Breakdown: No. 9 Georgia Tech vs. No. 10 Iowa

[IE]

Offense

Georgia Tech: It is no secret that Georgia Tech likes to run the football and can do so with great precision and power. The Yellow Jackets enter tonight?s game ranking second in the country in rushing offense, gaining an average 307.2 yards on the ground per game. Leading that charge is B-back Jonathan Dwyer and quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who sit just nine yards away from giving Georgia Tech a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in a season for the first time in program history. With 991 yards rushing, Nesbitt also has 18 rushing touchdowns. But the ground attack isn?t the Yellow Jackets? only offensive weapon. Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, heralded as one of the nation?s best, was among the ACC?s receiving leaders with 46 catches for 1,154 yards and eight touchdowns. A deep threat, expect the West Laurens product to factor into tonight?s game.

Iowa: While the Yellow Jackets? attack is heavily influenced by one particular offensive method, the Hawkeyes? attack features a much more balanced game plan. Although it ranks 93rd in total offense, Iowa?s offense has been more about collecting key yards in clutch situations rather than trying to pick them up in big bunches. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who was hurt in a late-year loss to Northwestern, returns to action for the first time in nearly two months today when the retakes control of a group that averaged 221.3 passing yards per game this season. Behind the Hawkeyes? aerial attack have also been a pair of receivers in Marvin McNutt and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who have hauled in nearly a combined 1,300 yards. True freshmen running backs Brandon Wegher and Adam Robinson have also anchored a running game that, while physical, ranks just 103rd in the country.

Edge: Georgia Tech

Defense
Perhaps the biggest key to this game, Georgia Tech?s defense might help dictate whether the Yellow Jackets will be celebrating an Orange Bowl victory late tonight. The unit has struggled throughout the season but was really exposed during its past two ballgames against rivals Georgia and Clemson. The Bulldogs racked up more than 300 yards on the ground with their two-back system ? don?t forget, Iowa has one, too ? while the Tigers saw running back C.J. Spiller amass 266 yards rushing in an ACC championship loss to Georgia Tech. If the Yellow Jackets can do as they?ve said all week and not overpursue on run defense and limit the Hawkeyes? ground game early on, then they have a chance to help their team push toward a big win.

Iowa: Another matchup that is sure to help dictate tonight?s finish will be how well Iowa?s defenders adapt to Georgia Tech?s prolific, big-play producing option offense. Before the Orange Bowl, the Hawkeyes had not faced a true spread option this season, and the closest previous glimpse they had ever gotten of Georgia Tech?s actual scheme was from television last season, when the Yellow Jackets rolled at home over Miami. That being said, Iowa features a group that is wholly committed to playing fundamental and physical defense. Defensive ends Broderick Binnis and Adrian Clayborn are NFL talents ? Clayborn even announced before the bowl he would return for a senior season ? while All-Big Ten linebackers Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds head up a hard-hitting, mobile secondary. Although good, Iowa?s attention to fundamentals could prove detrimental. With an offense as unpredictable as Georgia Tech?s, some semblance of a controlled recklessness can be a good thing for a defense.

Edge: Push

Special teams

Georgia Tech: Little did Georgia Tech know, but the ACC championship was going to come down to special teams play. As place-kicker Scott Blair connected on four consecutive field goals, including a career-long 49-yarder, the place-kicking game helped carry the Yellow Jackets to the five-point victory that gave them the automatic Orange Bowl berth. If they can harness Blair?s place-kicking ability for just one more game this season, it would help the Yellow Jackets tremendously. In the return game, true freshman Orwin Smith has proven he has the ability to break long kick returns, while Jerrard Tarrant has done the same off punts. After just two games, Tarrant already had two punt returns for touchdown.

Iowa: One statistic Hawkeyes defenders and special teamers might want to take note of: Georgia Tech enters tonight?s game not having punted in 22 consecutive possessions. The Yellow Jackets have only 14 three-and-out situations for the fewest in the country this season. That means punt returner Colin Sandeman may not see the field often in special teams situations. The Hawkeyes? place-kicker, Daniel Murray, has had a somewhat roller coaster season. As like Blair, he has made key field goals when they mattered, but he has also missed his share from beyond 40 yards. Murray enters the game leading the Big Ten with made field goals at 18.

Edge: Georgia Tech

Coaching

Georgia Tech: Paul Johnson has seemed extremely perturbed and disappointed by last season?s Chick-fil-A Bowl loss to LSU inside the Georgia Dome. Blasted by the Tigers, his strong scoring offense was kept out of the end zone in a 38-3 loss that sent the Yellow Jackets to their fourth straight bowl loss. This year, he appears to have taken the beating to heart and has put his team through more physically intense practices to ensure they are ready for the task at hand: winning the bowl game. As a coach at the FCS level a decade-and-a-half ago, he won a pair of national championships at Georgia Southern and has proven that he knows how to coach in big-game scenarios. On perhaps the brightest stage he has ever coached upon, Johnson is hoping to bring his team one of its biggest wins in school history.

Iowa: Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz is in his 11th consecutive season in Iowa City and has actually been on this stage before. In Jan. 2003, three seasons removed from a 3-9 finish, he led the Hawkeyes to the Orange Bowl, where they lost to Southern California 38-17. He has said often this week that he and his staff learned from that experience. One of the things his current players have learned this season is finding a way to win close games late. Last year, the Hawkeyes? four losses came by a combined 12 points. This season, they have won four games by a combined eight points.

