Three Biggest Takeaways from Georgia Tech's win Over Western Carolina

What were the biggest takeaways from the Georgia Tech's win tonight?

Georgia Tech was a huge favorite against the visiting Western Carolina Catamounts on Saturday night and the Yellow Jackets were looking to get their first win of the season 35-17.

It did not start off well by any means, but Georgia Tech found a way to get past Western Carolina. The defense had a terrible start, with Western Carolina finding wide-open receivers all over the field, but they settled in and played better as the game went on. 

The running game found life tonight, with Dontae Smith having a big game. 

Quarterback Jeff Sims struggled tonight, missing high on wide receivers and forcing too much down the field. Sims will need to be much better against Ole Miss next week. 

So what are the biggest takeaways from the Yellow Jackets' win tonight? Let's break it down below. 

3. The Running Game was Very Strong

After a tough night against Clemson, the Georgia Tech running attack bounced back tonight, with Dontae Smith leading the charge. Dylan McDuffie and Hassan Hall had nice contributions as well and wide receiver Nate McCollum took a 40-yard reverse play to the endzone.

With Sims having a subpar game, it was nice to see the offense being able to lean on the ground game. They took over in the second half and really were able to close out the ball game for Georgia Tech. Smith would finish with over 100 yards rushing and looked like the best back that the Yellow Jackets have. 

2. Jeff Sims Did Not Have a Good Game

After looking solid against Clemson on Monday, Sims was not able to build off that performance and looked shaky in this game. 

Starting the fourth quarter, Sims was completing around 50% of his passes for just around 100 yards. He did not look comfortable and was missing receivers high on several throws and forcing plays that were just not there all night. He was also a non-factor with his legs. 

For Georgia Tech to have any shot of winning games this year against higher-quality opponents, Sims has to be better. He was not tonight and that is very concerning to me. 

1. The Defense Did Not Build On their Performance Against Clemson 

Georgia Tech had a solid performance against Clemson in the first game, but they were not able to build off of it tonight. They were able to tighten up after the first quarter, but too many times, Western Carolina had wide-open receivers down the field, and Catamounts quarterback was able to scramble for yards in the second half.

The main reason for this to be concerning is the opponents that Georgia Tech still has to play. Ole Miss is an explosive passing offense and can move the ball against most teams. Western Carolina put up 266 yards in the first half on the Yellow Jackets, averaging 14 yards per completion. That is not good at all and it needs to be fixed going forward.

The run defense was solid in the first half but gave up some plays in the second half. It was much better than the passing defense and has been at least solid so far in two games.

They improved in the second half, but it is still not good to be giving up so many explosive passing plays to a subpar FCS team. The Catamounts approached 400 yards of total offense and that is not a good sign ahead of Ole Miss next week. 

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