Sept. 27, 2010
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Yellow Jackets, Demon Deacons Meet Saturday In Winston-Salem
Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, the ACC’s top two rushing teams and owning identical records, meet Saturday night at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem (7:05 p.m./ESPNU).
The defending ACC champion Yellow Jackets, 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC, saw their seven-game ACC win streak come to an end Saturday with a 45-28 home loss to unbeaten NC State. Georgia Tech pulled to within 31-28 early in the fourth quarter, but the Wolfpack responded with two unanswered touchdowns behind quarterback Russell Wilson (368 yards passing).
Georgia Tech’s spread option offense leads the ACC and ranks fourth nationally in rushing (320.5 ypg). Senior quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, the 2009 first team All-ACC QB, has rushed for six touchdowns and leads the Coastal Division in rushing (90.5 ypg).
Wake Forest, 2-2 and 1-1, is coming off a pair of lopsided road losses, including a 31-0 defeat at Florida State Saturday. The Deacons were limited to 185 yards of total offense by the Seminoles.
Wake has been a different team at home, where it is 2-0 and outscored Presbyterian and Duke by a combined score of 107-61.
Last season the Yellow Jackets held off the Deacons, 30-27 in overtime, in a classic game at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 21-8, including an 8-3 mark in Winston-Salem. Saturday’s game is Tech’s first at BB&T Field/Groves Stadium since a 24-7 win in 2003.
Quick Notes On The Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech has won four consecutive ACC road games, includinga 30-24 win at North Carolina on Sept. 18. After playing its firstfour games of the season at 1 p.m. earlier, Georgia Tech will playits first night game of the season Saturday at Wake Forest. Techranks fourth nationally in rushing offense (320.5 ypg). The YellowJackets finished in the top five nationally in rushing in 2008 and2009. The Yellow Jackets have not lost back-to-back games in threeseasons under head coach Paul Johnson. Senior quarterback Joshua Nesbitt ranks third in the ACC in rushing(90.5 ypg) and he has scored more touchdowns (6) this season thanany player in the ACC. Among all quarterbacks, Nesbitt ranks fifthnationally in rushing. Three Yellow Jackets have more than 1,000career rushing yards — Nesbitt (2,431), Anthony Allen (1,987, including his two seasons at Louisville)and Roddy Jones (1,136). Tech has completed just 15 passes thisseason but averages a lofty 21.3 yards per completion. Nesbitt hasthrown touchdown passes in each of the last three games. Johnson,in each of his first two seasons at Tech, was namedACC Coach of the Year. He is the first coach in thehistory of the conference to win the honor in each of his first twoseasons. The Yellow Jackets have appeared in a bowl game in 13consecutive seasons.
