{"id":38126,"date":"2015-08-02T17:09:53","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T22:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=38126"},"modified":"2015-08-02T17:09:53","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T22:09:53","slug":"2015-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-football-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2015-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-football-preview-38126\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Football Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_37796\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-37796\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Justin-Thomas-georgia-tech-2015.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-37796\" src=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Justin-Thomas-georgia-tech-2015-300x165.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Thomas is a must-see this year for college football fans, fans of the ACC or otherwise.\" width=\"300\" height=\"165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Justin-Thomas-georgia-tech-2015-300x165.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Justin-Thomas-georgia-tech-2015-495x273.jpg 495w, https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Justin-Thomas-georgia-tech-2015.jpg 716w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-37796\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Justin Thomas is a must-see this year for college football fans, fans of the ACC or otherwise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Head coach: Paul Johnson<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2014 Record: 11-3; 6-2 ACC<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2014 Bowl: 49-34 Win over Mississippi St. at Charlotte Orange Bowl<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 2015 Returning Starters: 6 offense, 6 defense<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Odds to win 2016 CFB Championship: +9000<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Odds to win 2015 ACC Title: +550<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Regular Season Wins: Over 7 (-175); Under 7 (+145)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Bet these prop bets at 5dimes and receive a 20 percent deposit bonus!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><em>Georgia Tech was surprisingly good last season mostly due to the brilliance of QB Justin Thomas. He\u2019s now a junior and a must-watch for college football fans as the Yellow Jackets try to make a run at an ACC title.<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Yellow Jackets\u2019 2014 season ended in triumph as the team defeated Mississippi State at the Charlotte Orange Bowl, and the team ended up finishing with an 11-3 record, greatly exceeding expectations. The Yellow Jackets ranked No. 8 in the country for surrendering just 5.1 points per trip inside the 40, and the real area the defense has to fortify is its run stopping. It gave up 25.7 points and 411.3 yards per game last season.<\/p>\n<p>Georgia Tech lacks depth on the front defensively, but its first team is pretty strong with senior All-ACC Adam Gotsis and KeShun Freeman both anchoring it well. Freeman earned various Freshman All-America honors. Jabari Hunt-Days was academically ineligible last season but should make a big difference at tackle now, also having bulked to a robust 295 pounds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/sportsbooks.html\">Compare sportsbooks here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Yellow Jackets lose All-ACC LB Quayshawn Nealy and it leaves a big hole in the middle of its defense, which the team is hoping to plug with senior Tyler Marcordes who had 5.5 tackles for loss and two sacks last year. The secondary is strong with seniors at S and CB, and also features D.J. White who made two game-saving takeaways against Virginia Tech and Georgia. The \u2018D\u2019 can be solid.<\/p>\n<p>Offensively, Thomas really is simply going to have be be amazing again. Georgia Tech\u2019s top three RBs are all gone, but Thomas rushed for 1,086 yards last season.<\/p>\n<p>The OL is going to be very good with four starters and a lot of others with experience back in the fold. Its strength will make the backfield more successful obviously, and Marcus Allen has the chance to be elite at B Back. Coach Paul Johnson said of him, \u201c(he) sees it as a last hurrah, his last chance, (and) he embraced it and went after it full force\u2026can he hold these other guys off\u2026we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those other guys come in the form of Marcus Marshall, Mikell Lands-Davis and Patrick Skov, all of whom are in the mix to get some of the carries. Georgia Tech lost over 2200 yards to graduation and that quartet of players is going to find ways to usurp all that production. The OL wills it to be so.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/college-football-lines.php\">See live college football betting lines here!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On special teams the Yellow Jackets are expecting more from junior K Harrison Burker who was a bit inconsistent last year. He did hit a 53-yarder against Georgia to force OT, but he also missed five within the 40. Junior punter Ryan Rodwell attempted just 32 punts last season, but he is back again.<\/p>\n<p>The excitement is still running high in Atlanta after last season\u2019s 11 win triumph. But building on that may be tough. The team needs to rebuild some critical areas, not the least of which is that RB turnover. Thomas still is just a sophomore, though, so the Yellow Jackets need to make sure to continue to put a good OL in front of him as they currently have.<\/p>\n<p>Defense is the biggest concern due to a lack of major athletes on the roster, but playing smart defense could be enough to allow the Yellow Jackets to contend in the ACC.<\/p>\n<p>It just seems 11 wins like last year is a bit much to ask, and 5dimes doesn\u2019t set the bar nearly so high with the O\/U set at 7. The Yellow Jackets face Notre Dame on Sept 19 but if it can get past the Irish the chance is there to start the season 5-0 before facing Clemson on Oct 10. Florida State comes to Bobby Dodd stadium on Oct 24. Don\u2019t sleep on Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prediction: 9 Wins<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/purchase.html\">Consider getting in on the winning with our season pick plans for the 2015 College Football Season!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Head coach: Paul Johnson 2014 Record: 11-3; 6-2 ACC 2014 Bowl: 49-34 Win over Mississippi St. at Charlotte Orange Bowl 2015 Returning Starters: 6 offense, 6 defense Odds to win 2016 CFB Championship: +9000 Odds to win 2015 ACC Title: +550 Regular Season Wins: Over 7 (-175); Under 7 (+145) Bet [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":37796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[8670,9036,9061,6936,7024,8479],"class_list":["post-38126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-acc-football-betting-previews","tag-acc-football-championship-betting-odds","tag-acc-team-previews","tag-college-football-season-previews","tag-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-football","tag-justin-thomas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38127,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38126\/revisions\/38127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}