Georgia Tech has not faced an offense or a quarterback quite like this yet.
Miami, tabbed fourth in the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday, comes to Bobby Dodd Stadium to play the Yellow Jackets at noon Saturday sporting one of the nation’s best offenses in nearly every statistical category. And it’s an offense driven by two-time transfer quarterback Cam Ward, who is one the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.
But perhaps what makes the Miami offense most dangerous is its ability to keep the attack for 60 minutes. The Hurricanes are averaging 14.5 points in the fourth quarter and 26.6 in the second half this season. Last Saturday against Duke, Miami blitzed the Blue Devils for 36 points after halftime.
Those type of numbers have allowed coach Mario Cristobal’s teams to win both shootouts and close games.
“There’s obviously a confidence level there. I think they’re confident in the quarterback, his ability to make plays. They’re confident in their team,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday. “Once you win a couple of those (close games), it becomes contagious and you keep going. They’ve been in some close games, and they found a way to win. That’s the mark of a good football team. It’s not like they’ve won half of ‘em. They won ‘em all.
“They’ve scored more points in the fourth quarter than they have any other quarter. It’s a four-quarter football team. We have to play four quarters.”
As for Ward, a Texas native who played two seasons at Incarnate Word and two more at Washington State, his season has been nothing short of impressive. The 6-foot-2, 223-pound senior has thrown for 3,146 yards and 29 passing touchdowns and has completed 67% of his throws. Ward has also run 45 times for 187 yards and three scores.
Ward’s ability to keep drives alive — he completes 71% of his passes on third down — is also of grave concern to the Tech defense.
“That’s the reason he’s probably the leading Heisman Trophy candidate right now,” Key said of Ward’s playmaking abilities. “I think in the Duke game he had 11 scrambles; two of those 11 he converted for touchdowns. We have to be disciplined. And we gotta be sure tacklers. He breaks a lot of tackles in those scrambles. He goes left, goes right, back left, pops it up the middle. Some of (the scrambles) are eight, nine, 10 seconds.”
Added Tech safety Clayton Powell-Lee: “Honestly, it’s crazy what he can do when he tries to extend plays. So we’ve just been harping on any time you see him out of the pocket, find the nearest guy and make sure he doesn’t has those windows where he can just throw and make a huge play. That’s just been the biggest thing for us as a secondary.”
Ward’s top target is Xavier Restrepo, a 5-foot-10, 198-pound senior who Saturday against Duke became Miami’s all-time leader in receptions and receiving yards. He has 51 catches for 856 yards and nine touchdowns this season and had 12 catches for 123 yards in the Tech-Miami matchup a year ago.
On the ground, the duo of Damien Martinez and Mark Fletcher Jr. have combined to rush for 1,027 yards and 14 touchdowns. Miami has rushed for more than 126 yards in every game this season and is averaging 5.5 yards per carry as a team.
Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s unit operates with a veteran offensive line that features four upperclassmen. The Hurricanes have scored at least 36 points in every game this season.
“These tackles, they have some great tackles. Great offensive line, period,” said Tech defensive end Romello Height, who committed to Miami in 2019 out of Dublin High School. He instead went to Southern California before transferring to Miami last offseason.
“It was important to get on film early and get a head start on them guys this bye week,” Height added. “It’s always important to get ahead, but it was very critical to go ahead on this offensive line that is coming up.”
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