Football to Battle Georgia Tech for Division Lead
By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The celebration is over in Coral Gables.
Beating Florida State, 24-20, on Saturday was an unforgettable game for every member of the 2017 Miami Hurricanes, but the Canes were already focused on their next opponent less than 24 hours after the clock showed zeroes at Doak Campbell Stadium.
“Florida State was a great win, but it ended Saturday night,” linebacker Shaquille Quarterman said. “We woke up Sunday and had to come to the facilities for practice and meetings. We broke down Georgia Tech that night. We can’t be satisfied with a win over Florida State – it was a great win, but that’s not the only win we seek to accomplish this season.”
Miami (4-0, 2-0 ACC) has its sights set on playing for the ACC Championship and Saturday’s game will be for first place in the ACC Coastal Division. The Hurricanes will face a Georgia Tech (3-1, 2-0 ACC) team that has proven to be a challenging opponent for every team that has faced them in 2017. The Yellow Jackets lost an overtime battle with Tennessee in Week 1, 42-21, before winning convincingly against Jacksonville State, Pittsburgh and North Carolina.
“Georgia Tech this week – a huge challenge for us,” Miami head coach Mark Richt said. “You got to start with Coach [Paul] Johnson and the job he has done overall. He’s certainly represented the Coastal, I think, three times in the ACC Championship Game and he’s shooting for a fourth. He has just done a wonderful job there at Georgia Tech. His offense is one that is one of the more difficult to prepare for and to try to slow down, quite frankly. He understands his system so well that he doesn’t even need a call sheet. He just watches the game and knows exactly what to call. If he sees something, he knows how to counterpunch. There’s probably nothing you could put in front of him that he hasn’t seen before and that he won’t react to properly, and his guys tend to execute extremely well.”
Georgia Tech’s triple option offense has been effective through four games this season. Tech leads the ACC and is second in the country in rushing offense, averaging 396 yards per game.
Quarterback TaQuon Marshall leads the conference with 130.8 rushing yards per game, while the Yellow Jackets’ top running back, Kirvonte Benson, ranks second in the ACC at 119 rushing yards per game. The duo has combined for 13 rushing touchdowns, while Marshall has also thrown for four scores this season.
“We are going to have to make tackles,” defensive back Jaquan Johnson said. “We are going to have to read our keys and make the tackle when the ball spits into open field. They do a lot of things to make you get your eyes off your key, but if you keep your focus on your man, you should be fine.”
The Yellow Jackets are also a threat through the air, averaging an ACC-best 17.52 yards per completion. Redshirt senior wideout Ricky Jeune is Tech’s most dangerous receiving threat, averaging 17.1 yards per catch and scoring three touchdowns through the air this season.
“It’s about explosive plays, which is really their greatest threat,” Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “Everyone thinks about the run game, I think they’re fifth in the country in yards per pass attempt and they normally are. They’ve only thrown it 33 times in four games, but when they do, they get yards. They’ve got guys down the field that can go get it. The quarterback throws it down the field better than you wish he did. It’s the constant threat of explosive plays. Tackling is super important. Our secondary was outstanding tackling in that game a year ago, and will have to be again. There’s very little margin for error.”
Johnson, who was Miami’s leading tackler a week ago at Florida State, knows that communication will play a key role in stopping Georgia Tech’s offense on Saturday. That is a point of emphasis he is making to his fellow safeties, especially redshirt sophomore Robert Knowles who will be getting his first extended action against Georgia Tech this weekend.
“I’m telling him that he has to really be disciplined and he has to communicate,” Johnson said. “We can’t be out there quiet. We’ll be wearing mouthpieces, but not the pacifier mouthpieces. We will have ones so we can talk more.”
In addition to increased communication, Miami will have to play sound assignment football against the deceptive Yellow Jackets’ offense. The Hurricanes have received a crash course on how to defend against Georgia Tech and Quarterman believes the Hurricanes are learning fast.
“We are able to get pretty well prepared for them,” Quarterman said. “Our coaching staff does a great job of preparing us for the teams that we play, along with making halftime adjustments. That whole week last year was full of cut blocks and speed and speed and speed. We didn’t have offensive linemen during out drills, we had fullbacks on the line because we wanted to simulate the fast speed we will see in the game.”
Joe Jackson is one of several defensive standouts with experience against the Yellow Jackets. As a freshman a year ago, Jackson had a sack fumble and scooped the ball and returned it for an 18-yard touchdown. He is using his experiences to help prepare the younger players for their first game against Georgia Tech.
“You do as much as you can in practice, but it’s going to be way faster in the game, so you have to hopefully be able to adjust in the middle of the game. In the game it is completely different than what we run in practice. I just tell them be prepared for anything and that’s what you have to be ready for when playing Georgia Tech.”
