Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1527865
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 19, 2024 35 GAME PREVIEW: GEORGIA TECH Date: Oct. 26, 2024 Site (capacity): MetLife Stadium (82,500) Kickoff: 12 p.m. ET TV: ABC or ESPN All-time series: Notre Dame leads 80-13-1 Last meeting: Notre Dame 42, Navy 3 (Aug. 26, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland) 2024 Record To Date: 5-0 overall, 3-0 AAC through Oct. 12 Navy head coach: Brian Newberry (second season, 10-7) Season Summary: Shout it from the rooftops: Navy is back, and better than it's been in quite some time. The Midshipmen are one win away from becoming bowl eligible for the first time since 2019, when they went 11-2 under prior longtime head coach Ken Niumatalolo and won the Liberty Bowl over Kansas State. Sitting at 5-0 under second-year coach Brian Newberry, Navy appears to have a triple-option quarterback like Malcolm Perry, who ran for over 2,000 yards that season. Only this time, that quarterback is a serious threat with his arm, too. Through five games, junior Blake Horvath had amassed 771 yards through the air and 565 on the ground, along with 17 total touchdowns. He was averaging 13.1 yards per pass attempt in a not-insignificant 11.8 attempts per game, and he can reach speeds up to 20.8 miles per hour on the ground. Navy's modernized version of the triple option, led by Horvath, has been sensational. The Midshipmen were averaging 43.6 points per game through Week 6, which ranked 11th in the country. The majority of Horvath's passing production has gone to junior running back Eli Heidenreich, who has amassed 449 yards and 5 touchdowns on 20 receptions. He's also been an effective runner, averaging 8.6 yards per carry on 20 attempts. Defensively, Navy plays an attacking style with many of the players who flummoxed Notre Dame into nearly being upset in 2022. The Midshipmen are dangerous, and they'll be motivated: If they can upset the Irish, they would enter the College Football Playoff conversation. FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH Pos. No. Player Notable Stats* QB 11 Blake Horvath 39-of-59 passing, 771 yards, 7 TD; 66 carries, 565 yards, 10 TD RB 22 Eli Heidenreich 20 carries, 172 yards; 20 catches for 449 yards, 5 TD LB 44 Colin Ramos 56 tackles, 1 sack STR 14 Jaxson Campbell 34 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 1 INT S 18 Rayuan Lane III 27 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD, 2 FF * Statistics through Oct. 12 On Deck Opponent: Navy Midshipmen 1. Success Against Ranked Opponents Brent Key's first game as Georgia Tech's head coach was a sign of things to come. The Yellow Jackets beat No. 24 Pittsburgh 26-21 on Oct. 1, 2022. In the two calendar years since, Tech has accumulated five victories against ranked opponents. Key has an impressive mark of 5-4 against ranked opponents since he took over in an interim capacity two years ago. The Yellow Jackets are looking for multiple wins against ranked opponents in three straight seasons for the first time since 1955-57 after beating then-No. 10 Florida State 24-21 in Week 0 in Dublin, Ireland. Four of Key's five ranked wins have come away from Georgia Tech's home sta- dium. The Yellow Jackets are facing Notre Dame in their home city, but Key clearly knows some things about getting his team prepared to play a tough opponent at a place that isn't Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Pitt win was on the road, and so were triumphs over No. 13 North Caro- lina later in that season, at No. 17 Miami last year and the international victory over Florida State this year. Georgia Tech also knocked off the No. 17 Tar Heels at home in 2023. 2. Success In The Passing Game Georgia Tech has a skilled tailback in Jamal Haynes and a quarterback who can run it himself in Haynes King. But the Yellow Jackets have quietly been a team that isn't afraid to throw the football and one that accomplishes quite a lot when it does. Since attempting 16 passes against Florida State in Week 0, Georgia Tech threw the ball at least 30 times in its next five games — hitting a high-water mark of 40 against Syracuse Sept. 7. Through six games, King had completed 125 of 169 throws (74.0 percent) for 240.2 yards per game with 8 touchdowns and 1 interception. Most impressively, Georgia Tech only allowed 1 sack through the first six games of the season. Key argued on an ACC Network postgame show that the sack came on a designed quarterback draw in the Duke game and should not have been recorded as a sack. In a 20-game stretch dating back to 2022 through Week 6 of 2024, Georgia Tech did not allow a sack in 11 of those games. Key is a former Georgia Tech offensive lineman. His influence on a hard-nosed football team up front is in the numbers. These Yellow Jackets don't get pushed around, and they make it difficult to get to King when he's passing. 3. Success On Fourth Down Only 17 FBS teams went for it on fourth down more than Georgia Tech through Week 6. Why not keep the offense on the field on fourth down when you're gaining first-down yardage 76.92 percent of the time? That was the Yellow Jackets' clip (10 of 13) in their first six games of the season, placing them 11th nationally in fourth-down conversion rate at that time. In a crucial two-game conference stretch versus Louisville and Duke, both unbeaten teams at the time Georgia Tech kicked off against them, the Yellow Jackets went for it on fourth down eight times and converted on six occasions. It's only possible to get aggressive offensively on fourth down if you don't turn the ball over on first, second or third, and Georgia Tech does a nice job of that, too. The Yellow Jackets had 2 turnovers in their first six games, tying for No. 4 in the FBS through Week 6. Key's offense isn't prolific but it's still a pesky one to play against. — Tyler Horka Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King threw 8 touchdown passes with only 1 interception in his first six starts of the 2024 season. PHOTO COURTESY GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS Three Things To Know About Georgia Tech