Gameplan

Welcome back to The Call Sheet!

Week 0 of college football did not disappoint: #10 Florida State goes down as a double-digit favorite, Montana State beats an FBS opponent in New Mexico, and SMU claws back from being down 11 to win by 5. But for today, I want to focus on Georgia Tech’s dominance in their game-winning drive. TLDR:

• Cover 1

  • Georgia Tech’s Game-Winning Drive

Cover 1

Georgia Tech’s Game-Winning Drive

Unsurprisingly, today’s primary topic revolves around the Florida State—Georgia Tech game. A top-10 team going down as a double-digit favorite will always draw attention, but people might fail to realize how experienced and well-coached the Yellow Jackets are.

Georgia Tech’s final drive of the game was a masterclass on ball control. After Florida State scored a touchdown to tie the game at 21, the Yellow Jackets received possession of the ball with 6:33 left on the clock and won without giving the Seminoles a chance to rebut.

Although the Yellow Jackets endured a serious mishap from their quarterback, Haynes King, they used seven runs and three passes to drain the clock before kicking a field goal as time expired.

Drive openers (often called P&10s or P-10s) are critical to the overall success of a possession. Gaining four or more yards on the first play of a drive increases the chances of scoring points exponentially. Buster Faulkner (Georgia Tech’s offensive coordinator) clearly understood the assignment when he called his opening play of the final drive from GT’s 25.

There are a few important things to note with this play call. First, calling a bootleg instead of a straight dropback pass lessens the burden on the quarterback. Second, having the pass concept involve a fast motion to smash (a receiver in the flat and a receiver running any variation of a corner route) creates an easy read for the quarterback, further lessening their burden. Lastly, this play call subverts the defense’s expectations of a first-down run and guarantees the Yellow Jackets at least four yards.

After running a counter-QB keep for four more yards and committing a false start penalty, GT faced a 3rd & 7 situation with 4:45 left in the game. The ensuing play call once again created an easy read for Haynes King.

In the face of pressure, Haynes King delivered an accurate ball to his running back, Jamal Haynes, for a first down. Once again, King had an easy high-low read, this time in a sail flat concept similar to smash. Last season, King was prone to turning the ball over, but his coaches protected him throughout this game with their play calls and play design. Easy reads led to easy completions, keeping the ball moving down the field.

With that first down bringing them close to mid-field, Georgia Tech ran their 4-minute offense, attempting to drain the clock and remove any chance of Florida State having another possession.

This first-down play with 4:10 left in the game completely shifted the tide in Georgia Tech’s favor. King initially appears to be stopped for a three-yard gain, but his offensive line added on to push the pile and helped him gain four more. From then on, Florida State’s defensive front was demoralized as there was nothing they could do to stop the Yellow Jackets. The following run was another crushing blow.

If you weren’t sure what position Brent Key, Georgia Tech’s head coach, used to coach, this 2nd & short play call should have given it away. Duo is a favorite of offensive line coaches nationwide: downhill, gap-scheme, no pulling linemen. Although it wasn’t blocked perfectly, it didn’t matter. The Yellow Jackets had their two required double-teams and a hole just big enough for the running back to burst through for a seven-yard gain.

After running QB counter for a three-yard gain, GT faced 2nd & 7 at the 2-minute warning on FSU’s 39.

In a spot where most offensive coordinators would have called a pass, GT stuck to their strengths: leaning on the offensive line and pounding the rock. Running counter on 2nd & long resulted in a six-yard gain, leading to an easy third-down conversion as they ran duo in a short-yardage situation on the next play. However, the Yellow Jackets were far from securing their upset victory as Florida State began using their timeouts with just over a minute remaining in regulation.

On 2nd & 7 from FSU’s 28 with 1:02 remaining, Georgia Tech nearly blew their chance at winning as Haynes King mishandled the snap and lost eleven yards. Yet, GT managed to minimize the damage on third down to push themselves back into a more comfortable position for a field goal.

In a critical situation needing a chunk of yards, Buster Faulkner dialed up a smoke screen but added a little window dressing to give one of his weapons a little more space to operate. Eric Singleton Jr. lined up in a wing position with the tight end split to his left. This adjustment, coupled with a zoom motion towards the sideline, gave Singleton a chance to catch the ball clean and then make a defender miss en route to a twelve-yard gain. Georgia Tech would run the clock down and kick a game-winning field goal on the following play.

From the drive’s opening play to the mix of runs throughout, Georgia Tech demonstrated dominance at the line of scrimmage. Furthermore, Brent Key and his staff put the ACC on notice that they can control the flow of a game, protect the football, and beat their opponent into submission. If they can replicate that type of performance for the rest of the season, FSU may not be the only ranked team to go down at the hands of the Yellow Jackets.

If you’re new, you can catch up on previous posts here. Thank you all for spending a little bit of your day with me. See you next week!