The two old rivals, who have been playing since 1933, enter the ACC opener with a chip on their shoulder.
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The loser instantly will be placed in a hard situation, while the victor will have a leg up against one of the three most talked-about contenders in the Coastal Division.
Both teams sit at 2-1, but Georgia Tech and their efficient triple option offense will give Duke’s defense too much trouble.
Despite what you may think the implications of this game are, there is a odd twist. The game was marked by a 77-minute weather delay at the end of halftime.
Georgia Tech’s offense has given Duke trouble since Paul Johnson took the Yellow Jackets job. It told him how much they wanted to beat Notre Dame before falling short in a mistake-filled afternoon in South Bend, Ind. “And they came in here and kicked our tails”.
Samford (2-1) at Louisville (0-3), 6 p.m.: The Cardinals have lost their games by a combined margin of 13 points and have been plagued by turnovers and futility in the red zone, on both offense and defense.
On offense, Deshaun Watson is blossoming into one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC, but the offensive line is young, and susceptible to the four-man rush.
“Everything is assignment football when you play Georgia Tech“, Cash said. Said Cutcliffe: “I think we can be a little more aggressive than what we were”. “A good play, two good plays, then a horrific play, which is not typical of what we do”. “They’re well-coached and they haven’t given up a lot this year”, said Johnson. “Right now, we can’t say that, with the performance we had against Northwestern”. Two of the most talented dual-threat quarterbacks in the league, Justin Thomas of Georgia Tech and Macclenny resident Thomas Sirk of Duke, guide offenses ranked among the top-30 in the NCAA.
In his eight seasons at Tech, Johnson has been effective at managing this turnaround, commonly referred to as “flushing”.
Sirk threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns against Tulane and 315 against N.C. Central. “Georgia Tech is every bit as good as Northwestern’s defense”. Sirk missed on two deep attempts. The Devils fell to Northwestern, while Georgia Tech had an unsuccessful visit taking the option back to the land of Touchdown Jesus.
And Cutcliffe pointed out that some of those dump-offs could – and maybe should – have been bigger plays.
– Junior tailback Jela Duncan, who has not been able to play so far this season due to a torn pectoral muscle suffered in preseason, went through contact work Tuesday.
Fall and get back up. The coaching staff had been trying to preserve his redshirt, much as it did a year ago with C.J. Leggett.
A-backs Qua Searcy and Broderick Snoddy, wide receiver Micheal Summers and center Freddie Burden all left the game with injuries. Hinton replaced injured starter John Wolford last week at Army, throwing for 159 yards while rushing for 114 yards and both of the Demon Deacons’ touchdowns in a 17-14 victory. Fournette leads the nation in rushing, averaging 193.5 yards, and rolled up 228 in a rout of formerly ranked Auburn. Thomas understands the importance of this ACC opener.
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“We can’t just assume that since we had a great first half, the second half will be the same way”, Carmichael said. “They came in here previous year with good athletes and we didn’t play up to our potential they know they can beat us. We have to go in the with mindset that we have to start fast like the first two games”.
