Virginia Tech Football: Georgia Tech Q&A Preview

After a much needed bye week, the Hokies return to action Thursday night in Atlanta against perennial nemesis Georgia Tech. Losers of six of their last seven games, the preseason Coastal Division favorite Yellow Jackets (3-6, 1-6 ACC) have struggled to overcome a plethora of injuries to their backfield. Despite both teams' struggles in 2015, the annual Techmo Bowl essentially guarantees a physically and emotionally draining sixty minutes of football that could break either way. In an effort to better understand the Yellow Jackets' season to date, I spoke with Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

3-6 on the year and losers of 6 of their last 7 contests, Georgia Tech's season has gone off the rails since their Week 3 loss to Notre Dame. How much of this downward spiral is a product of widespread injuries and is it possible the Jackets were simply over-hyped coming into the season?

A reasonable amount and yes. Every team has injuries, but what's been tough for Georgia Tech is that it's hit really hard at the A-back (slotback) and B-back (fullback) positions, where they were inexperienced to begin with. They lost their top two B-backs in the spring and then at A-back, their top returnee has missed four games, a true freshman who was expected to make an impact was lost in the preseason, a redshirt freshman who looked like he could be a playmaker was lost for the season in the third game of the year. So Georgia Tech has had to go deeper and deeper at a position where it was young and inexperienced to begin with. The A-back spot gets overlooked a lot, because no one player gets a lot of carries, but it's the position (along with wide receiver) that makes the big run plays down the sideline happen with perimeter blocking. If A-backs and receivers don't know whom to block or aren't effective blockers (as has often been the case with a lot of players learning on the job), then the offense just doesn't function very well.

That said, the defense brought back eight starters, has been largely healthy and was supposed to be a significant improvement over last year but has not. The offensive line that brought back four starters clearly depended a lot more on Shaquille Mason (now with the Patriots) than people realized; that group has not been good. And I think the loss of so many experienced skill players on offense was vastly undervalued. Georgia Tech lost a lot of smart, clutch guys and replaced them mostly with freshmen and guys who hadn't played much. They'll be better eventually, but they haven't been consistent this year.

The funny thing is, as Virginia Tech fans know well, the VT/GT result could have easily been flipped with one play (as can be said of a lot of their games in recent years), and if that's the case, Georgia Tech doesn't go to the Orange Bowl and probably isn't nearly as highly thought of in the preseason, and the proceedings (in which so many bounces that went their way last year haven't this year) wouldn't be quite so stunning.

Given all of the injuries - especially at the A-back and B-back positions - how has Coach Paul Johnson adjusted his offensive system (if at all) to integrate all of the inexperienced backs?

He's kind of going to do what he does. He's talked about "going back to the basics" – making sure that players know the rudiments of the offense and can recognize different defensive fronts, which apparently eluded some of them. One thing he has done is taken on the responsibility of making pre-snap checks. Typically, he has sent in plays with the A-backs and then given the quarterback the responsibility to check plays at the line (typically changing the direction of a play). But, to take some of the load off quarterback Justin Thomas, at times they've signaled in plays, gone to the line and then looked over to see if a check needed to be made.

One could make the argument that Justin Thomas is the most talented quarterback Paul Johnson has had during his time at Georgia Tech. What is your assessment of Thomas in his second season leading CPJ's offense? Which areas of his game have improved and which have regressed?

He has not played as well as last year. It's a little hard to tease out where his poor play starts and the lack of support ends. As noted above, he had a lot of players he could rely on to make plays for him that he doesn't have this season, and the blocking isn't as dependable, and that has led him to try to force plays, which usually hasn't worked out. For instance, the fourth-and-15 play that he found DeAndre Smelter on – this year, the pass protection gives way, Thomas has to run for his life and the play doesn't get made. One facet of his game that has particularly regressed is ball security. His fumble rate is up considerably, again partially due to being around inexperienced players and the fact that he's trying to extend plays that maybe he wouldn't have last year.

Alongside Thomas, backs Marcus Marshall, Clinton Lynch, and B-back Patrick Skov have featured in this offense in recent weeks. Aside from Thomas, who is the most dangerous back and how do they do their damage (bruiser between the tackles vs. in space)?

Marcus Marshall, a true freshman, is the biggest threat. He reads holes well and can hit top speed quickly. When plays up the middle get blocked up right, he can go 50 yards without a problem. He's slighter than Skov, who can pound it up the middle but hasn't been much of a threat to go beyond 10 yards. he's also not as good a blocker as Skov, so he can be something of a liability if he doesn't have the ball.

Statistically speaking, the Georgia Tech defense is markedly improved from a year ago; however, they continue to struggle making stops in the backfield and are middle-of-the-road in forcing turnovers. What does the 2015 version of Ted Roof's defense look like, and who are some of the guys Scot Loeffler & Co. should keep an eye on?

It's been inconsistent. They shut down Florida State in the defense's best game of the year, but they also gave up 200 rushing yards to Notre Dame, North Carolina, Clemson, Pittsburgh and Virginia. They're not great at rushing the passer, and will be hurting without two of their top three defensive tackles, Adam Gotsis (season-ending knee injury) and Jabari Hunt (suspension for breaking team rules). Gotsis was without question the best player on defense, and a big reason Virginia had success on the ground was his (and Hunt's) absence.
When they're at their best, the ends are setting the edge, linebackers are filling the right gaps and tackling is sound. When they're not, players are out of gaps, the line is getting overpowered, tackles are missed and blitzes don't get home. At least before Gotsis' injury, it was a group that could look pretty good one half and then get run over the next.
They may have a better matchup with Virginia Tech's offensive line, but I think they'll need to bring blitz pressure to unsettle Michael Brewer, which will leave the secondary a little vulnerable. The best players in the group are probably linebacker P.J. Davis (he ran back an interception last year against the Hokies), safety Jamal Golden and cornerback D.J. White. Defensive tackle Patrick Gamble is also pretty stout in the middle.

Okay, time to put you on the spot: How do you see Thursday night's game playing out and who limps away with the victory?

I think it'll be a typical Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech game, low scoring and decided in the fourth quarter. Given the way the season has gone for Georgia Tech, I sort of feel like the Jackets will give up a critical play or have some bounce go against them. But the team they're playing isn't exactly a powerhouse, either. I think whoever can avoid messing up will get it done. As they're at home, I'd tend to side with the Jackets, but I'm not convinced.