Four Orange Bowl Matchups to watch

Which is the best match-up?

Josh Nesbitt vs. Adrian Clayborn Jonathan Dwyer vs. Pat Angerer Demaryius Thomas vs. Amari Spievey Derrick Morgan vs. Brian Bulaga vote to see results While most of the national media has been talking about the Fiesta Bowl and the National Championship, the Orange Bowl may offer the most intriguing match-up of all the BCS bowls.

Georgia Tech's triple option attack will go against Iowa's elite defense in what figures to be one of the most exciting matchups of the bowl season. Will Iowa's impressive defensive front be able to slow down the rushing attack of Georiga Tech?

Let's take a look at the most intriguing individual matchups.

Georiga Tech Quarterback Josh Nesbitt vs. Iowa Defensive End Adrian Clayborn

Paul Johnson's Georiga Tech offense has perfected the triple option and become one of the most lethal offenses in the game.

With the exception of a game against Miami, the Yellow Jackets flew by their opponents using their outstanding running game. Quarterback Josh Nesbitt is at the center of the triple option attack and has been great both through the air and on the ground, throwing for 1,689 yards and rushing for 991.

But Tech hasn't seen anything like Iowa's defensive front, in particular, defensive end Adrian Clayborn.

For all of those "experts" saying that Iowa can't win because they don't have speed, meet Adrian Clayborn.
He has harrased opposing offenses all season and has caused very good quarterbacks, such as Darryl Clark and Scott Tolzien, to have off days. He penetrates through the line on almost every play and his ability to stop Nesbitt will be one of the keys to the game.

Georgia Tech Running Back Jonathan Dwyer vs. Iowa Linebacker Pat Angerer

While Nesbitt alone has impressive rushing numbers, Jonathan Dwyer adds even more yards to the team rushing total and turns the Yellow Jacket offense into a dual threat unit. He has rushed for 1,346 yards this season and would likely have even more if Nesbitt weren't in the backfield with him.

But...

Once again, Dwyer hasn't seen a linebacker like Pat Angerer all year. Angerer leads the Hawkeyes with 135 tackles and was selected first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association. At 5'11 1/2", 233 pounds, he isn't big for a linebacker, but his determination and strength are unmatched by any of his opponents.

And unlike the other linebackers Dwyer faced in the ACC, he won't be able to run past Angerer, who has the fastest 40 yard dash time (4.5 seconds) of any NFL Draft eligible senior linebacker.

Georgia Tech Receiver Demaryius Thomas vs. Iowa Corner Amari Spievey

Although Georgia Tech is primarily a run-first team, they have stated that they plan to throw the ball early and often to test the Iowa defense. Thomas will likely be at the center of the passing attack, as he leads the Yellow Jacket offense with 1154 yards and eight touchdowns, with most of those yards coming on big plays.

Iowa cornerback Amari Spievey will be responsible for covering Thomas, and if he can make Georgia Tech one-dimensional, Iowa has a very good chance of winning.

Spievey is one of the best corners in the Big Ten and has tremendous speed, along with great hands. He'll definitely have those hands full in Miami, but he and safety Tyler Sash must be at their best to try to shut down the Georgia Tech passing attack.

Georgia Tech Defensive End Derrick Morgan vs. Iowa Offensive Tackle Brian Bulaga

While many see this game to be won at the skill positions, one of the best matchups takes place in the trenches.

Both Georgia Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan and Iowa offensive tackle Brian Bulaga are among the best at their respective positions and both figure to be high draft picks if they decide to leave school early for the NFL.

But the player who makes this matchup even more interesting is Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi. Stanzi will be playing for the first time in nearly two months after injuring his ankle against Northwestern on November 7. Bulaga needs to keep Stanzi protected to ensure his ankle isn't reaggravated, but Morgan will be one of the best opponents he sees all season.

Johnson's Desire Fuels Tech's Will to WIN

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Paul Johnson's will to win is so strong, his wife jokes that he wouldn't even let his daughter win at Candy Land when she was a little girl.

When his wife would ask why, the coach gave the only answer he knew.

"Hey, she's got to learn to win on her own," Johnson said, retelling the story he says his wife still often jokes about.

Johnson's will -- no, his need -- to win, whether it's playing golf, football or even board games against little kids, is unlike anything his players or assistants say they've ever experienced.

