BYU football: BYU vs. Georgia Tech from an insider's perspective

Georgia Tech primarily plays a 3-4 defense. One will see them move to a 4-3 on obvious passing downs — but that is somewhat rare. The primary playmakers are Jeremiah Attaochu (outside linebacker), Rod Sweeting (cornerback), and Jemea Thomas (safety/cornerback). As noted previously, this group has struggled this season. But, it will be interesting to see if the improvement seen versus Boston College carries over or not.

4. How does Georgia Tech regard BYU, and what could potentially give the Yellowjackets difficulties come Saturday? What does Georgia Tech need to do to ensure a victory?

There is plenty of respect for BYU. BYU has an outstanding front 7 on defense and everyone in Atlanta fully expects to see them give the GT offense fits. Blocking the BYU front 7 one-on-one is not going to be an easy task.

To win, GT needs to hang on to the ball (nothing unusual there) and also do a good job of blocking in space. If they are able to block, then they should have some opportunities for big plays. The GT offense is among the nation’s best in big plays – either leading or second in plays of over 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 yards.

Last, the defense needs to continue its progress from last week and improve – particularly with regard to getting pressure on the quarterback.

All in all, this is a game that matches strength vs. strength (the GT O vs. the BYU D) and weakness vs. weakness (the BYU O vs. the GT D.)

5. BYU fans travel well and there are sure to be many who make the trip down to see the game. What type of atmosphere can BYU fans expect and what are some of the game-time traditions?

Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the oldest on-campus stadium in the country. So, there is a lot of history there and the stadium itself is a unique mixture of architectures. Georgia Tech also has a 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe (aka the Rambling Wreck) that leads the team out before the game. Typically, he Wreck can be found driving all over campus before games – visiting fans everywhere.

Additionally, the Georgia Tech band sends groups all over campus as well to play for tailgaters. The fight song – “I’m a Ramblin Wreck from Georgia Tech” - is also a song with much history having been part of Georgia Tech history for about 100 years and was actually sung by Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev back in the 50s at a famous meeting. It’s a great song and usually rated by most as one of the best fight songs in the country. Another great game tradition is the playing of “Bud” at the end of the 3rd quarter by the Georgia Tech band. Fans join in by bobbing up and down and all yell in unison at the appropriate time.

Georgia Tech has a somewhat smaller fan base than many schools. But, I think one can expect that there will be about 45,000 fans in attendance (plus or minus) and the acoustics at Bobby Dodd Stadium contain the noise fairly well. So, it can get fairly loud in the stadium – even with the somewhat smaller numbers. Capacity is 55,000 but the somewhat disappointing results to date will limit the turnout.

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney