Where The Yellow Jackets Have Been: Let's be perfectly honest: nobody outside of Georgia Tech thought Paul Johnson's triple-option offense was really going to work at the BCS level. Defenses were too advanced, we all believed. You couldn't forgo the passing game in this day and age, we all thought. PJ proved us wrong.Of course like Johnson's teams at Navy, the Jackets ran, ran and ran some more, averaging 273.2 yards per game, fourth nationally behind ACC Offensive Player of the Year Jonathan Dwyer. And just like Johnson's teams at Navy, the Jackets were almost nondescript in the passing game, coming in 116th in the country. But it wasn't like GT couldn't pass. Case in point: Demaryius Thomas, who had 230 of his 627 receiving yards against Duke.
PJ ultimately showed that he had the athletes to not only run his offense at the BCS level, but win doing it. The Jackets opened 6-1 and were 14th in the AP poll going into the Chick-fil-A Bowl against LSU and while GT was hammered 38-3 in the shadow of its Atlanta campus, the season was, by all accounts, a major success.
Where The Jackets Are Going: Despite the successes of last season, and the fact that Georgia Tech returns 10 starters on offense, including Dwyer, Virginia Tech was the runaway favorite to win the Coastal Division. But with the Hokies losing running back Darren Evans for the season with a torn ACL, the Jackets may be the new favorites.
And why shouldn't they be. Johnson's offense is unlike anything the players he inherited had ever seen and in Year 1 they go 9-4. So shouldn't the learning curve be even greater in Year 2? Shouldn't quarterback Josh Nesbitt be even more adept at reading the defensive end (the entire basis of the triple option: if the end's shoulders are turned in, the QB reads it as a rush and pitches outside; if the end's shoulders are square, he pitches inside)? This is a team that returns its top five rushers from a year ago and its top seven receivers.'
Defensively, GT had eight starters back and eight of its top nine tacklers from a year ago, led by third-team All-America safety Morgan Burnett (93 tackles, seven tackles for loss, eight pass break-ups and seven picks) and while the line will be rebuilt with two new tackles, it's a veteran group.
These Jackets have the look of a team that's being sorely underestimated, but of course low expectations have been Johnson's greatest ally.
The Señior Says: 9-3, second in ACC Coastal Division
Original Story:
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