Following Georgia Tech’s 33-7 win over UNC, it’s still hard to tell just how good the Yellow Jackets are. To be fair to the Tar Heels, they are an injury depleted team that’s just plan bad. Georgia Tech controlled the game from start to finish. Last week Georgia Tech beat Pitt 35-17 and in week 2 they defeated Jacksonville State 37-10. Neither of those teams scare anyone.
Georgia Tech’s opening week loss to Tennessee even seems suspect as the Vols simply don’t look very good themselves. Still the Yellow Jackets are just 1 bad defensive quarter on that Labor Night from being 4-0 and ranked around 17th. Their UCF game was cancelled.
Here is the question… Is Georgia Tech good enough to be a threat in the Coastal? You just don’t know. They haven’t beat a team that I would describe as good yet, but minus the 1 bad quarter against Tennessee they’ve been in control of every game they’ve played. This is what I am sure of.
Taquon Marshall is an excellent quarterback. He reminds me of Tevin Washington. Washington always seemed to make the right read, and really knew how to run the offense. Marshall appears to be a more athletic version of Washington. The offense has sputtered from time to time, but for the most part has been pretty good. The defense is certainly improved.
Even against offensively challenged teams like Pitt and UNC, the defense has only given up 24 points. They are far better against 3rd down, and the tackling is better. This isn’t an elite unit, but it doesn’t appear to be the liability we’ve seen in years past.
The soft part of the schedule in now behind Georgia Tech, and the schedule really takes an uptick. In 2 weeks the Yellow Jackets play at Miami, and after that it is Wake Forest, at Clemson, at Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke and Georgia. That’s 4 top 20 teams, and improved Wake Forest, Virginia and Duke teams.
The pecking order in the Coastal looks pretty clear. Pitt and UNC seem like the bottom of the Coastal. Miami and Virginia Tech are the top. Virginia is better, but not really equipped to win the Coastal. Duke is pretty good, but a notch below Miami and VT as we saw in their 31-6 home loss to Miami. Georgia Tech is the wild card in the Coastal, and I think a dangerous one at that.
