By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Paul Johnson was the head coach at Georgia Tech for 11 seasons and the program started to struggle in his final years.

There was very little excitement because he recruited poorly and ran an archaic offense that no other Power 5 school uses.

Now, we are entering the first season under Geoff Collins. Prior to becoming head coach at Temple, Collins was one of the nation’s most respected defensive coordinators, serving in the role at Florida, Mississippi State, FIU and his alma mater, Western Carolina.

He is the only coach to ever be nominated for the Broyles Award, given to college football’s top assistant coach, at three different schools.

The biggest change for the Yellow Jackets will be the offense. CPJ ran the old school triple option out of the flexbone. Tech is now an Air Raid team and they do not have the players to do that successfully.

This is basically trying to fit a square peg in a round hole because the players on the roster were recruited to run the old offense. Under Johnson, they typically passed less than 5 times per game.

Now the quarterbacks are expected to read defenses and pass regularly. Quarterbacks James Graham and Lucas Johnson played in the spring game. Tobias Oliver got significant playing time last season but he’s clearly a runner.

I do expect the offense to struggle. Under CPJ the offense was strong, and the defense was always weak. I expect the trend to continue on defense, at least for this season.

Collins is a defensive coach so he might help them improve some, but they still have a lack of talent. In 2018 they ranked 43^rd nationally in total defense. They gave up 368 yards per game and 29 points per game.

That stat is frightening when you consider that Tech normally controlled the clock on offense and dominated time of possession.

The season kicks off August 29 at Clemson. This is a Thursday night game so everyone will tune in to watch the defending national champions in Death Valley.

This used to be considered a rivalry game, but it is extremely one-sided now. They haven’t beaten the Tigers since 2014 and that won’t change now.

They begin September at home against USF. The Bulls beat GT last season 48-38. They had superior speed and talent then and I cannot see that being different now. South Florida should win.

An FCS opponent, The Citadel comes to town next. This will be an easy win and it should give the team some confidence.

After a bye week, Tech goes on the road to Philadelphia to face coach Collins’ former team, Temple. The Owls were 8-5 last season. They did lose to an FCS team (Villanova) and they were blown out against the only ACC opponent (Duke) they faced in their bowl game. I think this will be a tough game but give the edge to GT.

The first conference game is against UNC in Atlanta. The Tar Heels are bad; this will be an easy win.

Next, they travel to Durham to face Duke. The Blue Devils have owned this series lately, but they lost their quarterback who was a top 10 pick. I’ll take the Ramblin Wreck.

The next five games will be difficult. They include Miami, Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech and NC State. I think they have a chance in only two of them, Pitt and NC State.

The season ends at home versus UGA. Unfortunately, the Dawgs will annihilate Tech.

I think it will be tough to become bowl eligible, but the future looks bright.