The ACC Week 3: GOTW

Just one week removed from playing in a rivalry game against the Clemson Tigers the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are back on the Thursday Night circuit playing another crucial ACC contest. This time it is an inter-divisional game against the up and coming Miami Hurricanes, a game that last season saw the Jackets thoroughly throttle the inexperienced Canes 41-23 while piling up 472 yards of rushing offense.

Coming off a largely unimpressive effort offensively the Ramblin’ Wreck looks to hit the ground running against Randy Shannon’s team. However the Canes have had an extra week to prepare for this game and, after shocking the nation with their firepower on Labor Day, the U looks for their first 2-0 start since 2004.

Paul Johnson’s team looks to get their offense back on track after being stymied by the Clemson defensive front seven. Although the Jackets built an impressive lead last Thursday the Wreck only scored sixteen offensive points; no touchdown through sustained drives and relied on their first quarter trickeration to defeat the Tigers. This week Johnson’s troops need to get their offense back to the rushing machine they’ve been in the past.

Most Intriguing Storylines: Coastal Positioning and ACC’s National Image

Coastal Positioning

Entering the 2009 campaign Georgia Tech was expected to challenge Virginia Tech for the Coastal Division title out of the gate while Miami was lumped in with North Carolina as a possible dark horse candidate. The Canes jumped out of the shoot with an impressive victory over Florida State while GT has looked less than impressive in their two victories.

Both teams are 1-0 in the ACC with wins over the Atlantic Division’s two favorites but this game holds tremendous weight in their race to unseat the Hokies. For both Miami and Tech this game is the middle game of an early season three game ACC stretch; the Wreck already beat Clemson, now face Miami before hosting the Tar Heels while Miami has defeated FSU, hosts GT before making the road trip to Blacksburg.

This game is crucial because both VT and UNC are formidable opponents. Neither third win is guaranteed and the team that loses in Landshark Stadium will be in a position to start the ACC season 1-2 and already behind the eight ball in reference to the conference title game.

ACC’s National Image

The Atlantic Coast Conference has had two remarkably stellar games in their national television showcases. Both the Miami-FSU and Clemson-Georgia Tech were instant classic caliber games that featured offensive firepower, defensive stands, explosive plays and tremendous coaching decisions. This game must continue to carry that torch for the league because while the aforementioned contests were great to watch the rest of the league’s games have failed to reach the same pinnacle.

Two losses to FCS schools, another overtime and regulation nail-biter against an FCS team plus several ugly offensive efforts against BCS opponents have tainted the ACC’s overall image. Another strong outing on the national stage would be a huge step towards rectifying damage done by, most notably, UNC, NC State, FSU, Maryland, Duke and Virginia. It’s a heavy cross to bear but Randy Shannon and Paul Johnson are both tasked with carrying the conference flag tonight.

Match Ups to Watch:

Miami’s Athletic Front 7 vs Georgia Tech’s Flexbone Attack

Last week when the Clemson front seven was tasked with defending the ACC’s premier rushing attack by staying at home and making sure tackles. Although Kavell Conner gave up a big play by missing on his rules early in the game the Tigers settled down, circled the wagons and shut down one of the nation’s best running backs Jonathan Dwyer. GT needs to force the Jackets to overrun plays, miss tackles and wear town in order to be successful moving the football up and down the field.

For the Canes this is the most important issue as they surrendered nearly 500 yards against the Jackets potent attack. This season the Canes return Colin McCarthy, their talented anchor in the linebacking core, as well as five other starters from just a season ago. New coordinator John Lovett is a year removed from watching the Tar Heels play a disciplined “bend but don’t break” strategy that forced the Jackets into turnovers and even though the Wreck piled up 326 rushing yards they only managed 7 points.

UM’s Offensive Tackles vs Derrick Morgan

Matt Pipho and Orlando Franklin will be Jacory Harris’ best friends heading into this game as they are his body guards against GT’s warrior of a defensive end Derrick Morgan. Last week Morgan abused both of Clemson’s tackles en route to harassing Kyle Parker and disrupting the rushing and passing attack. With Harris and the U’s best offensive player Morgan looks to get on track early against Pipho and Franklin through his wide array of pass rush moves.

For the two tackles keeping Harris upright is the most important task of the night as Harris is most effective through play action, deep drops and roll outs that enable him to through the ball downfield. The drawback to all three of these methods is that they also give the defensive line, Morgan in this case, more time to get to the quarterback. The tackles will need help from tight ends, backs and guards as containing Morgan is a task best accomplished by committee, not one on one.

Key to the Game: Miami’s Offensive Attack

The best defense for the Miami Hurricanes will be their offense for two reasons:

1) The Canes can rest their defense from the cutting and attacking of the Georgia Tech scheme that relies on wearing down the defense to force mistakes. Ergo a fresher defense and fewer mistakes means a better chance to defend the Tech option attack.

2) Scoring on the Jackets forces them to lose their “run first, run often” mentality. They cannot play from behind in the option and forcing them to throw creates turnover opportunities galore as Nesbitt is the ACC’s worst throwing quarterback.

My Pick: Miami 38 Georgia Tech 35