Curious case of GT and why No. 17 UM must keep blinders on for ACC ‘playoff football’

In a football coach’s psyche, among the most unfortunate occurrences to precede a big game is when the upcoming opponent loses badly the previous week to a team it was favored to beat by more than three touchdowns.

In the curious case of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who face the 17th-ranked University of Miami (4-0, 0-0) at 8 p.m. Saturday (ACC Network) at Hard Rock Stadium, the Jackets led Bowling Green 7-0 last Saturday after seven seconds and 14-0 five minutes later. Then they allowed 38 unanswered points for a humiliating 38-27 loss to a Mid-American Conference team that was 1-3 entering the game.

“What happened to them last week is every coach’s fear,’’ Hurricanes offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said this week as the Canes prepared for their first of eight consecutive ACC opponents. “You go into games where you’re favored and you hope that kids respect opponents and you hope that kids go out and play. Look across the nation.. I can tell you a statistic that is going to remain true till the end of time. Half the teams win and half the teams lose every Saturday.

“Not all the time does the favorite win. It happens every week that teams don’t respect their opponents the way their coaches preach that they should respect them. And the other team comes out and they get things going, they get you on your heels and then you’re fighting.

“I feel for where they were last week because in my career I’ve been there. Everybody that has coached football has been there... Put blinders on. The biggest deal is there’s a lot of praise going around right now, which is dangerous. ... There’s a reason why we’re at this point and it’s because we’re doing things a certain way. Keep doing it, because ultimately all it takes is a little slip and things can go the other way.”

For now, the 21-point favorite Canes have kept their blinders on, seemingly focused and intent on bettering themselves. The offense was ranked seventh in the country (519 yards per game) entering the week The defense was 12th (allowing 273 yards per game) overall and No. 1 in stopping the rush (48 yards per game).

UM quarterback Tyler Van Dyke is second nationally in passing efficiency (197.8), completing 74 of 99 passes (74.7 percent) for 1,042 yards and 11 touchdowns, with one interception. He has been sacked only twice.

Every game is now instrumental for the Hurricanes to make the Dec. 2 ACC Football Championship at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The ACC has eliminated the Coastal and Atlantic divisions this season, instead adopting a system that will put the top two teams in league winning percentage in the ACC title game.

“This is the most important game of the year because it’s the next game,’’ UM coach Mario Cristobal told WQAM this week. “It’s that simple. Conference play is playoff football.’’

Cristobal noted that Georgia Tech had beaten then-undefeated Wake Forest on the road a week before losing to Bowling Green. “It’s a challenging team that makes a lot of explosive plays with some really talented football players.’’

Explosive GT offense

Tyler Van Dyke won’t be the only gifted quarterback in this game. Yellow Jackets redshirt sophomore signal caller Haynes King, a Texas A&M transfer, leads the ACC in passing yards (1,480) and touchdown passes (15, which is fourth nationally) and is third in the conference in passing efficiency (164.4). The Yellow Jackets are 17th nationally in passing offense (300 yards a game) and 19th in total offense (467.4).

King is one of only two NCAA FBS players with at least 1,400 passing yards, 150 rushing yards and 15 touchdown passes this season (LSU’s Jayden Daniels is the other) and the second ACC player in the past 25 years to put up those numbers in his team’s first five games of the season. North Carolina star Drake Maye did it last season.

“They got explosive ballplayers all around,’’ UM safety James Williams said. “They got a pretty elusive back that can do whatever he wants in space. They got great receivers with excellent speed — you got No. 6 [WR Christian Leary], No. 13, [WR Eric Singleton, Jr.], No. 12 [WR Dominick Blaylock] who are fast, explosive guys that can make big plays. This will be a good test [with] a great offense to test Miami and see where we’re at.’’

New defensive coordinator

After last week’s loss to Bowling Green, Georgia Tech coach Brent Keys demoted defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker to safeties coach and promoted co-defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer to coordinator.

The Yellow Jackets entering the week were 128th of 130 ranked FBS teams in rushing defense (allowing 224.2 ground yards a game), 112th nationally in total defense (allowing 427.8 yards a game) and 103rd in scoring defense (30.8 points).

“It just leaves an unknown factor,’’ Cristobal said. “You’ve got to dig deep into that person’s history — what they’ve done, where they’ve been, how they may tweak or add to the system. There’s still plenty of time where they can change things....But that being said, we’re systematic on offense. Yeah, we like certain things against certain things. But should we be in a situation where we do get some type of surprise look, schematically, rules take over. So if something shows up that we haven’t seen, trust your rules and go execute. ‘’

Said Van Dyke: “At the end of the day, football is football. Maybe the presentation will be a little different fronts wise and stuff like that. I don’t know if they can switch the whole thing up. They have one week to prepare. Maybe they’ll [be] more aggressive, less aggressive, who knows? It’s just football, and we have to execute our plays at the highest level.’’

ACC play

The Hurricanes are the only team in the ACC that hasn’t played a conference game yet.

Cristobal was asked his thoughts on how the degree of difficulty goes up now, especially without divisions.

“The only thing really right now is Georgia Tech,’’ the coach said. “That’s all. I can’t even tell you after the next hour what I’m supposed to do. ...We feel we have a great league. There are a lot of teams ranked in the Top 25 [No. 5 Florida State, No. 14 North Carolina, No. 17 Miami and No. 25 Louisville].

“Looking forward to opening up conference play Saturday at Hard Rock.’’