Born and fueled in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina and then honed at coaching stops all over the country, that desire to be the best has helped Johnson propel the No. 9 Yellow Jackets to the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1967, the honor for winning their first outright ACC title since 1990.
"He's been nothing but a winner his whole life and he wants to remain that way," defensive coordinator Dave Wommack said. "If you're going to beat him in something, you better have your A-game."

Some of it comes from people telling him what he can't do. Take the people who said -- some continue to say -- that his spread-option offense wouldn't work in the ACC. Some 10,500 yards and 20 wins later, he's proving them wrong.

Some of it comes from just doing his job. As co-offensive line coach Mike Sewak says, you get only one chance every week to prove that you know what you are doing. He says Johnson always runs practices at full-speed, all the time. Sewak said he can't remember the last time a Johnson-coached team did a walk-through that was, in fact, a walk-through and not a full-speed exercise.

There's no wasted energy and no wasted time. The focus is on winning. It's why Johnson scoffs when asked why skill players rarely wear no-contact jerseys. He points out that the team they'll be facing on Saturday won't be playing two-hand touch.

And some of it comes from growing up as one of the youngest kids on his block in Newland, N.C. Johnson says you got competitive or you got whipped. Baseball, basketball or football. It didn't matter. No quarter was given.

"There's a fear of failure," Johnson said. "It's who I am."

Roddy Jones, a sophomore A-back, said that drive was evident in the first team meeting Johnson held after he was hired by athletics director Dan Radakovich in December 2007.

Some of the rules he put in place were simple: mandatory team breakfasts and mandatory class attendance. The last, however, showed his new team just how serious he was about one day leading his team to a national championship: 5:30 a.m. runs every morning before spring ball.

"We knew this was serious. We are going to work," Jones said.

It wasn't as if Chan Gailey, whom Johnson succeeded, wasn't competitive. Jones and others who work with the coach said the difference is Johnson wears his emotions on his sleeve. Despite the "I-don't-care-what-you-think" stance he often takes with the media or fans on his radio show, he takes slights personally. Couple that with his appetite for seemingly reading everything that's written about him or his team as he searches for motivation and it can make for interesting exchanges.

There was a moment earlier this season after Tech defeated Virginia, when Johnson good-naturedly called out a national blogger who had picked his Yellow Jackets to lose to the Cavs.

Then there was the "McDonald's" moment, while Johnson was coaching at Navy. Asked why the coaches seemed to get all the credit for the wins and the players the blame for the losses, Johnson cut loose but this excerpt made many chuckle:

"I don't go down to McDonald's and start second-guessing his job, so he ought to leave me alone," Johnson retorted.

Johnson can be just as caustic with his players. Former Middie quarterback Chris McCoy, the same player who torched Tech for five touchdowns in 1996, tells a story of how Johnson once thought he caught him smiling a couple of days after a loss. McCoy said Johnson grabbed him by the back of the shirt and yanked him out of the huddle faster than you can say "spread-based option offense." And that was during practice.

"I was just admiring his wonderful coaching ability, and he took it the wrong way, I believe," McCoy now jokes. "You love to play for him. He's going to give you his all. You see that in every play he calls, every minute with him. He expects the same thing ... even when you are admiring his ability."

Those who play for or coach with him now tell similar stories. Tech center Sean Bedford said he wouldn't play Johnson in anything because he's afraid what his coach might do to win. Wommack said even if he has beaten Johnson in something, he wouldn't say. Sewak, who has worked with Johnson off and on since 1985, said he has beaten him in golf a few times, but jokes that Johnson wouldn't admit it.

"He's like me and like anybody else: let's run it again," Sewak said. "Best two out of three. It may end up best 1,300 out of 1,500."

Most important, beyond all the bluster, Bedford and quarterbacks coach Brian Bohannon said the team has taken on their coach's personality.

Take the overtime period of the Nov. 7 Wake Forest game, when Johnson, trailing by three points, risked his team's chances of the ACC title by going for it on fourth-and-inches from inside the 5-yard line. He later explained his decision by saying he can't ask his players to play to win if he's not willing to coach that way.

"He coaches the way he speaks," said Wes Durham, the radio voice of the Yellow Jackets. "He coaches the truth. He plays to win."

One can't talk about Johnson's competitiveness without mentioning the other big fourth-down decision. Trailing Clemson by a point in the ACC title game and facing fourth down on their last drive on their own 23-yard line with less than five minutes to play, the Jackets had to go for it if they had any hope of winning the game.

