Miami’s defense is preparing for Georgia Tech’s best effort Saturday
Georgia Tech’s loss to Bowling Green last week raised many questions around the country and internally about the Yellow Jackets football program. Tech changed its defensive coaching staff, promoting Kevin Sherrer, but the offense remained the same.
Georgia Tech scored the first 14 points last week but could not respond with enough points to beat the Falcons after surrendering 38 straight points. The starting quarterback, Haynes King, completed 23 of 37 passes for 348 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions against Bowling Green. Despite that result, the Miami defense will be ready for King and the Georgia Tech offense.
“He’s very athletic, can run, gets out of the pocket, makes things happen,” Miami Defensive Coordinator Lance Guidry said about King in Monday’s press conference. “He’s got a strong arm. Know a little bit about him. Know his daddy. His dad is the head coach at Longview [Texas High School], so he’s a coach’s son of course. He transferred from Texas A&M. He’s playing well; he’s done some good things. It’s going to be a tall task.”
The 6’3″ 204-pound quarterback is completing 64.5 percent of his passes this season, passing for 1,480 yards and 15 touchdowns to four interceptions. He can undoubtedly hurt his opponents escaping from the pocket, averaging 35.2 rushing yards per game.
“You got a quarterback that can throw accurate passes,” Miami Linebacker Francisco “Kiko” Mauigoa said of King. “We’re just preparing all for that. Coming out of that game against their previous opponent, it didn’t go their way, you know. We know that team is good. We just got to prepare like how we prepare every game.”
Miami has done a tremendous job stopping the run this season. According to Pro Football Focus, the Hurricanes currently rank second in the nation in run defense. The Yellow Jackets rank 107th in rushing. Kiko credits the big guys up front.
“I give a lot of credit to the D-Line man,” Kiko said. “Those guys in the trenches, they work hard, and you see it every practice. Guys stay behind and work on their technique and filling up holes, and all we do as a linebacker is just fill those open gaps. And most of the time, they are taking two gaps and making our job a lot easier just tracking the running back. So, I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job stopping the run, but we got to get better.”
The Hurricanes currently lead the ACC by allowing 48 yards on the ground per game. Miami will aim to corral, Jamal Haynes, who leads the Yellow Jackets in rushing, averaging 75.2 yards a contest and 5.8 per carry.
Miami respects the passing game from Georgia Tech, especially the overall team speed.
“There’s speed all over the field,” Miami cornerback Jaden Davis said. “From number 13 (Eric Singleton, Jr.), to eight (Malik Rutherford), six (Christian Leary), 12 (Dominick Blaylock). They have a lot of guys that give a lot of gas. They are a very powerful offense. They have a great quarterback that can make every throw. He’s mobile when he’s out of the pocket; he also makes plays too. They have a really good running back that can make you miss at any point and time. I respect their offense a lot. They are one of the better offenses we’ve played the whole season. They’re really explosive, so we’ll have to be on our Ps and Qs.”
Miami currently ranks 8th in the ACC when it comes to stopping the pass, but Guidry believes the imbalance is caused by teams having to throw because the run defense has been so stout.
“Passing defense is kind of skewed sometimes,” Guidry said. “I always look at pass efficiency defense. Because that’s the tell-tell. How many touchdowns you are giving up? How many interceptions you’re getting? What’s the quarterback rating? Because if we do our job at stopping the run, we’re going to give up passing yards, and that’s the way it is. But if your efficiency is good on defense, then you’re playing well. I don’t necessarily look at yards that we give up; I look at the efficiency.”
Miami currently ranks 5th in the ACC in passing defensive efficiency (114.3), while Georgia Tech ranks tenth (129). Miami did give up some big plays (46 and 37 yards) against Temple about two weeks ago.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Miami safety James Willliams said. “We just got to learn to keep our foot on the pedal and always working downhill and understanding our coverages and understand why Coach Guidry calls certain calls in certain moments. Once we understand that, I believe those passing yards should drop.”
According to PFF, Miami has the 24th-ranked overall defense and will face the 51st-ranked offense Saturday night.
Kickoff is scheduled for 8 PM and will be televised on ACC Network.
