The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rushing attack, stopping run keys for Tech to pick up home win against KSU,
After a deflating season-opening defeat to Northern Illinois last week, danger lurks for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets will match up with FCS Kennesaw State on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium, a game that Tech and coach Geoff Collins desperately need to regain their footing in the wake of the 22-21 loss to the Huskies.
While ESPN projects Tech to have a 95.9% chance of prevailing, the Owls’ spread-option offense is a problem for the Jackets to solve. The scheme used to great effect by former Tech coach Paul Johnson is under the direction of Owls coach Brian Bohannon, Johnson’s longtime assistant.
Here are five things to know before kickoff.
1. Keeping it local
When Tech played Oglethorpe on Nov. 3, 1928, the Jackets (then known as the Golden Tornado) and Stormy Petrels had played nine consecutive seasons. But the 32-7 win for Tech, which went on to win a share of the national championship that season, proved to be the final game in the series. And it would be the last game that the Jackets played against an opponent from the Atlanta area until Saturday, a stretch of 93 years.
The Tech-kennesaw State game was arranged in 2014, a year before the Owls played their first game. Kennesaw State is guaranteed $325,000 for the game.
Tech also has a home-and-home set up with Georgia State, at Tech in 2024 and at the Panthers’ Center Parc Stadium in 2026.
In Kennesaw State’s first-ever game against a power-conference opponent, no fewer than 16 Georgia high schools will be represented by players on both teams.
“What a great opportunity for our program to be on this stage, to show who we are and what we’re about,” Bohannon said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
2. Tech run game packs punch
While the danger of Kennesaw State’s spread-option offense has the attention of Tech’s defense, Tech’s run game could well make the greater impact on the game. Against Northern Illinois, Tech running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and Jordan Mason combined for 195 of the team’s 271 rushing yards, a combination of speed and power that the Huskies had difficulty matching. On Dontae Smith’s only carry of the game, he went 15 yards for a touchdown on a fourthand-1 in the third quarter.
“When you defend us, those running backs are really good,” offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said. “And our O-line was denting the line of scrimmage, and (the Huskies) were in a run defense.”
The four defensive linemen who started for Kennesaw State against Reinhardt in its opener average 257.5 pounds, while Tech’s offensive line averages 311.2
pounds. Given that Reinhardt, an NAIA school, gained 171 rushing yards against an injury-plagued Owls defense, pounding the run might seem the most secure path to victory for the Jackets.
“Hopefully we can get each other all on the field, everybody get some playing time,” Mason said. “Jamious (Griffin) didn’t play that last game, but we’re trying to get him in there, too, because he’s one of us.”
The challenge for Tech, though, will be making good on its chances. An issue last season also, Tech crossed the 50-yard line 10 times against Northern Illinois but scored only three times.
“You may only get eight or nine possessions,” Patenaude said. “So in those eight or nine possessions, you need to be efficient with what you’re doing offensively.”
3. On alert for the option
With their spread-option offense, the Owls have ranked in the top three in rushing in the FCS each of the past five seasons.
An old hand at facing the spread-option offense from when he practiced against Johnson’s scheme, Tech safety Tariq Carpenter knows how necessary it is for players to commit to doing their jobs and keep their eyes homed in on their assignment, lest they open the door for big plays. With Johnson, for instance, Tech often hit home runs on play-action passes when defensive backs bit on fake tosses or handoffs as receivers ran right by them.
“What I’m actually trying to tell other people is just, eyes,” Carpenter said. “If you’re really not preparing throughout the week or our development (scout) team is not giving us a great look up until the game, we’re just going to be seeing shooting stars.”
Another game-plan point, this one from linebacker Ayinde Eley, who is facing a triple-option offense for the first time since high school:
“You can’t have any superheroes or somebody trying to make every play,” Eley said. “You’ve got to do your job and make the play when it comes to you.”
After two seasons with Johnson (who Carpenter called “literally the master” of the offense) and two games against option offenses (The Citadel in 2019 and Kennesaw State), Carpenter has seen enough of the unorthodox scheme.
“To be honest, after this game, I don’t ever want to see a triple-option offense, ever again,” he said.
4. Field goals welcome
In an ideal world for Tech, Jackets kicker Brent Cimaglia will have an opportunity to attempt and make field goals against the Owls. Cimaglia’s debut Saturday after arriving as a grad transfer was forgettable, going 0 for 2 with misses from 43 and 51 yards.
Also, Collins called back the fieldgoal unit in favor of the offense for what would have been a roughly 19-yard attempt in the third quarter when he said he reconsidered kicking. Done in part because of the team’s shaky record on field goals the past two years and also because Cimaglia’s plant foot slipped on the second attempt, it was not a confidence-bolstering decision.
At the same time, Collins reiterated his confidence in Cimaglia, who did make all three of his point-after tries, calling him “a big-time kicker.”
5. Honoring heroes
The Tech athletic department designated this game as its annual Heroes Day, as it falls on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The program will honor military, first responders and the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Former Tech basketball player Tom Bowling, who lettered in the late ’60s, will ride out onto the field aboard the Ramblin’ Wreck.
Bowling served in the Vietnam War and earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Silver Star for his service and valor.
The opportunity to honor military and first responders is especially meaningful to Carpenter, whose mother, Demetria Fiffie, was deployed overseas five times with the U.S. Army, including three tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan.
“I’m just thankful to just live on to even give appreciation to all of those people,” Carpenter said. “Especially for my mom. Having a mom that was in the Army, that’s just kind of big to me because you really don’t see a lot of women that were in the Army as long as her. I just think, like, nobody’s stronger than my mom. It’s just something that I wear on my sleeve.”