Blog

The more I look at the stat sheet, the more anxious I am to get a look at this Georgia Tech team. This is a very unusual football team.

I’ve heard a little about the Yellow Jackets over the course of the season, but I didn’t really start studying them until they were matched with Iowa in the Jan. 5 Fed Ex Orange Bowl.

Some observations:

– None of Tech’s starting offensive linemen is over 300 pounds and the right tackle is a 254-pound former running back.

– The three backs who have combined for nearly 3,000 yards this season – Jonathan Dwyer, Josh Nesbitt and Anthony Allen — all weigh 214 or more pounds. Allen, who has averaged 9.8 yards on his 61 carries, checks in at 228.

– The Yellow Jackets have completed only 76 passes this season with 46 of them going to one player: 229-pound wideout Demaryius Thomas, who averages 25.1 yards per catch.

– As a team, they average more than 23 yards per reception.

– Their quarterbacks have completed 47.8 percent of their passes, which has to be among the worst in the country, but they’re eighth in the country in passing efficiency.

– Punt returner Jerrard Tarrant averages 14.3 yards per return and has two runbacks for touchdowns this season.

– More than half their quarterback sacks are by one player, Derrick Morgan.

Some of those numbers would seem to be red flags. On paper, it looks as though they only have one receiver who needs to be covered and one defensive lineman who needs to be blocked. I’m sure it’s not that simple. You don’t get to be 11-2 and a 3 ½ -point favorite in your bowl game by being that unbalanced.

Like I said, it’s a very unusual team.