W2WF: Georgia Tech

2007 marked the first time Boston College and Georgia Tech ever met in a conference game. The Eagles, in their third season as members of the ACC after defecting from the Big East, had enjoyed a measure of immediate success in their newly-formed Atlantic Division, but the back-to-back consolation prize winners to Florida State and Wake Forest found themselves in a cross-division matchup against a bigger fish by the time the game against the Yellow Jackets rolled around.

The Yellow Jackets were a potential white whale as the defending Coastal Division champions and became an unexpectedly-major opponent as one of BC's two rotating league games. They were nationally ranked, which put them on par with Clemson, Virginia Tech and Maryland from the 2006 season, but the No. 15 team in the land was a developing monster that thumped Notre Dame on the road in the first week of the season.

BC was an upstart team for a third straight year and earned wins over Wake Forest, the defending Atlantic Division champion, and NC State in its first two weeks, but the third game seemingly meant more because the Demon Deacons and Wolfpack weren't on that level. To many, Georgia Tech represented the first hurdle for a team with a history of losing those games and the last hurdle between the Eagles and an undefeated, 6-0 start to the season.

"In the past, BC has often beaten the teams it was supposed to beat," wrote Mark Blaudschun in The Boston Globe's sports section on September 15, 2007, "but rarely beaten the teams it was not supposed to beat. Past failures against Miami, Florida State and Virginia Tech have ended the Eagles' dream of getting to the next level in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which means the championship game."

The criticism was well-deserved, even dating back to the Big East era, but after a 24-10 win over the Yellow Jackets, BC was standing in defiant indictment of all of the criticisms geared towards the program. Quarterback Matt Ryan had been flawless by throwing for 435 yards and a touchdown on 30-of-44 passing, and he picked apart Georgia Tech's defense with seldom-used tight end Jon Loyte, who caught a career-best four balls for 78 yards. He helped build a 21-0 lead by throwing a 39-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Robinson, and the Yellow Jackets were stunned into defeat by a bulldozer performance by their opponents from the north.

"With a crowd of 51,112 and a national prime-time audience looking on, the Eagles put on a show," Blaudschun wrote the next day. "They not only established themselves as contenders for the ACC crown, but Ryan put himself into the Heisman Trophy picture."

The win stands as BC's only win at Bobby Dodd Stadium since joining the ACC. There haven't been many matchups - a grand total of two games through the years have been in Atlanta - but the losses at home and in Dublin, Ireland also made wins over the Yellow Jackets more scarce than others. The 2007 game was a major breakout for that team, which did roll to that undefeated record, by the way, as its offense reached new heights with a smothering defense under coordinator Frank Spaziani. In that game, Ryan was only scratching his peak, while the defense was hitting its first loud apex.

"Tech had been overwhelming in its first two games," wrote Blaudschun, "averaging 51 points and 439 yards, while running back Tashard Choice was flashing his own Heisman credentials. But last night Choice was a nonfactor, leaving the game in the middle of the third quarter after managing only 31 yards on 15 carries."

It's true that this weekend's game isn't on that level. Neither team, for example, is nationally-ranked or a defending division champion, and this game won't determine anything towards the ACC championship, but it's an opportunity for BC to once again leave Atlanta with more than just its pride intact. It's an opportunity to clinch a .500 record for a sixth straight year, and it's a chance to seal bowl eligibility for the fifth, non-consecutive-but-somehow-straight year. For that reason, it's a critical game in the season and maybe, just maybe, another one capable of resonating through BC's history.

Here's what to watch for when BC makes its first trip to Atlanta since 2012:

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Weekly Storylines (The Natural Edition)

Iris: I believe we have two lives.
Roy: How...what do you mean?
Iris: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.

Reading any of the preseason scuttlebutt surrounding Phil Jurkovec is an easy way to get lost in NFL Draft speculation. He was one of the hottest commodities in the conversation, a tall, mobile quarterback with pocket presence whose numbers rivaled those of Sam Howell. Almost everyone expected him to emerge past players like Kenny Pickett, and the spitballs hit the draft board with anywhere from the middle rounds to a first round lottery selection.

