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The Bulldogs’ defense thought, or at least hoped, that its poor outing against Auburn three weeks ago was an anomaly. Georgia Tech exposed some gaping holes in MSU’s game, though.
In their 42-31 win Saturday night, the Yellow Jackets racked up 479 total yards and got a big night from quarterback Josh Nesbitt. A 43-percent passer coming in, Nesbitt completed 11 of 14 – 78.6 percent – for a career-high 266 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions.
His top target was fellow junior Damaryius Thomas, who finished with 174 yards and a touchdown on eight catches.
“Georgia Tech is a good option team and a good running team, but we let them do whatever they wanted to do on offense,” said linebacker Jamar Chaney, who made 10 tackles. “If they wanted to pass, they passed, and if they wanted to run, they ran.
‘Picking and choosing’
“They were picking and choosing what they wanted to do instead of us shutting down one aspect of their game.”
Jonathan Dwyer gained 83 yards on 16 carries to pace Tech’s run game. While the Yellow Jackets didn’t come anywhere close to equaling last year’s total of 438 rushing yards in a 38-7 win over MSU, this attack was much more balanced.
The Yellow Jackets gained 213 rushing yards. Over the past two weeks, State had given up 63 total rushing yards to Vanderbilt and LSU, giving reason to believe that the issues seen during Auburn’s 390-yard rushing effort on Sept. 12 had faded to the background.
Maybe it was just the Yellow Jackets’ rarely seen spread option offense.
“In college you only play it (the option) one time a year, so you only get that week to prepare for it, and it’s a good scheme,” Chaney said. “It’s what they do best. They force you to do your job every play.”
MSU’s cornerbacks and safeties were burned numerous times, including on a 23-yard TD pass from Nesbitt to Thomas on a third-and-goal. Nesbitt also had completions of 65 and 53 yards.
Linebacker K.J. Wright led MSU with 12 tackles, while end Pernell McPhee had 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
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