In front of a sellout crowd in Atlanta, GA the Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech put on a performance that would had made Barry Switzer proud. The yellow jackets gained a total of 535 rushing yards. 249 of those yards came from quarterback TaQuan Marshall, who in his first start put on a clinic. The junior signal caller looked like a veteran as he broke the school record for scoring 5 touchdowns and breaking the conference record for rushing yards (249) in one game as a Quarterback. Amazing as that is, the yellow jackets found a way to lose that game. You can point the blame on Shawn Davis for missing two easy field goals. You could also point the blame on the defense which looked great for three quarters(Gosh if that doesn’t sound familiar) and then looked gassed by the end of the game. Or you could put the blame on head coach Paul Johnson for rolling the dice and going for the two point conversion at the end of the second overtime. As you can see, it was a team effort. Tech had many opportunities to seal the deal, but left the door ajar and allowed the Volunteers to stay in the game and grab the W.
Yet, as tough and as heart-breaking as that loss was, I came away feeling optimistic about this Yellow Jacket squad. The offense looks good, really good. If the offensive line can push a talented SEC team like Tennessee around, then the jackets o-line should have no problem holding their own against the likes of Clemson, Miami, and UGA. B-Back Kirvonte Benson had a great first start as well, racking up 124 yards rushing and 1 touchdown. He is not the speedster Mills was, but he is definitely a load to take down. Tech will need Benson to improve on his ground game so that the jackets can have a threat at that position. Another promising player was Nathan Cottrell,, (Knoxville, TN native) who showed his skill with the ball and as a blocker. He had a nice game, rushing for 79 yards on 6 carriers. I look for him to contribute a lot this fall.
I did come away wondering about the defense again. As a unit, the defense only gave up 148 yards on the ground, most of those came late in the game. The Tech defense made some great plays, but at the same time gave up some big plays, especially in the secondary. The volunteers aired it to Marquez Callaway just 4 times but he took in 115 yards and two touchdowns. It was a mismatch that Tennessee saw and they took advantage of it. On the ground, tailback John Kelly rushed for 128 yards and score 4 touchdowns on the yellow jackets. Tech had a tough time wrapping Kelly up and you know Kelly will not be the best back the jackets see this season. Lastly, something has to be done about the kicker. Coach Johnson said that Shawn Davis had a good fall camp…well he didn’t have a good night against the Vols. Credit to Tennessee blocking the kick at the end of regulation, but Davis just didn’t get enough air under it. PJ better fix this quick or Tech could be going for two a lot this season.
Looking at Tech’s remaining schedule, it’s easy to see a 8-4 or 7-5 season. That is very possible, but Tech has to fix it’s problems on defense and the kicking game. If the jackets can address these two areas and get consistent production out of TaQuan Marshall, I think this could still be a special season for the Old Gold and White. 
JDubb's Sideline Report 