Georgia Tech Football: Grades For Each Offensive Unit vs Virginia

The Georgia Tech offense had a dismal showing against Virginia on Thursday

Jackson Caudell | Oct 22, 2022

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Georgia Tech has had one of the worst offenses in the ACC all year long, but Thursday night's game against Virginia was probably the worst performance of the season.

Virginia has a below-average defense, especially against the run, and the Yellow Jackets could not move the ball. Even with starting quarterback Jeff Sims in, the offense was not exactly doing much. It went further downhill when Sims was injured and had to be replaced by backup Zach Gibson.

The offensive line continued to be amongst the worst in the nation, giving up eight sacks and being unable to open up any running lanes.

Here are the grades for each unit on the offense.

Quarterback: F

Georgia Tech quarterback Zach Gibson — Georgia Tech had poor quarterback play against Virginia / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

This was a poor performance from the Georgia Tech quarterback room. Sims was 6-11 for 47 yards before being injured and Gibson came in and went 10-25 for 99 yards and was also sacked seven times.

While the offensive line did him no favors, there were some instances of Gibson holding the ball too long. He was off-target on several throws and just did not have a good game.

The final play of the game is also a head-scratcher. Georgia Tech got the ball back with a chance to tie or win the game and on the final play of the game from Georgia Tech's 36-yard line and instead of throwing the ball up and giving his guys a chance to make a play, Gibson ran out of bounds and the game was over.

Here were Gibson's comments afterward:

"So, what was going through my mind was that I knew that we had six or seven seconds left, so I knew it was time for one last play and as a I evaded the rush and started moving to my left, I looked downfield and just did not really see a throw at all, I just didn't feel like there was anyone to get it to at the moment, I can't throw the ball 85 yards, 70 yards. I mean, at that point, I just felt like run out of bounds and take the loss. We can go back and look at it and be like, "I should have threw it" and after talking with the coaches, I just should have given somebody a chance and not just given up on the game at that point. Not that that was what I was doing, but just... it is not a good look and I know that, especially people looking from the stands and on tv was watching and like "why is he going out of bounds?" but it is what it is."

"It is one play. That one play did not affect the entire game. That is all I am going to say. There were multiple opportunities for us to get things going and we should not have even been in that position."

If Sims remains out, Gibson is going to have to step up and play better if he is the starting quarterback.

Running Back: F

Georgia Tech running back Dontae Smith — The Georgia Tech running game could not find any success against Virginia / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

I had hoped the running game would be able to keep the offense on track once Sims went down, but that was not the case. Virginia kept the running backs bottled up all night and neither Hassan Hall nor Dontae Smith could find any running room.

Hall had 12 carries for 42 yards and Smith had nine carries for 33 yards. After Hall had been the main back for the games against Pittsburgh and Duke, Smith saw more action this week. Dylan McDuffie did not see any carries in this game.

If Sims is out, the running game has to be better. Hopefully against Florida State next week, the ground game can get it going again.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: F

Georgia Tech wide receiver Nate McCollum — Georgia Tech's wide receivers did not make any plays against Virginia / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

While some of the passing game woes fall on the quarterback play, Georgia Tech's wide receivers did not make any plays to warrant a grade higher than an F.

Nate McCollum led the way with five catches for 62 yards and Malachi Carter had four catches. Malik Rutherford was the only other receiver to catch a pass and he had two catches for four yards. Starting receiver E.J. Jenkins did not have a reception.

Starting tight end Dylan Leonard had one catch.

After making some plays against Duke, neither Leo Blackburn nor Ryan King made any plays against Virginia.

Offensive Line: F

This was a terrible performance by the guys up front. Virginia finished with eight sacks in the game and seven of those came when Gibson was put in at quarterback. The run blocking was poor as well.

There are going to be better defensive fronts on the schedule ahead that are better than Virginia's and Georgia Tech is going to need to be better on the offensive line for this offense to have a prayer at moving the ball.

If Gibson remains at quarterback, the offensive line is going to have to protect better because of his lack of escapability in the pocket.

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Quarterback: F

Running Back: F

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: F

Offensive Line: F

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