Forget about Georgia Tech’s offense, it’s the Yellow Jacket defense that will determine whether the team competes for the Coastal Division crown in 2019.
Let’s be honest: for the past 11 seasons, the first thing that came to mind when someone said “Georgia Tech football” was former coach Paul Johnson’s triple option offense. The Jackets drove opposing defensive coordinators crazy with this attack, leading the conference in rushing in every season during Johnson’s tenure. Not surprisingly, Tech won four division titles and one conference championship in that span.
Instead of hiring another coach who ran the triple option, Georgia Tech tapped Geoff Collins to lead the program. He brought Dave Patenaude with him to install the spread offense this fall. While it might take him some time to get the ideal personnel on campus to run his scheme, it’s hard to believe that Patenaude won’t have Jacket offense moving the ball this season. His track record — specifically his tenure at Coastal Carolina — speaks volumes about how good of a coach he is.
Even if — and it’s a big if — the offense sputters out of the gate, the Georgia Tech defense will ultimately decide the Jackets’ fate in 2019. Although Tech moved the ball well during Johnson’s time in the Flats, it struggled at times defensively. The Jacket D ranked 93rd in yards per play last season, allowing the same ypp (5.98) as the UNC defense (which ranked 105th nationally). In addition, Tech ranked second to last in the FBS in third down conversion percentage, allowing its opponents to keep the drive alive 50.86% of the time.
It’s difficult — if not impossible — to win with numbers like that even if your ground game averages 325 yards per contest.
That, my friends, is why Georgia Tech’s defense is the key to a successful season. If the Yellow Jacket D can’t get off the field, it doesn’t really matter what the offense does.
Will it happen this fall? That’s tough to say at this point. However, given that Collins is one of the top defensive minds in college football, it’s hard to think that he won’t improve the Tech defense immediately. After all, he guided Florida’s defense to top 10 finishes in total yardage in 2015 and 2016. Similarly, his Temple defense was one of the better units in the country last year, allowing just 4.67 yards per play.
While there’s no guarantee that Tech will post numbers like that this season, it seems very likely that defense will be better in 2019. This improvement could mean the difference between a Coastal Division championship and another losing season.
If that doesn’t make it more important that the implementation of the spread offense, I don’t know what does.
