What on Earth is Syracuse going to do on offense this weekend?
That is the question that Georgia Tech is trying to prepare for this Saturday when they face the Orange. Due to injuries and other factors, Syracuse had to drum up a brand new offense last week and a big part of that was because quarterback Garrett Shrader had trouble throwing the ball. Dan Villari (a tight end) played quarterback for Syracuse last week in a wildcat type of look and ran for 154 yards. Running back LeQuint Allen also had over 100 yards and it was a running-heavy attack for the Orange.
During his weekly press conference this week, Syracuse head coach Dino Babers did not update the health of Shrader or the backup quarterback Carlos Del-Rio Wilson (who started in a loss to Boston College). That is leaving a lot of mystery as to what the Orange are going to do on Saturday.
When talking with the media this week, Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key was asked about what the Orange did on offense last week and what his team is doing to prepare for the uncertainty:
"There are only so many things you can do to change. The thing we have to do is get set, they are doing a lot of this with tempo as well so it is not like they are coming up there and always waiting and taking the time off the clock. They have been running the plays the last few weeks and playing with mixed tempos, we have to get up and get our cleats set in the ground, we have to get aligned, we have to defeat blocks, we have to cover guys in the back end, some of the shot passes or pop passes they might have off of it but we have to get an edge to ourselves and get down and get ready to play football on Saturday because it is going to be a battle with them coming in on offense."
"You have to adjust. They basically put in an entirely new offense in six days so who is to say they are not going to do that again this week. There is a lot of communication to that this week and a lot of moving parts and our crowd can really have an impact this week."
Georgia Tech has the worst run defense in the ACC and one of the worst in the country so I would not be surprised if the Orange continue their run heavy approach on Saturday. Georgia Tech will need to be disciplined and tackle well if they want to win.
The Yellow Jackets and the Orange will square off at 8:00 p.m. this weekend on the ACC Network.
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