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The Other Game Thursday Night

Georgia Tech and Clemson are for real

By Jim March

Last night, nearly every football fan in America watched as Pittsburgh and Tennessee kick off the NFL season.  Here’s what you missed: an 82-yard TD run, an 85-yard punt return TD, two interceptions, and a 34 yard touchdown pass thrown by a kicker. That was the first quarter in Atlanta, as Georgia Tech fans welcomed Clemson to town with a white-out, and sent them home with a 30-27 loss to start conference play.

 1.  Get to know the name Derrick Morgan. 

 “The Ramblin’ Wreck” junior defensive end had 10 tackles and 3 sacks last night. Lightning quick off the ball, Morgan alone kept Clemson from getting into any sort of offensive rhythm in the first half. A combination of fatigue and Clemson’s halftime blocking adjustments kept Morgan in check during the second half, but this guy has the ability to change games by himself. Don’t be surprised when he is named to the All-American team at the end of the year.

2. Georgia Tech is a Running Team.

 This is clear to anybody who knows about Coach Paul Johnson’s triple option offense. However, QB Josh Nesbitt proved to the nation last night that GT must run the ball at least 80 % of the time in order to win games. Nesbitt went 3-14 passing with 2 INT. Another pick was overturned on replay. This guy cannot be counted on to take advantage of play-action passing opportunities the option offense naturally affords him. 

3.  Josh Nesbitt: Clutch Player or Fluke?

 Though he put up horrendous numbers through the air, Nesbitt led the Yellow Jackets on two fourth quarter FG drives to win the game. On the first drive, he completed a dump pass to RB Anthony Allen on 3^rd and 9.  Allen went for 24 yards and a first down. Nesbitt also carried the ball 6 times for 43 yards on the game-tying march, including 5 consecutive runs. On the final Tech drive, he completed his homerun ball; a 38 yard pass to DeMaryius Thomas on 3^rd and 11 with 1:48 left in the game. Nesbitt came up bring when it matter with 62 of his 83 passing yards and 50 of his 91 rushing yards came on the final two drives. This begs the question: did a big-time player shake off a bad night and come through in the clutch, or did Clemson run out of gas and big plays?

4.  Frank Beamer can learn a couple of things.

 Although Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer is a special teams guru and leader of the ACC odds-on favorite this year, he could take some notes from Thursday’s game. First, Georgia Tech ran a Fake FG to perfection in the first quarter, switching the offense out for the special teams unit halfway through the play clock. DeMaryius Thomas was left near the sidelines as though he were out of bounds allowing the trick play to work better than some of Papa Kearney’s Pop Warner league antics. Thomas was uncovered on the 34 yard TD pass. Second, if you’re going to pooch punt, kick the ball out of bounds. Clemson K Richard Jackson took a fake FG punt and kicked it directly to the safe man, PR Jerrard Terrant. All Terrant had to do was make one man miss on his way to the end zone. Finally, Clemson’s kick coverage unit was superb.  The Yellow Jackets only took one kick return past the 30 yard line all night. Purple jerseys swarmed on every kickoff.

5. The ACC should not be overlooked in the National picture.

 For the past few years, the Atlantic Coast Conference has fallen out of favor with those who crown the SEC as the premier conference in the land and talk about how the Pac-10, Big 10, and Big XII are nipping at their heels. Last night’s game showed that these two schools have the athletes to compete with anyone in the country. Clemson RB C.J. Spiller, WR Jacoby Ford, DE’s DeQuan Bowers and Ricky Sapp, and S DeAndre McDaniel could play for just about any school in the entire nation. The same could be said for Georgia Tech RB’s Jonathan Dwyer and Anthony Allen, WR DeMaryius Thomas, DE Derrick Morgan, CB Mario Butler, S Morgan Burnett, or PR Jerrard Tarrant. This conference has the coaching and the athletes to play with any conference in the land.