricanes are only giving up 19.5 points per game this season and an average of 290.5 yards per game. To further that bad news, the Hurricanes have been tremendous against the run this season, allowing less than 80-yards per game this season. For a Tech offense that struggles to pass the ball, they could be in for a very long afternoon.

The Jackets only continuous success offensively this season has been on the ground but that even hasn’t come easy behind the Jackets offensive line. Miami has an aggressive defense that may overwhelm the Tech offensive line. On paper, it’s not a matchup that favors the Jackets by any means.

Georgia Tech Defense vs Miami Offense:

Miami’s offense like Georgia Tech has struggled this season for the most part. The Hurricanes offense has had two strong performances against Bethune-Cookman and Virginia Tech but hasn’t shown much life outside of those two games. That includes a 17-12 win over Central Michigan in September. The Yellow Jackets defense bounced back strong in the beginning of the season after Clemson had their way in the season opener but has struggled in their last two games against North Carolina and Duke.

Georgia Tech’s secondary will need to have a strong bounce back performance this week against Miami and quarterback N’Kosi Perry. Through their first four games, the Jackets secondary was among the best in the country, but has taken a step back in the last two weeks. The Hurricanes are averaging nearly 300-yards per game through the air but will run the ball quite a bit as well, averaging 126-yards per game. The Jackets rush defense has struggled this season, it will be interesting to see if the Hurricanes go with more of a run game with their backup quarterback in Perry getting the start for the Hurricanes.

Overall:

Overall, this has the chance of being a pretty ugly game on Saturday afternoon. The Jackets offense hasn’t shown a ton of life this season with spurts here and there of somethings to come in the future. That being said, the Hurricanes offense isn’t all that much better and have struggled for most of the season. At the same time, both team’s defenses this season has been stellar at times and other times they’ve struggled. In reality, this is one of those games you really don’t know what you’re in for. Our gut instincts say this will be a rather close game for the most part and the 18-point spread may be just too high for Miami to cover…

Players to Watch:

Miami – TE Brevin Jordan

Tight end Brevin Jordan has been the Hurricanes top receiving threat throughout this season, garnering 25 receptions for 417-yards and two touchdowns through six games. He has a total of nine receptions in his last two games for a total of 184-yards.

Georgia Tech – WR Ahmarean Brown

Georgia Tech freshman wide out Ahmarean Brown has been one of the few bright spots of Georgia Tech’s offense this season. So far this season, Brown has just nine catches but those nine catches have gone for 200-yards, an average of 22.2 yards per reception. He has just two touchdowns but more touchdowns will come for the rising star.

Predictions:

Matthew Summers: 27 Miami – 20 Georgia Tech

Bronston Tankersly: 28 Georgia Tech – 27 Miami

Dylan Callgahan-Croley: 24 Miami – 10 Georgia Tech

As you can see, the Yellow Jacked Up staff is currently favoring the Hurricanes to win the game but not by all that much. Our average scores is 26.3 to 19 in favor of the Hurricanes. Perhaps we’ll be wrong but it would take a big effort out of Georgia Tech’s offense to take down Miami.