Georgia Tech vs. Duke Fearless Prediction, Game Preview

By Pete Fiutak | October 10, 2019 2:47 pm

Georgia Tech vs. Duke fearless prediction and game preview.

Georgia Tech vs. Duke Broadcast

Date: Saturday, October 12
Game Time: 12:30 ET
Venue: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, NC
Network: ACC Network X

Georgia Tech (1-4) at Duke (3-2) Game Preview

Why Georgia Tech Will Win

This is going to be a long process for the Yellow Jackets to turn this thing around and start to become more than the ACC’s freespace game, and it’s going to have to come this week from takeaways.

The pass defense has been solid – Duke doesn’t bomb away, even though Quentin Jones and the passing game have been good – and has to force a few fumbles from the Blue Devil running game.

The defense was able to come up with five takeaways in the first two games, and then the big plays slowed down. Keep the midrange Duke passing game from getting things moving, and load up against the run to finally start to come up with a few decent first and second down stops – that’s what the Yellow Jackets have to do early on.

And force fumbles from a team that just lost three fumbles against Pitt. Tech is 3-0 when it doesn’t lose the turnover battle, and 0-2 when it does, but …

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Why Duke Will Win

Run and run some more. And then keep running.

The Georgia Tech defensive front is getting hammered way too much with little pass rush, the fewest tackles for loss of anyone in the ACC, and with major problems against teams that commit to the ground game.

The Yellow Jackets have allowed 200 yards or more in four of the five games, and gave up 195 against Temple – Duke has the ability to get hot on the ground.

It struggled to get going against Pitt, but it ripped off 200 yards or more in the previous three games and won them all. Under David Cutcliffe, Duke is 11-1 in its last 12 games when hitting the 200-yard mark, and the Yellow Jackets are allowing 246 rushing yards per game.

There’s just nothing to worry about with the Georgia Tech offense. It can’t throw on a consistent basis – check that, it can throw, it can’t complete passes – and the running game hasn’t picked up the slack.

Georgia Tech ran for 200 yards or more 11 times last year and 195 yards or more 32 times over the last three seasons.

Georgia Tech has yet to run for 185 yards this season.

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What’s Going To Happen

Duke isn’t going to fumble like it did or make the big mistakes like it did against Pitt last week.

Georgia Tech’s offense isn’t going to be able to keep up once the Blue Devils come up with a few early scoring drives. They’ll create a balanced, consistent attack, with the lack of pressure from the Duke pass rush making this way too easy at times.

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