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So, a buddy of a buddy of mine is named Lennie, he's a tech grad and sports oracle of sorts, and he likes to break down Georgia Tech game film. Here are some interesting facts from Lennie:
Of the 52 plays that were run against ND, 37 were run in the shotgun. GT ran only 5 plays under center in the second half. Our only TD drive came on a drive where we ran 5 of 7 plays under center.
One thing Nix should get credit for is designed draws for Ball in the second half. ND had 5 DB's for all but 3 plays in the second half, so the middle of the field was open for draws. Out of our 4 best offensive plays in the second half, all of them were designed QB draws. One thing I want to check is how many times we had 2 TE's in the game, definitely should have been done if they had 5 DB's.
Out of the 25 designed pass plays we threw to #21 11 times. Also, only 2 passes were in the middle of the field, both incomplete. All other passes were outside the hash marks. GT believes that Ball needs that sideline to prevent interceptions, (and see passing lanes - my addition), but it also prevents big plays.
Thanks Lennie for those facts. Jacket fans would love to have more insightful analysis like that.
My question - if the middle of the field was open, where were the runs to T.Choice? It's very tough to move the ball when you cannot exploit the middle of the field, particularly from the air.
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Now, at risk of throwing this into a negative rant from the fans, I wanted to include some other stats from the Hive. None of them are pretty, but they highlight the conservative nature of the offense in the 2nd half..............
- Georgia Tech has been shut out in the 4th quarter of their last 5 games (including the bowl game).
- Georgia Tech has been shut out in the 2nd half of their last 3 games.
- GT has scored a total of 14 points in the 2nd half of their last 5 games
- GT has scored a total of 30 points in the 2nd hlaf of their last 13 games
- After GT got the score to 10-0 against ND, they had less than 70 yards of total offense the rest of the 1st half and entire 2nd half.
- Against ND, our RB's had 0 carries in the 4th quarter (only 4/17 in the entire half)
- A Chan Gailey Georgia Tech team has never won a game when an opponent scores at least 25 points.
Believe me, my goal in posting this stuff is not negativity. Just interesting facts. There is no doubt that we have a ball-control philosophy that down-shifts in the 2nd half with a lead. The offense goes from "playing to win" to "playing not to lose". What is interesting is that our defense plays the entire game "to win". They never stop blitzing and attacking.