Most of that talk ended abruptly when he injured his wrist against UMass, but Jurkovec's return last week against Virginia Tech once again drove conversation about his warrior mentality. A week later, the conversation isn't about his return as much as it is about his ability to manage an unorthodox defense employed by Georgia Tech.

"[Georgia Tech] is playing [a style] that we've seen a little bit this year," Jeff Hafley said. "It's kind of the new en vogue defense where you have three down linemen, and you're playing three safeties across [with] two corners or nickels. Then you have kind of a robber in the middle of the field, whether it's a quarter [in] man coverage or an extra guy running the alley."

Figuring out Georgia Tech's points of emphasis isn't as easy as checking a depth chart, largely because head coach Geoff Collins doesn't believe in listing players in concrete positional slots. It instead requires a look down their statistical shot chart, at which point linebackers Quez Jackson and Ayinde Eley jump off the page as the team's leading tacklers in a system designed to limit the use of linebackers. Charlie Thomas is immediately recognizable as the hybrid defensive back/linebacker mentioned by Hafley with his nine tackles-for-loss and two interceptions,while defensive lineman Jared Ivey provides a presence up front with six of his own tackles behind the line.

"Iowa State started to do a lot of [this defense] a year or two ago," Hafley said, "and we've seen some of it. It's been newer within the last few years and isn't your traditional 3-4 or 4-3 defense. It's a little bit of a three-high structure with guys dropping in. It's heavy quarters based, and they'll play man. They'll mix it up and pressure, play some three-deep, but I know they like to play a lot of quarters with that guy running the alley and handling some of the things in pass coverage."

Gus Sands: If it isn't enough, tell us what you had in mind.
Roy: To hit away.

Employing a quarter defense puts seven defensive backs on the field, but despite the added personnel on the back end, Georgia Tech has still struggled at stopping teams in the passing game. The numbers speak for themselves, but last week, Miami quarterback Tyler Van Dyke connected on three touchdowns and 389 yard as part of 563 yards of total offense by the Hurricanes. Wide receiver Charleston Rambo went for 210 yards on his own, while Jaylan Knighton added 162 yards on the ground as part of a two-headed approach.

That Miami only won the game by a field goal adds an air of deception to those numbers, though. One additional stop by Georgia Tech would have drastically altered the outcome of the game, and it's something requiring a keen eye by BC if Phil Jurkovec wants to take another step forward. It's slightly irrelevant, then, that he only threw for 112 yards, largely because his command of the offense in read option scenarios opened over 180 yards for both himself and running back Patrick Garwo.

"We want to run the ball," Jeff Hafley said, "and at the same time, we want to be able to hit explosives. We hit two big ones in the last game, so we want to be able to throw it short and throw it deep. Our run-action marries up with the run game, and we feel good about that with Phil. He certainly gives you the ability to move around [in the pocket] and create some off-schedule plays like he did last year and [against Virginia Tech]."

There's a number of ways to look at BC's approach to this week. Georgia Tech's numbers offer Jurkovec a golden opportunity to open up his offense against a struggling defense, but he can also continue to work through the run-heavy scheme employed against Virginia Tech last week. Still, it's important to remember that the Hokies were blown off the line by BC's offensive line and, as a completely different defense from the Yellow Jackets, played worse against the run than the pass.

Georgia Tech is a little bit inverted in that respect. The rushing defense is ranked 96th in the football bowl subdivision, which isn't great, but the well-documented struggles in stopping the pass have the team slotted 119th in the nation in interceptions, 74th in red zone defense, 112th in third down defense, 87th on fourth down defense, and 109th in passing yards allowed. Considering Zay Flowers had half of Jurkovec's seven completions last week and is over 200 yards in his last three games, there's a real chance BC opts to air things out with a player and passer who can take the top directly off a quarter-style alignment.

Roy: Pick me out a winner, Bobby.

It's hard to imagine that the end of the season is fast approaching, but Boston College's game in Atlanta on Saturday is the final road game of a long, three-month odyssey that began in August. Two games will remain, but neither the game against Florida State nor the Thanksgiving week finale against Wake Forest will require the Eagles to board a flight at Logan International Airport for points elsewhere.

