Virginia @ Georgia Tech preview
Bobby Dodd Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2009 ) Georgia Tech 34, Virginia 9
Al Groh’s selling, but nobody’s buying this week.
Try as he might, nobody’s been entirely sold by the first-year Georgia Tech defensive coordinator’s repeated mantra that Saturday’s ACC game between the host Yellow Jackets and Virginia is just another game to him.
Not when Groh was the head coach of the school that was his own his alma mater - and that of his two sons - for nine years until getting unceremoniously dumped this past December. He was fired following a 42-13 loss to Virginia Tech, closing a second consecutive losing season in Charlottesville and the third in four years.
Groh, who had also served as an assistant coach at Virginia from 1970-72, led the Cavs to five bowl games during his head coaching tenure after inheriting a moribund program.
But any personal subplot aside, both teams figure to have to plenty of incentive this weekend.
A team still in search of its identity, Virginia is coming off a 34-14 pasting at the hands of Florida State last week. The Cavaliers, who are still looking for their first win over a Football Bowl Subdivision team, struggled against the Seminoles’ superior speed and never got untracked offensively, totaling a meager 25 yards rushing.
Fifth-year quarterback Marc Verica completed just 4 of 15 passes in the decisive first half and was sacked three times before being yanked for redshirt freshman Ross Metheny.
Verica could get the hook quickly against the Jackets if he continues to struggle.
Virginia’s defense was equally as culpable last week, as too many blown assignments and missed tackles proved costly. Slowing down Georgia Tech’s spread option offense certainly won’t be helped by the fact that both strong safety Rodney McLeod (possible concussion) and cornerback Ras-I Dowling (ankle) are questionable with injuries.
The Yellow Jackets, who will celebrating Homecoming this weekend, were hardly impressive last week in beating Wake Forest with a touchdown in the game’s final seconds. Too many blown defensive assignments have become the norm under coach Paul Johnson, but this season Georgia Tech lacks the many big-play offensive performers on which it has relied in years past to offset those deficiencies.
Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt ranks second in the ACC in rushing (86.8 yards per game) and has rushed for six touchdowns and thrown for five more over the last four games. The Jackets rank sixth nationally in rushing offense at just under 300 yards per game and will face a Cavs defense that surrenders a little more than 143 yards and 1.8 points per game.
The home team has claimed 12 of the last 15 meetings in this series. Georgia Tech has won 13 of its last 14 Homecoming games, with the exception being a 24-17 loss in 2008 to a Groh-led Virginia squad.