Johnson said there wasn't anyone on the field who doubted that not only were they going to get the first down, but that they were also going to score a touchdown and win the game.

"He's built the toughness and character of this team," Bedford said. "We have to go for 60 minutes. We're not going to stop until the final whistle."

Dawgs Finish Season on a High Note

UGA could have easily shown up to Shreveport, LA unprepared and unenthusiatic. However they looked to finish a disappointing season in a very impressive way. A defense that looked to be full of holes all season, shut down a Texas A&M offense that proved to be potent all season. They created turnovers and the offense capitalized on those turnovers with quick scores. I don't think many college football fans would have been surprised if the Aggies pulled off the upset. But the Dawgs did what many favorites have not been able to do this bowl season.

This is a great sign leading into the offseason and shows a sign of high character on this squad. The pressure is on now for Coach Richt to find a defensive coordinator and to get this program back to where its fans expect it to be. 

Lassiter QB commits to UGA

Record setting quarterback Hutson Mason from Lassiter High School revealed today what he disclosed to UGA coaches last Thursday. That he is ready to be a Dawg.


“It feels good, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Because, at the beginning of the season, you had all those people that comment on the AJC blog and in the chatrooms saying I’d never get an SEC offer. I read them all the time and I used it as motivation. When you hear that you can’t do something over and over, it kind of motivates you to prove them wrong. I don’t have the arm to play in the SEC or the size or the mobility, all those naysayers. It just goes to show you don’t listen to what people say and believe in yourself.”


Hutson is a confident young man who is very excited to be a part of Dawg nation. Many thought that he would sign somewhere where he may see the playing field a little sooner, but from the sound of it he feels that he has real chance to see the field. 

From Shreveport to BCS bound

Alabama has emerged as the cream of the crop in the SEC. However it was only two and three years ago that they were playing in the exact same bowl that the Dawgs will be visiting this year. In 2007 the Tide beat the Colorado Buffaloes 30-24 and the year before that they lost to Oklahoma State 34-31. We know heading into the season that UGA fans didn't envision their team playing in the Independence Bowl. We are dealing with kids however and nothing can be predicted when you are dealing with 18-22 year olds.

What this does show us is that Georgia may only be a couple years from getting right to where they want to be. One year Shreveport, the next year BCS bowling and National Championship in sights.

Three things to look for in 2010

Excerpt from Mark Bradley article, AJC

1. Will Georgia Tech qualify for a bowl ever better than the Orange? Here’s another story of progress: The Jackets were 9-4 in Year 1 under Paul Johnson and went 11-2 and won the ACC championship in Year 2. The Ramblin’ Wreck,  alas, figures to hit a speed bump. At least two juniors — defensive end Derrick Morgan and B-back Jonathan Dwyer — are apt to leave in the NFL draft, and receiver Demaryius Thomas could join the exodus. And Tech’s defense is at least a year away from anything bigger than a league title. Bradley’s prediction: Tech goes 9-3 and doesn’t win the ACC.

2. Will Georgia ever hire a defensive coordinator, and will he improve on what we’ve just seen? The search now figures to last into the new year, and that’s not necessarily bad news. (No matter how halting the early returns have been.) There’s still a chance Georgia can make a big run at former Bulldog Kirby Smart, who’s coordinating Alabama’s D at the moment, and that would be a significant upgrade. Then again, just about anybody would be. Bradley’s prediction: Georgia hires a big name and sees results immediately.

3. Can Paul Hewitt take Tech on another long NCAA run? It hasn’t happened since 2004, when Hewitt took the Jackets to the NCAA title game, and another big season is long overdue. The deflating loss to Florida State in the ACC opener aside, there’s enough time and resources for something good to happen. And Hewitt, to be frank, needs something good to happen.Bradley’s prediction: The Jackets qualify for the Big Dance as a No. 5 seed and play into the second week, losing in a regional final.

UGA Big Win; Tech Big Loss

Georgia tech dropped its fourth straight ACC opener to Florida state. Florida state took the Jackets into overtime and pulled out the 66-59 upset.

Georgia played the upset role and beat favored Illinois in the Gwinnet Arena on Saturday. This is a big win for UGA and will provide them with the confidence that they can beat any team on any given night.