Saturday night is a big game for both the Miami Hurricanes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Both teams are getting into the thick of their ACC slate and both want to get a leg up on the competition. The Canes are going to be wearing a new uniform combination and Georgia Tech is going with the “white out” campaign.
But enough with the uniforms, let’s get into what we should all be watching for throughout the game.
Miami’s Offensive Line
If you watch the film of the offensive line during the first two games, you might want to puke. It’s pretty bad and after having a really good offensive line last season, it was getting pretty depressing, too. The offensive line seemed to start figuring things out after the Florida A&M game and started to perform against Nebraska. Then against Duke, you could really start seeing the offensive line starting to gel, but then the injury bug bit and it bit hard.
Taylor Gadbois and Kc McDermott both left the game against Duke with “lower extremity” injuries last week. If you follow UM’s injury report, you know what that really means. Anyway, losing Gadbois and McDermott is a big blow for Miami for multiple reasons. The depth at the offensive line wasn’t great to begin with, both Gadbois and McDermott play the same position and now you’re asking Jonathan Feliciano (who has played some tackle in the past) to make the move. By moving Feliciano, you’re now gonna have guys like Nick Linder playing meaningful snaps at the guard position.
It’ll be interesting to see how Miami goes about the offensive line concern and how they hold up throughout the game.
Miami’s Defense Versus Georgia Tech’s Running Game
Georgia Tech isn’t going to do anything differently than what you see on tape. They’re a heavy triple-option team and they’ve been that way for a long time. Miami knows what’s coming for the most part and it just comes down to execution and being in the right place. Everybody has to do their assignment to stop this offense, and it’s not an easy task some times. I broke down Miami’s games versus Georgia Tech and there are some things Miami needs to improve to stop this offense.
Georgia Tech has had success the last two seasons against Miami on the ground, averaging 311 yards on the ground. That seems like a lot. The good thing is that Miami’s done a good job containing the limited Tech passing game.
Miami is going to have their hands full against Georgia Tech’s Justin Thomas and he’ll break out a couple of big runs. The key is to hold the Yellow Jackets to short gains on first and second down and force Thomas to throw. If you remember last year’s game, Thomas’ first throw of the game got picked off by Ladarius Gunter and taken back to the house. Miami is going to need big plays like that from it’s defense to come out with a tough road win.
Phillip Dorsett Against Georgia Tech’s Defense
This pretty much applies to every receiver on Miami’s roster because of the speed factor but with Dorsett being the fastest, he causes the most trouble. In fact, Dorsett loves to play against Georgia Tech and he’s caused Paul Johnson’s squad a ton of headaches the last two seasons.
In 2012, Dorsett torched Georgia Tech for 184 yards and a touchdown on nine receptions. Georgia Tech had no answer for him that night, and that was still when he ran a 4.35ish. That number has gone down.
Last season, Dorsett burned the Tech secondary yet again. He ran right down the seam and caught a pretty pass by Stephen Morris for a 40-yard touchdown grab. Dorsett doesn’t just do it with his catches, but just with his presence. Allen Hurns had a touchdown grab last year against the Yellow Jackets but it might’ve not happened had Dorsett not taken two defender with him down the middle of the field. Hurns and Dorsett lined up on the same side caused all kinds of trouble for Tech and it’ll be interesting to watch who the coaches put next to number four on Saturday. My guess: Stacy Coley.