Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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36 NOV. 20, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: GEORGIA TECH BY TODD D. BURLAGE GEORGIA TECH RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE The Yellow Jackets running game — and essen- tially their entire offense — is built around versa- tile second-year running back Jahmyr Gibbs. With 591 rushing yards and three touchdowns through nine games, Gibbs — who was tabbed as a Freshman All-American by The Athletic in 2020 and a first-team All-ACC pick by Athlon this preseason — is the workhorse of this unit, but freshman quarterback Jeff Sims and redshirt ju- nior running back Jordan Mason also provide solid ground support. Sims missed two games this season because of injury, but still ranked second on the team with 372 rushing yards and was tied for the Jackets lead with four rushing touchdowns. Mason — the leading rusher for Georgia Tech in 2019 with 899 yards — had 319 yards and a 71-yard touchdown run through nine games on a team ranked 56th nationally and seventh in the ACC with 176.6 rushing yards per game. After limiting a potent Navy rushing attack to 166 yards in a 34-6 win Nov. 6 — more than 50 yards fewer than its season average — Notre Dame continues to climb the national rankings in this category. The Irish entered the Virginia game al- lowing 140.0 rushing yards per game, which was the 55th-best mark in the nation. Following some early season struggles when this unit for Notre Dame hovered in the bottom 10 of the NCAA statistical pack, it has since become one of the strengths of the team. Junior Irish linebacker JD Bertrand has fallen off of his pace to record 100 tackles this season, but still easily led the Irish with 80 stops through nine games. Advantage: Notre Dame GEORGIA TECH PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE One of the points of improvement before and during this season for Georgia Tech was to have Sims take better care of the football in his second season as its starting quarterback. A talented ath- lete but a turnover-prone player, Sims threw for 1,881 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, but he was also intercepted 13 times and threw at least one pick in eight of his team's 10 games. With 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in nine games this season, Sims has shown moderate improvement with his ball protection. He entered his game last weekend against Boston College av- eraging 209.7 yards passing per game, which was ninth among ACC quarterbacks. Through nine games, Sims used junior Malachi Carter, senior Kyric McGowan and redshirt junior Adonicas Sanders as his primary wideout targets on a unit that ranked 68th nationally and ninth in the 14-team ACC in passing offense at 231.2 yards per game. McGowan led the team with seven touchdown grabs, was tied with Carter for the team lead with 32 catches and was third with 432 receiving yards. Carter led the team with 445 receiving yards and had one touchdown. Sanders added 24 catches for 326 yards with three scores. Coming out of the backfield, Gibbs provides an- other valuable receiving option. His 440 receiving yards were second on the team and his 29 recep- tions ranked third, to go along with two scoring grabs. The Georgia Tech pass protection surrendered 2.33 sacks per game, which ranked 77th in the country and 10th in the ACC. Heading into the Virginia game, Notre Dame rated eighth in the country with 12 total intercep- tions and was 25th in team sacks at 2.78 per game. Even while playing against some of the best quarterbacks in the country, Notre Dame ranked 27th in passing efficiency defense and allowed only eight opponent touchdown passes through nine games. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME VS. GEORGIA TECH RUN DEFENSE With 95 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Navy, Irish junior running back Kyren Wil- liams continued his late-season resurgence after a slow September start. Heading into the Virginia game, Williams was averaging 102.6 rushing yards through his previ- ous five outings and also had scored six of his nine rushing touchdowns during that stretch. With 802 rushing yards through nine games, Williams is back on pace for a 1,000-yard rushing season, a mark that didn't seem attainable after he tallied just 289 rushing yards with three rush- ing touchdowns through the first five games this season. On defense, the Yellow Jackets before last week- end were allowing 175.0 rushing yards per game (96th nationally) and five consecutive opponents had gained at least 174 yards on the ground. Georgia Tech's rush defense is led by star line- backer Quez Jackson. The junior paced his team through nine games with 91 total tackles, six of those for loss. His 10.4 tackles per game led the ACC through Week 10. On PaPer Senior wide receiver Kyric McGowan led Georgia Tech with seven touchdown catches and shared the team lead with 32 receptions through Week 10. PHOTO COURTESY GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS