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Georgia Tech was heavily favored against the Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday night and the Yellow Jackets were looking for their first win of the season, 35-17.
It didn’t start well by any means, but Georgia Tech found a way to get past Western Carolina. Western Carolina found a wide open receiver on the field and the defense got off to a scary start, but settled down and played better as the game went on.
The running game came to life tonight, with a big play against Donta Smith.
Quarterback Jeff Sims struggled tonight, missing wide receivers and forcing him down the field a lot. Sims should be much better next week against Ole Miss.
So what are the biggest takeaways from the Yellow Jackets’ win tonight? Let’s break it down below.
3. The running game was very strong.
After a rough night against Clemson, Georgia Tech’s running attack is back tonight, with Dont’a Smith leading the charge. Dylan McDuffie and Hassan Hall had good contributions, and wide receiver Nate McCollum took a 40-yard reverse play into the end zone.
With Sims having a subpar game, it would be nice to see the offense be able to lean on the ground game. They took over in the second half and were able to shut out the Georgia Tech ball. Smith would finish with over 100 yards rushing and look like the Yellow Jackets’ best back.
2. Jeff Sims didn’t have a good game
After a strong showing against Clemson on Monday, Sims was unable to build on that performance and looked shaky in this game.
As of the fourth quarter, Sims was completing 50% of his passes for around 100 yards. He didn’t look comfortable and they weren’t all night with a lot of fumbles and forced plays. He also had a problem with his legs.
For Georgia Tech to have a shot at winning games against high-quality opponents this year, Sims needs to be better. He wasn’t there tonight and that worries me a lot.
1. The defense was not built on their performance against Clemson.
Georgia Tech had a strong performance against Clemson in the first game, but they couldn’t build on it tonight. They were able to tighten up after the first quarter, but often, Western Carolina had wide open receivers on the field, and the Catamounts quarterback was able to run for yards in the second half.
The main reason for this is that Georgia Tech still has to play opponents. Ole Miss has an explosive receiving offense that can move the ball against multiple teams. Western Carolina put up 266 yards on the Yellow Jackets in the first half, averaging 14 yards per completion. That is not good at all and needs to be fixed going forward.
The running backs were strong in the first half but gave up some plays in the second half. He’s been much better than opposing defenses and has been solid in at least two games so far.
There was some improvement in the second half, but it’s still not good to give up so many explosive passing plays to a bottom team in the FCS. The Catamounts got close to 400 yards of total offense and that doesn’t bode well ahead of Ole Miss next week.
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