"I haven't thought about it, to be honest," Jeff Hafley said, "but I'm happy that we'll play our last two games at home, especially with the way the students have been coming out. It's been such a cool environment to play in, and I'm grateful for them."

This has been one of the weirdest years in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and there's a chance the year ends with an unranked team winning both divisions if chaos unloads on the last three weeks. Clemson, which nearly lost to Georgia Tech before dropping two league games for the first time in forever, is still in the hunt in the Atlantic Division with both NC State and Wake Forest, which didn't lose any ground because last week's loss to North Carolina was considered a non-conference game.

It took the College Football Playoff off the table, but the game insulated Wake Forest into its final three games, ironically against NC State, Clemson and Boston College. There exists a very real chance that the Eagles could play to eliminate the Demon Deacons with additional maroon and gold fans situated either in Raleigh or in South Carolina while Pittsburgh or Virginia (or someone else) awaits the result for its TBD in Charlotte in early December.

"I think it speaks to the ACC and that's not a knock," Hafley said. "There's a lot of teams that are getting better, and there are a lot of really good coaches in this league. There's a lot of really good recruiting going on. I think the ACC is going to continue to get better, and you're going to continue to see this. You're going to see close games where the team that everybody thought, in the past, would win isn't necessarily going to win. There are other teams coming up, and if we keep working hard and doing the right things, I'm hopeful we'll be one of those teams."

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Countdown to Kickoff

10...Geoff Collins enters Saturday in search of his 10th win at Georgia Tech. The former Temple head coach is currently 9-22 as the head coach of the Yellow Jackets.
9…BC ranks ninth in the nation in third down defense with a .305 percent rate. Conversely, Georgia Tech is 112th in the nation at .451.
8…This week is Georgia Tech's eighth game on the ACC's RSN coverage since the start of last season and its third consecutive week on the regional affiliates.
7…Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims has seven career games over 200 yards passing as the centerpiece of the offense that transitioned out of the old triple option format.
6…The Eagles are in the top-20 nationally in six different defensive categories (passing yards allowed, third down defense, first down defense, scoring defense, red zone defense, defensive pass efficiency and total defense).
5…BC is 24th in the nation in penalties assessed with an average of five flags per game. Its total penalty yards and yards per game are both in the top-25, and both rank second in the ACC.
4…Since the split to two divisions, Georgia Tech has appeared in four ACC Championship Games, most recently in 2014.
3…Jeff Hafley's BC teams have three wins while playing on the ACC's RSN coverage with the most recent victory coming over Syracuse last season. The Eagles are currently on a two-game losing streak on RSN coverage.
2…Both BC and Georgia Tech average just over two sacks allowed per game with the Eagles' 2.11 slightly better than the Yellow Jackets 2.33.
1…Only one season is allowing fewer passing yards than Jeff Hafley's first two seasons: 1994, during which BC allowed an average of 159.1 yards per game. Last year's team allowed 168.2 ypg with this year slightly better at 162.8.

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BC-Georgia Tech X Factor

Phil Jurkovec

It's really hard to focus on one player when an offensive scheme has so many moving parts, but Jurkovec's return to the BC lineup provided an undeniable shot of adrenaline into the bloodline of the Eagles' attack. He instantaneously brought the little things to the scheme while offering glimpses into the familiar pop of his throws. The old zip was there, even if the game plan called on him to do more with his legs than his shoulder and surgically-repaired wrist.

It energized BC, and while none of that is a knock against either Dennis Grosel or true freshman Emmett Morehead, the potential of Jurkovec's presence on every play puts the offense in a unique category and elite class. There are few quarterbacks nationally who can do what Jurkovec can do, and it's why he has first round ability when he's fully healthy..

"Phil's been our leader," Jeff Hafley said. "He's been a guy who's made a ton of plays for us. In our opinion, he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. To get that back when it was unexpected...I found out there was a chance, and I didn't tell anybody. We just kind of brought him out in practice, and the offense knew, but the defense saw him and had no idea. But it's fair to say the guys have some extra juice and extra confidence, but that's not taking away from those other guys. It's just that Phil has been the guy."

