Week 7: Georgia Tech at Miami

Georgia Tech limps into the Orange Bowl with three losses in its last four games, and the going doesn’t get any easier this week. The Yellow Jackets have to cope with the fact that Patrick Nix, their offensive coordinator from 2002-06, will be waiting for them.

Nix is the offensive coordinator at Miami now, and he should be able to provide the Hurricanes a detailed scouting report of Georgia Tech’s personnel, tendencies and signals. Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey can’t change his players at this point, but he will do what he can to keep some things a secret from Nix.

“We will change some things because we know what he knows,” Gailey said. “But he probably knows that we know what he knows, so he will probably assume that we’ll change it. He knows the signals. But we’ve changed quite a few, too, so he doesn’t know them all. But he knows some of them.”

The question is how much Nix’s experience as a coach at Georgia Tech will benefit the Hurricanes in the game. Miami coach Randy Shannon downplayed the significance of Nix’s knowledge, but the Yellow Jackets expressed belief that they’re at a disadvantage.

“I’m sure he knows all of us on defense, our weaknesses and our strengths,” safety Jamal Lewis said.

Said Gailey: “If you work against the same defense every day for four or five years, you get an understanding of it. So it helps him tremendously.”

Nix knows what Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta likes to do, but Tenuta no doubt will throw a few wrinkles at him in this game. The Yellow Jackets struggled to defend the pass in their 28-26 loss to Maryland last week, but they rank No. 2 in the country in sacks (4.3 per game) and No. 6 nationally against the run (68.5 yards per game).

Run defense will be important in this game because each team wants to make the other rely on its passing game. Georgia Tech features senior tailback Tashard Choice, the ACC’s leading rusher (106.0 ypg), and Miami counters with the combination of freshman Graig Cooper and sophomore Javarris James. North Carolina gashed the Hurricanes for 183 yards on the ground last week, but Miami has held 14 of its last 18 opponents under 100 yards rushing.

The Hurricanes didn’t get much of a chance to get their ground game going against the Tar Heels, falling behind 27-0 at halftime. Quarterback Kyle Wright rallied Miami to three third-quarter touchdowns in the 33-27 loss, but he also threw four interceptions.

“We have to bounce back from what happened last week,” Shannon said. “We had positive things happen in the second half, but we have to start off fast and finish that way.”

Starting fast hasn’t been a problem for Miami at home. The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 64-0 in the first half of their four games at the Orange Bowl this season, which could be a scary number for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have started slowly in their two previous noon games this season, getting outscored by a combined 35-10 in the first quarter of losses to Virginia and Maryland.

If the Yellow Jackets reverse that trend, they should be in good shape. Miami’s kicking game is in shambles — “We need a punter who can punt the ball and a field-goal kicker who can make field goals,” Shannon said — and Georgia Tech has two of the best players in the country at their positions in kicker Travis Bell and punter Durant Brooks. The Yellow Jackets also lead in the nation in kickoff coverage and punt coverage, which should help offset whatever inside insight Nix provides the Hurricanes.

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