Bryce Perkins: Destroyer of Defenses
I talked about this a little bit in the preview I wrote in the Gamethread, Bryce Perkins is very good at football. I said that in order to win this game, the Georgia Tech defense would need to contain Perkins. Perkins proved to be a thorn in the side of Tech’s defense the whole game. He finished the game 24-of-35 for 258 yards and a touchdown through the air, while adding another 106 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Special Teams certainly were special
From two punts caught inside the 10-yard line to nearly every kickoff being squibbed, resulting in great starting field position for Virginia, it was a rough day for the Special Teams units. Pressley Harvin III also had a couple punts that weren’t some of his better ones. Oh yeah, Wesley Wells also missed a field goal. Really, just all around, it was a rough day here.
James Graham bounced back in wonderful fashion
Well, at least he did in the first half, where he went 10-for-12 for 192 yards and two touchdowns. He fell off a little during the second half, though, going 5-for-10 for 37 yards. It was good to see him show what he can do in the first half, and hopefully we’ll get to see more of that soon.
The Georgia Tech defense needs a pass rush, badly
Georgia Tech somehow managed to get a couple of sacks on Bryce Perkins, and at times, got some pressure on him, but there were so many plays that it looked like Perkins was going to be tackled, where he just slipped out and ran for a first down or a chunk of yardage. Luckily, Tech’s recruiting class contains two true edge players in Khaya Wright and Kyle Kennard, on top of a couple other defensive ends in Akelo Stone and Jaquari Wiggles. There’s a good chance we’re going to see some of these young guys next season.
Brent Key is a dang miracle worker
Virginia came into this game fifth in the whole league in sacks, averaging 3.78 sacks a game, coming into this game. In the game, the Cavaliers defense did not produce a single sack. James Graham should get some credit here as well. He did a good job of getting rid of the ball or finding a running lane when he did get put under pressure.
Conclusion
Obviously you never want to see your team lose, but there were a lot of positives to pull from this game. Tech played a tough game right down to the wire with the leading team in the Coastal and held its own. What will be key for the Yellow Jackets is to carry these positives over to next week. A lot of what we’ve seen this year is Tech doing something particularly well in one game, and then in the next one, they go right back to not doing it well. They need to start putting these things together because there are still winnable games on the schedule.