Jackets visits Heels with ‘lot to play for’
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Georgia Tech’s football team hopes it has finally found its groove.
North Carolina has been close, but that’s not good enough for the Tar Heels.
The surging Yellow Jackets visit the Heels today looking to move closer to bowl eligibility and keep alive their longshot hopes in their topsy-turvy race in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division.
Georgia Tech (4-4, 2-3) has won three of its past four games to move back to .500 after a 1-3 start that put some pressure on the Jackets and coach Paul Johnson. Their famed triple-option-heavy flexbone offense ran all over Virginia Tech last week, rolling up 465 rushing yards in a 49-28 rout of the Hokies.
“We’ve got a lot to play for,” Johnson said. “We’re still alive in the conference. We’re trying to play to get bowl eligible. There’s a ton to play for.”
For North Carolina (1-6, 1-4), there’s no more margin of error. In order to avoid missing a bowl for the second straight season, the Heels must win their remaining four games on the schedule — then find a replacement for the game against Central Florida that was canceled because of Hurricane Michael and win that one, too.
They’ve been close lately, but they haven’t been able to close out a victory in more than a month. Since a 37-point loss at Miami, they’ve lost twice by three points apiece — once in overtime at Syracuse and again when Virginia Tech scored the winning touchdown with 19 seconds left after a North Carolina fumble.
Heels coach Larry Fedora acknowledged there’s “plenty of frustration” as a result of the struggles.
“We talk about it as a team. We talk about how close we are, and the difference between winning and losing and what we need to do,” Fedora said. “Nobody’s happy with what’s going on. Everybody’s searching, and everybody’s looking at me. I’m the leader of this team, and … I’m responsible for giving them answers.”
Johnson gave an answer this week about who will start at quarterback after being coy ahead of the Virginia Tech game, which senior TaQuon Marshall, a team captain, sat out after sustaining an injury in a loss to Duke two weeks before that.
Johnson said Marshall will start but freshman Tobias Oliver also will play after putting up big numbers at Virginia Tech, where he rushed for three touchdowns in his first college start at quarterback.
“It doesn’t change the game plan,” Johnson said. “Tobias has played well whenever he has gone in. I think he has played in every game, and he’ll play Saturday at some point. It doesn’t really change. We don’t change a whole lot of what we do depending on who’s at quarterback.”
Georgia Tech’s only pass at Virginia Tech was an incompletion by Oliver. It was the first time since Nov. 26, 1977, when the Jackets beat Georgia 16-7, that they did not complete a pass. It was only the 18th time since 2002 that a Football Bowl Subdivision team had no completions.
As for the Jackets’ defense, first-year coordinator Nate Woody has been able to produce more forced turnovers this season (17, including nine interceptions) after last year’s unit totaled just 10 through 11 games.
“There are games we’ve played better than some other games,” Johnson said of the adjustment to Woody’s 3-4 front. “I think overall what we’re doing is sound and I think it’s repetition, and the more they do it, the better they’ll get at it.”
North Carolina’s offense had largely been a mess entering its open date the first week of October, but the Heels have moved the ball more effectively the past three weeks. They had a season-high 522 yards against Virginia Tech, then had 500 against Syracuse before sputtering for much of the second half at Virginia. Junior quarterback Nathan Elliott has four touchdowns with no interceptions in the past two games.