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Georgia Tech is coming off of a decisive victory against Boston College. The Cougars are coming off of a tough loss against Notre Dame. Although the outcome was different, the goal is still the same: win the next one.
BYU (4-4) will travel to Georgia to take on the Yellow Jackets (3-4) on Saturday, Oct. 27. Kickoff is set at 1 p.m. MDT.
This will be the third time these two teams will meet. They are tied in the series, 1-1. Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson will not underestimate the 4-4 Cougars. Here is what he had to say about BYU:
On BYU overall:
“Certainly we’ve got a huge challenge this week in BYU, who’s a really, really good football team. I don’t think the record indicates how good of a team they are. They’ve lost three games to ranked teams, two in the top 10. They’re top 10 in just about every defensive category and they’re always a big physical team and this year is no exception. They’re well-coached and playing very well, especially defensively.”
“You go back and look at how they’ve played teams this year, and go back and try to find some games against teams that are somewhat similar. You can find the same formations; I think doubles are doubles and trips are trips and the way they line up to other people will be somewhat close to the way they line up to you. You look at it and gauge as a coach if you had their people and scheme how you would have them line up. That’s kind of how it’s done.”
On defending against BYU's offense:
“I think they’ve got a system that they’ve run for a lot of years and the big key is their quarterback. He’s an experienced guy, he’s older and he can really kill you scrambling and running the ball. He’s got a really strong arm, but he has really hurt people when they get out of their rush lanes and when he pulls the thing down and runs. The quarterback and tailback are good players and they’ll be huge on the offensive line. They’ll have guys. They’ll pass the look test. I played them many times when I was at the University of Hawaii and you won’t play many teams that look better getting off the bus than BYU.”
On defending against QB Riley Nelson:
“Well, you’ve got that nature all the time with quarterbacks that can run, but not just blitzing. You got to stay in your pass lanes and you can get pressure without sacking the quarterback. If you’re moving the pocket back and getting in his face and pushing him and making him step to the side or step back, sometimes that’s as good as the other kind of pressure, especially with certain types of quarterbacks. With some you’d like to keep them in the pocket and see them throw it instead of pulling it down and running with it. He is pretty good at both and will kill you if you don’t contain him. He’s got great speed, is a great athlete and really hurts people when he gets out of the pocket.”
On BYU defense:
“I think they’re big and physical up front, and so they can stop the run with just the front seven, they don’t have to use the secondary. Then they give you a lot of looks and they get you in third and long, a lot of blitzes, a lot of zone fires, a lot of things that way. They’re good tacklers. They’ve got the defensive end, Ezekiel Ansah, he is a heck of an athlete and is probably a first round draft pick. They’ve got guys that can rush the passer, they can get pressure with three or four, and then they’re able to drop into coverage and teams haven’t been able to run at all so they get them in a lot of long yardage situations.”
Alex Rivera is the assistant sports editor of the UVU Review. You can contact him at arivera.2011@hotmail.com or through his Twitter account @A_River_Uh.
