Offseason Opponent Watch: ECU and Georgia Tech

Welcome back to another edition of the offseason opponent watch. During the season, these articles will be a quick summary of every team on Tech's schedule: game results, injuries, emerging playmakers, etc. The goal of all this is to keep you all up-to-date on the goings-on of Tech's opponents as well as provide a little context for the in-depth film reviews so excellently produced by French and Mason. However, with so much information available during the spring and summer, I figured it'd be best to split up the watches two-by-two, so there will be plenty to talk about throughout the summer. With all that out of the way, let's take a look at ECU and Georgia Tech.

ECU

Looking Back

Ah, good old East Carolina. They're the one constant on the non-conference schedule every year and will be for what seems like forever (through 2020). It always seems to be an exciting time whenever the Hokies and Pirates get together, with Tech coming out on top last year 15-10. This team is the offensive yin to Ohio State's yang. They put up a ton of points (40.2 ppg last season even with the 10-point outing against VT), but they do it all through the air. The Pirates have high hopes for this season, coming off a 10-3 campaign in 2013, which included a convincing victory over UNC, a bad loss to Marshall, and a nice Beef 'O Brady's Bowl win over Ohio.

Looking Forward

ECU will return some key pieces from that 10-win team, with none more important than senior quarterback Shane Carden. Last season Carden completed 70.5% of his passes for 4,139 yards, 33 TDs, and 10 picks. Joining him are senior receiver Justin Hardy, coming off a videogame like year in which he caught 114 passes for 1,284 yards and 8 TDs, and sophomore receiver Isaiah Jones (62-604-5). However, it isn't all sunshine and butterflies for the Pirates offensively, as offensive line depth is a major concern. This spring, there were as few as 8 scholarship offensive linemen on the field, after a tackle and a pair of centers were forced to miss spring ball with injuries. That's EIGHT players. As in, not a full two-deep. This shortage apparently caused a bit of shuffling throughout the spring, with some defensive linemen filling in every now and again. Easily the biggest question mark for this team is whether or not the offensive line can stay healthy and keep Carden's jersey clean long enough for the Pirates to put up some points.

On defense, ECU has had less than overwhelming success (ranked 51st, 91st, and 71st the last 3 seasons, respectively, according to F/+). This year, inexperience reigns as they'll be replacing three linebackers, three defensive backs, and a defensive lineman, who combined for a total of 308 tackles, 29.5 TFL, 14 sacks, 11 INTs, and 3 forced fumbles. That's a lot of productivity the Pirates will miss heading into 2014. Still, head coach Ruffin McNeill seemed pretty darn confident in his defense after the ECU spring game, saying that his first group "is going to be a really great group." That group surrendered 403 yards and five TDs during said spring game without forcing a single turnover, while also tallying 8 TFLs and 4.5 sacks, so the jury is still very much out on whether or not that unit will be much-improved this next year.

Despite the Pirates' defensive woes, they make it interesting with VT seemingly every single year. This year's trip to Lane Stadium will be sandwiched between contests at South Carolina and against North Carolina—not an enviable stretch for any team. Will the strain of playing three quality opponents with in a row with significant bragging rights on the line be too much for the ECU, or will they be able to generate a little momentum and pull off the upset in Blacksburg? Your guess is as good as mine.

Georgia Tech

Looking Back

Bud Foster really has his work cut out for him as the season kicks off. He'll need to prepare Tech to defend three different offensive schemes in a short amount of time: the talented single-wing spread of Ohio State, ECU's wide-open air raid passing attack, then the Jackets' chop-block-o'clock spread option offense. The Yellow Jackets are coming off an up-and-down 7-5 regular season, which culminated in a 25-17 loss to Ole Miss in the Music City Bowl.

Looking Forward

We all know that the GT offense will attempt to run all over opponents, but they'll have to do it without their top three backfield contributors, as the top two rushers, David Sims and Robert Godhigh, have graduated, along with the transfer of QB Vad Lee. Justin Thomas takes over under center, after showing up here and there throughout the 2013 season, mostly as a rusher. B-back Zach Laskey returns as a career 1,000 yard rusher to anchor the backfield. He'll be joined by true freshman Travis Custis, who has excited Jackets fans since he showed up in January and make make a push for playing time in his very first year.

Georgia Tech will have to replace three starters on the offensive line, and finding some answers up front will be a top priority for Johnson and his staff. The lack of continuity on offense showed up in the spring game, which featured two defensive scores off of forced fumbles. The first-team offense managed to move the ball pretty well behind junior QB Tim Byerly (Thomas sat out with a shoulder injury) who completed 5-11 passes for 69 yards and rushed for another 101.
Defensively, the Jackets improved considerably in 2013, but may be looking at taking a step back this year. They'll be without three of their four starting defensive linemen from last year, including first-team All-ACC end Jeremiah Attaochu, while Louis Young, and Jemea Thomas depart from the secondary. With them go 225 tackles, 20.5 sacks, 37 TFLs, 5 forced fumbles and 5 picks worth of production from the 2013 season. However, the Yellow Jackets will get two former starters back on the back end, as Isaiah Johnson and Jamal Golden return from injuries that cost them all or most of the 2013 season. Their timing couldn't be better for the Jackets, as the defense will be switching from a 4-3 to a TCU-like 4-2-5 (essentially a permanent nickel package). It seems Johnson is trying to force teams to run the ball and prevent big plays in the passing game. Considering the annoying tendency of his offense to play keep-away, this isn't a half-bad idea. The September 20th meeting will be a tough outing for the Hokies on both sides of the ball, as always, and it will be the first true test for Georgia Tech as both teams open conference play. If the Jackets can get their defensive scheme down, develop some cohesion along the offensive line, and field a QB who can hold on the the football, they could be a serious contender in the wide-open Coastal Division.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you all of the hilariously low attendance numbers at the Georgia Tech spring game.