Whether or not these three weeks light up the draft board reports is as irrelevant as projecting bowl games at this point, but the week without the closely-guarded secret should allow Jurkovec to assume more rhythm within the offense. Last week felt a bit like he was running on pure adrenaline, which was great for his Willis Reed-type story but an altogether different tale than what can be written this week as he settles back into his role. It's a very different perspective, and his performance on Saturday afternoon will go a long way to determining how to project his next steps for the final two weeks of the season.

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Dan's Non-Sports Observation of the Week

I finally caved last week and had my yard, the dumping ground for trees that no longer want their foliage, cleaned. I sat on those leaves, sticks and overall brush for a time period that should have been completely unacceptable, but the ongoing storms and nor'easters prevented me from getting outside whenever my schedule opened up. That's the excuse I used to my wife, anyways, and I stuck with it when I called in professional landscaping help for a cleanup.

Having my patio cleaned opened an unintended door once mild weather resumed this week. I admittedly haven't used it after I sat out there for the duration of the summer and fall (and part of winter) in 2020, but this week broke perfectly for me to slide up to my firepit and watch the opening night of college basketball. With Daylight Savings Time in effect, it was dark enough early to fire up the projector in time for the first round of tip-offs, a nice change from what I learned about having an infant when the clocks rolled back.

My wife was out for the night, and the resulting evening was the perfect kind of solitude. I slapped two channels on my watchlist and tuned into Earl Grant's BC debut while simultaneously watching national games, and my sweatshirt and flannel pants only added to the basking glow of a late-autumn crackle on the pit. The baby went down with ease, too, which was a gift from the heavens.

This was a bad week for me, and while we're all prone to them for a number of reasons, that night sitting next to the fire for a couple of hours brought an element of peace that was either deserved or owed. It was the perfect remedit for the mental and physical exhaustion, and I'm hoping it's not the last time I get to enjoy the atmosphere before winter brings snow, bitter cold and an icy chill.

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Scoreboard Watching

Every football season is filled with its own brand of ups and downs, but the 2021 season will forever resonate for the peaks and valleys navigated by Boston College in the face of mounting injuries and adversity. Once considered a dark horse candidate for the Atlantic Division title, the Eagles are instead seeking bowl eligibility with three games left in the season. At first glance, that statement feels like a disappointment, but even getting into a postseason game is an accomplishment considering the parity and challenges of playing in the ACC.

A win on Saturday would clinch bowl eligibility for the first time in Jeff Hafley's two years as head coach, and it would give BC a sixth straight season with at least a .500 regular season. The postseason streak, which is already littered with the bowl cancellation in Dallas in 2018 and the lightning delay in 2019, is technically non-concurrent because the Eagles opted out of consideration last year, but the NCAA also erased its requirements for whichever games were hosted during the 2020 season.

"I've certainly thought about [bowl eligibility]," said head coach Jeff Hafley, "but I [didn't] use it as motivation. If our guys aren't motivated to play this game, I've done a poor job. These guys understand it, and I'm sure they want to go to a bowl as badly as anybody, but I haven't had that conversation with them."

The reinstatement of the .500 record requirement offers a bar for teams seeking any one of the 80-plus slots available for a postseason game. While that seems like an absurd number for the 130 teams that sponsor Division I at the bowl subdivision level, it's important to remember how tough the power conference leagues compare to others and what's at stake when a team doesn't make a postseason game.

Neither team in Saturday's game between BC and Georgia Tech participated in a game last year, and the Yellow Jackets are already at six losses. A loss to BC would make them bowl ineligible for the second time under Collins since last year didn't have any requirements, and although teams can qualify with a 5-7 record under special circumstances, their annual game against No. 1 Georgia looms in the last week of the regular season.

The Eagles, meanwhile, can still win eight regular season games and align themselves against a premier opponent if they win on Saturday. A loss doesn't eliminate them from eligibility, but the ACC assigns bids based on geographic alignment and record comparisons against possible opponents. Coaches don't like talking about it, but every game is important, especially as the season nears its end and the inevitable conversation about clinching or earning certain bowls gets louder.

