Watch the Dive

The battle today may be right up the middle. Watch closely the battle of the GT O-Line and the VT D-Line. Watch how effective Jonathan Dwyer is at busting up the gut. VT's defensive tackles are taking a little heat coming into the game and Georgia Tech's O-Line took a little heat for "getting their tails handed to them" last week.

Now, check out Frank Beamer's strategy for this week. It's clear - lots of guys are focused on the dive (or at least that's what they're saying):

Here's DC Bud Foster:

ON A KEY BEING TO GET SOME INSIDE PUSH, LIKE BOSTON COLLEGE DID: “That’s part of it. Their two tackles are war daddies, though, their two defensive tackles. Those guys may not necessarily make plays, but you’ve got to clog up the middle so they can’t get that downhill push. They like to run that track with that fullback real tight. But we’re going to have a lot of people taking care of the dive … we’re going to handle the quarterback, too. But we’ve got to be disciplined. You can’t be taking the quarterback when you’ve got dive, or you can’t be taking the pitch when you’ve got quarterback. And then you’ve got to be disciplined in the passing game. They don’t throw it a lot, but they’re productive when they throw the ball.”

LB PURNELL STURDIVANT
ON HIS PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY DEFENDING THE GEORGIA TECH OPTION: “The dive. (Foster) pretty much put the linebackers and D-ends on the dive this week, just to go in there, pound the fullback. And for the quarterback, the safeties and the rovers take those guys and the wings.”

ON THE LAST TIME HE PLAYED AN OFFENSE LIKE THIS ONE: “My freshman year of high school, the wing-T. That was the last time. It was kind of tricky in high school. I had more responsibility as a linebacker in high school. But Bud took some of the pressure off us this week, so we’ve just got to basically just stop the dive.”

ON HOW CAREFUL THEY HAVE TO BE NOT TO GET LULLED TO SLEEP AND HAVE PASSES SAIL OVER THEM: “Very careful, but as long as I do my job, we’ll be fine. They might have a play fake, but I’m taking care of the dive, so the secondary’s going to be taking care of the pass.”

Are you sensing a theme here?