Georgia Tech senior quarterback TaQuon Marshall runs past Clemson safety Denzel Johnson for a touchdown during their Sept. 22 game in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets avoided a fourth straight loss and their worst start since 1994 by beating Bowling Green last Saturday, and tonight they'll try to climb out of the ACC Coastal Division by earning their first league win of the season.LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Georgia Tech and Louisville each hope a third try will finally yield that elusive Atlantic Coast Conference football victory.
Both teams are 2-3 overall and 0-2 in league play this season, sitting at the bottom of their ACC divisions but hoping one win could be the start of a turnaround to the season as they face off tonight.
Tech will try to end its streak of road losses after seven games. Coach Paul Johnson said his staff has tried to keep the Yellow Jackets focused on building off last Saturday's 63-17 rout of Bowling Green rather than their recent woes away from Atlanta.
"It's hard to win (ACC) games in general, and it's hard to go win games on the road," Johnson said. "As coaches, we try to - I try to do it, but sometimes it's hard - you just have to turn off all the noise. It's all it is: a distraction. You've just got to be able to get ready and go play."
The Jackets feature a potent option-heavy offense that has them atop the conference in rushing with an average of 339.2 yards per game this season. Senior quarterback TaQuon Marshall and redshirt freshmen Jordan Mason and Tobias Oliver each has rushed for more than 300 yards in 2018, and they have combined for 15 touchdowns.
They present another challenge for Louisville, which lost 28-24 to Florida State last weekend after leading 21-7 at halftime. The Seminoles scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, with the winning score a 58-yard pass from Deondre Francois to Nyqwan Murray that highlighted the Louisville defense's vulnerability to big plays.
That and other things must improve if the Cardinals hope to climb out of the ACC basement, and tonight the key is completing certain assignments every play.
"Somebody's got to have the quarterback," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said, "someone's got to have the pitch, and then you need a guy running the alley inside-out. And then that guy needs to be able to recognize play-action passes, because they threw the ball six or seven times the other day.
"It's always about the discipline and recognition."
As for the Cardinals' offense, they have tried a succession of running backs and hope they have found a workable combination in junior Trey Smith and freshman Hassan Hall. Smith rushed for career highs of 70 yards on 14 carries against Florida State, while Hall had 57 on 11. The Cardinals rank next-to-last in the ACC with an average of 120 rushing yards per game.
Tech's defense has shown improvement in at least one area, with its seven interceptions this year one more than all of last season. That has helped the Jackets match last year's 10 total takeaways. Fifth-year senior safety Malik Rivera has two interceptions in ACC play, and Tech is tied for 11th nationally in interceptions and tied for 13th in takeaways.
The Jackets have endured some struggles on special teams, and now freshman walk-on Wesley Wells has been promoted to starting placekicker. After outperforming Shawn Davis and Brenton King in practice last week, Wells sealed the job by converting all nine extra-point tries against Bowling Green.
Davis began the season atop the depth chart but fell out of favor after missing a PAT in the opener against Alcorn State. King missed a PAT against Pittsburgh and a 43-yard field-goal attempt against Clemson. Davis will still handle kickoffs.