All of that is white noise, but what's real is that BC has an opportunity on Saturday to clinch extra practice time and a neutral site game against a previously-unscheduled opponent. All of that is important to the players who want to play football, especially when the alternative is being one of the 40-odd teams that don't earn the opportunity.

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Around the Sports World

Being a soccer fan used to make me a sports unicorn amongst my friends, but the emergence of the game through Internet channels and availability has made it more socially exciting to watch the beautiful game on weekends. While the majority of us watch and choose English Premier League clubs, it's been just as exciting to watch the local installation gain traction under a legendary head coach seeking redemption, and it was awesome to watch the New England Revolution and Bruce Arena cap one of the best regular seasons in Major League Soccer history with their first-ever Supporters' Shield.

The Supporters' Shield is a trophy awarded to the best team in the regular season of MLS, and. Winning it gains entry into the CONCACAF Champions League, which is our local FIFA region's equivalent to the continental title offered in Europe's UEFA federation. It pits the best qualifying clubs from America against the top-finishing clubs from Mexico, the Caribbean and Canada, which I always found ironic since the best Canadian teams play in MLS but aren't eligible for the award as the league champion. The Supporters' Shield is more in line with how the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A or Ligue 1 crown its champion, though it has a more Americanized style since the Eastern Conference or Western Conference champion also gains entry to the Champions League.

By winning it, the Revolution claimed their first silverware since the 2007 U.S. Open Cup competition offered to about 100 teams in the American soccer pyramid. They finished with 22 wins in their 34 matches and a record 2.15 points per game, though it's somewhat ironic that they were handed the trophy minutes after losing to Inter Miami, a club owned by David Beckham.

More than next year's opportunities, though, the Supporters' Shield guaranteed the Revs home field advantage throughout the entire MLS Cup Playoffs, including the MLS Cup championship game if they advance that far. They haven't hosted that round in almost 20 years, having hosted three times as part of the rotating schedule of MLS stadiums when the league came about. I was actually at that last game, which was in 2002 and featured the Revolution, who lost, 1-0, to the Los Angeles Galaxy in extra time.

That game was in warmer times, but I'm over the moon about the prospect of hosting the MLS Cup Playoffs in the cold darkness of a New England winter. The local fan base has been known to turn out for these types of games, and I envision a hybrid atmosphere of Revolution and Patriots fans packing Gillette Stadium as fans did in Atlanta and Seattle to the tune of 70,000-plus participants.

It's still a long way off for this long-suffering Everton fan prone to major letdowns and disappointments, but I'm letting myself get excited about soccer in New England. A Revolution run under Arena, who was last seen missing the World Cup with the United States national team, has me jumping out of my seat for the chance to bring our culture to the game.

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Pregame Quote and Prediction

Let's go bowling. -Walter Sobchak, "The Big Lebowski"

The possibility of qualifying for a bowl game is the single-most central storyline to this week's game against Georgia Tech. With a win, the Eagles can clinch a postseason game and its requisite spoils while simultaneously eliminating their opponent from eligibility. It's an important step in what Jeff Hafley is trying to build even though it's not extra motivation and not a piece of the internal conversation in the Boston College locker room, and it's a milestone achievement and potential launchpad for any team's future aspirations.

As important as it is for BC's long term goals, though, it's also completely unimportant to any one, particular game. It's unquestionably a talking point outside of the program, but the internal conversation, again, is singularly focused on one opponent. Easing off that accelerator for even one minute is a disservice to a team's preparation, especially with the flight to Atlanta the expectation of playing in front of upwards of 40,000 fans.

There are similarities between BC and Georgia Tech, but it's important to remember that any team on any given day can defeat any other opponent. This game is going to be a grind, but if BC is able to come out on top, the gateway to other rewards would open.

Boston College and Georgia Tech will kick off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. from Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. The game will be broadcast on the ACC's Regional Sports Network television coverage with local affiliate NESN carrying the game in Boston and a full list of affiliates available at TheACC.com. Radio broadcast is available via the Boston College Sports Network from Learfield, available locally on WEEI 93.7 FM and on satellite radio via Sirius channel 136, XM channel 384 and Online channel 974.

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