Edge: Georgia Tech

Key matchups

Offense: Georgia Tech?s offensive line vs. Iowa?s defensive line. In addition to Binnis and Clayborn, the Hawkeyes have tons of talent on the inside of their line in tackles Karl Klug and Christian Ballard. Watch for how well each of the front four for Iowa tries to navigate the low cut-block techniques of the Yellow Jackets? linemen to see how well Georgia Tech?s offense will be run. If the defensive linemen have trouble getting around the smaller, more agile Georgia Tech line, the Yellow Jackets could enjoy a big day on the ground.

Defense: Georgia Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan vs. Iowa?s tackles and tight ends. As expected, the Yellow Jackets will probably move Morgan around in the defense tonight. He has played mostly on the left end but can play on the right side of Georgia Tech?s line or even be pushed back into the secondary as a pseudo linebacker/rush end. But while the NFL ready Morgan is sure to be all over the field in more ways than one, he will most often be lined up on Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki and 315-pound tackles Kyle Calloway and Bryan Bulaga. Moeaki has four touchdown catches this season but is noted mostly for his blocking ability. The Big Ten?s offensive lineman of the year this past season, Bulaga has proven to be a strong blocker.

 

[IE]

Jackets believe a win tonight will put them in next year?s national championship conversation


? The question is so simplistic in its most basic sense, but try to flesh it out and a myriad of complex answers could come cascading upon you.

Where will Georgia Tech be this time next year?

It is, of course, a query to which no one has an actual reply right now, only mere guesses. But almost to a man, the Yellow Jackets themselves believe that late tonight, they might be in position to take a big step toward making their only real prediction for next season come to fruition.

?We?re trying to get something bigger than the Orange Bowl next year; like a national championship,? true freshman receiver Stephen Hill said.

While Hill and his teammates understand that many more games stand in the way of what might happen next January, they believe that a win tonight in the Orange Bowl at Miami?s Land Shark Stadium could propel them into the national title discussion heading into next season.

?It would be huge for our program,? sophomore A-back Roddy Jones said. ?It would springboard us into next year, and it would be kind of a statement on a national level. To play in a BCS bowl game and to get a win is always a big step for the program.?

Many argue that this step actually began two Decembers ago, when Georgia Tech was fed up with its previous coaching regime and sought another.

Hiring current Yellow Jackets head coach Paul Johnson, the school took the bold risk of bringing a new head coach ? even though he was a proven winner at smaller levels ? to Atlanta with the hopes that he and his unique spread option offense could instantly change the nature of football relations in the Peach State.

Judging from Georgia Tech?s largely unexpected 9-4 finish, Chick-fil-A Bowl berth and streak-stopping win over rival Georgia during Johnson?s first season, the payoff was quick.

Entering this final game of Year 2, he has led the team to an even more impressive 11-2 record and an ACC championship. Not to mention, at least three of his players are being given serious consideration as NFL draft prospects as juniors. For a coach one year removed from implementing a completely new system, the feat is nothing short of ?amazing,? Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said.

?What he has done there was a brilliant hire at Georgia Tech,? Ferentz said in an Orange Bowl news conference Monday. ?And he?s won. They?ve won 20 games in two years, so that says it all right there.?

While the success itself has showcased to the broader college football world that Johnson was not joking two summers ago when he predicted an immediate turnaround for his program, there have been other factors, some argue, that have gone into making Georgia Tech the type of program that can compete nationally on a consistent basis.

Much like Johnson last season, then-Georgia Tech defensive tackle Darryl Richard made a bold statement last season when he said the following to members of the media: ?I think his teams in the future will compete for championships because it?s the way he programs a team. ? I believe his system builds all the way from the offseason; how he makes men out of boys. It?s a mentality, and I think it?s showing up in football games.?

Halfway through the Yellow Jackets? surprise run through a challenging schedule, Richard made those comments nearly an hour after Georgia Tech?s emotional home win over Florida State. With a late-game defensive stop and an ensuing fumble leading to the win, Richard was compelled to say that conditioning and confidence not only prepared the team physically, but also mentally in such a game-on-the-line situation.

For current freshmen like Macon native Julian Burnett, that type of focus has even translated off field.

In addition to having to persevere in various practice workouts, Burnett said he had to learn how to properly fight through one tough stretch this season following a mid-year knee injury.

?Early on in the season, I got a chance to come out and play and then after the injury, I kind of fell back and didn?t get as much playing time,? Burnett said. ?But I kept pushing, stayed strong and believed in my ability and in the coaches and how they were coaching, but I just believed that I can get back out there, and I?m glad to be in the position I am now.?

Relishing various starting opportunities, Burnett has seen the field often. While he is not expected to be in the game on the first series, he still likely will make an impact often in the game.

Similar to Hill, as a true freshman who has had extensive playing experience, Burnett also values the importance tonight?s game and the impact it could have for future seasons. Although it may be hard to maintain such high levels of expectation throughout the next several seasons, he believes the players in his class and future classes have no other choice.

?To have many years coming after this, I just feel like I?ve got to uphold (this success) throughout the rest of my college career,? Burnett said.

As the youngest Yellow Jackets feel the pressure of wanting to live up to everything they have done this season, the most veteran players on the team believe the program is being left in good hands.

?This team is full of upside,? senior offensive lineman Cord Howard said.

The Phenix City, Ala., native is playing his final college game tonight, and he said he was glad to have spent time around those Yellow Jackets who are now charged with shaping the program for several seasons to come.

?They have not seen their best days yet; it?s coming,? Howard said. ?I?m leaving behind a bunch of hard workers who don?t mind going that extra mile in order to be successful. So I?m sure they?ll be very, very good in the future.?