Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2017 NCAA Football Preview

College Football Predictions – Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2017 NCAA Football Preview

2016 Recap

2016 Record – 9-4

2016 ATS – 7-6

The Yellow Jackets managed to pull a 9-win season out of nowhere. They won their final three regular season games which included YUUUUGE road wins over Virginia Tech and Georgia. The encore ? A handy win over Kentucky in the TaxSlayer Bowl. The running game was not the ridiculous machine of seasons’ past but they proved to be scrappy and annoying enough to grab victories in the games they were supposed to win.

2017 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

Coastal Division – #4

Atlantic Coast Conference – To be determined

OFFENSE

The Yellow Jackets have “only” managed to roll up 258 and 256 yards rushing per game the past two seasons after a nice 5-year run of 323,315,311,299 and 342 (!) in 2014. Georgia Tech absolutely needs the running game to be devastating to have a shot at winning an ACC Title. Good news. Dedrick Mills is back this season and he led the team in rushing (771, 12 TD) despite playing in only nine games. Clinton Lynch also returns and he averaged an impossible 11.2 yards per carry on 37 attempts. The offensive line returns three starters and should be fine.

The Yellow Jackets will miss the leadership of QB Justin Thomas who started for three seasons. We will have to wait and see who emerges at the position in the fall. Matthew Jordan is the favorite to win the job despite suffering a foot injury in the spring. HC Paul Johnson has indicated he has confidence in all of the guys lined up to take a shot at the starting gig, but realistically, what else was he going to say ? Overall, we feel that the Yellow Jackets will be able to cobble together dangerous QB play, but they will probably need to live with more inconsistency and mistakes. The Jackets are sneaky good at WR as they return Ricky Jeune (25-427, 17.1) and Brad Stewart (19-382, 20.1).

JUGGERNAUT ALERT – Clinton Lynch hit a lot of big plays running the football and also posted video-game stats catching balls out of the backfield. 16 receptions. 490 yards. 30.6 yards a pop. 6 TDs. Whoa.

DEFENSE

Georgia Tech has allowed between 24 and 26 points per game in each of the last three campaigns. Eight starters return on defense but only four in the front 7. The Yellow Jackets have struggled getting PENETRATION the past couple of years (18, 14 sacks) and there does not appear to be a ton of promise for that to improve in 2017. Among the departures is the leading sack man from 2016, Patrick Gamble (7.5). The Yellow Jackets did land a 4-star LB recruit in Bruce Jordan-Swilling.

The secondary returns every starter from the 2016 squad, so if the Jackets can find a way to put more pressure on the QB, the defense may be sneaky good. At a minimum, they should be scrappy. If the running game can resemble the 2014 version (#1 time of possession in the ACC that season) it will help things immensely by keeping the defense fresh.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This could be an issue. Georgia Tech has to break in a new place kicker AND a new punter. They are going to miss PK Harrison Butker who nailed 15/17 FGs in 2016 and finished up his career on The Flats as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Keep an eye on the kicking game early in the season. Many a game (and COVER) have been blown to bits by crappy special teams.

Potential ATS Trouble Spots

September 16 – at UCF. Final tune-up before ACC play. The Knights will look to SHOCK THE WORLD.

November 18 – at Duke. 3rd road game in four weeks. Sandwich between Virginia Tech and Georgia.

MEGAmazing Minutia

One way or another, the Yellow Jackets have made three ACC Championship Games under HC Paul Johnson, and that includes two trips in the past five seasons.

John Hiesman (yes, THAT Heisman) was a coaching legend at Georgia Tech in the early 1900s.

MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 6.0

MEGALOCKS says:

Overall, we give the YELLOW JACKETS a 6.0 ATS Value Rating (Above Average) this season.

This is a tough read. Will they get reliable QB play ? Will the kicking game be a fiasco ? Can they get PENETRATION on defense ? We feel that the offense will be better than people think as they appear to have some home run hitters in the running game. If they can find a QB with the ability to complete passes to wide-open receivers they could really click.

We also like the fact that Paul Johnson has only had three losing seasons against the number in nine campaigns in Atlanta (2010, 2011, 2015). The schedule is tough, and they start off with a brutal one against Tennessee, but they are 6-1 ATS as a road dog the past three seasons. Check out the QB play before pouncing.

Want more Georgia Tech football?

Website

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/geot-m-footbl-body.html

Forum

Free

http://www.scout.com/college/georgia-tech/forums/2938-the-hive-sports-center

https://gtswarm.com/forums/georgia-tech-football.4/

http://georgiatech.247sports.com/Board/Georgia-Tech-Yellow-Jackets-Message-Board-Forum-35

Restricted

https://georgiatech.forums.rivals.com/forums/the-buzz-members-only.6/

News

http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/