Technical Tidbits 12/28: Jackets prep for Kentucky with seafood buffet, ACC improves to 3-0

Georgia Tech’s bowl vacation began yesterday with a very impressive spread of buffet-style seafood down in Jacksonville, pictured below, and figures to be a fun week overall for the 8-4 Jackets. It could be even sweeter with a win over Kentucky at EverBank Field, but I’m thinking that the nice set of gifts, never-ending food supply, and likely beach experience given the temperature will make it a good time regardless of the outcome.

We might see an interim head coach this weekend given how intently Paul Johnson is looking at those shrimp.

As is the case with all opponents, Mark Stoops and the rest of the Kentucky coaching staff have their hands full preparing for Paul Johnson’s vaunted option attack. Of course, it very well could be the long-ball — something that the above article hints at Kentucky needing to prepare for — which ultimately decides the game one way or another. It would probably be more accurate to attribute the outcome of the game to whether or not Justin Thomas can get the passing game in general moving, but deep shots to guys like Clinton Lynch and Brad Stewart have been an absolute fixture of Tech’s explosive offense this season. It doesn’t take much more than some early success in the run game to set a defense up to bite on a deep ball, but we’ll see how Paul Johnson plays it. Perhaps we’ll see some fun wrinkles like we’ve seen in other bowl games this season, or perhaps we’ll see five different plays all game long. I know which one I expect, but it’s all about what Kentucky can and can’t defend.

The ACC is well on its way to that 12-0 bowl season finish that the Mayans foresaw so many millennia ago, with Wake Forest knocking off No. 24 Temple yesterday afternoon to send the conference to 3-0 on the year. The announcers couldn’t stop talking about the Wakeyleaks scandal, but the whole debacle was clearly no obstacle for Deacs themselves, who rode strong performances from quarterback John Wolford and All-Name running back Cade Carney to a 34-26 victory. They very nearly gave away their lead, which was as high as 24 during the second quarter, but simply didn’t give a hoot about the Owls’ comeback intentions. Today Pittsburgh and Miami get a chance to continue the glory against Northwestern and West Virginia, respectively.